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Super comics men

A pair of pulp fiction dealers know their good guys from bad guys, heroes from villains.

By SHERYL KAY
Published February 18, 2005

CARROLLWOOD - Scott Morse remembers the first time he met Batman and Robin.

"I was 6 years old, and I met the real Adam West and Burt Ward," said Morse, 34.

"I thought I was meeting the real Batman and Robin."

So began Morse's love affair with comic book heroes that, except for a short time during his early teenage years, continues today.

For the past six years, Morse and Bubba Baab have earned reputations as comic book connoisseurs, managing Wonder Water V Sports Cards, Comics, and Games at 14743 N Dale Mabry Highway.

They sell a few anime and manga titles. But most of what they offer is of the superhero genre, from the Flash to Wonder Woman, from the X-Men to She-Hulk.

"As a kid I saw the good guys vs. the bad guys, like when you play soldier and knight, and that's what the superheroes were all about," Morse said.

Now it's more about escaping reality.

"Comics take you to another place, if only for the course of reading the comic book," he said.

While Morse is a devotee of Spider-Man, Batman and Superman, sidekick Baab is into art.

"In a comic book, every panel is a piece of art," said Baab, 24.

"With a comic book you can judge a book by its cover because the pictures tell you so much."

They see nothing childish about their venture. Just look at their market. Some comic book companies offer three different lines: one for the longtime reader, one for the newcomer who needs to catch up with the various storylines, and one for children.

Over the past couple of decades, comics have increasingly dealt with mature themes.

"There are books that have dealt with drug addiction, AIDs, 9/11, homosexuality," Morse said. "When Superman was killed (in his comic book) in 1991, Bill and Hillary Clinton both spoke at his funeral."

With the vast proliferation of titles (distributors DC and Marvel alone print dozens of series) Baab and Morse have their work cut out for them. Both read or skim through almost two dozen comics a week, attend conventions, monitor industry magazines and keep up the chatter with other comic book collectors.

Odessa comic book author Ron Marz, 39, has known the pair for the past three years and has come to depend on their knowledge.

"Scott knows a hell of a lot more about comics than I do, and that's what I do for a living," Marz said. "He's got this database in his head about this issue, or that date, that really boggles the mind."

Baab, Marz said, is the "yin to Scott's yang."

"He's curmudgeonly, gruffer. But he really shares the same great enthusiasm," Marz said.

Jim White, an investment specialist from Land O'Lakes, started shopping for comics at the store almost 15 years ago, before Morse and Baab began to run it.

The duo impressed him. "Even before I became friends with them, they knew my name, they knew what comics I liked and could suggest new ones," he said. "They made me feel welcome."

Watch for a new Morse-Baab venture: The two are writing their own comic book. Tentatively titled Realmquests, the book is a fantasy-comedy about medieval adventurers. Both Baab and Morse appear as characters in the story.

Hobbies might come and go for some, they say, but there's nothing like a good paper comic book.

Holding it, turning the pages to see what's next," Morse said, "that's the backbone of comics."

-Contact reporter Sheryl Kay at skreporter@hotmail.com

[Last modified February 17, 2005, 10:50:08]