The Addiction

For all those who don't know I'm kind of a geek, I love comics, almost can't live without them. Growing up I use to really be into greek mythology, for some reason it really interest me. Then when I was in high school i began to read Wizard (which is a comic book magazine) which quickly became my monthly bible. Then one thing lead to another and eventually I founded a comic book store called Midtown Comics (because it in midtown mahattan on 42nd street). That is where all my money went, it was an addiction. The more I read the more I wanted, at first it seems cheap (only $2.99 for a monthly comic, $3.50 if the monthly comic is popular, $4.99 if the comic is a special event which usually means it is on a limited run, $15-20 for a varant cover of a specific comic (which means its the same comic as the one that cost $2.99 only that the cover is different....its a collector thing), now if the comic label goes under its' worth nothing and you can get all their comics for cheap (such as crossgen comics),if signed the comic cost more, if signed on a varant cover the prices sores even higher, if a film comes out about a super hero all their milestone comics (which means all the comics that are important to a specfic character such as a comic of their first appearance) sores higher, if graded a comic's price sores even higher).
Now with that said the addiction starts off harmlessly, only two, three maybe four comics a month that's about $12 a month, not bad. So at first you want to start off with comics that give you the most bang for your buck so you get the comics that star the most super heroes such as Justice League and The Avengers, where you can read about Batman, Superman, Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, Flash, Aquaman, all in one book. Then as you read you begin to develop favorites and want to explore them more. So for example let's say you read JLA (Justice League of America) and out all the superheroes in the comic Batman peeks your interest, more than the others do. That's when you want to begin buying Batman comics and you say (well, it's only another three dollars). So you begin reading Batman comics along with the other ones you already reading. Then you discover there are like seven Batman titles so slowly but surely you start to expand until you are now buying all of them. Then then you realize you like another superhero that always guest star in Batman comics for expample, Superman. So one day you pick up a Superman title and just like Batman he has seven titles coming out a month as well. So once again you expand until you are reading all of them. This cycle continues and ever couple of months you find new favorites, which means more comics and thus more money. Then a special event comes along and a comic is created for it, now you got to buy these special event titles because you want to know what's going to happen to your favorite character. Now all along you are reading the Wizard which reinforce the idea you got to but these comics as well as constantly telling you about all the other comics you are missing out on. Also this don't include when the prices of your favorite comic goes up.
Now by this point you are spending more than a $100 on comics a month and for some reason you still feel like you need to expand some more and thus buy more comics. Now this $100 or more you spend on comics don't include all the varant comics, signed comics, or the board and plastic used to keep the comics in good condition. These things come up on occasion and take a extra $50 or $100 from you on certain months. This is when you begin to make cut backs in your budget, so you can buy more comics. Dropping $200 on comics after you already did your comic shopping for the month already, makes you feel guilty, but then you say to yourself "at least in the long run they will pay off". They one day you wake up and realize that you can no longer support this habit you developed, that you must put a stop on it. So you begin to cut back the amount of comics you read, then eventually you only picking up seven comics again (Which is about $20 a month) instead of thirty comics. Then before you know it you no longer reading comics because life catches you in a whirlwind and your funds won't allow you. Then you realize that although you no longer buy comics, becaue you are a geek, you still addicted.