Gingerhaze’s recent comic and excellent smackdown of those who would dismiss her has highlighted once again the fact that being a comic fan can be an intimidating and anxiety inducing experience, and how vitally important it is for everyone to feel accepted in stereotypically straight white...
I am endlessly grateful for the fact that my local comic store is Dave's Comics in Brighton. Access to somewhere that is excellent for comics - and wholly without pretension or judgement - is brilliant. See, I'm used to a lot of the awful misogynistic bravado that flourishes in certain spaces (I worked as a DJ for 10 years). And it's easy to anticipate the sort of reactions that Gingerhaze so beautifully articulated; they happen all the time, pretty much everywhere.
So to find a comic shop that isn't just accommodating, but is outright welcoming, it's one of those things that it'd be so good to be able to take for granted. It's awesome.
Generally, the things we're into, there will always be someone telling us that, for whatever reason, we shouldn't like them. And the people telling us this are often fiercely (misguidedly) protective of something that isn't theirs to protect. It's for all of us, (and it's all of us who are creating it), and destroy anyone who tries to tell you otherwise.
And when you have fantastic people like neverrwhere inviting you to come in, to ask your questions, to find out what you like - or might like - these are the people who are worth engaging with. Not the people who are telling you to doubt yourself for even being curious, because really, those people are...dull.