Wired profiles comic store employees

Nice to see Wired taking a look at the man (or woman) behind the counter at comic-book stores, with profiles of several comic-shop employees.  Five comic shop employees from New York and four from the San Francisco Bay Area are profiled.

This is the sort of thing I don’t want to see go away if we all have our comics beamed directly into our heads, or whatever, in the future.  Just read the final profile of 25-year-old Jack Eldridge of Dr. Comics and Mr. Games in Oakland, and tell me you haven’t either had long conversations with that guy, or been that guy yourself.  Slightly nerdy, yet obviously cool, defiant behind a Grendel T-shirt, Eldridge shares his thoughts on comics and comics retail just as I imagine he does every day behind the counter. From Eldridge:

Your comics are not worth a thousand dollars each. You bought them in 1993 and so did literally a million other people. You have all kept them in near-mint condition. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that you don’t understand basic economics, though, because as an adult you still think the “investment” you made as a 10-year-old was a sound one.

But seriously, read the whole article, and particulary all of the  Jack Eldridge interview. I love the combination of snark and optimism this guy brings to the table.

– Matt Price