Heroics 101

 Prologue

            “Wow, this place looks really cool, Dad!”

            “I’m glad you think so, Reggie.  I’ve always hoped you’d enjoy Milt’s as much as I do.”

            Reggie Wilton looked around Milt’s Comic Shop in amazement.  He loved looking at some of his dad’s collection of the four-color wonders, but this was a whole new experience.  Shelf upon shelf of new comics, plus boxes crammed with back issues.  Bright posters on all the walls, displaying the recent and upcoming exploits of heroes he knew and ones he was unfamiliar with:  Superman, Spider-Man, the Hulk, the Flash… wait! 

There was his favorite:  Batman!  The Dark Knight of Gotham always gave Reggie goosebumps.  Here was a normal guy who had lost his parents and worked himself into shape to battle crime.  Of course, it didn’t hurt to be exceedingly rich and be able to afford cool toys such as the Batmobile.  Still, Reggie looked at Batman as an attainable goal in life.  If he worked hard, maybe he could fight criminals like the Joker and the Penguin too someday.  He wasn’t very intimidating right now with his little boy physique, but someday…

“Reggie?  You still with me, bud?”

“Oh, yeah, Dad, sure.  Sorry, this is all just so awesome!”

Reggie’s dad, Wayne, wasn’t an imposing figure by any means.  However, his voice resonated with anyone to whom he talked.  It was a deep basso, which was a little shocking to some who figured the five foot, eight inch, one hundred forty pound man was some underweight loser.  “I think we’ll start up an account for you here too.  You can pick a few comics you want to get every month, and Milt will put them aside for you until you save enough money to buy them.  Sound good?”

“You bet, Dad!  I want Batman, Detective Comics…”

“Whoa, slow down!  Let’s go talk to Milt.”

Milt was a plump, jolly fellow that you could put a beard on and mistake for Santa Claus.  Like Wayne, he was in his early forties.  Wayne and Milt had only been a year apart in high school.  While Wayne had married late and not become a father to the eight-year old Reggie until his mid-thirties, Milt was still a single man.  “Reggie, how are you doing?”

Milt had come to supper occasionally, so Reggie knew him already, even though this was his first trip to the wonder emporium that was the comic shop.  “Great, Milt.  I know which comics I want every month!  This is going to be so cool!”

“Well, let’s get your account all set up, all right?”

After they were done, Reggie and his dad left the comics shop.  As Wayne hopped in the car, Reggie saw a couple boys from his class, Ben and Turner.  “Hey, guys, guess what?  I got to set up my own account at the comic shop today!”

“The comic shop?  I guess being a loser runs in the family,” replied Turner.

“Yeah, do you and your dad have to hide out there so you won’t get beat up?” sneered Ben.

Reggie was one of the youngest boys in his third grade class and was smaller than all the others.  He had such a high level of intelligence that his parents decided not to hold him back to let him catch up physically.  This, however, was his first experience with bullying.  Usually, he hung out with Kirby, Ken, and Austin, trading cards and talking about the latest episode of Pokemon.  “What’s the deal, guys?  Don’t you like comics?”

“Comics are for losers,” said Turner. 

“Yeah, reading is for people who aren’t good enough to play football or baseball,” added Ben.  Both boys’ imposing frames lurched toward Reggie.