“Nice Band-Aid,” says David Miller, pointing to the small Batman bandage around my finger. Since Miller is owner of Bellevue’s new comic book and gaming store, Dragon’s Lair Comics & Fantasy, it’s appropriate, perhaps expected, that this is the first thing he says as we sit down.

For Miller, a former software programmer for Microsoft, Sprint and Blue Ribbon, the opening of Dragon’s Lair marks the culmination of a lifelong dream.

“I’ve been into comic books for as long as I can remember,” says Miller, adding that he is also a voracious reader of fantasy and sci-fi as well as an avid gamer — make that addict, he adds.

Miller cheerfully admits that he worked as a software programmer to support his “gaming addiction” which started as a teenager when he discovered Dungeons & Dragons.

“It was the summer of ’78, I remember it well,” he said, laughing.

Gaming appealed to him because it allowed him to be a writer. At various points in his life he wanted to be an author, but didn’t have the patience to sit down and write out a full novel, so gaming fulfilled that urge to write and tell stories. It also changed his life.

“That’s how my wife [Kristen] and I met, playing D&D at Microsoft,” he said. Today they have two children, Griffin and Persephone.

But long before Microsoft, Miller was just a kid growing up in Jacksonville, Fla., who loved comics. After graduating from high school he went to a junior college, but quit to go to a vocational school in Atlanta for computer science and got his first job out of that.

“That was in the early ‘80s, back when you could still get a job without having a degree,” Miller said with a smile.

A self-described “math geek,” Miller found he clicked with computer science, and after that it was his experience that enabled him to get jobs.

Throughout his career, Miller has gamed constantly on the side, often with coworkers who shared his passion. But some locations were better suited to his addiction.

“Atlanta doesn’t have as huge of a nerd culture,” he said.

But he soon would find a better fit.

In 1995 Microsoft bought a small company Miller was working for called Blue Ribbon Soundworks and moved all of its programmers to Seattle, a city with, shall we say, a slightly larger nerd culture.

Miller continued to work at Microsoft up until a few years ago, then left to work for MixMeister, a small company that made DJ mixing software.

“Most of my computer work in the last 20 years has been music related,” Miller says, and he excitedly talks about the music he likes, scrolling through his iPod and listing off bands such as Led Zeppelin, The Kinks, The Beatles, Creedence Clearwater, David Bowie, and more recent fare like The White Stripes and the Gorillaz.

After working for MixMeister for about three years, Miller got a shot at his secret dream. Last year at a Dr. Who convention in Los Angeles, Miller came across a woman with her own Tardis (that is a time machine phone booth featured in the Dr. Who series). He learned that her husband owned a comic book and game store in Texas and was looking to start franchising it (I’m sure you don’t need a Tardis to figure out where this is going).

Dragon’s Lair Comics & Fantasy, offering everything from manga to graphic novels and comics to board and card games and action figures, is located at 14725 N.E. 20th St. in Bellevue, right across from the IHOP. Or, visit online at www.dlair.net.

Kelly Hendrickson is a student in the University of Washington Department of Communication News Laboratory.