Vent: Gatekeeper at my local shop told a kid to read Watchmen before Batman

This old guy at Cosmic Comics in Philly wouldn't sell a 12 year old a Batman issue until he read Watchmen first, called it a 'requirement'. Kid just walked out looking crushed, and I swear that dude probably scared off a future fan for life. Anyone else see shop regulars acting like they're the comic book police?

2 comments

2 Comments

west.anna27d ago

One time when I was a kid, this older collector at a convention basically told me I wasn't a real fan until I read Crisis on Infinite Earths. It really sucked the fun out of the day. What actually got me to stick with comics was just finding a clerk who let me grab what looked cool on the shelf. My first comic was a random X-Men issue, and I didn't understand half the plot but it had cool art and that was enough. That's the kind of energy that keeps people coming back, not making them feel dumb for not knowing the classics. Someone should have just handed that kid the Batman book and told him to come find Watchmen when he felt like it.

jordan_anderson9027d ago

Used to be the guy who thought you had to earn your way into comics with the classics, not gonna lie. But watching a kid walk out like that hit different, gotta admit that approach does more harm than good. Let people read whatever catches their eye first, the rest will come.