You’ll have to forgive my particularly foul mood this morning in venting on this blog given that I’ve just had a run in with my family over the classic age old problem for us comic book fans in storing one’s comics. The problem started moments after I woke up this morning as I awoke to my parents arguing over something. Upon venturing downstairs, I heard my mother complaining about a lack of space to store her files in a wooden cabinet where I keep my current pull list. You see, two of the files on the wooden cabinet originally kept 6 series from my pull list and my mother wanted me to stack more of my comics on top of each other to make space for her admin or some other folders. I assume plenty of you Viners know that stacking comics on top of each other bends them out of shape and piling two series or more on top of each other accelerates this. Besides, I do have a habit of keeping each series in its own pile, OCD as that is. Whilst I refused to pile multiple comics on top of each other, I did agree to give up one row of my comics since it is my parents’ house and their word is final etc. Then my brother, who was in the room at the time asked why I didn’t just stack them on top of each other and then seemingly reached into the cabinet to do such a thing. I overreacted not wanting my possessions moved by someone else who had no right to do so and grabbed his hand. That regrettably escalated things as he and I squared off over his apparent actions which brought my parents into it as well.

I then angrily moved 3 of my series upstairs to my room aggressively claiming that my mother now had much more space available and that this problem could have been solved without the arguments or confrontations. But then comes the worst part for me anyway. She then ranted about how not only I couldn’t keep buying 6 or 8 comics per month and keep them stored in the house but that such activities were sad, obsessive and indications of hoarding. And the worse one of all, that my desire to keep a storage of comic books would inevitably keep back my chances of having a relationship. Whilst I know people on the Vine who easily differ from the generalisation that comic nerds don’t get girlfriends, I can’t deny that my acne and other difficulties shall I say fit this stereotype regrettably well. And it’s incredibly painful and upsetting to hear someone who said that I needed more ‘Big Bang theory friends’ (that’s what she calls them after the Big Bang Theory) and even appreciates Superman on a certain level say such spiteful and mean spirited things. Maybe we all woke up on the wrong side of bed but I now see a prime example as to why I keep my comic book hobby a secret. Because of deprecating comments like that. I just never thought they’d come from my own mother though. Oh and bitterly for me, it was her birthday yesterday which I tried to make as nice and as relaxing a day as possible by keeping my older brother calm when he had problems cleaning his shirt, helping to make my own spaghetti bolognaise since I have multiple food allergies and just generally being as nice to my mother as possible out of everything she’s done for me in the past. I have to admit that this morning’s events rub salt on the ever stinging wound.

To switch this personal rant onto something more topical on these forums, this shows the real merits of switching to digital comics for the first time in my life. Which is ironic because I don’t really like reading my comics digitally. When reading my scans posted online, I don’t get the same clarity and visual distinction as I do reading a paper copy where my eyes can more easily adjust to the pictures and the words on the page. Reading books on a kindle or words on screen jars my eyes and doesn’t provide the smoothness of reading a paper comic or a hardback trade. But of course, digitally reading my comics would have avoided the main reason behind this morning’s argument, that is where I store my comics. You digital readers don’t have to worry about storage since it’s all on your tablet, IPhone, IPad, Kindle or PC which, whilst it’ll run out of storage space eventually, can store a helluva lot more digital comics than a house can store physical ones.

I guess this thread is a combination of the storage threads that crop up on here and the “What do other people think of you reading comics?” Since comics are what seems to be a lifelong passion for me, I’m not giving them up any time soon. I’ve already dropped a lot of my reading list to focus on university but I’ll be damned if I give them up completely. Nonetheless, this run in with my own mother over the nasty side of what the general population think of comic book readers has been a particularly disheartening event at that. It’s something that I’m still upset about and will probably have to seriously think about in years to come. Feel free to share thoughts about any problems you’ve had in this area or just complain as to why I’m ranting about personal issues on here. I’ll try and keep a cooler head than I have this morning.