Into the Dragon's Lair

Last night I entered the Dragon's Lair. No, seriously, there's a comic book store off of Burnett Rd called the Dragon's Lair, where Bert Lopez asked me to meet him.  I brought my camera.  After reading some Hellboy, I got to meet Bert in person, he was wearing a pretty awesome Magneto t-shirt with a sideways cap.  We talked briefly about finances, which didn't interest me too much, and after we were done, I asked him if I could film them playing, which he had no problem with.  I was a quiet observer with my camera, I saw these two men play, Bert was off to the side. I felt like an outsider that was privileged to witness an epic battle, while at the same time, they kept an air of lightness about them, its just a game after all. I didn't know what was going on, I heard jargon, they would react to seemingly invisible things to me, but I tried to get as much as I could on camera.  These two men would laugh and joke, banter with one another, they seemed like good buds, they were speaking their own language, in their own world.  The game lasted about 45 minutes, and the winner was decided and they ended with a friendly handshake.  The winner, Mark, took out what I guessed was a score card, or record, and asked his opponent, "So, what was your name again?" They didn't even know each other! But it was the game, they both understood it, and it was the bonding factor between them, they didn't need anything else to get to know each other, because they knew the game.  I was fascinated.  This game brings people together. I was able to interview Mark afterwards, just for a few minutes, and he said the appeal to the game was that he was able to create his own superhero team, combinations that he always wanted to see in comic books but never have.  I asked him how long he'd been reading comic books, his reply was "Well, ya know how kids learn how to read by reading Dr. Seuss? I learned how to read through comic books."