Pondering the Past

Did FBI Director Kash Patel and I buy comics from the same comic shop in Richmond twenty-five-ish years ago?

The news about the Punisher-themed challenge coins Patel had made for the FBI makes me wonder.

I was not expecting to see a post about Patel and the challenge coins in Facebook’s University of Richmond alumni group, which has generally steered clear of politics. (Patel was a year behind me at Richmond, and a few years later convicted insurrectionist Jenna Ellis attended the law school.)

There was a shopping center just off campus on Three Chopt Road, anchored by a Ukrops grocery store. A Blockbuster, a CVS (which is where the beer at most every Richmond party came from), a bank that eventually folded into Wells Fargo, an Irish pub… and a comic shop, Dave’s Comics.

Dave’s Comics did not face the parking lot. You had to go down a hall, and it was at the end on the right. You wouldn’t have suspected, but it was rather larger that you’d expect. I bought comics there over the years. DC One Million, I remember getting that at Dave’s Comics. Jeffrey Lang’s Grendel Tales series, too.

With Kash being a Punisher fan, I wonder if he also bought his comics from Dave’s Comics.

They closed up about a decade ago, after Dave Luebke passed away.

Kash Patel and I shared space. We probably encountered each other, may have had classes together. I have no memory of him. I imagine he has none of me.

And we probably bought comics in the same shop.

Life is weird.

Published by Allyn Gibson

A writer, editor, journalist, sometimes coder, occasional historian, and all-around scholar, Allyn Gibson is the writer for Diamond Comic Distributors' monthly PREVIEWS catalog, used by comic book shops and throughout the comics industry, and the editor for its monthly order forms. In his over fifteen years in the industry, Allyn has interviewed comics creators and pop culture celebrities, covered conventions, analyzed industry revenue trends, and written copy for comics, toys, and other pop culture merchandise. Allyn is also known for his short fiction (including the Star Trek story "Make-Believe,"the Doctor Who short story "The Spindle of Necessity," and the ReDeus story "The Ginger Kid"). Allyn has been blogging regularly with WordPress since 2004.

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