Reading Comics Can Improve Brain Function?

I thought that this community might find this interesting. I saw it today on Twitter while advertising Galatea !

qz.com/1777533/reading-comic-books-can-improve-brain-health/

Not when you're reading SJW comics

Idylls wrote: Not when you're reading SJW comics

im going to hijack this to say something I think you need to hear.  But it also means I’m a dickhead — because saying this shit is exactly that.   I don’t know you.   But I love comics and I’m focusing on that.  

focus on the things you love, not what you hate.  (In all things)

there are probably more comics you love released than you can read.   I buy 1000 comics a year and that’s only a fraction of what comes out!

sure sometimes a creator does things you don’t like to your favorite character.   Wait it out, it’ll come back.  If not ALL the old stories are there.  You have lost nothing.  I know it seems like you have, but you haven’t. 

i love comics.  And it almost pains me your first response to an article on comics is NOT to think about how you love them ... but to focus on what you hate.

life is too short.

pay more attention to those that focus on things they love.  If they mainly talk about what they hate?  It’s not worth your time.

some criticism is good.  But don’t eat a steady diet of it.  

you can still not like things.  And share that.  Just don’t dwell on it.  And once you start obsessing —- and your response screams of that, I’m humbly suggesting a better way.  One that leads to happiness and more comics.

also maybe don’t vilify people who don’t like what you don’t like.  But I think that flows naturally.  I don’t think Badly of you that you don’t like SJW comics (whatever those are to you —- and all of us assuredly do not care).   I just want you to really enjoy the ones you do like.

Anyway, peace and love for comics.

Don't assume too much. Perhaps you missed my gushing hope for Stargirl, a CW show. I don't arbitrarily like or hate anything. They all have cause, they've all been given the benefit of doubt. I'm very discerning.

If anything I'm very forgiving. I can take a lot of.things. I keep.talking.to people here who a few posts ago would do things just to spite me. 

I'm just going to end this here before I tell what I really think of your reply. 

Idylls wrote: Don't assume too much. Perhaps you missed my gushing hope for Stargirl, a CW show. I don't arbitrarily like or hate anything. They all have cause, they've all been given the benefit of doubt. I'm very discerning.

If anything I'm very forgiving. I can take a lot of.things. I keep.talking.to people here who a few posts ago would do things just to spite me. 

I'm just going to end this here before I tell what I really think of your reply. 

I will say, read my first paragraph.  I'm well aware that I don't know you and I was being a dick.

Also, I sure hope you don't think this was to spite you!  While it's an asshole thing to do to suggest life choices to strangers -- I did not do this to spite you or anyone else.

OTH, I think you might actually have missed the point. My post was NOT about pre-judging things, or giving things the benefit of the doubt, or arbitrarily liking or hating things, or how discerning you are, and ABSOLUTELY not about if your choices have merit.  I am most assuredly NOT making a value judgement on what you think "SJW Comics" are and why you hate them.  I am not making any judgement on your tastes at all.  We all like different things, and that's FANTASTIC.  (That is serious, no sarcasm.)

This is about focusing on things YOU know you hate, and obsessing about them, rather than spending your focus on things you love.  We are what we spend time on.

And i'll point out again that this is YOUR definition of what you love/hate.  Not anyone else's (and especially not mine),   And WHY you love/hate something doesn't even come into this.  It's all about what you focus on and how much time you give it.  Which you feed more.

I did make an assumption that based on your post you might have a slightly obsessive hate for "SJW Comics". I apologize if this isn't true, but it seemed like a reasonable inference.  That you don't like them is clear, the dickhead assumption on my part is that _maybe_ your hate is a taking a bit too much of your focus.  Of course, that's your call too.

I really don't like Rob Liefeld's art (and most of his storytelling).  Or the Finches' run on WW. But, I really don't spend much time thinking about them.  I mean if you stick the quarter into me, I'll tell you why if the topic comes up,I just don't generally think about it.  I spend my time thinking about George Perez, John Byrne, Chris Samnee, Chris Sprouse, Frank Cho, Jen Bartel, and... (etc).  The art of John Byrne's Superman is awesome.  Have i mentioned I love the cover to Marvel Two in One 56?

Focus on what you love.  You'll be happier.

And/Or tell me to stuff it.  It's your life. I presumed enough to make a suggestion, but that's all it is.

I probably won't reply, except to apologize for being an asshole, mostly this was to make clear that I'm NOT trying to spite you, or claim your tastes are stupid and should change to mine.  I'm pretty sure that there is a large set of things we both like just as there is a large set of things one of us likes and the other doesn't.  I look forward to having friendly conversations on that topic in other threads where relevant.

Unless you don't like Firefly.  In that case, you're wrong and you need to re-evaluate your life.

 

"This is about focusing on things YOU know you hate, and obsessing about them, rather than spending your focus on things you love.  We are what we spend time on."

This quote from Twice is simple but profound. Focusing your life on what you love, and not on what you hate, has got to go down as one of the primal rules of true happiness. 

Whenever I meet someone in my age group (70ish) who follows that rule, they are universally happy, optimistic people who have learned to avoid negative energy in their lives. It reveals itself in every way, including their health. 

Shadar

I haven't seen Firefly. I don't think it was shown in my country. I'm the worst geek ever. 

On a serious note. I'm grateful for your concern Twice. I assure you,.you don't have to apologize for anything. And yes. I got what you mean the first time. Do you go to Mark & Angel's site?

Btw, how is Batwoman shadar? Despite what I said I would've watched maybe a couple of episodes if it was available in my country. 

And yes I would focus on what I love, which is riling up this forum now and then 

Idylls wrote: I haven't seen Firefly. I don't think it was shown in my country. I'm the worst geek ever. 

On a serious note. I'm grateful for your concern Twice. I assure you,.you don't have to apologize for anything. And yes. I got what you mean the first time. Do you go to Mark & Angel's site?

Btw, how is Batwoman shadar? Despite what I said I would've watched maybe a couple of episodes if it was available in my country. 

And yes I would focus on what I love, which is riling up this forum now and then 

Unfortunately, I don't know anything about Batwoman. I've never been a Batman, Batgirl, Batwoman person, so it had no draw for me. But I think it's still on TV, so I guess it's doing fine with whatever audience likes it. 

Personally, I usually like stories that involve gay or transgender characters. Two of my very best friends growing up were gay, back in 60's and 70's, and I was always the odd guy out in that I was completely straight. But I enjoyed their company and perspective on things, but we avoided subjects related to sex because I couldn't grok the attraction. But it didn't get in the way of friendship. And I knew one transgender woman when I lived in Asia who was drop-dead gorgeous. We loved to go barhopping with her as it was a gas to see visitors from the US or Europe falling over themselves to hook up with her. 

First rule in SE Asia back then was that if a woman was tall and looked like she belonged in a cape and costume, then she was likely trans, which we called he-she back in those days. Of course, we'd never tell that to our business visitors from the US or Europe and let them hit her up and go figure it out on their own. It was great fun the next morning when the men came to work wide-eyed while tossing out WTF's. 

But then, I tend to be amused by odd things. 

Shadar

Idylls wrote: I haven't seen Firefly. I don't think it was shown in my country. I'm the worst geek ever. 

On a serious note. I'm grateful for your concern Twice. I assure you,.you don't have to apologize for anything. And yes. I got what you mean the first time. Do you go to Mark & Angel's site?

And yes I would focus on what I love, which is riling up this forum now and then 

I don’t know about Mark and Angel’s site, but I found something googling and the front page seemed pretty good, more about keeping things in perspective..  With the state of the world, it’s all things we could use.

I think that we all have different opinions, and I think that if we are open and honest about them, and don’t try to demonize someone for what they like or don’t like, we can have a nice discussion.   There are a bunch of crazy people on the internet, but SWM is pretty amazing.

Sometimes I’m blunt — but I always appreciate the differing opinions here.  (I did get a bit tired of the same beat of the dead supergirl horse, but I mostly coped with this by avoiding the threads.). So please keep at it.  

There is no crime or loss of geek creed in not having seen Firefly (esp if it wasn’t even aired in your country!).  The crime is seeing it and hating it. .   This is really a joke though.  I hate gatekeeper mentality.  Telling people they can or can not be a fan.  You are a fan if you say you.  At whatever level you want to be.

Like Shadar I have not seen Batwoman. 

I too generally like Gay characters and have liked most transgender characters I’ve seen.  I just never connected with Batwoman.

I didn’t mind Batwoman in the Crisis episodes but it wasn’t enough to make me want to invest in the TV show. I”m watching anime instead.  They are stupid-fun, and I sort of need that with the world in the state it’s in right now.

Not a fan of Batwoman myself, but I do have the comic where she got super powers for a day.  

Speaking of comics, I am starting to get pretty old.  I much prefer playing Senior Softball (65 Division) 3 to 4 times a week than I do reading or buying comics.  I have a pretty good collection of
invincible, Powers and Mary marvel/Shazam stuff I think I need to dispose of.  Not ready to turn loose of my 1940’s Shazam and Mary Marvel stuff or my Silver age DC.  Not sure about the supergirl
comics from the last 20 years.  I don’t want to throw them in the dumpster.  I would rather find them a good home.  If anyone is interested, let me know.  

ace191 wrote: Not a fan of Batwoman myself, but I do have the comic where she got super powers for a day.  

Speaking of comics, I am starting to get pretty old.  I much prefer playing Senior Softball (65 Division) 3 to 4 times a week than I do reading or buying comics.  I have a pretty good collection of
invincible, Powers and Mary marvel/Shazam stuff I think I need to dispose of.  Not ready to turn loose of my 1940’s Shazam and Mary Marvel stuff or my Silver age DC.  Not sure about the supergirl
comics from the last 20 years.  I don’t want to throw them in the dumpster.  I would rather find them a good home.  If anyone is interested, let me know.  

IM me. . I have way too many comics already but... I am missing some early Invincible.  I’m spotty on powers but I like it.  I love Mary Marvel/Shazam (and have a good set of them).    (My current inventory is 20k+ w/ no duplicates, I am not done yet.)

I really love the ones w/ Mary and Shaffenburger art.  

I’m on a life long mission to get every Supergirl comic, a quest I am sure I never will complete.   Though I have an amazing amount of  early Action/Adventure comics, just not the first ones.

So, I have a lot of comics, and I love them.  And I’m sure we could come to some arrangement that is better than a dumpster!  That thought along makes me shudder!    

(I’m not often on discord, and i usually miss a chat window, and I keep forgetting too look at my messages ..but we can set up email after the first exchange.)

I think doing anything that stimulates the mind can increase brain function.

Crosswords, music, doing sudoku if thats your thing.

I can quite easily believe reading comic books can improve brain function in the same way.

Just my thoughts.

Peace.

/K

kikass2014 wrote: I think doing anything that stimulates the mind can increase brain function.

Crosswords, music, doing sudoku if thats your thing.

I can quite easily believe reading comic books can improve brain function in the same way.

Just my thoughts.

Peace.

/K

Especially if the alternative is to passively fill your brain with crummy TV shows As I see it, it matters less what an active brain is thinking about than just the fact that the brain is actively striving to create and imagine things. 

When I worked as an Electrical Engineer (80's and first half the 90's), my brain was on fire, always trying to figure things out and create things and imagine how things should work. We used to joke that it was amazing they'd pay us and give us a cool lab and gear to have such fun with. 

It happens that was also my most productive period as a writer of genre fiction.

Not a coincidence. An active brain has no limit to its imagination and its power.

Comic books are all about unleashing the imagination. 

Shadar