Comic Relief
By: Robbie Wethington
The brassy sound of the school bell echoes throughout the building, signaling the end of a long and arduous day of learning. Isaac Taylor reaches for his heavy messenger bag and clumsily throws it over his shoulder as he walks through the heavy oak door of the science lab. Normally he would stay behind to discuss the day’s lesson with Mrs. Jenson, North High’s chemistry teacher, but today Isaac doesn’t have the time. He purposefully darts through the school’s narrow hallways, rounds a corner and passes a set of red rusted lockers, which never failed to remind him of Mars’ surface, and encounters a turbulent sea of students whose sudden ebbs and flows make it exponentially more difficult to reach his destination: the student parking lot.
After some careful maneuvering, Isaac finally makes it to his car. As he enters the red, overly dented 2005 Toyota Camry, the strong whiff of artificial vanilla from the Yoda air freshener hanging on his rearview mirror overtakes him. He loves the vintage design of the novelty air freshener, but Isaac still wasn’t used to the pungent smell it released. He acclimates to the odor, starts his car, and makes his way out of the student parking lot and into town.
Isaac firmly clenches the steering wheel in excitement, knowing he’s only minutes away from arriving at Cosmic Comics. He’d been there a few days ago for his regular comic pickups, but today was special — Lee Thomas Kirby was finally publishing the final issue of his beloved series, Vermillion Enchantress and Perception. The penultimate issue ended with both titular characters engaging in an all-out battle against their arch-nemesis, Apocalyptica, bringer of death, and Isaac could wait no longer to find out how Kirby would resolve the series. How much death would Apocalyptica bring? Could both Vermillion Enchantress and Perception survive the battle and finally get the peaceful life they had always wanted? All the prospects of the finale flood his mind and Isaac haphazardly considers them all, his eagerness preventing him from properly focusing on a single one. He loosens his white-knuckle grip on the steering wheel as he carefully turns into the compact parking lot of the comic book store.
Isaac swiftly pulls the cold, metal doorhandle to Cosmic Comics and hurls himself inside, almost tripping over the mucky floormat and into a The Marching Departed display. Catastrophe is avoided and Isaac makes his way inside the fluorescently lit shop, tables filled with carefully organized bins of comics guiding him to the circular checkout counter located directly in the center of the room — its nucleus. Isaac’s entire body tenses as he approaches the counter, all his years of reading culminating in this moment.
“Vermillion Enchantress and Perception, please,” he asks.
The shopkeeper grabs the comic and hands it to Isaac, whose body is suddenly flooded with relief. He exits the store as quickly as he pays and rushes to his car to read the coveted final issue that was finally in his hands.
