My first bike was a comfort bike, Giant Sedona CX, it is a lot more comfy than 3 other bikes that were in the garage at the time of buying. As I got more experience, I found myself gravitating to "faster" bikes. Haven't bought one, but I am regularly chased out by bike salesmen after I drooled over some flatbar racer...
But I don't have spinal whatever. Go for the confort bike dude. Who cares what roadies think. Just don't buy a department store bike at any cost.