They can leap tall buildings in a single bound, defend the Earth from myriad alien threats and save the world on a daily basis. These days, they rule the box office and small screen as well.
Comic-book superheroes are the gods of modern mythology and they have been a large part of Randy Sheppard’s life for as long as he can remember.
The 67-year-old owner of Kalispell’s only comic shop, Comics Arcade, Sheppard has been reading and collecting comics since at least the first grade, and perhaps before — he can’t quite remember. Over the years, he has seen the comic industry go from an object of scorn and ridicule to a booming industry with a seeming stranglehold on modern popular culture. Even so, he says there are still those who refuse to recognize comics as a legitimate literary genre.