So this happened in the mid 90's. Spider-man was knee deep in the middle of the clone saga, one of the most controversial story arcs in comic history. As a 12 year old kid, I loved it. And after reading the latest issue, I decided to send a letter to Marvel. E-mail was not as widespread back then, so I printed out my letter and my mom took me to the post office to send it.
A few months pass and I'm reading the latest issue of Spider-man. I turn to the letters page and what do I see but my letter, complete with my full name printed on the back page of the comic book! "They printed it!" I told my mom. My dad was in the room and he asked what was going on. Now, I love my boomer dad very much. He's an immigrant who isn't fluent in English and this was where the confusion started. I told him how I sent a letter to Marvel a few months ago and that they printed it in the latest issue. Now, something was obviously lost in translation because my dad thought that I, at the age of twelve, had written and illustrated a Spider-man story, sent it to Marvel and got published. He asked me several times, while looking through the comic book, "you did this? You really did this?" I said, yes, excitedly, not knowing that he was referring to the story and not my letter. "My name's right there at the back, see!" I was referring to my letter, but at that point my dad took it to mean that I was credited by Marvel for my work.
My dad was so proud. A few days later I noticed that my comic book was missing. It turns out that my dad took the comic with him and was bragging about me at work. "My son made a comic book! He wrote and drew everything!" I was clueless of all this but there were a few red flags that I should have picked up on. For one, my dad held on that comic book like glue. He would look through the pages at night. I would also get complimented by people at his work "there's our little Picasso" and so on.
Then one night, my dad asked me if I had sent anything else to Marvel. Thinking that he meant fan mail, I said no, I haven't sent anything since the last one. He told me that I should make another one. He starts talking to me about my "talent", if I want to go to art school, if Marvel paid me etc. It was at this point that I realized what actually happened and how bad it had gotten. My dad honestly believed that I had written and illustrated an actual Marvel Comic(I have done a few sketches but nothin
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This has been going on since i was a little kid. i am now in my early 20’s. she seems to be unaware of the privacy violation.
i have repeatedly requested she stop opening mail that she finds “interesting” or “important” (her own words).
this time i finally snapped after she opened my bank statement and started asking about incoming/outgoing venmo transactions. i did get angry, yes, but after having this go on for years i am quite simply fed up with her lack of respect for me. she says it’s “her right as a mother to know what her child is doing with their money.”
uhh, maybe it was before i turned eighteen, lady, but at this point she is 1) completely disregarding personal boundaries and my privacy and 2) literally breaking the law. she dug her heels in and said that if i was getting mail delivered to her house, it’s her right to open it.
i can’t change my billing address as i have had to change living situations pretty consistently recently due to the covid/school situation.
AITA for getting angry with her about this? i dont think i am, but she seems very convinced that she is in the right.
