Home and work with comic-store clerks

Wired.com's gallery of comic-book store employees at home and work is just enchanting. I never worked in a comic store, but I did the next-best thing, working at Toronto's oldest sf bookstore, Bakka Books. There's something incredibly satisfying about that kind of work — living in a mountain of awesome media, interacting with fellow mutants all day. We even sold bOING!bOING! (the print zine!).


If you could be any comic book character, who would it be?
My two favorites are Superman and Spider-Man. Superman is the ideal. He was the first superhero and shows you the best of what humanity could be but it's reflected through the eyes of an outsider, someone who is not human. Then I like Spider-Man because he discovers his powers and, in a very human way, uses them to get the girl and get some money and not be a geek anymore. Then he learns a lesson about responsibility and decides to use his powers for the good of all.

Which title has fallen farthest from grace?
That can vary on a month-to-month basis. The Ultimates is the least recognizable when compared to the run before it. Jeph Loeb and Joe Madureira are great writers but it's such a tonal shift from what Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch did that it's just too much of a shock.

Secret Lives of Comic Store Employees