Editor’s Note: You know that deep conversation you have with the purveyor of your local comic book shop? The one where you have incredulous questions about what comic book publishers, artists and writers were possibly thinking, and the clerk gives you a Yoda-like lowdown that brings everything into focus? Those conversations are a more accurate litmus test of the comic book industry than any corporate interview will ever reveal, so that’s why Geek Out! is going straight to the brick-and-mortar source.

DC Comics is taking 52 of their superhero titles back to number one. Marvel Comics won’t take that lying down, so they’re turning the clock back on fan favorite “Uncanny X-Men” and then upping the ante by offering to reward comic book show owners who destroy DC comic books.

This war is not over, and it is not a clean fight. Zack Overton knows it, and as the clerk at Atlanta, Georgia’s Oxford Comics, he knows which books to recommend for you, your friend, your sister, your dad, and anyone else you might be shopping for this fall.

We sat down with him to talk about the current state of the comics industry and how the staff and customers of his little brick and mortar are reacting to the latest buzz. Specifically, Overton told us how comic book buyers are actually reacting to DC Comic’s plan to start 52 of their superhero comic books back at issue number one, rival publisher Marvel’s tit-for-tat and alternative publishers. Here’s what he had to say: FULL POST