The comic book community, despite the ever-growing influence of digital technology, continues to root itself in the brick and mortar local comic store. More than a retailer, one's LCS can often become a landmark of sorts, common ground, a meeting and gathering place where differences seem minor beneath shared, wild-eyed dorkitude.
Richard Neal, out and proud owner of Dallas-based Zeus Comics and Collectibles, has become the first retailer to take a stand against virulent anti-gay writer Orson Scott Card's upcoming issue of Adventures of Superman, refusing to carry the print edition of the comic in his store.
Whatever your particular feeling on the controversy, whether you support the All Out petition calling for DC to drop Card or prefer to make your statement at the cash register with a boycott, one has to admire a small business owner taking a public stand against such a vocal enemy of the gay community.
Geeks OUT has been privileged and proud to know Zeus since our earliest days and we salute Richard for having the courage of his convictions.
Zeus Comics, as CBR points out, won the 2006 Will Eisner Spirit of Comics Retailer Award, presented to a store “that has done an outstanding job of supporting the comic art medium both in the community and within the industry at large.”
Update! We've learned from our friends the X-Gays of a second comic book shop, Whatever Store in San Francisco, pledgeding not to carry the print issue of the comic.
What do you think, geeks?
Will your local comic shop be carrying Orson Scott Card's Adventures of Superman?
