Four-Colour Crack: How to cope with a comics addiction

Are you having trouble dealing with your comic issues? Nurse Adrian Brown presents seven signs that you may be comics dependent - and offers some advice on shaking off your addiction.
20 September 2002

The monthly serial delivery of the majority of comics seems to exert great power over some readers.

Yes, I am among those in the shop every Thursday picking up my monthlies, but I'm not referring to the weekly impulse to buy new comics, but rather, the way people follow ongoing comics.

I often hear people saying that they are buying a book despite not liking the current storyline, because they hope it will get better when a new writer comes on board. The habits of people buying every single book that features Character X are well documented. Also, there are the dedicated readers of Book A who campaign vociferously against changes they don't like (and in the case of Book G, for many years after it should have ceased to be an issue). So why do people carry on buying comics when they're not enjoying them?

My name is Adrian and I am a recovering comics addict.

It has been six months since I last used Book H.

But this is not about me.

The syndrome of alcohol dependence identified by Griffith Edwards outlines seven factors that indicate dependence. These can be applied to other drugs with minimal interpretation. They can also be applied to more behavioural "addictions" - such as buying comics that are bad for you.

Narrowing of repertoire

Do you only use comics of one type, or from one genre? Or one publisher? Or even worse, do you use all comics with Character X featured? Do you find other comics do not deliver the same pleasure?

Salience of drug-seeking behaviour

Is your weekly routine structured around that weekly trip to the comic dealer? Do you turn up every New Comics Day? Do you find yourself wandering past the dealer's place "purely by chance" and popping in to see if there's been a midweek delivery? Do you write fan fiction?

Tolerance

Have you noticed that you are more likely to tolerate poor content in a book you use constantly? Do you find you are buying this kind of book more and more in order to get the same enjoyment?

Withdrawal

When a comic is late, are you agitated by the delay to your hit? Do you attempt to substitute this by purchasing a similar book? Or by reading your back issues? Have you ever imagined seeing the characters from this comic in the street? Do you start to feel edgy or disappointed when you reach the last couple of pages of the comic?

Relief

When your desired comics arrive, do you rush to use them at home, in the cafe or bar, or on the bus? Does your anxiety recede when you are reading the comic? Do you rush home from a stressed day at work, eager to use your comics to help you relax?

Compulsion

Do you continue to buy comics in the face of financial difficulty? Or do you pay too much for them? Do you use comics at the cost of being ostracised by your non-comics using friends? Have you ever tried to cut down how many comics you use?

Reinstatement

After cutting down, or stopping, do you find that your use quickly reverts to the previous pattern? If you have been able to drop a book, do you pick it up again as soon as you hear it has got better?

If you meet five or more of these criteria, you may be a comic dependent person. Three or four, and you are prone to comics binges - perhaps not weekly, but when you do go to the dealer, you will go over the top.

There are treatments for your condition. Alcoholics Anonymous has inspired a whole range of self-help organisations, which members can attend when they need the support of people who understand their problem because they share their experiences. People meet regularly and each member works through a series of twelve steps towards understanding and coping with their addiction.

The Twelve-Step movement has some pointers for your self-help programme. Here are the twelve steps of admission for comic book users:

1. We admitted we were powerless over comics. Compared with the superheroes.

2. We came to believe that a Power greater than Superman could restore us to sanity.

3. We made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to comics.

4. We made a searching and fearless moral inventory of our collections.

5. We admitted to a comics related internet forum, to ourselves and to another human being the exact nature of our comics addiction.

6. We were entirely ready to have a sale to remove all these, even the ones without defects of cover.

7. We humbly asked if we could keep some trade paperback collections.

8. We made a list of all persons we had introduced to comics, and became willing to make amends to them all.

9. We made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when their own addiction might jeopardise our own recovery.

10. We continued to take personal inventory and sold many comics via eBay.

11. We sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with Stan Lee as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the Powers to carry that out.

12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to anyone who would listen, by going on about it at length in any appropriate internet discussions, and also many inappropriate ones. 'Nuff Said!

However, this method is not for everyone, so here is a simple detox you can try for yourself.

Create a comic diary; note how many books you buy each week, and keep track of how many you actually use. Once you have a baseline figure, decide how you are going to cut down. Stopping abruptly can work for some people, but it can also result in painful withdrawals. Set a realistic timescale for stopping.

Note that not all comics use is unhealthy, and concentrate on cutting out the harmful ones first. Once you have stopped, a good idea is to keep an old comic in a jar, to bring out and remind you when cravings surge.

Remember, if you are going to use comics, use them responsibly.

And never, ever inject them.

Adrian Brown is a professional psychiatric nurse at a central London NHS substance misuse service.

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