Collector Dads Say My Daughter Has Good Superhero Taste — For a Girl

This morning, I had the wonderfully fun opportunity to discuss super heroes and their memorabilia with some extremely knowledgeable sources. I was wandering the aisles of Toys ‘R’ Us looking for birthday presents for my daughter and having a difficult time finding the exact type of action figures she wanted. Seeing two men in deep conversation over a model of the planet Oa from Green Lantern, I decided to see if they had any idea where I could find some old school, non-Dark-Knight Batman. “My daughter is a little young for the super scary stuff,” I explained.

So began my lesson in super hero collectibles. It turns out that my local Toys ‘R’ Us is rather lacking when it comes to comic book royalty. There wasn’t a classic Batman in sight. “Next option?” questioned one of the dads helping me on my journey. “Well, it’s really the Justice League that she’s into,” I started to explain. “But not the newer Unlimited series and not the Young Justice characters that just came out.” My guides started to get more interested in my quest. “Who are her favorites?” they asked. “Well she was a big fan on Hawk Girl, but that’s died down a little. The Flash and Martian Manhunter are her favorites, but we’ve started to move on to Batman.” Suddenly these guys looked impressed. “What about villains?” they pressed further. “Actually, none of the big ones. She likes Cheetah, Copperhead and Grundy.”

These two gentlemen looked at each other, then at me. I felt like my daughter and I were being judged. The final verdict: “She has good taste… for a kid… and a girl.”

They gave me a rundown of the selection I would find at other toy stores in my city. “The Wal-mart on Dupont got a shipment of new Batman stuff about three days ago. There should still be some there.” Over the course of the conversation, I found that my guides visit the toy stores every week to see the new toys that have been delivered. They were collectors in a very extreme and active sense.

These Superman fanboys were not the first to be surprised by my four year old daughter’s infatuation with super heroes. Our Batman-themed birthday invitations created quite a stir in my daughter’s class. Parents who didn’t know the entire class were confused if Brenna was a boy or a girl. After all, what kind of girl has a Batman-themed birthday? Mine does.

My daughter seems to realize that her choice is a little controversial. As we were shopping for plates, napkins and decorations, the grocery store check-out guy asked my daughter if we were throwing a party for her brother. Brenna looked completely scandalized. “No,” she replied, “they’re mine!” Her tone implied the additional, “How dare you!”

My daughter’s room has a great big, pink Barbie Mansion. In it, Baby Sister Kelly plays with Captain Atom and The Little Mermaid has teamed up with Catwoman. She has a wonderful imagination. But she has no problem crossing into traditionally boy territory. My little girl loves her super heroes. And I have to admit that the Wal-mart on Dupont had exactly what I needed. So thank you gentlemen, wherever you are. I have to agree with them, my daughter does have amazing taste. She knows that it doesn’t matter whether it’s pink or blue, she can like whatever she wants.

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