It isn’t the easiest thing being a Comic Book Nerd, or even a fan really. No I am not referring to the creative side of things. None of us are always going to be pleased with what we read or look at, the old saying “Can’t please everyone” is very apt in the comic book world. For me art work I am not a fan of will ruin a comic book for me if combined with a poor story. A great story will allow me to over look. For example, I am not a fan of Frank Miller as an artist, but as a writer he is damn impressive.

What I am talking about, is that it is pretty difficult to even locate comic books. Ranging from limited publishers and titles available, to having to travel to the next town to even locate anything. I know this from personal experience. If these blogs were to have taken place back in the early half of the 1990’s, it would be Marvel heavy and very light on the DC Comics. Not that I wasn’t a fan of DC, it was that where I lived as a kid at that time, an island off of Cape Breton Island in good ole Nova Scotia, all I had available were Marvel titles. I know there were some places out there, as my friend would go somewhere for the day, then come back with DC Comics titles like Batman and the newly launched Image Comics and their main draw, Spawn. And I am in no way complaining of the quality of Marvel titles at that time, I was watching the Kubert’s own X-Men and Wolverine, it is just that it would have been nice to have an “option”, especially since it was the Batman who brought me to the dance years prior.

When my family moved back to Ontario, we were just 2 towns away from the town I was born in and lived before heading out east. But, once again only Marvel titles were available to me, and only at certain convenience stores which only carried limited titles. X-Men, but no other X-titles, Amazing Spider-man and some Disney titles, worse variety then I had in the small town I lived in down east. There was for a brief time an actual comic book shop, but picture Comic Book Guy from The Simpson’s, but a lot more grubbier and smelly. That was the owner/operator, and not that I judge on appearance, but I was a young teen so he was a bit of a prick aha. It wasn’t long till it closed, and the convenience stores weren’t even carrying any comic books that weren’t of the Archie nature. Leaving myself, and anyone else who didn`t have subscriptions having to travel to my hometown to locate a comic book store. If your parents wouldn`t take you, you were left with taking the Go Bus, making a venture to pick up a comic book in the price range of close to $10. Needless to say, this is what had caused me to forget about comic books, and enjoy them through television and movies when they were available. Of course I always had what I collected, but not the same when you get nothing new.

I am back in my hometown as an adult, so the journey to a comic shop isn`t as expensive, as I can walk to there. But, I often wonder what happens when I move? What about all the others out there in the same boat I have spent time in? Sure, one could say “everyone has a computer and internet”, but that’s not true really, well not yet, but even if everyone did, basically everything is pay by credit card in some fashion. Money orders are almost obsolete for most online ordering, and not everyone has nor wants a credit card. So, how does the comic book industry solve this problem? A problem I think DC suffers from more than Marvel (Are there any places that don’t carry Spider-man products of some sort?). Which is just another reason to back DC Comics over Disn...er Marvel.