A friendship forged by comic books

My buddy Clifton runs the comic book shop
When I get bored that’s always my first stop
Check out what’s new with Iron Man and Thor
Spend way too much time there but I never get bored …

Bartenders play a legendarily essential role in society. Bar patrons turn to them in times of strife or at the end of a long day. Bartenders dispense wisdom that can only be accrued through years of experience with the hard-living and broken-hearted. Bartenders are there for you when you need them.

But I don’t drink, so I didn’t have a bartender to turn to. I had Clifton instead.

Clifton managed the local comic book store. I initially thought he was a mouthy punk who enjoyed starting word fights and arguing about the stupidest little things. He was always right, even when you knew he was wrong. On top of all that, his favorite “X-Men” character was Maggot. He was annoying.

I wondered how a punk like Clifton got his job. Clifton admitted it was “complete nepotism.”

“My brother worked there before me, and when he was getting ready to head off to college, I was a name he threw out to the boss,” he said.

That actually explains a lot.

I had known Clifton for a few years, but my opinion of him evolved when I started frequenting the store. He wasn’t annoying. He was entertaining.

“I am very opinionated, and don’t hold that back,” Clifton said.

That lack of a filter is something I grew to love. He also seemed to savor listening to people gab about what they were reading.

“That’s the best part,” he said. “Being able to geek out with everyone about what’s going on and who loves what and who hates what and why everyone else’s opinion is wrong.”

I was sure of my opinion too. That let to occasional tension and arguments between us. I recall a particular heated discussion about whether movie director Sam Raimi or writer/geek god Joss Whedon was the better storyteller. I got pretty hot under the collar, and the hotter I got, the more Clifton seemed to enjoy it.

Such debates often break out in comic book stores, and must be resolved in unique ways. Take a debate about whether Captain America could beat Batman in a fight. It grew out of a discussion Clifton was having with Chase, a coworker.

“That went way further than most arguments went,” Clifton said. “(Chase) would speak about Batman, and I’m a Captain America guy, and we were arguing back and forth about who would win in a fight.

”At the time we wrote weekly newsletters that we printed up and put out on the counter for people to read. So we started there, boasting our opinions. Then we cut up a card box and let people vote on who they thought would win.”

Cap came out on top when the votes were tallied.

“(Chase) claims it was rigged, but I’m just a better comic nerd than he is, so I argued better,” he said.

It’s statements like that which made Clifton so easy to love.

I spent at least one full day a week in the store, pouring over comics and leafing through Diamond Previews catalogues. I also spent a lot of time increasing my nerd knowledge. It made it easier to converse with both Clifton and fellow costumers. There’s nothing worse than displaying a lack of nerd knowledge in front of a bunch of nerds.

As I spent more and more time hanging with Clifton, our friendship spilled out of the store. We began hanging out at his apartment, watching TV shows like “Who Wants to Be a Superhero”. We even started a band that wrote acoustic guitar-based tunes about Marvel’s “Civil War” story.

It’s been years. Clifton eventually left the store, and I stopped going in there. Nowadays, Clifton’s a manager at a general entertainment store, still working with comics. Though he hasn’t worked at the comic store in seven years, former customers still come visit him. And, somehow, Clifton and I are still friends. It’s a friendship forged through love of comics, and those are friendships that last.