addiction

As you know, I'm getting ready for our move to New Mexico. In the process of weeding out my all too copious possessions, I've been selling stuff on Ebay.

I've discovered, though, that there is a danger in online auction sites. They're addictive. I find myself compulsively checking every few minutes to see if I've gotten any new sales or, at least, if any of my auctions have gotten any new watchers. (In fact, upon completing that last sentence, I did exactly that. I checked Ebay. I was delighted to see that one of my sets of comics has been bid up all the way to $3.75. Ah, the free market system.)

I'm not sure what it is that makes the game so playable. I wonder, though, if the appeal isn't that Ebay is sort of like a puzzle to be solved. How do I list an item? What minimum bid should I set? How do I use Ebay to print out postage and a mailing label?

All things to be ascertained. Like the clues in MYST. Or the telltale signs of unrequited love.


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The good news, as my son points out, is that if I have gotten hooked on auctions, at least it's in selling rather than buying.

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The comic books are doing remarkably well on Ebay. Which is a good thing since I have several hundred of them, comics I mean, mostly dating back to the 1960s. Even then, it seems, I was addicted to ink.

So, Scrooge McDuck, Donald and the Boys, Grandma Duck ("and her farm friends"), Bugs Bunny, Mickey Mouse, Baby Huey, CARtoons, Hot Rod Cartoons, Chip and Dale, "Millie the Lovable Monster"…these and more I peddle to the world.

Does it reveal anything about me…anything disturbing…that my childhood reading centered on rodents, barnyard fowl, dragons with eyelashes, and very large internal combustion engines presented in precise, photo-realistic, almost loving detail?

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Most of the comics I'm selling are between thirty and forty years old. But, for various reasons, I do have a few recent pubs. I've even got one — City of Tomorrow by Howard Chaykin (with Michelle Madsen)—that classifies as a "graphic novel."

Strangely, it's the City of Tomorrow that has attracted the least attention. I don't know why. It's got dirty bombs, terrorism, a corrupt American government, lots of high caliber firearms, tons of mostly gratuitous violence, and a sexy robot who dresses sort of like a dominatrix.

I mean, what's not to love?