I discovered comics when I was 4. I remember my favorite present that year was a Batman poster. Even though I could not read them at the time I loved looking through the ones I had over and over. I had books like Batman, Flash, Spiderman, and the Superman. Throughout elementary school I was a constant visitor at my local drugstore where they had two rotating racks of comics. Cover price was 25 cents. With an allowance of 75 cents (my mom paid the sales tax) I would gleefully pick out my three favorites each month. I did not always stay in series. I did not have enough money to buy the same books and often missed an issue or two.
In 1975 at the ripe age of 7 I discovered the X-Men. My brother brought home the Giant Sized X-Men and I was hooked. I bought every single issue from #94 (1975) through #143 (1981). I was now 14. Comic books had a stigma among kids that age. They were for children, not teenagers. So I gave up on them. I pushed them aside as a relic of the past. I moved on.
Flash forward to 1986. I was now 19 years old. I was out of school and free from all of the peer pressure and ridicule that goes along with being “different”. My friends were all gamers (RPGs and board games) and geeks like me. That year I picked up a copy of TSR’s Marvel Super Heroes Advanced Set. I also picked up Children of the Atom, which is a source book for the game that centers on the X-Men. Suddenly I am a kid again. I went into my closet and dragged out the old comics. My friends and I started up a regular game. Me as the GM and them taking on the role of the X-Men. We played every week for two years. What a blast.
I got back into the books. Catching up where I left off is a costly endeavor. Now, instead of the drugstore there are actually entire shops dedicated to comic books. Apparently my generation had enough geeks like me who are now willing to spend lots of money on superheroes. I ended up spending hundreds of dollars buying issues #144 through #209. I also got into the New Mutants, Avengers, and Judge Dredd. I entered new worlds with independent comics and heroes of all kinds.
Then college happens. I shouldn’t waste time reading anything with pictures. I should be reading literature and textbooks. Comics are for kids. At this point I end up selling almost every comic I own, with a hefty return on investment.
Five years pass by and I find myself once again face to face with comic books. In 1990 I began to work at a company (well it was one guy and we made it into a small business) that imported toys from Japan. Well we decided to make our own products so we delved into licensing and eventually made vinyl kits of Spawn, Zen the Intergalactic Ninja, and the Crow. During that time I was a frequent visitor to the comic book shop and my love for all things super-powered bloomed again.
Its been off and on since - my love of comics. Recently I have come to a realization. The reason I find myself steering away from comics is the feeling that they are for the less literate and that I should be reading more and looking at fewer pictures. Its all tied up with ADD and the feeling of inferiority that comes along with the disability.
The second part of this realization is that comics fit my cognitive style. According to the cognitive testing I underwent at Penn’s Adult ADHD center I have superior language skills and visual skills but poor reading speed and I am easily distracted during tasks. Comic books provide visual stimulation along with light reading. Reading comics is for me what reading a fluffy novel is to a person without ADD. Reading a fluffy novel is not easy for me, and reading real literature is a chore. Comics allow me to engage my mind without overtaxing it and thereby exacerbating my ADD symptoms.
I am no longer going to worry what others may think about my love of comics. They fit the way my brain works. They appeal to my love of the fantastic. They stimulate the parts of my brain that are need the exercise. In short comics are therapeutic … and I like em.
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