I have an acquaintance that has a very large comic book collection. Many of them are first editions, etc, and so are rather valuable. He does, however, have one quirk about them that I tend to think is untrue:
Apparently, someone has convinced him that women’s hands emit oils, etc, that are more damaging to the comic books than men’s. Ergo, he does not ever let women touch any of his comic books.
I would not tend to think that this was, in fact, the case, but more a way to keep the girls away from his precious collection. Is there any truth to this idea at all? And if so, wouldn’t just washing your hands prior to touching them alleviate this?
Cecil wrote a column touching on this a few years back, though I can’t find it in the on-line archive. It discussed sychronous menstruation and prompted a letter claiming that a plasma computer monitor factory had more “rejects” at certain times of the month because increased dermal acidity during the female workers’ collective “time” interfered with a manufacturing bonding process. Cecil was skeptical, and frankly so am I. Newsprint is a fairly hardly substance, and trivial differences in skin oil are unlikely to affect it to any degree. Washing your hands would be sufficient to reduce 99% of possible damage, and if that’s not enough, then no-one should be handling these comics and your friend should look into the inert-gas system used to protect documents like the U.S. Constitution.
The deoderant commercials that claim a major pH difference between male and female sweat are playing up a trivial difference as a marketing tool. It’s hooey.
I have a few special comics myself, and I just sealed them in plastic and tucked them away. I admit, if I had a first-edition Spider-Man #1 or similar rarity, then I wouldn’t let anybody touch them, female or otherwise. I wouldn’t bother creating some special exclusionary rule with a flimsy pseudoscientific justification.
In short, this sounds the comic-book equivalent of nailing a “No Girlz!” sign to your treehouse.
Yeah, BS for all the above reasons. However, there are two points which need to be brought up (before they can be discussed).
First, it’s probably true that women are more likely to use hand lotion, or to have some similar residue on their hands. OTOH, men are more likely to have motor oil or crap from picking at their faces, so WTF? EVERYBODY should wash his hands before handling valuable printed papers.
Second, while Brayn is correct that newsprint is quite resistant to oil, the slick printed covers are not. Those inks, even with all these years to dry and cure, are still oil-soluble, and may smear if handled (my weekly magazines smear all the time, and if my hands are oily, the mags leave colorful transfers on my fingers).
Fact is, anyone who touches a collectible item with his hands is an idiot, and shouldn’t be collecting.
Actually, his GF lives with him…and has a fair number of her own comic books…and he doesn’t want her to touch them, either. I was witness to one of their arguments about this during the past weekend, which is what started me wondering about it.
Go to Home Depot and buy him a great big box of disposable latex gloves to keep with his collection. Better get some paper dust masks while you’re at it - it’d be a shame if his girlfriend sneezed, coughed or barfed on his precious comics while she was reading them. When you present them to him, tell him to quit his whining and grow the hell up.
Tell him her evaporated perspiration contains 1.345 ppm of hexaflourinecarbomethanol, a known comic-destroyer, and that her just being in the same air as his comics will reduce them from Mint to Near-Mint.
Actually, from a strictly monetary point of view, she probably isn’t… But then, while he freely admits that she’s very important, he still refuses to let her touch any of them. Which I agree is idiotic. I’m almost tempted to take Kamandi’s suggestion, get him a box of latex gloves, and tell him to grow up. I was just hoping for some kind of proof that I could hand her, to hand him, so that he could see exactly what kind of idiot he’s being.
Just a thought…the fellow with the collection doesn’t have any other “Unusual” habits, does he? Like always entering a room a certain way, repeatative speech patterns, over-zealous hand washing, etc.?
Ranchoth
Actually, his GF lives with him…and has a fair number of her own comic books…and he doesn’t want her to touch them, either. I was witness to one of their arguments about this during the past weekend, which is what started me wondering about it.