People are AWESOME!

I love people. No, I really do. Quit laughing.

I just had an experience with a guy that I now dub "Punisher Guy". Punisher Guy came into the shop a few weeks ago, gushing about how great it was to have a comic shop in Redmond, how cool we are and how he would be such an amazing and loyal customer. Then he looks at me and asks, "So, where is all the cool Punisher stuff?"

Suppressing the urge to tell him there is no such thing, I tell him that we have trade paperbacks that feature the Punisher and there are currently two, count'em, TWO monthly Punisher books being produced. He says he knows about those, he's looking for the "cool Punisher stuff."

Now, let me give you a visual on, as I like to call him since about 2 seconds ago, P.G. He looks to be in his late 30's, about 5' 7" and he's gotta be pushing 275 around his donut storage unit. He's rocking the braided goatee with a mohawk look and he's in full utilikilt mode. Do I even have to say it? Of course he's wearing a Punisher skull t-shirt! Think Comic Book Guy meets Travis Bickel

I swear to God, my first thought is that P.G.'s idea of "cool Punisher stuff" is an unregistered hand gun with the serial numbers rubbed off and the first thing he's gonna do with his "cool Punisher stuff" is blow my ass away for pedaling comic book smut.

Anyway, I tell him I only have the comics at the moment and he mumbles something about how I need to get more Punisher stuff in the shop. He looks around for a little while and finally begins to make his way back up front when suddenly thiscatches P.G.'s attention.

"What is this," he asks. He says it in such a way that I can't quite tell if he's awestruck by the greatness of it or he's in such terror that he's going into shock.

"That's a Punisher Bearz. I forgot I had that cause they just came in."

"This is... just..."

Awesome? Cool? Something you need to have? Exactly what you meant when you said "cool Punisher stuff"?

"Just... WRONG. No way! There is no way that they should have this out there. This is an insult to the character. It's wrong!!"

An insult to the character? Is that really what I just heard? Uh oh.

"I mean, really, you shouldn't even have this. This is NOT ok. This in NOT The Punisher!!!"

My first instinct is to say, "Well, if you bought it, you could then throw it away. Thus ridding the world of it's wrongness." Thankfully, I think better of it and come up with this gem, "Well, Marvel licensing must not have had a problem with it." Yeah, that's SO much better.

"What the fuck does Marvel licensing know? They don't care about the character! They only care about money. The Punisher would kill those guys for being greedy corporate bastards! Seriously. This bear thing shouldn't be shown to anybody." And with that, P.G. sets the Punisher Bearz down and walks out of the shop, never to be seen again.

At least, not till today.

P.G. walks in wearing pretty much the same outfit he had on last time except this time he's sporting a t-shirt with the cover to Amazing Spider-Man #129. Since the last time P.G. was in, I had moved the offending Bearz line to a different spot in the store so when he came in he didn't see the Bearz. In it's place were the Marvel Heroes Mighty Muggs, seen here:

"Dude! These are so...."

Wait for it.

Wait for it.

"Awesome! They better make a Punisher one!"

I'll say it again, I love people.