Iron Man #128

Why this one?  Because it gave me hope.

I used to tell people that my father is an alcoholic, but that isn't an accurate description.  Alcoholics have identified they have a problem and usually seek a solution to it.  My father is a drunk.

The first time I read this book, I was still at the stage where I thought that all my father needed was some love and support and he would seek help.  Reading about Tony hitting rock bottom, talking through his problems with Bethany, and eventually getting the help he needed made me think that if it was possible for Stark, it might happen in my world.  The final panels, where Tony walks away from the bottle because of his friends was always powerful to me, because it gave me hope.

Sadly, my father has never got over his addiction.  He went to rehab when his employer recognized the problem and wanted to help him, but he wasted that opportunity, not following through on what he'd learned while there and falling back into his old habits.  He eventually was diagnosed as clinically depressed and started seeing a therapist, but he stopped taking his Zoloft because of how it interacted with the alcohol, so he has continued to live a miserable existence because of the bottle.  He has burned every bridge that has ever been built for him, with both my mother and sister wanting little to do with him; the only reason I interact with him is because for some reason, he's a different person when he's around my daughters. and I won't take that away from him.

This book once upon a time made me think that things could be different in my dad's, and by extension my, life, and when I read it now, it makes me know that while he's too far gone, there are others out there who may be able to escape their addictions, and that makes me happy to know their loved ones may not have to go through what I have for the past 30 years.