buggery | Every comics shop has one...

There's at least one employee (if you count owner-operators) in every comics shop. Many of us comics readers are wont to refer to the person they deal with at the shop they frequent as "my comicshop guy" or "friendly local comicshop dude" or a similar designation.

Many of these heroes-behind-the-counters share a similar appearance. The owner-operator of the comicshop in the fictional Springfield of Simpsons fame is more a lampooning than a representation of the Comics-Retailer Man type... but the fact remains that there's a noticeable resemblance among the fellows who make sure the titles on our pull lists make it into our pull boxes on a weekly basis.

They look like this, more or less:

Click here to see the Comics-Retailer Man!

My own local Comicshop Guy could've posed for that cover (as the fashion-challenged figure in front, not as the Punisher), aside from his not owning an assault rifle or a Soviet-Russia-themed pink shirt. The haircut and beard are even just the way he was wearing his back over the summer... which means, actually, that it was an even better likeness when the cover was painted.

Hmm.

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I wish Gabriel (my comic book store guy) had a picture of himself up on the store site. He's such a slender almost-pretty ponytailed guy!

His male minions, however, are typical Comics-Retailer Men. (His girl minion, on the other hand, is quite cute. Suspect she may be attached in some respect to Gabriel. She has good taste in comics, unlike most of the male minions.)

(Actually, I've noticed this in other comics stores in Seattle as well. The female employees tend to be very attractive in the alternageek way. I don't know if this is universal.)

I have seen Comic Shop Guys who don't fit the stereotype, including employees of other genders and races. But the stereotype still seems to be the most common type in actual stores.

He's the ONLY comic book guy in all of Seattle that I've seen who doesn't fit it, and we've got a fair number of good stores around here.

I go to at least three of them on a regular basis, and ALL the other guys fit it (to the point where I've started wondering if there's a factory somewhere), which means G always makes me doubletake (well, okay, used to make me doubletake) in a "what the hell are you doing running a comicbook store, pretty boy?" kind of way. When he opens his mouth, suggests a comic, or gets involved with the latest GL in-shop discussion, the shock fades.

Hee! My husband, ComicBookMan, owns a store in Connecticut called Legends of Superheros... he and his partner, The Other ComicBookGuy, don't look like that at all. They are very clean cut guys who could be doctors or lawyers or work in an advertising agency for all you'd know to look at them (if they weren't standing behind the counter of a comic book store, that is.) Years ago, ComicBookMan wanted to put an ad in the local Yellowpages, which I set about creating in Powerpoint for them. He wanted a tagline, something quotable, to go at the bottom of the ad in italics. "Come on, think of something!" he said to The Other ComicBookGuy, who put down the Price Guide he was perusing and suggested, deadpan, "How about 'We bathe.'?"

I don't believe this.

Your husband is one of the co-owners of Legends of Superheroes?! It's a great shop, my best friend has his pull-box up there because he attends NVCC, and I go up there myself on the rare occasion I can't get a book I want from the Comic Cabana. Richie's is just much closer to me, and I don't usually have to worry about transportation, unlike getting all the way up West Main.

Do you guys live in town, or in Watertown, or what?

We should have a fannish get-together! Maybe the next time Te's up this way for a visit. We could all go for sushi, or Thai, or heck, order from New Moon II which is the best take-out Chinese in the city in addition to being across the street from your husband's shop!

::deeply amused that fandom is ][ THIS big::

Hee! Every time I tell my husband that everyone on my flist is squee'ing about comic books, he tells me to direct them to his shop! So now I can say that someone on the flist *does* stop by! Yay!

I would have LOVED to have a fannish get-together, but we live in Everett, MA, though for half the week, ComicBookGuy (Bob) lives in CT with his dad in Southington and works at Legends. When he's up in MA, he has a second job with a shop called Webhead in Wakefield, MA -- the two shops are loosely affiliated. The Other ComicBookGuy (Craig) takes care of Legends when Bob's not there. Next time I'm going to be down in CT, I will drop you a line to let you know, maybe we can entice you over to the shop & have a mini-get together (with New Moon's great take out)? It would be sheer luck if it co-incided with Te being in town, but we can hope.

In the meantime, ::BUY AT LEGENDS, THE BEST COMIC SHOP IN CT!!!!:: (/advert)

Every comics shop has one...

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