My Life With Comic Books Part 204

A brief introduction:

My name is Paul Howley, owner of the Eisner Award winning pop culture collector’s store known as “That’s Entertainment” in Worcester, Massachusetts and a second store in Fitchburg, Massachusetts. Some people have called me the “luckiest man in the comic book business.” (I’m not) My stores have been around for over thirty years and it’s been a long and interesting combination of events and people that have brought these stores to this current place. It is not my intent to boast or brag about my store or my life. I just want to tell you my story. In many instances, my wife remembers things a little differently, but this is the truth as I remember it.

 

 

The current cast of characters:

Paul Howley: age 48

Mal Howley: age 48

Adam Howley: my son, age 21

Cassy Howley: my daughter, age 18

 

MY LIFE WITH COMIC BOOKS: THE HISTORY OF A COMIC SHOP:  Part #204

 

   In June of 2002 we had a lot going on. We sold our home in Gilford, New Hampshire, rebuilt our cottage in Alton Bay, and we decided to move to Florida while Cassy attended Palm Beach Atlantic University. But at this moment, the most important thing was Cassy’s high school graduation from Laconia Christian School.

   Although we could only invite a few people to the actual graduation ceremony, we invited many relatives and friends to Cassy’s graduation party. Uncles, aunts, cousins, neighbors, classmates, and friends were coming... some from very far away! We were especially honored that our good friends, Gary and Peggy Walker, were coming all the way from Nashville, Tennessee to the party!

   We hadn’t seen Gary and Peggy for a few years but they’d always been special friends. We’ve known them since we worked for them in the mid-1970s and we kept in touch as often as possible.

   Mal and my sister Sharon had all of the details for the party finished and my brother-in-law Greg took care of setting up the chairs and other stuff outside for the party. It all seemed to go together very smoothly.

   The actual graduation ceremony was quite nice. The principal of the school, David Borchers, cared very much about the students and he made the graduation very relevant and personal. This particular senior class meant a lot to me too, and not just because my daughter was in it. These past four years saw significant changes in these young people as they matured and I was fortunate to be around to see it.

   During the ceremony the school choir sang some songs and Cassy was featured. Seamus O’Brien, Dwayne Currier, and Cassy each gave a “message” to their classmates while I sat in the audience nervously awaiting my turn to speak.

   Here’s a video clip of Cassy and the choir singing one of the songs:

 

   Shortly after this song, Cassy gave me a nice introduction. But she threw me for a loop as she introduced me as Dr. Paul Howley! Most of the people in the audience didn't know me at all so I would need to let them know I was not a doctor.
Next chapter: My message to the graduates.

My Life With Comic Books Part # 203

A brief introduction:

My name is Paul Howley, owner of the Eisner Award winning pop culture collector’s store known as “That’s Entertainment” in Worcester, Massachusetts and a second store in Fitchburg, Massachusetts. Some people have called me the “luckiest man in the comic book business.” (I’m not) My stores have been around for over thirty years and it’s been a long and interesting combination of events and people that have brought these stores to this current place. It is not my intent to boast or brag about my store or my life. I just want to tell you my story. In many instances, my wife remembers things a little differently, but this is the truth as I remember it.

 

 

The current cast of characters:

Paul Howley: age 48

Mal Howley: age 48

Adam Howley: my son, age 21

Cassy Howley: my daughter, age 18

 

MY LIFE WITH COMIC BOOKS: THE HISTORY OF A COMIC SHOP:  Part #203

 

   We had decided to try to sell our Gilford, NH home. Cassandra was headed off to Florida in the fall to attend Palm Beach Atlantic University and we thought it might be good to try a new start; somewhere we weren’t reminded of Adam every waking moment. After interviewing five different real estate companies, only Judy McShane seemed interested in our offer of a one-day exclusive listing if they had a customer who might be interested in buying it. Judy called one of her clients and after a very brief conversation, she wrote up the one-day listing agreement.

 

   About fifteen minutes later, a woman drove a Mercedes down our driveway, left her kids in the idling car, and after a brief introduction, began to look around the inside of our house. She spent about ten minutes looking around the house but she never looked at the finished basement and she didn’t look around the backyard. As she was headed out to leave, she asked Mal if we could be out of the house within fourteen days. We didn’t take her very seriously but we said, “Sure.”

 

   Within a half-hour, she called us with an offer. I declined her offer. She asked what the lowest price I’d sell the house for would be and when I told her, she agreed to buy the house. The next morning she arranged to come to our house to measure for drapes. While she was there I asked if she’d be interested in buying my beautiful carved-oak pool table and without a moment’s thought, she agreed to pay the full price I was asking.

 

   This was all great news for us since we really wanted to sell the house quickly, but there was a significant problem. We had no place to move into! We had torn out the bathrooms in our Alton Bay cottage and we still couldn’t find a carpenter to rebuild them. My sister Sharon and her husband Greg offered to let us stay with them at their home in Laconia, New Hampshire until we could find someone to rebuild our cottage bathrooms. Meanwhile, we had to empty all of our stuff out of our home and we brought it into a nearby storage facility. Greg let me use his truck and trailer and he helped me move the heavy furniture while several other friends helped pack and move boxes. It was a lot of work but we were able to empty the house in time for the sale date. The entire process of selling the house took about two weeks!

 

   After we had been living with Greg and Sharon for a couple of weeks, Greg suggested that HE could possibly rebuild our bathrooms at the cottage. (Hmmm….did he really just want to get rid of us?) Greg is a man of many talents so this seemed like a good idea. He worked hard and within a short time, the cottage bathroom was finished. But, in an effort to “help” him, I ended up getting hurt. I was kneeling on the floor moving some building supplies when I heard a loud pop. It was my kneecap! The pain was intense and within a minute my kneecap swelled up.

 

   As each day passed, the pain seemed to get worse. I could barely walk and I had too much going on to be incapacitated. We had Cassandra’s high school graduation coming up soon and we were planning to have a pretty big graduation party for her. The party was going to be held at my sister’s home because they had plenty of room inside the house and they also had a beautiful backyard. I called my doctor on a Saturday and he allowed me to come to his home to get a shot of cortisone in my knee to relieve the pain. Thankfully it worked great!

 

   While my wife and sister planned the graduation party, I began to work on preparing the message that I was going to give at the school’s graduation ceremony. I’m not a good writer so I was struggling with this. I knew a few of the ideas I wanted to express but putting it all together wasn’t easy for me. For several days, I’d make little notes as ideas came to me, hoping that when it was all combined, it might make some sense. With only a few days before the graduation, it was time for me to get serious about putting the message together.  I laid out all of the scraps of paper on my sister’s coffee table and just as I got ready to start writing the first draft, my wife asked me to go to the grocery store to get some of the food for the party. While I was gone, my sister’s dog, Bailey, ate all of the notes!

 

Next chapter: Cassandra’s graduation from high school.

 

My Life With Comic Books: Part # 34

MY LIFE WITH COMIC BOOKS: THE HISTORY OF A COMIC SHOP - Part 34

When legalized gambling in Atlantic City, New Jersey, was started in the late 1970’s, my partner Jay and my wife Mal, and I went for an evening of entertainment. The Resorts Hotel was the only hotel with a casino at that time. As we walked in I was told that I couldn’t get in without a dress jacket and when I told them that I didn’t have one, they had to lend me a jacket. Casino gambling was much more elegant in those days. We played blackjack for almost eight hours and we lost about $30.00. That was a fun and somewhat inexpensive night of entertainment. Over the next six years I learned to play blackjack “by the book” and I’d frequently have winning sessions. Of course, I’d have times where I’d lose some money too. Mal didn’t really enjoy gambling because she hated to lose. If she lost twenty dollars she’d realize that she could have bought a pair of shoes for that same amount of money. She would frequently go to the casino with me but she’d just stand and watch me play. She didn’t seem to mind if I lost money gambling and she’d cheer for me if I won.

Occasionally, my father would come with me to Atlantic City. We would play blackjack together for hours and I always had a great time with him. By the mid 1980’s my father was treated to free airfare to Atlantic City as well as free hotel rooms and food because he had become a frequent “player.” Luckily, my father was usually careful with his money so the gambling trips didn’t become a problem for him. He just enjoyed these trips as fun entertainment and I’d enjoy spending time with him.

On May 8th of 1984, Mal’s doctor told her that she was in the beginning stages of labor and urged her to go to the hospital. Since her labor pains weren’t too horrible yet, we stopped at Jimmy Talbot’s comic book store, Bop City Comics, so I could buy some comic books to read while we were at the hospital. Jimmy and I chatted about comics while Mal’s labor pains increased. When we finally arrived at the hospital they were waiting for us and they told us that they were wondering what took us so long. I’m sure they must have thought I was crazy. Mal was in labor all night but it became evident that she wasn’t actually ready to have the baby so we returned home. This was fine for me because the lady in the room next to us was screaming in pain throughout the whole night!

The next day Mal played cards and Scrabble with our neighbor, Louise Ruth, until the labor pains became so painful that it was apparent that this was the real thing! She called me at the comic store and I quickly drove home and we went to the hospital again. Mal was in labor all night. On May 10th of 1984 my wife gave birth to our second child, Cassandra. We had been hoping for a baby girl so we’d have one of each. So now, with our son, Adam, we were satisfied that this was our family. Adam wouldn’t be an only child. I’d have a son to goof around with and Mal had a girl to enjoy. Our life was going according to our plan.

When we had finally brought Adam home from the hospital after his health problems were resolved, he began to sleep straight through the night after about a month. Cassandra was not so accommodating. She would cry each day from 5:00 PM to 11:00 PM. Actually it was more like screaming than crying. It didn’t matter what we tried to do. We’d walk with her, rock her, sing to her, and we even tried driving her around in our car, but nothing worked. Our doctor said she was just “colicky” and that she’d eventually stop but because of my lack of patience (one of my bad traits) I would stay at my comic book store as long as I could just to avoid Cassy’s screaming. I got a lot of work done at the store but I wasn’t much help for Mal. This continued for almost three months before Cassy finally became a pleasant baby.

Adam was excited about having a baby sister. He didn’t seem to be jealous of all of the attention Cassy was getting. He was enjoying his time at The Power Prep pre-school. Adam loved learning and he loved interacting with the other kids in his school. Mal had always helped organize “play groups” so that Adam could get together with local kids his age. Each week the playgroup would be held at a different house in our neighborhood so that the kids would learn to socialize in different settings. By the time Adam was in pre-school he was very comfortable playing with boys and girls. It was during this year in pre-school that Adam experienced his very first starring role in a theater production of “Caps For Sale”. My mother and father sat in the front row with Mal and I as we proudly watched him act. As usual, my viewing of this event was seen through the viewfinder of a video camera. (Many of the most important events in my children’s lives would be seen that way.)

Next chapter: We consolidate our two stores into one.
Picture: Adam visiting Cassy in the hospital