Just remember, however off-the-cuff ‘Bows and Ponies’ was, it’s now part of my vocabulary, and you can’t have it back.

I definitely sympathise with being frustrated with people that don’t want to leave their comfort zone. The opposite seems to also be true. Like people who will read a superhero horror book or superhero police procedural, but then refuses to try a normal horror or police book. Or guys who go running at the first sign of romance. It is a sad state of affairs when people assume that Love Hina is aimed at girls!

The thing with the parents is even worse! I really really hate stuff like that. Things are bad enough with media and peer pressure, we don’t need parents enforcing stereotypes as well.

I’m always so thankful for how open-minded my Mom was in raising me. I mean when I was young she said stuff like “You know, if it turns out that you happen to be gay, I would be ok with that”. It turns out that I wasn’t, but it sure is nice not to have to worry about that before you get to the age where you’d really know.

Anyway, I feel bad for people who limit themselves from trying the full range of guilty pleasures from Berserk to Swan (who can’t get excited about ballet after reading Swan?).

And for my cutesy dollar, I’d go with Angelic Layer.

There’s a pretty big range of titles in manga, even in the “aimed at girls” titles. Something like Cardcaptor Sakura is about as cutesy as possible, but then you have things like Angel Sanctuary with all the incest and violence. Plus all of the titles that have crossover into both sexes like Fullmetal Alchemist or Planetes.

I know it was just a throwaway comment, but it seems silly to categorize manga as a “ghetto” when the content and readership is so varied (taken in a broader sense, there’s plenty of superheros in manga too).

Anyway, hopefully things will change over time. One of the local shops here has a female clerk and frequently more ladies buying comics than guys. I’m sure she still has to deal with idiots at times, but hopefully that sort of environment helps a bit.

You are my total hero.

//\Oo/\\

Glad to hear I am still remembered. I still think of Metro fondly from time to time, after all I got four good years out of that store. And I started there just at the time I was getting back into comic collecting after about a decade-long dry spell, so Metro will always have a special significance to me. But I’ve been lucky enough to find a really good store no matter where I’ve lived.

Hope I didn’t set back your Constantine collecting too much. Tiny world indeed.

As for the subject at hand, my current local comic shop here on the East coast is wonderfully progressive. In addition to the wife of the owner, who co-runs the place, there are two more female employees who work there and from what I’ve seen most of the regulars treat them with respect. The female employees are every bit as knowledgeable and up-to-date as their male counterparts, and I have no reservations turning to them for advice. I also consider the store to be much more welcoming than the average comic shop. It’s very clean and well-lit. There is a big all-ages section prominently displayed right at the front of the store. Also, they gave me a big box of chocolates for the holidays.