Cool Zone Convention

I pushed through the large mass of people outside on the streets, following the Spanish man's directions. I kept an eye out for some sort of sign- hopefully in English- that would indicate we were close to the comic book place.


I was almost a little surprised at the lack of cars on the streets. It was mostly full of people riding bicycles. Strange....

We all followed Star down the street, around a few corners, until she finally stopped in front of a store. I glanced inside, and sure enough, there was a bunch of manga and comic books.

"Looks like the Spanish guy was right," I said. Then I took a dramatic pose in front of the door.

"I present to you...the comic book store!" I raised my arms above my head, then slowly lowered them, making a semi-circle around my head.

"Heh..." I was so used to doing that at school, I didn't even think when I did it right then. It was kind of embarressing, I'll admit.

"Finally," I said. "I haven't been to one in a month!" I said, letting my comic-book-geekiness out, and running inside the store.

I followed Kayla into the store, listening to her say something about how she hasn't been to a comic book store in a whole month.

"Wow," I said sarcastically. "I haven't been in about....6 months. Maybe. I've only been, like, twice in my whole life."

I stepped into the comic store, looking around. All of the comics were overwhelming. I was unfamiliar with way more than half of them. Then again, half of them were Japanese mangas.
My eyes scanned the area, watching Kayla nearly run over to some stand full of superhero comics.


I browsed the comics, trying to focus on ones that were in English. I don't think I'd have much luck trying to read a Japanese manga thing...

What I was looking for soon came into view. I scanned the cover of the JtHM comic, sighing with relief when I saw that it was in English.
I picked it up, looking through it, trying to see if it was worth buying.

I gravitated over to the shonen. I immersed myself in it's beauty!

I started looking at all of the new comics, and picked out a bunch. The last two Superman/Batman's, some Titans related comics, and to my great pleasure, a few cheaply priced Birds of Prey comic books.

Glancing between the comic book in my hand and the wallet in my pocket, trying to decide whether I should buy it or not.

Keeping it in my hand, I pulled out my scruffy wallet-thing from my pocket, looking at how much money I had. Thanks to my sometimes-strict mother, I had some Japanese money. She had taken me to the post office before I left, exchanging most of my American money for the money they use here in Japan.

I had enough money to buy the comic book, I told myself. So I was going to buy it.


I walked back over to Kayla, noticing Kip in the corner of my eye, freaking out over some comic book, I figured.

"Did you find anything?" I asked, glancing around again. Was this all I was going to get? Or should I waste my money on more of them?

"Yep!" I said, then noticed the comic book she had in her hand.

"Hey, is that Johnny The Homicidal Maniac?" I asked, surprised. "I always look for that at my comics shop." I said.

I was in my happy corner, not noticing Kayla and Star discuss money.

"Why yes," I announced proudly. "Yes it is. And, not only that, but it's got like, three out of the seven comics in it, and it's the "Director's Cut" edition, so it's got things that were never published, plus comments from the creator himself, Jhonen Vasquez, and other people. I've looked at it before, but my mom would never let me buy it."

I looked at the comic thing in my hand, smiling. I was now holding it semi-up in the air, like I was showing off a prize to myself.

Suddenly, I snapped back into reality.

"Hey, do you think Kip's found anything yet?" I asked, looking over at the nearly-hyperventalating Kip.

"Oh, man, I loved Director's Cut stuff. It's always interesting to see what the writer thinks," I started, then answered her question. "Judging by how badly he's freaking out, I'd say yeah."

"Yeah, I love them, too. And, even though I have looked through this once before, I'm not sure what it's all got in it, besides what I already said. Kind of exciting."

I glanced over at Kip.

"Yeah, I think so, too." I agreed. "Should we just give him time to...calm down? Or should one of us go get him?"

"I'd say let him calm down...I know I always find it exciting when I find something I don't have. Like these Birds of Prey back issues...They're really cheap here. I can usually only get them for, like, $4.00...Anyway, yeah, just let him calm down...Unless he takes forever."

"Right," I said, worried slightly for Kip's health. Somebody might think he's going insane, and call the cops on him, who would then tackle him to the ground, armed with pepper spray, babbling in Japanese.

Yeah, I let my mind wander like that sometimes. I usually couldn't concentrate on one subject for too long unless I had to.

"This comic book was...$20, I think. Any idea how much that would be in Yen- or whatever they use here?" I asked, remembering the GPS thing I had in my bag, in case I got lost. It also had this cool thingymajig that would tell you how much one type of money was in another type of money- like how much Japanese Yen twenty American dollars would be.

"No idea at all," I laughed, kind of realizing that these comics MIGHT not be as cheap as I had thought. I didn't really care, though...As long as I could buy them.

I scanned the brightly coloured rows, and then I saw IT.
THE ORIGINAL HELLSING ULTIMATE!
I collapsed on the floor.

What in the...What just happened?!

Was what I immediately thought when I heard a thud, and noticed that Kip had collasped.

"...Kip?!"

I heard something hit the floor, and immediatly looked over in Kip's direction. He had collapsed on the floor.

Great, I thought.

*is collapsed on the floor, holding a copy of Hellsing in his hand, and a vague expression of ecstacy on his face*

(Uhmm...Kip? That's the wrong...how would you say this? It's the wrong style of writing.)

Ignoring the fact that Kip was on the floor, probably collapsing out of pure joy, I walked over to Kayla.

"Question!" I said, getting her attention.
"What's the difference between a comic book and a graphic novel?"

"Huh?" I said, Star suddenly saying something to me. I had been staring at Kip, and hadn't really paying attention.

"Oh...um, well, a graphic novel is a collection of three or more comic books in a series or story arc. A comic is a single issue. Some graphic novels, though, never came in issue-form, and are just a story told mainly in itself. Like...um..." I said, looking on the shelves next to us. Conveniently, a copy of the graphic novel "The Killing Joke" was on one of them. I grabbed it and flipped it open.

"Like this. This is just one story, it was never told in comic-book form," I said, as I started to skim through it. I owned it, and had brought it along with me, but I still always loved reading it.

"So..um...yeah...that's...that's the difference," I finished.

(How was is wrong? Should I change it?)
*suddenly comes back to life*



'Ummm...sorry about that.' I said meekly.

(Ugh...Don't you remember? You're not supposed to put the astrics (or however the heck you spell those) (*). It's supposed to be like this: "Suddenly, I came back to life." Not *suddenly comes back to life*. Have you seriously already forgotten?)


"Ohh, okay." I said, smiling. "So this is a graphic novel," I held up my 'future-purchase', "not a comic? See, that's what I was thinking. I just wasn't really sure...Just thought I'd ask you, seeing as how you know so much about comics."

I glanced over at the guy at the cashier counter thing. He was staring over at the three of us, probably thinking we were insane.

I looked at what she was holding, the Johnny The Homicidal Maniac comic...That is, the graphic novel.

"Uhh...yep. That's a novel."

I put The Killing Joke back on the shelf then scanned through them(The shelves), looking to see if their was anything good. I noticed a graphic novel I'd never read and grabbed it. I flipped through it, looked at the price, and decided I'd buy it. I looked up at Star.

"Soo...ready to go?" I asked.