Miles accompanied me to Heroes Aren’t Hard to Find this week, and while every trip there with him has been a milestone, this was the very first time I’ve told him that he could pick some books out all by himself. Granted, there were limits (I’m not letting him leave there with any Milo Minara material, for instance…IYKYK), but I also felt pretty confident about the sorts of things most likely to catch his eye.
For instance, the very first thing he saw upon entering was the new issue of IDW’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Saturday Morning Adventures (which was easy to say yes to). The very next thing he spotted was the first issue of Dynamite’s new Darkwing Duck series, which Miles cleverly suggested I get “so we can both read it” (he did this without realizing it was on my “list” this week…the kid is astute!).
Figuring I might have a chance to make a big purchase that I could pin on him, I tried to direct his attention to a copy of Incredible Hulk #181 in the back of the shop (IYKYK, but suffice to say the book is not, and will never again be, cheap). Miles, meanwhile, had accurately determined that the front rack was where the kids’ books were, and his attention was solely fixed there. Ultimately, he picked out one more book and…yeah, I agreed to it.
One of the best parts of a visit to Heroes is the large Spider-Man vs. Doc Ock display that hovers above shoppers. Miles has NEVER forgotten this, and is always eager to see it again. This time, however, he became obsessed with first “touching” Spider-Man, then “popping him on the butt.” I tried to dissuade him by pretending my index finger got stuck to Spidey’s knee, but when this didn’t work I had to be straight with Miles.
“Miles,” I said, “Spider-Man has enough problems. He doesn’t need — or deserve — a pop on the butt.”
The Perils (& Pride) of Paternity 