When we agreed that I would be writing the initial blogs for our exciting new venture I was really stoked because I thought I would have a lot to say…I didn’t.
I have always fancied myself a writer of sort due to the fact that I come from a family of published writers and talented story tellers. Unfortunately this does not a writer make and I found myself in a perpetual state of writers block, which is odd because I usually have a whole lot to say and an opinion on just about everything. So for the last few months I have been doing everything but writing my first ‘oh so scary’ blog.
How does one start writing about something one is so passionate about? The Wizard of Pixelmagic suggested I start by telling you why I decided to start an online store for all things comic in the first place. She is a lot wiser than I, and we haven’t had any better idea’s so thats where we shall begin.
Like most of you I had been exposed to the comic book medium from a young age. I remember my older brother was addicted to Archie and even before I could read I would look through the pictures of his collection. My father was convinced that my sibling spent more time reading his comic’s than on his studies. Sound familiar? On one occasion dad chucked the lot in the bin and sent my very upset bro to his room. I, being the little hero I was, waited for the old fart to leave, rescued the books out of the trash and sneaked them back to my confined brother. He would probably deny this ever happening, but it did.
When I hit high school my brother was already in varsity and one day he brought home the most amazingly insane, fantastically crass and fabulously violent creation I had ever seen in between the covers of a comic book. LOBO!! I was hooked and in love. I had always thought Comic’s were all about nauseatingly sweet large headed children and girls fighting over gingers and men running around in underwear. I had no idea that comic’s could contain such vulgarity and carnage. I made it my mission to find more. Unfortunately there were two things standing in my way hindering my comic collecting for quite a while. Firstly, being a pimple faced schoolgirl I had no money. Secondly, the scary, very intimidating and really unfriendly comic book guys. I didn’t know it back then but these snotty and unhelpful characters would be one of the reasons I decided to start my own store.
A couple of years later, (not too many years mind you), I walked into a comic store I had not been into before, the first store I had been in for a while. I was thrilled to find a very helpful and friendly and not at all snotty guy, working there. I spent half a months salary. I had a lot of catching up to do.
In the months that followed I kept thinking to myself ‘If had this shop I would do this differently’ and ‘if I was the boss I would do this’. I have always felt that these charismatic little places are hidden gems that not many of us know about and I find that for this reason our South African fan and collector community is rather small. So one day it finally dawned on me, what is stopping me from opening my own store and introducing comic’s to all of RSA? Two years later here we are.
My dream is to bring this most awesome medium to all South Africans. I want comic books and graphic novels and all things Sci-Fi / fantasy to be easily accessible to all. I truly believe there is a comic book out there for everyone, from the snot nosed school kids to the yuppies to your grandma. Gone are the days of comic’s only belonging to pale virgins living in their mom’s basements.
If you not sure where to start, no worries we will help you. What’s you favorite genre? Do you like comedy, horror, fantasy, romance, drama, science fiction, biographies, mythology, war time accounts, children’s stories or just plain old what the hell is that? All these and more can be found in these beautiful works of art.
All you have to do is take a look, who knows maybe you will fall in love too.
Kaz 🙂