Why is Collecting Comic Books Addicting?

I never understood why my sister watched the “Soaps”. I felt that she was deranged and lacked any sensibility; this might have only been for the reason that she is my older sibling. I mean seriously who the hell cared if Luke and Laura got married? There was no way I was ever going to get carried away by the nuances of fictional characters. To be forced to sit in front of a T.V. day after day waiting for that final apex only for something else to occur. I mean really, how many times can a person die and come back to life?

Now, all these years later, Luke and Laura are still a lingering memory and I became lost in something more complex than a T.V. soap opera. I collect comic books and have realized my boyhood excitement has reignited with the return of Cable and the Human Torch along with a teaser trailer for the Phoenix. My collection has spanned over 27 years of collecting both new release books and back issues to capture these epics.

Every Wednesday I am at the comic book shop. I would like to say without fail, but that would be a lie. I have been known to skip a week. I have picked up books that were boring and droll and I have picked up books that were nothing short of amazing. I have kept with a horrendous series just to have them all. I have learned to stop doing this, although sometimes a few months too late.

If you are anything like I was as a kid then you can’t wait till new books come out. My heart yearned just a little too much waiting for release dates. Now that I am older I have some semblance of control, but not much. I collect CGC graded comic books as well as my weekly mags. To some you might know what that is, but to others please check out my articles about CGC and collecting them. Recently I placed a bid on a comic book that I exceeded $500 for. Is that obscene? Or do you understand?

I was at work when the auction ended. I continued to bid in-between doing my job, each time three minutes were added to the final tally. I inched the book up to $300, jumped to $425, broke $600, and finally stopped under the winning bid.  I clamored for it, desired it, and lost it. The book sold for $675. Did my addiction take over while I was bidding? I would like to think not because I only placed the bid with money I had, not with money I didn’t have. I think that stops my question of addiction, doesn’t it?

As I write this my hankering for Wednesday to arrive grows stronger. Some 200 books of mine still lay around my table begging to be cataloged and put away. Please join me over the next couple of weeks as I invite you into my life about what I collect, my understanding of comic books and my desire to complete my collection, which I fear will never end. Of course, I am still left with the question Why Are Comic books addicting?

Thanks for Reading

CGC Lee