A Pleasant Compliment

On Saturday morning, I managed to accomplish my goals at the Hickory Comic-Con fairly quickly (meet Roy Thomas - check, get the business card of an artist to email him later about doing a commission for me - check, look through dealer boxes - check) and was heading out the door with my purchases in a bag (a near full run of Just Imagine - Stan Lee's mini series where he reimagineers various DC heroes - twelve books gotten for $6, I might add - a bargain since each book new had a cover price of $5.95 each). On the way going out, I ran into Eddie, the manager of Time Tunnel Comics and son of the shop owner.

Eddie and I were talking about the show and how it looked to be a good turn out based on the first couple hours. He then asked where my son was. I explained that my son was off at a thing for the boy scouts and that I was flying solo for the show. Then Eddie paid me an amazing compliment. He said he noticed how I interact with my son when he comes to the shop sometimes with me and that he felt my wife and I were doing an amazing job to raise such a polite, well-behaving and obedient young man.

Wow. That's something every parent never gets tired of hearing.

Eddie, who doesn't have any kids yet but plans to someday soon, said he often observes parents and their kids - both at the shop and around town and at shows. He thought it was great that my son and I share interests. He says he often sees parents drop their kids off at the shop for card tournaments on Saturday and take off without ever seeing them inside, etc. He said those unsupervised kids can be unruly and not likely to follow the rules, etc. Or kids will come in to the shops with their parents and be demanding about getting stuff, to the point of tantrums. Eddie noted that if I tell my son "no" or "not today" that my son doesn't push the point. And, lastly, my son is very respectful when talking to adults. Often if Eddie is there, he will politely ask about tournament promo cards, etc. If my son wasn't able to make it to a tournament, Eddie will check to see if there are any extra promos left and will give him one.

We talked a bit more as I was heading out to leave and he was heading out for a smoke. We talked about how kids today are more into the cards and the video games. I've tried to get my son into reading comics but he has only done so sparringly. In general, reading is not one of his favorite things. When it comes to getting him to read for school, I often have to hope he'll find a series he likes so he'll be apt to read more of the books. We agreed that kids today would rather skip reading about Wolverine when they can "play" Wolverine thanks to the advances in video games. I can certainly see that. My son has learned a lot more now about cars and football (college and pro) thanks to the video games he likes to play. Same with his evolving taste in music - thanks to the Guitar Hero line of games I have gotten him to appreciate more the classic rock genre. Because of this learning factor, I cannot discount the games entirely as worthless.

Anyway, it was a really nice talk and a nice way to cap off a good morning. I do want to add that it is always enjoyable to patronize a business where the staff or owners take an active interest in building a repoire with their customers. My old comic shop in Raleigh was like that because of Ken, the owner of Capital Comics. It is nice that they're more than just concerned about what you are buying each week.