Comic Relief

It blows my mind away to see grown men being so addicted to comics. I mean, IT is a global phenomenon. IT is big business. Just look at the movies based on comic books that have sprouted out of Hollywood. Many have become blockbusters and gave birth to new movie stars.

I can easily name 10 movies on top of my head right now - Superman, Spider-Man, Batman, X-Men, the Fantastic Four, Dare Devil, The Phantom, Ghost Rider, Judge Dread and The Incredible Hulk. Half of these come with sequels. Granted, not all are hits. There are quite a few misses too.

But the fact is, comics are BIG. My husband is one of those who get withdrawal syndromes if he misses his weekly dose of comic books. Well, he's not into the products of Marvel and DC but he's fixated with Chinese comics. You know, those with swashbuckling heroes who can fly around ala Crouching Tiger, Sleeping Dragon style? Yeah, he's so into it. So is his best friend.

And they swap comics to save money without fail every week - and these are grown men in their 40s, one of whom is very successful in his career (not my husband, his friend, sigh ...)

Alex can miss a lot of things on weekends. He can miss his movies, TV, meals, taking the kids out but he NEVER misses his comics (which he gets on Sundays). If this is not obsession, I don't know what to call it!

Then again, I'm sure millions of other grown men around the world out there can understand this obsession.