Posted in: Comics | Tagged: Comics, state

The Comic Shop Representative

Published Sun, 02 Dec 2012 12:00:19 -0600

Nick Spencer stood for election in Cincinatti for the Charterist Party. Steve Geppi once considered running for Governor. Chester Brown is a Libertarian Party candidate in Canada. And Mark Millar is involved with the governing Scottish National Party, and was even thanked in their victory speech.

But it's not a common tie up. There aren't any elected comic book industry politicians. Expect one.

Republican State Representative, David Yaccarino of North Haven, opened DJ's Sports Collectibles and Comics twenty-one years ago, selling baseball cards, before expanding into selling comics. And he still is.

The North Haven Register reports

Since becoming a state representative, Yaccarino, in his second term, says he's found some comic fans at the Capitol, too. Yaccarino's vocation as comic shop owner acts as an icebreaker of sorts — he says he's had politicians profess their fondness for the art form to him as if it was a guilty pleasure, that they "didn't want to tell anyone."

To that, Yaccarino says, "Why? Who cares?"

And talking to one customer…

"I was a customer, and over the years I built a friendship with Dave, and we would chat about politics in the store, and Dave asked me if he thought it was a good idea to run," Tropeano says. "He asked me to join his committee, and one thing led to another, and before I knew it I was a campaign manager."
"Parents will come, a lot of times kids will come in wanting Pokemon cards or comics," Gritz says. "And then it's like, "Oh, Dave's here. What do you think about this law they're passing?'"

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