A visit to a comic shop (part 1)

Recently I bought a comic book for the first time.  To do so, of course, I also made my first visit to a comic book shop.


Considering how much I love Wonder Woman, you might think that I own an entire collection of her comic books. I don't. I own exactly two graphic novels: one is a Wonder Woman tome penned by Jodi Picoult (only the second female Wonder Woman writer), and The Crow by James O'Barr. I almost bought a graphic novel version of Pride and Prejudice, but by the time I went back to buy it, it was gone. I have yet to go online to get it, although I'm not sure why.


But I had also been hearing (and reading) about the new Ms. Marvel, one of the few females with her own solo series, and who happens to be a Muslim teenager. I briefly considered digitally downloading an issue, but then I thought I might as well try to get the actual book.


I admit that I was a bit trepidatious.

After seeing twitter conversations in my feed about whether comic book shops are comfortable for women (one women tweeted that she drives miles out of her way to go to a store ran by a woman who is friendly to her and will answer all her questions), contributing to the Kickstarter campaign for She Makes Comics (quote coming up), and reading A.K. Anderson's review of the New 52 Wonder Woman, in which she points out that the (male) authors have removed her from her Amazonian roots (thereby depriving her of the support of her mother and other female family members), have made her emotionally shallow, and do not seem to have basic knowledge of the mythology of Hades, Demeter, and Persephone, I was a little leery about going to a comic book shop.


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She Makes Comics will be a documentary about the history of women in comics, highlighting the contributions they have made to the business and the difficulties they face. The Kickstarter site for this project states:

"While women have made significant strides in the medium over the past several decades, it's still not easy to be a woman in comics. Female readers fight to be recognized as legitimate fans in an insular and sometimes sexist community. In mainstream comics, there remains an unequal balance of women in creative and business roles, and some publishers have been criticized for misogynistic portrayals of women in their titles. The pessimistic question is often asked: is there a place for women in comics?"
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So I emailed a female friend who most likely would know more about local comic book shops than I do, and chose a store on her recommendation list that was on my way home. I called ahead to make sure that they had the first Ms. Marvel issue.  The guy on the phone was really friendly, so once I was in the car driving home, I thought "why not?" and found the place.

I mean, it's shopping. I could do that. And I don't actually mind looking like a little bit of an idiot in new places.  Just this morning in a new Ractrac I stood for who knows how long contemplating the multitude of ice teas available, all of which were in both Southern Sweet style and regular. Oh, the choices.

Anyway...


I pulled into the parking lot, parked, took a deep breath, and got out of the car. I noticed a man and a woman version of a couple also walking toward the shop, and thought, "See? Women shop here too."

So I walked through the door.




to be continued.....






The link for A.K. Anderson's review is HERE
The link for the She Makes Comics Kickstarter project: click here