It’s Wednesday. Press releases need to be sent, memos need to be distributed, fires (of the metaphorical variety, thank goodness) need to be extinguished. Empty coffee cups, days-old newspapers and scraps of notebooks litter my desk. My workweek is in full swing. And things don’t let up at home either. Not with a wife and a 7-month-old son who has developed the unerring ability to get his chubby little fingers around everything he isn’t supposed to, despite the fact that he can’t even crawl yet. Life, as they say, is hectic.
But it’s Wednesday.
It’s Wednesday and I really like comic books. So once my workday mercifully comes to an end, I drive across town to Mayhem Comics and Collectibles, the greatest LCS (local comic shop, for the uninitiated) it’s ever been my pleasure to support.
My Wednesday ritual is nearly always the same. I walk in the door, say hello to whoever is working behind the counter (usually Rob, who owns the store), and make a beeline to the racks to take in the new releases. The new comics are arranged in alphabetical order and grouped by publisher. I start with Marvel, then work my way to DC and finally take in the independent releases. I let my eyes scan each cover one at a time. Most covers don’t get more than a glance, but I let my gaze linger for a few extra seconds on the titles with the best art. Occasionally, I’ll crack open a book for a quick peek at the interior pages. I make a point not to read any specific words unless I know I’m going to buy the book. Just a brief look to get a gut-level impression of the art.
Then it’s time to hit the counter to pick up the books in my pull-file. Usually, Rob asks which file is mine. I tell him it’s 64, which on more than one occasion has inspired Rob to start singing ‘When I’m 64,’ that Beatles tune from Sgt. Pepper’s. Whether he’s in a singing mood or not, Rob goes over to the files and digs out my books, which have already been bagged and boarded.
Back in the day, when work wasn’t as crazy and when I didn’t have so many family commitments, my weekly stack was pretty sizable. On a heavy week, I’d get back to my apartment with a dozen new books and spend the evening sprawled out on the couch, enveloped in the glow of a reading lamp, thumbing through my weekly haul in one disgusting binge.
That was then.
These days, I’ve pared down my pull-list to the absolute essentials, the characters and titles I have the most invested in. The ones I’ve been collecting since childhood. Uncanny X-men. Amazing Spider-Man. Batman. Not coincidentally, they’re the same titles I grew up watching on Fox Kids cartoon shows every Saturday morning.
And there’s no binging nowadays either. I’m lucky if I can read two comics in a night before I pass out from exhaustion. But I always make time to get each title read before the next Wednesday rolls around. Because I’m passionate about comics. Even with all the other commitments, demands and distractions in my life, I make sure I get to Mayhem every Wednesday.
Sometimes it feels like my Wednesday ritual is the only thing keeping me sane. And that’s why I’m writing this blog. It’ll contain my reflections on the geeky obsessions that I’m most passionate about: comics, tabletop games/rpgs, and the occasional video game. If you’re reading this, you probably share one or more of those obsessions. So let’s talk about them. Let’s celebrate, critique and freak out about this stuff.
After all, Wednesday’s only a few days off.
