Comic Comfort
I’ve been thinking, lately, about the unique way that geeks are set up to comfort themselves as a result of our tendency to collect things. It’s an idea, not surprisingly, born out of one of those difficult periods everyone goes through. Let me set the scene.
My wife and I had trouble conceiving. When we finally did, things got even more complicated. First, we found out our baby had cloned itself in the womb and that we’d be feeding, diapering and paying for daycare for two rather than one. Let’s just say our plans for the nursery had to change.
Then, with around three and a half months to go before their due date, Amy was put on bedrest. The bedrest meant we wouldn’t be visiting her parents in New Jersey for Thanksgiving, and she wouldn’t be going to her mother’s baby shower. No biggie, she Skyped in, but the extra-bonus stress of her pregnancy had begun.
Roughly one month after that, the bedrest became a month long stay in the hospital. The boys wanted out in a big way, we wanted them to stay inside in a big way. So, my beautiful wife, who hates being bored, was trapped in one room in a hospital over Christmas and New Year’s. Being Jewish, Christmas was less of a deal for her, but she still missed spending time with my family and I had to give her her gifts solo instead of with everyone else. The bedrest also meant she missed the baby shower my family was throwing.
The whole time, I was back and forth from work to the hospital, trying to make things go as easily for my wife as I could. My sister was nice enough to take the dog, so I was able to crash in the hospital room most nights. My nights at home felt pretty lonely and isolating. All in all, it was a pretty stressful time.
So what did I do? I read comics. I read them at home and I read them in the hospital when my wife was either sleeping or on the phone with a well-wisher. The comics I picked were old and comfortable.
I reread my old stand-by for stressful moments, the Claremont/Miller Wolverine limited series. I reread several of my X-Men trades: The Dark Phoenix Saga, Fall of the Mutants and Inferno. I picked up the Excalibur Classic Trades and worked my way through those stories again. I made my way through the Ultimate Universe, rereading the first volumes of Ultimate X-Men and Ultimate Spider-Man.
I hung around Gotham City and watched Batman suffer through the events of No Man’s Land. I even tracked down a copy of Emerald Dawn so I could relive the origin of Green Lantern.
I didn’t realize it at the time, but I was clearly comforting myself. The comics I reread were either books I had read in middle school and high school, great stories that would easily catch me up in the events to let me escape the stress of the moment, or both.
There was more to it than that, however. I didn’t pick up Ender’s Game, my favorite book. Nor did I pick up favorite novels from my childhood like The Hobbit or Treasure Island. I read comics.
Why? What were the giving me?
A few things, as it turns out, but the most potent was determination. That’s what superheroes are all about, right? Things generally suck for them, but the do what must be done to help those around them. It’s theme that comes out most notably in Wolverine, Teen Titans and No Man’s Land. I was also getting a welcome relief in the form of pure unadulterated, fast-paced adventure. This came out most clearly in Excalibur and Ultimate Spider-Man. Comics were giving me the strength, comfort and sense of purpose I needed in order to support my wife through a time that was hard for me, but infinitely harder for her.
I didn’t get it yet. It took another event for me to finally see what was going on and begin finding the seeds of the article you’re reading.
Eventually, she came home. Two weeks later, we were back in the hospital and she gave birth to our sons Nathan and Gavin. Five days later she and the boys were home for good.
What did I do? Same as last time. But the comics were different. I read Superman; Man for all Seasons and Birthright. I went back to Claremont’s Japan, this time through the lens of Kitty Pryde and Wolverine. I wound my way through the beginning of the second Teen Titans series and poked around in some Captain America trades. I went out a bought Archer’s Quest, a Green Arrow story I already have in issues, but now own in graphic novel.
A new theme came out: fatherhood. I wasn’t consciously looking for stories that dealt with it, I just wound up with them. Superman and Captain America are clearly the perfect hero dads every little kid should see when they look at their fathers. The other stories all focused on the relationships between either actual fathers and their children, or the similar relationship of a superhero and his sidekick.
Once I saw this second theme—and how could I miss it?—I decided to look back at what I had read previously and found the themes hiding in those comfort comics mentioned earlier as well. It all seemed pretty obvious in hindsight.
So, here are my questions for the comment board: Is this an advantage unique to the collector geek, we who tend to keep things from the past? Is it unique to those of us willing to revisit stories? Can a sports fan revisit an old ball game on DVD and get the same type of comfort?
I’ll be interested to read your thoughts. How have your geek flavored interests help you out during stressful times?
Comments On This Article
Jeremy Couturier says:
Great article! To some comics are just like those great albums that defined a period of your life in some way. I still have comics and graphic novels I bought when I was a tween, and I do reread them. They aren’t just comforting but affirming, of who you are and where you came from. Born Again by Frank Miller always does it for me.
Brendan says:
Thanks. Glad you liked it.
I agree about them being affirming. The Claremont/Miller Wolverine story is my affirmation book. And, to some degree, Ultimate Spider-Man is becoming such, although it’s not as much of a blast from the past having come out after I was in college.
‘B’
beth says:
//Is this an advantage unique to the collector geek, we who tend to keep things from the past? Is it unique to those of us willing to revisit stories? Can a sports fan revisit an old ball game on DVD and get the same type of comfort?
I’ll be interested to read your thoughts. How have your geek flavored interests help you out during stressful times?//
My God, I could write a book. But the short answer is: yes.
Put it this way: the 2004 Boston Red Sox ALCS and World Series is the best STORY I’ve ever heard / seen - 86 years in the making and so full of miracle moments. My Faith Rewarded DVD is on heavy rotation in the off-season.
As for helping out during stressful times, that’s why I got into (or back into) sports in the first place. With school over, being a Sox and Pats fan helped me regain a sense of identity and belonging to a group, an escape in the form of the games, a soap opera that is following the players and their personalities…
Brendan says:
@beth- That’s interesting. I see the belonging to a group and stress relief of sports. And I agree about the 2004 Sox, especially the ALCS. The World Series was a bit of a letdown in my opinion, after the Yankees series.
I was thinking more along the lines of revisiting old games and such. Although Faith Rewarded is indeed a way to revisit them. I’ll ahve to watch my copy again.
David says:
I don’t think it’s unique to collector geeks, but I do think that one of the many reasons to revisit old stories (in whatever form, from comics, books, movies, music) is for inspiration, comfort and affirmation. They speak to us and we listen.
Most definitely my geek-flavored interests have helped during stressful times - these days I tend to slowly winnow out media that I realize I have no desire to return to. Exercise, whether weights or running, is also high up on the list. In a way, there’s a connection - working out is part of my personal narrative and there have definitely been times where I needed that particular part of my identity to pull me through hard times.
Brendan says:
I tend to think it takes a certain type of person and/or a certain level of interest in a story to intentionally revisit a book/tv show/movie for the sole purpose of finding comfort, inspiration, or what have you. Especially when you’re talking about an active story experience like reading as opposed to the more passive approach of watching tv and movies. It takes a certain level of geekery. Especially when your talking about a deep enough understanding to seek out a specific story line within a larger work.
As to de-stressing through physical activity, I think that applies to most people. (It’s why I take martial arts.) But it’s outside of where I was going with the article.
Good thoughts, everyone. Keep ‘em coming.
David says:
I’d agree it takes a certain level of interest and need to seek these stories out, but I think it’s broader than just geeks—unless you broaden that out to be almost anyone who has a reasonable media collection/likes to read. I’d agree completely that it’s unique to those of us willing to re-visit stories and think about them.
Watching movies on DVD these days is less and less passive - you can flip forward and back, watch particular scenes, enable commentary, all that. Sometimes I’m in the mood just to watch certain scenes of certain movies.
You sought out these story lines for a reason - but you yourself noted that it was only after the fact that you sought out these particular themes and stories. Often it’s hard for us to figure out why we do certain things until we have more distance.
Brendan says:
As a teacher, and someone who has been exposed to a broad selection of the public at large, I would say that reading a book does not make you a geek, but rereading it puts you on the road in that direction. And if you read the same book three times or more you’re either a geek or a scholar, depending on the book. (And a scholar is really just a geek with abetter title.)
As for media - and I assume you mean movies - yes, a reasonable movie collection also puts you on the road toward geekdom. Also, if you’re buying your DVD with the interactivity (commentary, deleted scenes, etc) in mind, I would say that also makes you a geek. The only exception being skipping scenes because that’s an automatic feature.
That said, I still think there is something to my thesis. I’ll concede, maybe geeks aren’t the only ones who benefit from revisiting stories we enjoyed in the past for comfort/motivation/what-have-you. But, those of us who are geeks, do tend to have more of them and to have started finding them at an earlier age. That, I think, makes us uniquely suited to benefit from the practice. There’s more to pick from, so we can seek out more and different themes as we need them and we get the added benefit of being transported to what was likely a happier time with fewer responsibilities and less stress.
Finally, I did look for those stories. I figured out the father angle pretty quick when I looked down at my stack of graphic novels to be read and saw Captain America and Superman laying there. I didn’t need the distance, but I also didn’t fight the urge. I just read them and further applied my own self-awareness by starting to think about the books I had read earlier. Thus came the idea for the article.
E. Christopher Clark says:
Excellent article and great conversation. I don’t have much to add at this point, but I did want to point out that I loved this particular line and think it’s definitely true (having worked with literary scholars and critics for the past five years):
“if you read the same book three times or more you’re either a geek or a scholar, depending on the book. (And a scholar is really just a geek with abetter title.)”
The scholars I know are definitely geeks for the books that they love, and that’s one of the fun parts about working with them.
David says:
But, those of us who are geeks, do tend to have more of them and to have started finding them at an earlier age. That, I think, makes us uniquely suited to benefit from the practice.
Now, there we’re certainly in agreement! Love the comment about the scholar.
Also, if you’re buying your DVD with the interactivity (commentary, deleted scenes, etc) in mind, I would say that also makes you a geek.
Mmm, there we get into splitting hairs of exactly how much obsessive interest in a subject is required for geekdom. So I won’t go down that road, but point out that these days, almost all DVDs are heavily interactive because a huge segment of the population, geek or not, enjoys all the extra stuff around a movie. I think that’s more an evolution of technology and opportunity - but certainly people who are heavily invested in the best of the best when it comes to interactive DVDs do tend to be geeks.
Finally, I did look for those stories. I figured out the father angle pretty quick when I looked down at my stack of graphic novels to be read and saw Captain America and Superman laying there.
Sure, but I could only go by what you wrote:
A new theme came out: fatherhood. I wasn’t consciously looking for stories that dealt with it, I just wound up with them.
Which suggested to me that it was only once they were gathered together that you realized what you had in front of you. That’s all I meant by that.
I’m definitely not dismissing your thesis - just pushing at some definitions and scope.
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