You know you're obsessed when...

You know you're obsessed with comics when they start figuring in your dreams, as they did in mine last night.

In the dream, I was at a convention, browsing at a dealer's table when somebody started complaining loudly to the dealer. The customer was demanding a refund on a comic he'd bought because the cover was torn, and the dealer was standing firm on his "all sales final" policy, explaining that the torn cover was the reason the book had been so cheap. I stepped in and asked the customer how much he'd paid for the comic. "Two dollars," he replied. I told him "I'll give you five for it." Not surprisingly, he took me up on it.

Once I had the comic, I started reading it. It turned out to be an old 1950s police/true-crime comic (so you KNOW that $2 - $5 price range could only occur in a dream, torn cover or not), but surprisingly unsensational. The lead story wasn't really a crime story so much as an informational piece (almost PSA-like), featuring a rookie policewoman being instructed on the duties that were expected of her as an officer...and the artwork was by Jack Cole! Being a Jack Cole story, it was hilarious (of course, I can't recall any gags, and I'm sure that if I could, they wouldn't make any sense to my waking mind...all I know is, I remember being greatly amused in the dream). The story was steeped in the sexist attitudes of the time (the one specific bit I DO remember had the cop being patronizingly lectured on the importance of keeping her uniform neat and tidy), but it was so funny I wasn't sure whether it was buying into those stereotypes or making a sly dig at them.

The second story was a piece about a con-artist dentist...unfortunately, apart from that basic premise, that part of the dream didn't stay with me when I woke up.

Conclusion: Even an imaginary Jack Cole story is a work of genius.