Can we talk about gatekeepers at comic shops?

I was at my local shop in Portland yesterday picking up the new issue of something and this guy behind the counter literally laughed at a kid for asking about a trade paperback. The kid was maybe 12 and just wanted to know if they had the one with the blue cover. The employee said 'you don't even know what you're looking for, do you?' and the kid just walked out. Why do some people working there act like you need a degree in comic history to buy a book? Has anyone else seen this kind of stuff drive new readers away?

3 comments

3 Comments

sethb452mo ago

I was at a shop in Austin once and overheard the clerk telling a customer "the one with the blue cover" was wrong because the trade had a red logo on the spine. Like, it was basically the same book, just a different printing. That guy at your Portland shop probably thought he was being helpful or funny but he just made the kid feel dumb. That's not gatekeeping, that's just being mean for no reason.

hayden_martin292mo ago

Yeah, that's a rough story. Having a clerk act like you're dumb for describing a book by its color when the difference is just a spine logo feels unnecessarily harsh, especially for someone new to comics. It's the kind of thing that can make a person hesitant to come back or ask questions again, which is the last thing a shop should want. A simple "oh, yeah, that's the same story, just a different printing" would have been so easy and helpful. Solidarity with that kid, it's frustrating when a hobby is made to feel unwelcoming for no good reason.

miab1614d ago

the one with the blue cover was wrong" - man that's exactly the kind of stuff that makes me want to start a comic shop run by nice people. I've been burned by that same attitude a dozen times. The trick I've learned is to just ask "what's the story about" instead of naming a specific book. Clerks usually light up when they get to talk about plot instead of playing gotcha games with cover details. It's not a perfect fix since some people are just jerks, but it helps you skip past the gatekeeper types.