On Thursday, September 28, the Tanger Center’s Stage Door Lounge will host Acme Comics’ Greensboro Geek Out: Spiderman, a free pre-show event celebrating the cultural significance of Miles Morales, who for many young fans has become the most popular Marvel superhero to fight evil under the name Spider-Man.
It will be followed by a performance of the touring multimedia event Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse Live on the Tanger main stage.
“The Tanger Center is hosting a fabulous screening of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse with a live orchestra and DJ providing the score to the film while it is being played,” said Ben Roberts, the Acme Comics minority owner who helped set up the Geek Out event. “As Greensboro’s longest-running comic book store, we are always looking for new and unique ways to get involved with the Greensboro community and other local entities and businesses.”
Jermaine Exum and Brian Michael Bendiis at Baltimore Comic-Con
As soon as Roberts learned that Into the Spider-Verse Live was on Tanger’s fall schedule, he reached out to the performing arts center’s guest services manager, James Smith.
“He was very excited about combining meet-up opportunities for the Greensboro ‘geek’ scene. There will be a brief reception and Acme Comics will be handing out free Spider-Man comics to all in attendance. There will be a raffle for such prizes as Miles Morales graphic novels, action figures, and tickets to upcoming Tanger Center events, and we will host a moderated conversation between Acme Comics’ [majority owner] Jermaine Exum, myself, and acclaimed comics writer Brian Michael Bendis, who will be joining us via video from his home in Oregon.
In 2011, Bendis and artist Sarah Pichelli created Miles Morales, the biracial Black and Puerto Rican spider-powered Brooklyn teenager who shares the name Spider-Man with the character’s original incarnation Peter Parker. Miles made his cinematic debut in 2018’s Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, which won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature. Bendis was a consultant on that film and its 2023 sequel Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.
Roberts described Bendis as a longtime friend of Acme Comics. “We’re excited to talk with him about the major industry shift that followed the introduction of Miles Morales as well as the cultural impact that has been left in his wake over the past 12 years.”
Roberts was born in Greensboro and has lived most of his life here. “Comic Books were how I learned to read and have been a part of my life in some form or fashion ever since. In 2021, my friend and business partner Austin Getzelman and myself became minority owners of the store alongside majority owner, Exum.”
Roberts said that his experience as the contact for the Tanger Center will lead to future downtown collaborations.
“With an all-new, all-different (comic book terminology!) Greensboro, compared to what I grew up in, I’m excited when we are able to work with other businesses and organizations doing what they can to make this city special. Acme is opening a second location at 333 S. Davie Street in downtown Greensboro this October and we want to specifically make an impact in this area of the city. We’ve been working hard to reach across the aisle and partner up with whomever we can when it makes sense. That has included this year, a beer collaboration with Little Brother Brewing, a spinner rack and custom sandwich special at The Bodega, and participating with the Carolina Theater on the Nightmare off Elm Street horror film series this October.”
Like many fans, Roberts had “broken up” with comics as a teenager, “when school and punk rock overtook everything,” only to renew his love for the art form a few years later. Miles Morales had a lot to do with that.
“Having a Spider-Man closer to my actual age dealing with problems that I could wrap my head around was something else. The larger pop-culture world agreed and began to take notice of this character and the announcement of the Spider-Man: Into the Spider-verse film exploded the character into an all-new level of popularity and recognition. To young kids that walk through the doors into Acme Comics, Miles is their Spider-Man!”
Ryan Oakley, a Greensboro-based illustrator who is often a guest artist at Acme Comics’ Free Comic Book Day, said this has been the experience in her own family.
“It’s probably been said so many times already but Miles is representation. I personally don’t have kids but my nieces love Miles. He is a way for Brown and Black kids to see themselves in someone on screen doing positive things. Miles shows that you can be nerdy, smart and have a love for your culture. Miles shows all parts of himself and does it unapologetically. He inspires me to do the same in my own life.”
Acme Comics majority owner Exum first met Bendis at the now-defunct Wizard World comics convention in Chicago in 2004. “I rarely attended panels at conventions, but I checked out his. He was great with the audience, funny, and full of insights into his craft.”
Ben Roberts
But who, wondered Exum, were the other people up on stage with him? “Turns out they were members of his Jinxworld website message board. Although I do not usually care for being in front of groups of people, I was determined to be on that stage someday.”
Exum had not previously spent much time on internet message boards, but once back in Greensboro, he became a regular on the Jinxworld one.
“I believe the thing that set me apart though was my insight from 15 years of retail experience at Acme Comics.”
Bendis was impressed, and in 2005, asked if Exum would like to be a character in an issue of “Ultimate Spider-Man.” “Of course, I said yes, and there I was on five pages in that issue.” Exum subsequently interviewed Bendis for the Acme Comics website, met him many more times at conventions, and corresponded with him via countless emails over the years. “In 2012, we had him on our Acmecast podcast to talk about the exciting new character Miles Morales.”
Exum believes that his friendship with one of his favorite comics writers has changed not only the course of his own life but has helped make Acme one of the popular and respected comic shops in the country. “I don’t say that hyperbolically. Without the events set in motion by his thoughtfulness, approachability, and generosity Acme Comics would not be so well-known outside of North Carolina. I feel like a worthy participant and member of the comic book industry at large, a part of the conversation with a seat somewhere at the table. Bendis knew that I was serious and passionate about the business of comics, about Acme Comics, and over the years he would trust me with information on his storylines that I would use, never to spoil or serve up to rumor websites, but to make good ordering decisions for the business so that we could have the right items at the right times for our clientele.”
“Greensboro Geek Out: Spider-Man” is free to all who RSVP through the Tanger Center website,” said Roberts. “Tickets to the Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse Live screening are not required to attend Greensboro Geek-Out, which begins at 6:30 PM, giving those who join us plenty of time to take in the festivities while still having time to attend the Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse Live screening at 7:30.”
Tickets for the Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse with Live Orchestra and DJ start at $29 and are for sale on the Tanger Center website.
Ian McDowell is an award-winning author and journalist whose book I Ain’t Resisting: the City of Greensboro and the Killing of Marcus Smith will be published in September by Scuppernong Editions.