Two X-Men? Two Deadly Villains?

Just got back from town where my son bought $20 worth of .50 comics. Maybe a Wolverine graphic novel and a couple of $1 X-Men comics made their way to the counter as well. Right now he’s going through them and carefully putting them in plastic sleeves that we bought last weekend as part of his birthday weekend. I have to say I had a hell of a fun time looking through the boxes for Original X-Men and Spiderman comics. The thrill of the hunt, man. It’s not much different than when I go dipping into crates and boxes for vinyl. I think maybe the boy is getting some of that hunting bug from me. Makes a papa proud.

While we were there the comic store, Chimp’s Comix, was just finishing up their Magic: The Gathering festival/competition/game/what have you, and the thick smell of halitosis, body odor, and Pizza Hut filled the air. It’s a very specific crowd in Chimp’s on Saturday afternoon. It’s pretty much what you’d imagine to be in a comic book store on a Saturday afternoon playing Magic: The Gathering. Hey, I’m not judging. I think it’s cool there’s a crowd in a locally-owned bookstore. These folks have a place to call their own, man. I’m cool with that. My son and I made our way back to the .50 bins and did our thing. The crowd thinned out a bit as we were looking. Pretty soon the door opened and in walked three girls. I’m not sure of the age of these three, but I’m guessing between the ages of 16 and 18. All three were wearing long, multi-colored wigs, strange make-up on their faces, and Star Trek tops. Not just t-shirs, but actual long-sleeved tops that looked like what Kirk, Spock, and McCoy wore. I’m not sure what they were doing. They were perusing the used movies, then video games, and then finally searching through random boxes of comics. Here’s the thing, none of the remaining Magic card-loving clientele even noticed these three girls. This both baffled me and didn’t surprise me. I mean, this is the sanctuary of the geek. The comic nerd. This is where you go to avoid eye contact with the opposite sex. Where awkwardness is left at the door and you are at home with your brethren of Marvel and DC-loving brothers. Sure, there are some gals that check the place out and look around, but they’re mostly there with their geeky boyfriends(or sons)looking around. They wait patiently as the guys finger stacks of ink-covered pages. In any other place these three female Trekkies would have been accosted and gawked at till they felt the need to escape before they were man-handled or thrown out. Not at Chimps, no sir. Here, there were as obvious as the comic book pages that adorned the walls. One guy did turn around ask them “So is there a Star Trek convention going on somewhere around here?” None of them responded. His reply to their silence was “Well, nice job anyways.”

It was one of the more interesting trips to Chimp’s Comix.

Gary Numan’s The Pleasure Principle is spinning. Pizza dough is rising. Its’ Saturday night, and life is still good.