At The Counter #10: Secret Origins

Welcome back to At The Counter, where our features editor Tony Thornley sits down with comics retailer Greg Gage of Black Cat Comics in Salt Lake City, Utah, to talk about the world of comics from the retailer’s perspective.

One of the great tropes of comics is the origin story. At this point, we’ve done 9 editions of the column, which is the perfect time to take a step back to talk about Greg’s secret origin! So buckle up true believers as all is revealed!

Tony Thornley: Greg, we’ve had so many heavy things happening in the world. And yes, there are still a lot of them still happening. But we’re in a hobby that’s meant to be escapism. So let’s talk about your secret origin a little. Just the nature of this makes me feel like I’m back in journalism class in high school rather than the seasoned comics journalist I am today, but hey, that’s fun sometimes.

Tell us a little bit about Child Greg and how he first got into comics.

Greg Gage: Child Greg was an only child. Most of my friends existed only in my fragile little mind, so comics were a logical step for me. Honestly, though, I was a reader nearly from birth. The colors, adventure, and over the top action always caught my eye. 

Tony: What’s the first comic you remember reading?

Greg: Uncanny X-Men #94. I know. What a way to start, right? Crazy thing is, I still own that copy from 1975. It’s coverless, faded, torn, and generally beat up, but, like myself, still a sight to behold!

Tony: Where were you picking up comics at the time?

Greg: Circle K, 7-11, drugstores, anyplace that had them. I remember when my parents would go on vacation and would bring me a stack of comics back. I was pretty young, maybe 3 or 4, and my grandparents would stay with me. I always looked forward to my parents coming home, because I would get comics! Oh, and also my parents came home, I guess…

Tony: I understand you started in a bit of a corporate world. What was your early career and how did you make the transition to comics retail?

Greg: I actually started out a spoiled teenager that wouldn’t work. The corporate thing came later. I worked for the Larry Miller Organization. Made lots of money. Didn’t like going in. I was pretty miserable after a while. It just wasn’t my thing. I was good at it, but there was no passion. I eventually quit and got a job working part time at a store that’s not around anymore. I played music, did art, and worked part time at a comic shop. There was a point, though, where I thought I could do it for myself, so I did.

Tony: Outside of making a sustainable living, what was your number one goal in starting a comic book shop?

Greg: Well, the sustainable living thing I’m still kind of waiting for, but the other goal was to amass the collection I’d always wanted, but couldn’t really afford. Honestly, I just love comics and needed a way to get more!

Tony: What has been the biggest lesson you’ve learned throughout the last 21 or so years?

Greg: The comics business is a business. That sounds silly, but it’s true. There’s so much more to owning and running a shop than I had thought going in. It seems like this great fantasy career, but so much of it is just like any other business. Distribution hangups, taxes, insurance, inventory control, so on and so on. 

Tony: What’s been the coolest thing you’ve been able to do as a geek?

Greg: You’re kind of nosy, but I’ll indulge you. Being able to not only meet, but become friends with some legends in the industry. People like Neal Adams were pretty much heroes to me when I was a kid, and getting to really know him was great. Kind of surreal, but great.

Tony: Jumping to the present day, what would you say the industry is doing best right now?

Greg: Um… are they doing anything right? Just kidding. Mostly. I believe the biggest positive to come out of the last several years is the shipping. Now, it’s far from perfect, but I love being able to get through a shipment well in advance of new comic day. I used to pick my comics up from UPS at 8 in the morning on Wednesday, bring them to the shop, unpack, fill holds, and get them on the shelf by 11. Of course, the shipments were much smaller and easier to get through with no variants to speak of, but still. It’s so much less stress to have it early.

Tony: Where do you see the biggest opportunity for improvement?

Greg: There are a lot of things that should change. Communication between publishers and retailers is almost nonexistent these days. Smaller publishers are much better at it, but we hear nary a word from the big guys. The same thing happens, for the most part, with the distributors. It takes forever to get a response, if I get one at all, and it rarely is a satisfactory one. 

Tony: You build so many personal relationships over the course of operating a small business. What’s been the most rewarding part of that? And the most difficult?

Greg: It sounds cheesy, but when someone comes in and finds something they’ve been looking for forever, the look on their faces is fantastic. I’ve been there on the other side of the counter, and know how awesome that is to find what you need to complete a run, or a random book you heard about years ago, but have never seen in person. It’s also like being a bartender, in a sense. I feel like I run a geeky version of Cheers sometimes. 

That can also be the most difficult, though. In the course of 22 years, I’ve had too high of a number of customers meet an untimely end, or go through a soul shattering event. That’s so hard. It’s people I see every week or so, going back years, sometimes decades, and when tragedy strikes, it can hit really, really hard.

Tony: Yeah, I was there the day you learned about one of those recently. I can only imagine.

So what are you enjoying reading most right now?

Greg: That’s a hell of a transition, mister, but I’ll bite. In the mainstream world, I’m loving the new Lobo book. It’s pretty much what Jorge [Corona] was meant to draw. I was introduced to him and his lovely partner Morgan years ago by Phillip Sevy. Seeing both Jorge and Morgan become such names in the industry is so cool. The new Deadpool by Ben Percy is also a lot of fun. I’m gravitating more toward indie stuff these days. Ice Cream Man, Nectar, White Sky, Narco, Ordained, there are just so many I’m loving. I feel like I’m kind of rediscovering my love for comics of late. I got bogged down in collecting things because I felt I had to. “I need all the Spider-Man. I need all the X-Men. Is there another new Batman? I guess I’ll grab it, too…” I now get what looks interesting and fun. It’s more the title, not so much the character. I’ve realized I don’t actually need everything, but everything I get, I need to enjoy. 

Tony: What’s your all-time favorite comic?

Greg: Mitch Hedburg. 

Tony: *sigh* And this, dear readers, is what I deal with every new comics day every week.