Sci-Fi and Comics GMs

To paraphrase an old Garrett Morris quote, "Science Fiction and Comics been berry berry good to me."

I spend far too much leisure time in bookstores, but hey, even a Pedo needs a vice.

I've had several enjoyable convos about Manga with girls recently.

Approaching the Manga section I found a blonde 15 yr old, Molly, with some teen friends complaining about the lack of "yaoi." I said, "You know what's worse? When there's only one volume of a shojo ( girl's ) manga and its sold out 'cause it was bought by a guy." I gave her a guilty look to indicate the offending party. We then proceeded to wax enthusiastically about favorite titles until I noticed that I was running late for a film at a nearby theatre and excused myself.

After seeing the film, I returned to find a very cute hispanic 7yr old LG was looking at manga with her brother. I thought she was beautiful as I approached the section, but you never know who will open up to you. After seeing me looking at the books, she asked why they're all backwards. I explained that the Japanese read from right to left, and also from up to down; hence those vertically shaped oval word balloons. I told her that if she sees one that's left to right, she's almost sure to find that the artist's name is Korean; as they read from left to right.

More recently similar convos in the Science-Fiction section have produced bonding-moments with some College-age women.

Hmmmm. All my great loves have been comics or SF geek girls/women.

Dante