Comics and your "Inner Circle"

[COI]

Seeing the frequency of postings by people on this board, it's apparent that comics are a part of the everyday life of many collectors in some form, and not just dealers who do this for a living.

 

So here's a topic that I'm always interested to hear other comic people discuss: Where do comics fit in within each of your individual little worlds? What I mean is, among the inner circle of people you deal with everyday, what place do comics have? How do your non-collector friends, family, Girlfriends/boyfriends, casual aquaintances, co-workers or whoever, react to the hobby? Do they think it's interesting, stupid, or crazy(considering the money it takes). If you have kids, do you intend on exposing them to the hobby? Do many in your "circle" even know that you collect? Is it something you're proud of, and bring up willingly? Or is it a topic you like to keep private. Do you try educating the people around you about it? Do you show people your collections? And if so, how do they react?

 

[supapimp]

first rule of my comic "inner circle", we don't talk about the comic "inner circle".

second rule of my comic "inner circle", we don't talk about the comic "inner circle".

[murph0]

I tell absolutely noone about my comics, my parents know..and one of my long-time friends knows..but none of my other friends or family know about them. It's just a personal enjoyment.

 

Brian

[blowout]

Most of my family and close friends know that I collect comics. But I wouldn't say it was a big topic of conversation, they aren't really interested.

People have their own hobbies that they enjoy and thats cool, only people you can really talk to about them are other enthusiasts.

 

I guess thats why this board is so cool, we can talk about the hobby with other comic collectors.

[Zonker]

Yep, comics collecting is my secret identity!

 

I came out to my girlfriend the same day we got engaged-- she (my wife now) is quite cool about it. , think she was secretly worried that the time I was spending with my collection I was cheating on her!!!!

 

Cheers,

Z.

[Hensley300]

Ive exposed my wife to my comic world. Just more ammo for her to make fun of me, till I left some by the can to read. Now all of a sudden, she reads em too. But we don't talk about out of the house. What goes on in the bedroom, stays in the bedroom.

[Ariamus]

My wife knows all too well about my hobby and thinks I'm crazy for spending the kind of money I do on this hobby. And, if it weren't for her insistence that I budget my weekly "fun" spending, then i would probably blow a lot more money than I already do.

 

With regards to my sons, I've already started them on reading comics. I read with them, titles such as Scooby Doo, The Simpsons, Dexter's Lab, and the TV show-based, kiddie, super-hero books, Justice League Adventures, Batman Gothic Adventures, and X-men Evolution.

 

I only have one really good friend that's a comic book collector; unlike me, he kept his collection that he had built up as a kid and as a result, he's got a really nice late-bronze, early modern age collection. My other friends pretty much all know about my hobby, but very few take an interest in it and most tune out when I start talking about it.

 

Finally, since I work overnight in a data center, there's a tendency for a lot of down time at work. I use that time to read, bag, and catalogue comics. Everyone at the job is familiar with my hobby and even the supervisors don't mind what I use my down time for. I have one co-worker who's a comics collector; he's working on building a complete run of CGC Tales of Suspense from issues 39 to 99.

[seank]

I just got back into comics after a 9 year "vacation." Now, only my wife and a friend who's into comics know. Before, some other friends and family knew. I generally don't talk about enjoying comics, but it's not something I work to keep secret. And if people want to see the collection, I'd be happy to show them. Of course I'm going to pull out the short box full of mylared gold, hg silver, and key issues to show them, not the garbage shoved into the long boxes.

 

The wife doesn't understand collectors, isn't a comic book reader (though she loves comic strips), and tolerates my refound obsession. That I'm working about 50 hours a week now at a great job and we've paid off all our debt except for the mortgage probably helps her tolerance.

 

______________________

 

Just say "No" to war in Iraq.

[dam60]

My "inner circle" of family and friends definitely know about my hobby. Both my roommates collected comics when they were younger, so the fact that my apt is littered with about 1500 doesn't bother them too much. The GF is supportive - although she knows and doesn't like that I do spend way too much on comic books.

 

I'm not ashamed of my hobby and will talk comics with anybody who wants to, but for the most part, no one really cares. My inner circle is happy that I'm happy, but that's about it.

 

DAM

 

[fantastic_four]

My friends, family, and all my co-workers from the two jobs I've held over the last few years all know I collect comics. I used to teach Java, VB, and ASP programming and web development courses to large corporate clients for about 5 years, and I usually mentioned it to my students whenever I had been to a comic book convention over the weekend. Everyone I talk to is a bit interested to hear how much we pay for these old pieces of paper, but since the value of comics has been common knowledge for decades now, not many people question me about it. My girlfriend's father was a bit concerned when he heard how much I was spending on some stuff, but he also sees I've been extremely careful about the way I invest, so he appears to have no issue about it.

 

Comics are almost always a topic of conversation when people come to my house since I've got comics and comic posters hanging on my walls. People usually aren't extremely interested in it like we here in this forum are, but they're interested enough to sustain a 5 to 20 minute conversation about it.

[Darthdiesel]

Where do comics fit in within each of your individual little worlds?

 

They fit in the storage room in the basement

 

What I mean is, among the inner circle of people you deal with everyday, what place do comics have?

 

Oh...OK...they get PLACED in the basement - dark, cool, dry.

 

How do your non-collector friends, family, Girlfriends/boyfriends, casual aquaintances, co-workers or whoever, react to the hobby? Do they think it's interesting, stupid, or crazy(considering the money it takes).

 

Wife knows, and as long as I can take care of my other responsibilities as a husband and father to be, she is cool. She is glad I don't gamble, drink or go to strip clubs and blow the money that way.

My mom and dad actually bought me them when I was younger, in order to help me read better and enjoy it more. The inundation of Thorspeak probably helped me score that 720 SAT verbal, but it was the Hulkspeak that kept it from being an 800

Before I was married, none of my girlfriends during college and highschool knew that I collected comics. I would seriously advise any teen collector to leave this out of their seduction repertoire, life resume, what have you, as comic collecting (or any collecting for that matter) can be gravely detrimental to a swingin adolescent social life.

Co-workers don't know. Comics and the government/corporate world don't mix. The only comics people know about in the office are Dilbert and The Far Side. You want to stifle your career advancement and possibly get demoted, then go ahead and talk to your boss about comic collecting. Reading comics is unfortunately still viewed as juvenile; yet many of the other things I hear around the office that are considered respectable/classy, I find mundane and boring. This is probably the main reason why I enjoy this forum and talking to folks I know at conventions.

 

 

If you have kids, do you intend on exposing them to the hobby?

 

Yes - I'm starting Baby Darth off on my Cherry TPB's...

 

Do many in your "circle" even know that you collect?

 

Yes - my wife, sister and cousins know exactly what I collect.

 

Is it something you're proud of, and bring up willingly? Or is it a topic you like to keep private.

 

It is my deep dark shame and it is stowed away in the recesses of my nightmarish memories, along with that awful night that I stayed over at greggy's house... I was never the same

 

Do you try educating the people around you about it?

 

In order to educate, you have to be knowledgeable first. What little I know about comic collecting would fit in a greggy-sized protector cup.

 

Do you show people your collections? And if so, how do they react?

 

I used to show off my old porn video collection and my dad's old dirty mags when I had them, proud as can be as well as my CDs/DVDs/PSX games - but you know, I actually hide my comic and toy collection and don't mention it to other folks...weird huh - it's a dirty secret and I'm keeping it that way.

 

The reasoning behind the secrecy is that one episode of Different Strokes where Dudley plays "Neptune, King of the Sea" with that old bald fat white guy who gave Arnold a free bike (looked like how I picture greggy- I know he's AZN) and touches Dudley in his naughty place. He plies them with wine and pizza and also lures the boys into his home and these games with, you guessed it...comic books! So I have this irrational fear that I may be viewed as a pedophile and the neighbors would stone me as I walked the neighborhood.

 

I have issues...

 

[ArAich]

 

Thou art a true collector....Big Darth Man....

[Rickdogg]

All of my friends know that I collect comics. My girlfriend even started to collect herself because of me.

[cd4ever]

Most of my friends know i collect just because if you come over my house, it's pretty obvious as there are comics and comic-related stuff all over my computer room. But none of them collect and they could not care less about it. So it's never discussed.

[jimjum12]

i keep it very hush-hush.i'll periodically pull them out from under the floor boards,toss em in a brown grocery bag and rent a cheap room for a couple of days.then i just sit back and come unglued.i did have a girlfriend who knew once,but i traded her for a short box of high grade fantastic four.GOD BLESS...

-jimbo(a friend of jesus)

[COI]

Nice posts guys........

 

From the sound of it, I'm not getting married for a long time, if ever.

 

My family knows about it. My dad was the one who got me started on the hobby. I used to play a lot of sports and do crazy stunts at a young age, and one of these stunts resulted in a broken ankle. So while I was recovering, my Dad would bring me a comic every night on his way home from work. My mom didn't like it at the time for some reason, but my dad insisted on it. Like Darth's folks, he also thought it would only benefit my reading/writing skills. My relatives do as well because I come from a middle class family, and there's been talk in my family of certain comics I own being worth multiple thousands. They all say to me "why don't you sell? Are you crazy?" But because I collect AND sell, a lot of them respect it because there is $$$ in the hobby.

 

My ex girlfriend actually thought it was really interesting, and would encourage me to spend big $$$ on what she called "the important ones". I'm trying to remember why I broke up with her.

 

 

There's one point that most of you touched upon which has always pissed me off. Besides certain pop-culture references(like comic book guy on the Simpsons), where does this mentality that says all comic collectors have no lives, can't get a date etc.., come from? I had a conversation with a girl once, who somehow found out about the hobby. Her words literally were:"YOU collect comics? You don't look like you would". Apparently, because I like to work out, play sports, and party, I can't be a comic collector. I've been to my share of shows, and while there are the stereotypical "geeks", there are also a lot of different types of people, from different walks of life, in all ages, male AND female.

 

I date frequently, and If it somehow came up, I wouldn't go to great lengths to hide it. But at the same time, I don't volunteer the info because of the stupid stigma attached to the hobby. But either way, I don't care. If I'm dating someone, they would know that I have a lot of interests that involve both athletic and intellectual skills, so if they don't like that I collect comics, they can go F%$K themselves.

 

My ex taught me that beautiful girls can be accepting of the hobby, and will be if they really like you. And if not, just show them a high dollar sale, right before you kick em' to the curb.

 

But seriously, anyone have any theories as to why this stigma exists and where it originated, besides the obvious?

 

[supapimp]

anyone have any theories as to why this stigma exists and where it originated, besides the obvious?

 

escaping to another reality instead of the present? living in a fantasy world? overactive imagination? or how about all the kids that idenified with puny parker?

[COI]

escaping to another reality instead of the present? living in a fantasy world?

 

So I guess movie lovers, book enthusiasts, weed smokers, alcoholics and other druggies in general, video gamers, and people who enjoy engaging forms of entertainment, are all panty-waiste losers who can't score?

 

And I think people identify with Spidey more because he has to deal with real world problems that we all face, not because he's puny. He hasn't really been puny Parker since the early silver age.

[supapimp]

well i was talking SA, i don't think too many kids nowadays read spidey.

[OldGuy]

"Where do comics fit in within each of your individual little worlds?"

 

Comics fit in just after Bills and just before Divorce.

 

"How do your non-collector friends, family, Girlfriends/boyfriends, casual acquaintances, co-workers or whoever, react to the hobby? Do they think it's interesting, stupid, or crazy(considering the money it takes)."

 

My wife thinks it's pretty cool, but she has very little interest in it herself. My girlfriend on the other hand hates the fact that I would rather spend money on a comic then on her. She just won’t accept that she comes second.

 

If you have kids, do you intend on exposing them to the hobby?

 

My daughter really enjoys the Marvel Masterworks. She thinks the "old comics" are cool, but she has no interest in the newer stuff. She says the new stuff is "to serious". She's 13.

 

"Do many in your "circle" even know that you collect? Is it something you're proud of, and bring up willingly? Or is it a topic you like to keep private."

 

I don't run through the streets telling people I collect, but I don't hide it. I was actually interviewed and identified in a recent newspaper article as a "long time collector". You also can't "take the tour" of our house without seeing my office walls plastered in comic book related posters.

 

"Do you try educating the people around you about it?"

 

Only if they show an interest. I personally don't like people "selling me" on their ideas and opinions when it's unsolicited so I try to not push it unless they really want to know more.

 

"Do you show people your collections? And if so, how do they react?"

 

If they indicate an interest I'm happy to show my collection. When I start pulling out Silver Age superhero books people usually react with a sense of nostalgia. They are sometimes surprised how much I've spent on some books, but they appreciate it a little more when I point out that in most cases I could sell it for even more.