My Life With Comic Books: Part # 198

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 17

Ken: the manager of our comic book/collectibles stores

Dave: comic book expert

MY LIFE WITH COMIC BOOKS: THE HISTORY OF A COMIC SHOP--Part 198

                        “The first Free Comic Book Day event!”

   Our collectible stores were gearing up for two huge events; the special screening and ticket-giveaway for the Spider-Man movie and the very first “Free Comic Book Day.” Free Comic Book Day was conceived by Joe Fields, a comic book retailer, who thought that it would be beneficial for the comic book industry to band-together to promote the comic book art-form. Since this was going to be the first Free Comic Book Day, we had no idea what to expect but we did the best we could to purchase the kind of comic books that might encourage people to try reading some! (Contrary to what many people think, although we give the comic books away for free, we PAY for them all.)

   Dave and Ken wrote the following text to inform the media about the event:

      That’s Entertainment celebrates an American art-form with free comics for everyone!

      On Saturday, May 4^th, That’s Entertainment at 244 Park Avenue in Worcester will be giving everyone who visits a free comic book---with no purchase necessary.

    Why? That’s Entertainment is one of over 2000 comic book shops worldwide participating in “Free Comic Book Day.”

   “The goal of Free Comic Book Day,” said David Hartwell, assistant manager of That’s Entertainment, “is to introduce, or re-introduce everyone to the joys of comic books.”

     “Comic books are an original American art-form created in the depression era as affordable entertainment for the masses,” Hartwell continued. “In the decades since, comics’ unique blend of words and pictures has grown, matured, and changed with the times, while providing us with some of the most enduring characters and stories in our popular culture. Also, comics have been an idea-factory for Hollywood---Superman, Batman, The Crow, Spawn, X-Men, Ghost World, and now Spider-Man.”

      Over the course of Free Comic Book Day, participating stores will give away close to two million comic books, ranging in subject matter from high-flying super-hero adventures to intense slice-of-life to crime noir to kid-friendly humor and more. Visitors to That’s Entertainment on May 4^th will find a variety of free comics to choose from, including ‘Star Wars Tales,’ ‘Justice League Adventures,’ ‘Tomb Raider,’ ‘Ultimate Spider-Man,’ and many more.

       Hartwell went on to explain why May 4^th was chosen as the date for Free Comic Book Day. “With the Spider-Man movie opening the day before, public awareness of comic books will be high and we think Free Comic Book Day will build on that momentum.”

     “We’re also bringing in some comic artists to the store just to make the day even more special,” said Hartwell. “Paul Ryan, who has drawn the Spider-Man comic strip, as well as dozens of other major characters, will be here to chat with fans and sign copies of his work. We’ll also host creators Andy Fish, Tony Antetomaso, and Scott Hamilton, who will all give demonstrations on how comic books are created. It’s called ‘The Pro-Am Comic Jam.’ The creators will be on hand from 3PM until 6PM.”

     “Along with our fellow comic book retailers around the world, we at That’s Entertainment want to spread the word that comics are alive and well in 2002,” Hartwell continued. “That’s Entertainment is one of the largest comic stores in the country, with about 10,000 square feet of display area and we’ve won the industry’s national retailing award. We invite everyone to come to That’s Entertainment on May 4^th and see for themselves how vital, relevant, powerful, and just-plain cool comic books are. Best of all, they’re FREE---and we hope to give away a lot of comics!”

Next Chapter: The Spider-Man movie ticket giveaway.

My Life With Comic Books: Part # 36

MY LIFE WITH COMIC BOOKS: THE HISTORY OF A COMIC SHOP - Part 36

By 1984, my store was bursting at the seams with comic books, records, toys and trading cards. I was only paying $350.00 per month for rent, but I needed more space. The store retail space and backroom, combined, was only 1500 square feet.

In the mid-1980’s, rents in Worcester had skyrocketed. Real estate investors from Boston had bought up lots of the commercial property with the hopes of transforming Worcester into a new Boston. The average retail space was now renting at an annual rate of $12.00 per square foot. I was only paying about $2.80 per square foot because my landlord lived in another state and he was unaware that Worcester had become a “hot” location. I had offered to buy the building a few times, but each time he told me his “asking price” it was slightly higher than I thought the building was worth. Luckily for me, the landlord was content with the rent he was receiving from me. I had been in this building for four years, with no lease, and he had not raised the rent at all. He must have appreciated that I always paid on time and didn’t bother him with minor problems with the building.

The tenant who rented the store next to me wasn’t as easy. He was frequently late with his rent and when he decided to move out, my landlord asked if I wanted to rent that store also. There was only one problem. There was no door joining the two stores. The landlord said that if I wanted to create a doorway, I’d have to do it myself.

The wall between the two stores was made up of two layers of solid brick and I knew I wasn’t up to the challenge of creating the new opening. I contacted my friend, Jim Stoll, and he began smashing the wall down with a sledgehammer. I rented a dumpster that had wheels on the bottom and had it delivered and placed on the sidewalk as close to the store as possible. The dumpster was quite large and it took up most of the space on the sidewalk. While Jim pounded away at the walls, his son and I loaded the bricks into the dumpster. Within a few hours the majority of the bricks were removed from the wall and they were in the dumpster. Unfortunately, this made the dumpster so heavy that we couldn’t move it. I called the trash company to come and get it, but I had forgotten that it was the beginning of a holiday weekend. They told me they couldn’t come to remove the dumpster for four days. I explained to them that the dumpster location made it dangerous to pass by on the sidewalk. When I explained that it was full of bricks and it was now too heavy to move they laughed. They told me that construction materials like bricks were extremely expensive to dispose of and it would probably cost about $1500.00 to get rid of these. They also insisted that they couldn’t get the dumpster for another four days.

I had to get rid of these bricks and get the dumpster off of the sidewalk. There was only one solution. I had Jim cut a hole in the floor of the store and we unloaded all of those bricks from the dumpster and just dumped them into the basement of the store! The basement was completely empty and there was no other way to get down there, so putting a few tons of bricks wouldn’t hurt anything. Employees and customers would refer this to as “Howley’s Folly” for many years. As usual, I just didn’t think this expansion plan through.

Next chapter: We obtain a complete Marvel Comics collection in gorgeous condition and learn about turning it into an event.