Every comics shop has one...

[buggery]

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.

Comments

[minim_calibre]

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.)

[buggery.livejournal.com]

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.

[minim_calibre]

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.