By Jeff Johncox
The Norman Transcript
NORMAN — Fans packed into Speeding Bullet Comics’ cafe area Saturday afternoon, shoes shuffling across the Superman logo painted on the floor.
They were there to celebrate the 12th anniversary of the Norman comics shop, and to meet DC Comics authors Sterling Gates and James Robinson.
Gates and Robinson collaborated on one of DC’s biggest events of the year, “War of the Supermen,” and “Last Stand of New Krypton.” So it was only appropriate that comics’ most famous logo was well represented Saturday, from T-shirts to signs, cabinet doors to buttons, floors to windows.
“It’s an anniversary celebration, and we really just wanted to do something special,” Speeding Bullet’s owner, Matt Price, said. “We brought in Sterling and James to kind of have this big event for the anniversary.”
And it brings a lot of attention.
Before things got started, Gates and Robinson talked to the crowd for a few minutes, giving insight into how their story was created, how it made it onto the page and even a few examples of ideas that never came to fruition.
Over two hours into the signing, there were more fans than at the start, all filing past Speeding Bullet’s selections of new and archived comics.
Gates, a Tulsa native who graduated from the University of Oklahoma, worked at the store during his time in Norman. He was at Speeding Bullet in 2006 when his then-boss, Geoff Johns, signed for fans at the store. He came back for his own signing in 2007, and now he’s back again, this time with Robinson.
“It’s a really cool thing to come back and sign at the store I worked at for four years,” Gates said. “It’s extremely surreal. Before, I was behind the counter. Now I’m behind the table, and there’s a line of people waiting to talk to me. It takes some getting used to.”
Robinson didn’t need much convincing to come. He and Gates started working on “Last Stand” in October. When Gates asked, Robinson agreed to make his first trip to Oklahoma.
“I knew it would mean a lot to Sterling,” Robinson said. “Just having one of the writers of ‘War,’ it would just be better to have both of them. And I’d never been to Oklahoma. It just made sense for a lot of reasons.”
Chris Stockdale traveled from Milwaukee, Wis., for the signing. He’s a big fan of Robinson’s, and met the writer at ComiCon in San Diego last year.
Stockdale, also an OU grad, thought the signing was a great opportunity to head back to town, see his parents and meet up with Gates and Robinson.
“I’ve loved James Robinson’s work for a long time, since he was on ‘Starman,’” Stockdale said. “It was one of my favorite books. It’s a neat experience to come down and see him in Oklahoma.”
Speeding Bullet has been the “superhero” comic shop in the area since Matt and Annette Price took over in 1998.
“With the name Speeding Bullet, we wanted people to know, ‘Hey, we like superheroes, you can like superheroes,’ which at the time wasn’t that popular an idea,” Matt Price said. “But now, after ‘Spider-Man’ and ‘The Dark Knight’ and all these comic-book movies, the rest of the world seems to be agreeing with us.”
Usually, signings like Saturday’s are reserved for conventions or larger events. But Price and his wife, Annette, were able to bring a little convention atmosphere to the middle of Norman with Gates’ and Robinson’s appearances.
“There are certain conventions that I like, but these signings are great,” Robinson said. “And it’s great to see so many people come out. It makes it feel like it’s worth it.”
The next event scheduled at Speeding Bullet is a July 31 party with local band Klipspringer to celebrate the opening of the film “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World,” based on the popular comic.
Jeff Johncox 366-3527 jjohncox@normantranscript.com
