27/08/07

Am I the only person in the world who finds it off-putting when a shop covers every available window and glass panel with pictures and adverts and stuff so it's impossible to see inside? The only other person I've mentioned this to so far thinks it's odd that I'm bothered by it - but I can't believe no-one else has this problem.

Personally, it strikes me as a perfectly natural animal instinct. It's just not very safe to go blithely wandering into an enclosed space when you have absolutely no idea what it contains. I admit it's unlikely that I'll be bothered by tigers / snakes / cannibals in the middle of a busy shopping centre - but if instincts could be switched off at will, I wouldn't have that problem where unexpected spiders make me scream like a girl.

Of course, most shops nowadays are pretty open and you can see what you're letting yourself in for before you walk through the door. Unfortnately, I'm a comics fan. Comics shops seem peculiarly determined to cover every inch of surface that might let in daylight. I'm not saying they're all like that - but a hell of a lot of them are. The windows are papered with posters and stuff that looks like its been there for about fifty years, and you can't see in the door because there appears to be some kind of Dalek in the way. And I just have to grit my teeth and say:

'Look. You want comics. There are comics in that shop. So are you going to run away like an insane person? Or are you going to stop being an idiot and walk through the door?'
'But - but there could be anything in there!'
'Like what exactly?'
'I don't know! Axe-murderers! Giant wasps! Some scary guy behind the counter who'll judge me according to what I pick off the shelves so I only feel able to get something critically acclaimed where the entire human race gets killed off by mutated weevils!'
'Or ...?'
'Or ... it could just be a shop full of stuff that I want to buy, run by nice people who want to sell it to me ...'.

Usually I go in.

Though sometimes I do end up buying that book about the weevils.

It's dumb really, as I've never come across a terrible comics-store-guy comics shop. Most of them have been fine if you know what you're looking for. But I've come across a few that would seem pretty unwelcoming to new readers - if only because of the lighting levels. I mean, come on! I want to see what I'm buying here!

Fortunately, my first comics store was a helpful one - or I might never have got into comics at all ...

... cue parallel world story, where I'm now living on witness protection in Paraguay *sigh* if only I'd started reading comics, I might never have got involved with that international drugs cartel ...