Comics and Me

I have a sad, and slightly embarrassing story I'm gonna tell today, but it ends all heartwarmingly, so it's OK. This past Saturday, I spent about six hours in a comic book shop. Lemme clarify that statement. I spent six hours in a row, in the same comic book shop. This past Saturday.

Says something about a person, huh?

But, in my defense there was the biggest sale in the store's history, and a good buddy of mine was in charge of said sale, and I told him I'd spend some time and hang out, and maybe even help out if need be.

Of course, mostly becasue I'm just not very good at a great many things, my buddy needed no help from me whatsoever. Regardless of that fact, I stayed at the shop pretty much from open to close.

Now, sure, I spent quite a while pouring through back issues and graphic novels finding some really great deals and spending way too much money, but I also talked to a ton of different people.

Different, but like-minded people.

Comics fans, all. And some gamers and sports card collectors mixed in as well. But, essentially, people with a very similar mentality when it comes to their fandom of choice. And I have to say, it was a lot of fun.

Sad as that sounds (spending a whole day in a comics shop) I had a really good time. Becasue I don't have much more than an hour a week in which to visit my LCS, there are many people I see once every few months, and even in one case, a guy I hadn't seen in almost five years.

Actually, that guy was a good dude named Dan, and he used to own a comic shop not far from where I live. And, when I first started getting into comics, Dan's was the shop where I'd buy my books. And on Saturday I got to tell him that he had a pretty big part in my comics education, and his store was a main reason why I still read comics today.

I told Dan this, and I got to thank him for that, and he told me how much he appreciated it, and I thought that was cool. I hadn't seen Dan since his shop sadly closed its doors those five years back, but he recognized me and we talked for a bit.

And I guess that's what I wanted to get across in this post. I spent maybe a half hour a week at this guy's store over five years ago, but even so, he remembered me and we got to talking about comics, and work, and whatever. And I guess that says a lot for a hobby like ours--a hobby that is too often mocked and ridiculed by people who have clearly never read Watchmen or Dark Knight or The Copybook Tales or The Goon or Box Office Poison or Bone or Sandman.

And I know I spend (too) many words on this blog screaming about how great comics are to anyone who'll listen to me, and I spend way too much time playfully (and sometimes not so playfully!) picking on the hardest of the hardcore fanboys out there.

But Saturday really drove home the fact that ours is a good, and even close-knit community of like-minded people. And even though you and I have never met, well, if and when we do, at least we know we'll have something in common.