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Me? I’m not much interested in weekend grosses and who’s got points. I’m interested in a nice, healthy comic book industry, and Marvel’s got a chance to do something that’s good for comics and not just what’s good for Marvel. Remember last summer’s X-Men movie? A decent bit of fluff, sure, but I knew who everyone was. I wasn’t exactly the target audience. Fox was after a blockbuster, and that meant people besides comics fans had to go see their flick. They did a yeoman job on the marketing, including even airing a “making-of” special in prime-time which was a thinly-disguised half-hour promo for the film. Got the butts in the seats, as they say. Now, let’s say you had never heard of these X-Men, before, but you’ve got a little kid and you’ve caught the cartoon a couple of times and something about it seems a bit familiar and somebody at work reminds you that it’s all based on a comic book. But you remember that time you were sick and stayed home from school for a week, and your aunt even drove down from Schenectady because your mom was worried about that fever you had that wouldn’t break, but at least you got to take it easy and play “Sorry” and you even fondly recall that big stack of funny books your aunt brought that’s probably still in the back of the closet of your old room at your folks’ house. So you go to the drug store down by where you live, after the movie, to see what’s up with these X-Men, but there aren’t any comics there. No spinner rack, no stacks of coverless ones on the floor. Not like when you were a kid. The assistant manager (who’s not much older than you) says he didn’t think they made comics anymore when you ask him where to find some. But a guy in line tells you about a store across town where they sell noth ing but comic books, so you get into your car and drive over there, because you’re nothing if not tenacious like it said on your last employee review at work. Let’s just say that you live in a town that has the World’s Most Perfect Comic Shop. Rows upon rows of whatever you want. A kid comes in look ing for Jason Sandberg’s Jupiter , and they have #1-6. A young art student asks for reference on the Vulcan Green Lantern, and the supermodel behind the counter knows that’s GL #90 and talks knowledgeably about Mike Grell’s career. And you come in and ask for anything with the X-Men in it and no one laughs and you’re pointed out to a couple of books and some guys off to the side discuss whether Dougray Scott could have pos- If you’re a regular joe, your first thought is gonna be, “They still make comic books, huh?”

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