Pat Loika hasn't shopped at San Diego's Comics-n-Stuff in years, but when he walks in, everybody says hi.

You get the sense this would happen in any comic store in the country. Comic fans know Loika — he's a regular at conventions and hosts Loikamania, a popular interview podcast. He strolls by the action figures and the Mylar-bagged comics and the signs reminding you to keep the comics in the Mylar bags or else. After getting permission to disobey that rule, he opens a copy of Uncanny X-Men Vol. 3 #15.

"I'm in this one."

He flips to a panel of the X-Men following an angry mob through the streets of London. They approach a mutant sealed in a cocoon and pass Loika, peeking over his shoulder to make eye contact with the reader as if to say, "Can you believe the crazy mutant action that's about to go down?" Pat Loika the Marvel character is a lot like Pat Loika the Marvel fan: eager to bond with another reader over how cool this stuff is.

The cameo wasn't written into the original script, but artist Kris Anka added him to a crowd shot after becoming friends with Loika and appearing on his show. Loika has that effect on people in the industry. He isn't a commentator or critic so much as preacher of the comic book gospel. He wants to know if you've heard the good word about Drax The Destroyer. The world of comics is small enough that by being one of the most vocal and visible fans — both online and at conventions — Loika has become a minor celebrity. When he got trapped in an elevator last year, his live-tweeting of the situation was covered by the website Bleeding Cool. If you've seen a photo on Tumblr of a superhero cosplayer at a convention, it's likely Loika took it. And that X-Men comic isn't the only cameo he has had in a Marvel book — in fact, it wasn't his only appearance last year.