For roughly six years, from 2000 to 2006, I collected comic books, which even included the two years I was serving my mission. I enjoyed the characters, the settings, the interconnectivity between titles, all of it. Even when I wasn't reading comic books, I was thinking about the stories and characters. When I graduated from high school, my goal was to become a screenwriter as a way to break into writing comics, though the reverse is more common.
What I didn't know, however, was that I was addicted to comic books. With the popularity of superhero films in the past few years, comic books are more prominent than ever before, which has led me to think back to the time that I spent as a collector. I've decided to take some time to discuss why comics are addictive and why I had to drop them cold turkey.
Addictions can arise with any repetitive activity. The brain registers a particular activity as pleasurable, so we seek to repeat the activity to receive the same reward. As time goes on, the pleasure we experience with the activity diminishes, so we have to spend more time doing that activity to achieve the same high as before. That's why compulsive gamblers can spend entire days in casinos: they've become so numb to the activity, but they still try to achieve the rush that came so easily early on.
Comic books are usually published monthly and are collectable. That means that not only can I get a high from reading a comic book for that month, I can also go out and seek older comics to fill in the gaps in my collection. Depending on what publisher you follow (the big ones are DC, Marvel, Image, and Dark Horse), there could be decades worth of comics to collect. The first superhero comic (the most popular genre in comics, though there are others) was Action Comics #1, published in 1938. That means that a hardcore collector of Superman comics has to go back more than 75 years to have a complete collection. Even a relative newcomer like Wolverine first showed up 40 years ago in 1974. And the hunt for missing comics is as much fun as collecting the new stories.
The stories themselves, at least when I was reading, pushed the reader to read multiple titles. At one point, Superman had four monthly titles that you had to read if you wanted to know what was going on. Then there were crossovers where, for example, the Flash might show up and help Superman with a mission in the pages of Superman, giving the reader incentive to also pick up The Flash. On top of that, DC would put out a huge crossover mini-series once a quarter that involved multiple heroes' books.
All of that would be enough to make comic books addictive, but there is one other component also at play: self-insertion fantasy. Comic books are heavily marketed to teenage boys, and generally had PG-13 level of violence and sex -- there was never any graphic nudity in the books I read, but there was plenty of implied nudity, which is when a character is naked, but the "naughty bits" are obscured. And while the depiction of women in comics can definitely be classified as sexist, the real fantasy lies with the men. Where women are depicted as "ideal" specimens for the opposite sex, the men too are depicted as "ideal" presumably so the male reader can insert himself into the story through that character. Think about it: Superman's costume is so form-fitting that he resembles an ancient Greek sculpture. He's perfect for a young boy to fantasize himself looking like.
Once I learned all of this, I gave up comics, though it was still hard. During the first few months after I stopped collecting, I would go back through and reread a lot of old stories. Allison's support really made a positive difference in my recovery.
Now, you may be wondering why I still watch superhero movies if comics are so addictive. The reason is that most of the problems with comics are with the fact that they keep coming month after month. The movies are a one-off experience. You can by the DVD or Blu-ray, but that still only happens one time. Even the fantastical nature of the heroes is toned down since actual human bodies and fabrics behave differently in the real world.
However, that doesn't mean that all comics are evil and have to be avoided, at least by other people. There were some really good stories I read that were created by very talented writers and artists. If you have a child that shows interest in comics, my warning is to be careful. Check out what they're reading and don't let them read too many titles at a time. Also, reprinted collections (called trade paperbacks or TPBs) can be a way to eliminate the collecting aspect of comics, which is the most addictive part.
While I still have a fondness for superheroes, especially Superman, I know better than to dabble in comic books again.
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