MY LIFE WITH COMIC BOOKS: THE HISTORY OF A COMIC SHOP - Part 35
In 1984 I owned two comic book and collectables stores, one in Worcester, and one in Maynard, Massachusetts. Although the Maynard store was profitable, it wasn’t making enough money to keep me excited about the extra work necessary to keep it going. One store is a lot of work and most people think it would be twice as much work to have two stores. I believe it’s much more than that. With more than one store, there’s more effort spent moving merchandise from store to store. There are more employees to hire, train and schedule. Although I had purchased one of my most memorable comic book collections because of the Maynard store, I just wasn’t interested in expending the time and effort to build the store into a high profit location.
After running it for a little over a year, I decided to close the Maynard store. I wrote a letter explaining the situation to all of my customers and I offered a short-term incentive for them to begin shopping at our Worcester store. I knew that some customers would be intimidated by the big city of Worcester so I encouraged them to shop at the comic book store owned by my cousin Steven Higgins in Waltham, Massachusetts. Many of them still shop there almost twenty years later!
My Worcester store was becoming well known for the great inventory of old comic books that we had in stock and the local newspapers would run stories when we located rare and expensive comics like the first Superman or Batman comic book. The extra publicity in these large circulation newspapers would encourage other people in the area to sell us their collections of old comics, toys, records, and trading cards. With a very limited budget for advertising, we were thrilled to get this kind of free publicity. It would have cost us hundreds of dollars for an advertisement and many people would pass right by it, but most people would be interested in reading an article about us, especially if there was a photograph included.
The local newspapers were very cooperative in the mid-1980’s. Comic books and baseball cards were the subject of many large articles and the editors were happy to be able to include us as local interest subjects. We bought new collections almost every day. Not all of them were rare or old collectables, but I’d buy them anyway. I had planned to be in business for many years so I knew that I’d eventually need even these more recent items. Although our sales were very good, I decided to plan an “event” to have some fun with my customers. I sent out flyers to everyone on my mailing list inviting them to an auction at my store. I selected a bunch of comic books and toys specifically for the auction. There was an empty lot behind my store so I decided to have the auction there. There were about 150 people at the store for this auction. I did the auctioning myself and had a fun time joking around with my customers. The customers seemed to enjoy it because we decided to start each item with no minimum bid. Many of the items went cheap, but some items sold for more than we expected. It was a bright sunny day and it was strange to watch my customers getting more sunburned with each passing hour. When the auction was over most of the customers came into the store and spent whatever money they had left on our regular store inventory.
This was so successful that we were now determined to plan other special events for our customers. We didn’t want our store to be just a place for people to spend money, we wanted our store to be remembered as a fun place to come to and hang out in.
Next Chapter: Howley’s Folly
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
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
Monday, January 18, 2010
My Life With Comic Books: Part # 33
MY LIFE WITH COMIC BOOKS: THE HISTORY OF A COMIC SHOP - Part 33
At this point in my “story” I’d like to explain a few things. Although this story is about the history of my comic book shop and my life-long interest in comic books, it’s also about people and events that had a major impact on my life in regard to the story that I wanted to tell. This doesn’t mean that if I haven’t mentioned you that you had no impact on my life. I believe that everyone we interact with is important and affects us in some way. It’s just that I actually have a reason for the inclusion of each part of this story. Hopefully it will all become clear by the end. I also know that many of you have little interest in my personal life and many of you have little (or no) interest in my business of selling comic books. I’m considering a change in format in future chapters. I may separate each chapter into a personal section and a business section so that you can skip over the section that you’re not interested in reading. Please feel free to give me your opinion on this change. Now, on with the story.
When my son, Adam, was four years old he was able to read books on his own. Adam learned new things very quickly. He had a very advanced vocabulary and he was almost always well behaved. My wife, Mal, and I spent as much time as possible with him trying to teach him new things and playing games together. We’d play “Go Fish” and “Candyland” quite often. One of my favorite games to play with Adam came to be called “Hey Buddy.” We would set up small roads on a rug in our family room and use Adam’s toy cars and pretend to drive around “the town.” As we would pass each other Adam and I would say, “Hey Buddy.” We would also build small houses using Lincoln Logs so we’d have actual destinations to drive to. Adam loved this little game.
One of my many character flaws is my lack of patience. I saw how one of my friends interacted with his children and I was actually envious of his relationship with his kids. When he was home, he spent most of his time with his wife and children. It seemed as if he actually enjoyed including his kids in almost every activity and his love and patience was most evident when he was doing yard work. He would frequently be cutting the grass with one or more kids sitting with him on his lawn tractor. He never seemed to be irritated or lose his patience with them. I was amazed at his devotion and dedication to his family. I wished that I could be like him.
I later learned another important life lesson. You can’t judge a book by its cover. Don’t make assumptions based on outward appearances. I found out that the man I held in such high esteem wasn’t perfect, after all. I had been unaware that he was having trouble in his marriage. He was still a man who possessed a lot of great qualities but I learned that things are not always as they appear to be.
It was around this time that my main employee, Steve Wentzell, decided that it was time to leave. I wasn’t paying him as much as I should have been and he could make enough money to live on by selling records at a local flea market. Thankfully, I had enough part time employees to keep the store running smoothly and David Lynch was willing to work for me full time.
David Lynch had a great knowledge of comic book history. He also loved movies, music, and old television shows. He was a talented writer. We also got along really well. He was willing to adapt to my way of doing business and he was a good steady worker. When I would leave instructions and projects for him to work on when I wasn’t there, he always worked hard to complete these tasks. In our business, it’s important to make the shopping experience pleasant for our customers and a good personality makes this much easier. Most of our customers liked David.
A customer, David Hartwell, had been recently laid off from his full time job and when I offered him some temporary work, he accepted. David Hartwell was one of the most laid-back, easy-going guys I’d ever met. He wasn’t the fastest worker I had, but he was diligent and he always finished every task he started. He did quality work, not quantity. He would frustrate me at times, but I eventually learned that it was better to get the job done right, as David Hartwell would do, than rush through it. Although David Hartwell only worked as a temporary, part-time employee during 1983, he would eventually come back a few years later as a valuable full time employee.
In 1965 I had created a comic book super-hero called “Insect Man” and I had written and drawn quite a few small comic books that featured his adventures. One of my customers, Peter Fries, asked if I’d be interested in resuming publication of the comic book series. He had created a new super-hero team called “The Defensors” and he wanted to feature them in the new Insect Man comic books. Peter wrote and drew a three-issue story line and we began publishing Insect Man again after a five-year hiatus. We had these offset printed in black and white and we sold about one hundred copies of each issue in my store.
Some of my other customers began to write stories too. Dan Courtney and Chris Coleman wrote a few issues about a new super-hero named Silverlion. I enjoyed publishing these stories but these issues didn’t feature my character of Insect Man. Another customer, Larry Young, wrote and drew a story that would feature the exciting return of Insect Man. He designed a new costume and this issue was an instant hit. We sold out of every issue we had printed. Larry didn’t have time to do any more issues because he was a hard working college student but David Lynch stepped up and began writing the new Insect Man comic books. The local newspapers wrote articles about “Worcester’s own super-hero” and the sales increased on our little Insect Man comic books.
Larry Young eventually worked at my store for a couple of years and he now makes his living writing, drawing, and publishing real comic books!
Next chapter: Atlantic City!
At this point in my “story” I’d like to explain a few things. Although this story is about the history of my comic book shop and my life-long interest in comic books, it’s also about people and events that had a major impact on my life in regard to the story that I wanted to tell. This doesn’t mean that if I haven’t mentioned you that you had no impact on my life. I believe that everyone we interact with is important and affects us in some way. It’s just that I actually have a reason for the inclusion of each part of this story. Hopefully it will all become clear by the end. I also know that many of you have little interest in my personal life and many of you have little (or no) interest in my business of selling comic books. I’m considering a change in format in future chapters. I may separate each chapter into a personal section and a business section so that you can skip over the section that you’re not interested in reading. Please feel free to give me your opinion on this change. Now, on with the story.
When my son, Adam, was four years old he was able to read books on his own. Adam learned new things very quickly. He had a very advanced vocabulary and he was almost always well behaved. My wife, Mal, and I spent as much time as possible with him trying to teach him new things and playing games together. We’d play “Go Fish” and “Candyland” quite often. One of my favorite games to play with Adam came to be called “Hey Buddy.” We would set up small roads on a rug in our family room and use Adam’s toy cars and pretend to drive around “the town.” As we would pass each other Adam and I would say, “Hey Buddy.” We would also build small houses using Lincoln Logs so we’d have actual destinations to drive to. Adam loved this little game.
One of my many character flaws is my lack of patience. I saw how one of my friends interacted with his children and I was actually envious of his relationship with his kids. When he was home, he spent most of his time with his wife and children. It seemed as if he actually enjoyed including his kids in almost every activity and his love and patience was most evident when he was doing yard work. He would frequently be cutting the grass with one or more kids sitting with him on his lawn tractor. He never seemed to be irritated or lose his patience with them. I was amazed at his devotion and dedication to his family. I wished that I could be like him.
I later learned another important life lesson. You can’t judge a book by its cover. Don’t make assumptions based on outward appearances. I found out that the man I held in such high esteem wasn’t perfect, after all. I had been unaware that he was having trouble in his marriage. He was still a man who possessed a lot of great qualities but I learned that things are not always as they appear to be.
It was around this time that my main employee, Steve Wentzell, decided that it was time to leave. I wasn’t paying him as much as I should have been and he could make enough money to live on by selling records at a local flea market. Thankfully, I had enough part time employees to keep the store running smoothly and David Lynch was willing to work for me full time.
David Lynch had a great knowledge of comic book history. He also loved movies, music, and old television shows. He was a talented writer. We also got along really well. He was willing to adapt to my way of doing business and he was a good steady worker. When I would leave instructions and projects for him to work on when I wasn’t there, he always worked hard to complete these tasks. In our business, it’s important to make the shopping experience pleasant for our customers and a good personality makes this much easier. Most of our customers liked David.
A customer, David Hartwell, had been recently laid off from his full time job and when I offered him some temporary work, he accepted. David Hartwell was one of the most laid-back, easy-going guys I’d ever met. He wasn’t the fastest worker I had, but he was diligent and he always finished every task he started. He did quality work, not quantity. He would frustrate me at times, but I eventually learned that it was better to get the job done right, as David Hartwell would do, than rush through it. Although David Hartwell only worked as a temporary, part-time employee during 1983, he would eventually come back a few years later as a valuable full time employee.
In 1965 I had created a comic book super-hero called “Insect Man” and I had written and drawn quite a few small comic books that featured his adventures. One of my customers, Peter Fries, asked if I’d be interested in resuming publication of the comic book series. He had created a new super-hero team called “The Defensors” and he wanted to feature them in the new Insect Man comic books. Peter wrote and drew a three-issue story line and we began publishing Insect Man again after a five-year hiatus. We had these offset printed in black and white and we sold about one hundred copies of each issue in my store.
Some of my other customers began to write stories too. Dan Courtney and Chris Coleman wrote a few issues about a new super-hero named Silverlion. I enjoyed publishing these stories but these issues didn’t feature my character of Insect Man. Another customer, Larry Young, wrote and drew a story that would feature the exciting return of Insect Man. He designed a new costume and this issue was an instant hit. We sold out of every issue we had printed. Larry didn’t have time to do any more issues because he was a hard working college student but David Lynch stepped up and began writing the new Insect Man comic books. The local newspapers wrote articles about “Worcester’s own super-hero” and the sales increased on our little Insect Man comic books.
Larry Young eventually worked at my store for a couple of years and he now makes his living writing, drawing, and publishing real comic books!
Next chapter: Atlantic City!
Friday, January 15, 2010
My Life With Comic Books: Part # 32
MY LIFE WITH COMIC BOOKS: THE HISTORY OF A COMIC SHOP - Part 32
In 1983 the comic book business was great. Sports cards and records were also selling in huge quantities. My business was becoming very profitable. I was making enough money to live comfortably. (I wasn’t rich, just comfortable) My wife and I were still driving old cars but our house in Bolton was a nice home and we didn’t have huge monthly mortgage payments so we decided that we could probably afford a new car. Mal was now pregnant with our second child so we bought a brand new Dodge Aries station wagon, just to be practical. It wasn’t a very nice car but it was cheap. Since we didn’t want to pay monthly payments, we paid about $9000.00 cash for it. It depleted most of our savings account but we had set a goal of living as close to debt-free as possible.
Our next goal was to pay off the balance of our home mortgage. We started paying an extra $50.00 each month directly on the principal loan amount and it was exciting to see how fast the mortgage amount dropped. We were getting closer to actually owning our house instead of letting the bank own it. I began to use any “extra” money I had at the end of each week to “pay down” the mortgage and within two years we paid off the entire loan. We were free from debt.
“Free from debt” is not what most financial advisors would recommend to their clients back in the 1980’s. My accountant, Jerry Solomon, would try to encourage me to use as little of my own money as possible. He told me to leverage my earning potential by using other people’s money. Borrow money to make investments and to buy inventory. The advice seemed to make sense but it was against what I had learned in a financial seminar I had been to in the early 1970’s called “Design for Successful Living”. The seminar explained that we could easily become “slaves” to the institutions and people we borrow money from. If you owe someone money, your first responsibility is to repay that loan as you’ve promised to do. Also, when you borrow money there is always a “cost”. Sometimes it’s a high interest rate and sometimes it’s the stress of the commitment to repay the loan. I didn’t take Jerry’s advice.
Jerry was a very good accountant and he did give me some guidance in the early years of my store. He told me to always be honest in reporting sales and paying the full taxes that I owed because it would eventually make my business more valuable and legitimate. He assured me that even with the outrageous tax rates in the United States, I would still keep the majority of the money I earned. This was advice that I took to heart.
I received a request for additional information from the Internal Revenue Service and I called Jerry’s office in a panic. I had never dealt with the IRS before and they intimidated me even though I always kept accurate records and paid my taxes. When I couldn’t get through to Jerry at his office I called his home. His wife informed me that Jerry had had a heart attack and he was in intensive care. She recommended that I get another accountant to straighten out the IRS problem while Jerry was recovering. One of my customers, Cindi Dow, was an accountant and she offered to help. Cindi has been my tax accountant for nearly twenty years. Jerry remained a good friend until he died of cancer in the 1990’s.
Next chapter: I learn a lesson: appearances can be deceiving.
In 1983 the comic book business was great. Sports cards and records were also selling in huge quantities. My business was becoming very profitable. I was making enough money to live comfortably. (I wasn’t rich, just comfortable) My wife and I were still driving old cars but our house in Bolton was a nice home and we didn’t have huge monthly mortgage payments so we decided that we could probably afford a new car. Mal was now pregnant with our second child so we bought a brand new Dodge Aries station wagon, just to be practical. It wasn’t a very nice car but it was cheap. Since we didn’t want to pay monthly payments, we paid about $9000.00 cash for it. It depleted most of our savings account but we had set a goal of living as close to debt-free as possible.
Our next goal was to pay off the balance of our home mortgage. We started paying an extra $50.00 each month directly on the principal loan amount and it was exciting to see how fast the mortgage amount dropped. We were getting closer to actually owning our house instead of letting the bank own it. I began to use any “extra” money I had at the end of each week to “pay down” the mortgage and within two years we paid off the entire loan. We were free from debt.
“Free from debt” is not what most financial advisors would recommend to their clients back in the 1980’s. My accountant, Jerry Solomon, would try to encourage me to use as little of my own money as possible. He told me to leverage my earning potential by using other people’s money. Borrow money to make investments and to buy inventory. The advice seemed to make sense but it was against what I had learned in a financial seminar I had been to in the early 1970’s called “Design for Successful Living”. The seminar explained that we could easily become “slaves” to the institutions and people we borrow money from. If you owe someone money, your first responsibility is to repay that loan as you’ve promised to do. Also, when you borrow money there is always a “cost”. Sometimes it’s a high interest rate and sometimes it’s the stress of the commitment to repay the loan. I didn’t take Jerry’s advice.
Jerry was a very good accountant and he did give me some guidance in the early years of my store. He told me to always be honest in reporting sales and paying the full taxes that I owed because it would eventually make my business more valuable and legitimate. He assured me that even with the outrageous tax rates in the United States, I would still keep the majority of the money I earned. This was advice that I took to heart.
I received a request for additional information from the Internal Revenue Service and I called Jerry’s office in a panic. I had never dealt with the IRS before and they intimidated me even though I always kept accurate records and paid my taxes. When I couldn’t get through to Jerry at his office I called his home. His wife informed me that Jerry had had a heart attack and he was in intensive care. She recommended that I get another accountant to straighten out the IRS problem while Jerry was recovering. One of my customers, Cindi Dow, was an accountant and she offered to help. Cindi has been my tax accountant for nearly twenty years. Jerry remained a good friend until he died of cancer in the 1990’s.
Next chapter: I learn a lesson: appearances can be deceiving.
Thursday, January 14, 2010
My Life With Comic Books: Part # 31
MY LIFE WITH COMIC BOOKS: THE HISTORY OF A COMIC SHOP - Part 31
I had loaded my car with the huge collection of comic books from the 1950’s and 1960’s that I had just bought when a man who was helping to clean out the deceased collector’s apartment pulled a large trash bag out of a closet. This bag was filled with comic books from the 1940’s! Included were Superman #2-40, Wonder Woman #1, All Star Comics #1-4, Superboy #1, World’s Fair 1939-1940, Batman #1-30, and hundreds more! I spent another couple of hours calculating the value of these comic books and made an offer that was much more than the price I had made on the rest of the huge collection. The mother accepted my offer.
My cousin, Steven, helped me bring the collection to my house in Bolton and we spent some time examining the vintage comic books. There was only one copy of each of the comic books from the 1940’s in this collection, but the collection contained as many as twenty copies each of many of the important comics from the 1950’s and 1960’s including Justice League Of America #1-25, Flash #123, The Atom #1-15, Hawkman #1-15, Fantastic Four #1-50, Spider-Man #1-100, X-Men #1-66, Daredevil #1-20 and many more. These ranged from fair condition to near mint condition. This would fill in many “holes” in my store inventory and it would help to establish my store as one of the most complete comic collector’s stores in New England. The only problem was that it would take me months to get this collection ready to sell if I didn’t get some extra help. Each comic book was inside of two protective plastic bags that were taped shut. The tape had deteriorated over the many years that the comics were stored and it was sticking to other plastic bags making it difficult to separate. I knew I would need to find some people to help me who would be very careful handling these valuable comic books. I invited two of my customers, Paul Dinsdale and Paul Silver, over to my house to help me “process” these comic books. As part of their reward for helping me, I gave them the first pick of the comic books that they wanted for their own collection. With their help, (and lots of help from my wife, Mal) I had the comics ready to sell in my store within a few weeks.
In the meantime, lots of things were happening in my personal life. Mal had found a school for our son, Adam. We signed him up for “Power Prep Preschool”. Adam was only four years old but he was already reading simple books. He seemed to be a very bright kid and his vocabulary seemed quite advanced. We knew he’d do great in school.
We had been attempting to have another child for the past year or so and we were surprised that it was taking so long to conceive. When we had decided to have our first child it seemed so easy and Mal was pregnant within a few weeks. Now that it was taking so long, we realized that we weren’t in complete control of everything. We were thrilled when Mal learned that she was expecting our second child.
Next chapter: We learn to live debt-free!
I had loaded my car with the huge collection of comic books from the 1950’s and 1960’s that I had just bought when a man who was helping to clean out the deceased collector’s apartment pulled a large trash bag out of a closet. This bag was filled with comic books from the 1940’s! Included were Superman #2-40, Wonder Woman #1, All Star Comics #1-4, Superboy #1, World’s Fair 1939-1940, Batman #1-30, and hundreds more! I spent another couple of hours calculating the value of these comic books and made an offer that was much more than the price I had made on the rest of the huge collection. The mother accepted my offer.
My cousin, Steven, helped me bring the collection to my house in Bolton and we spent some time examining the vintage comic books. There was only one copy of each of the comic books from the 1940’s in this collection, but the collection contained as many as twenty copies each of many of the important comics from the 1950’s and 1960’s including Justice League Of America #1-25, Flash #123, The Atom #1-15, Hawkman #1-15, Fantastic Four #1-50, Spider-Man #1-100, X-Men #1-66, Daredevil #1-20 and many more. These ranged from fair condition to near mint condition. This would fill in many “holes” in my store inventory and it would help to establish my store as one of the most complete comic collector’s stores in New England. The only problem was that it would take me months to get this collection ready to sell if I didn’t get some extra help. Each comic book was inside of two protective plastic bags that were taped shut. The tape had deteriorated over the many years that the comics were stored and it was sticking to other plastic bags making it difficult to separate. I knew I would need to find some people to help me who would be very careful handling these valuable comic books. I invited two of my customers, Paul Dinsdale and Paul Silver, over to my house to help me “process” these comic books. As part of their reward for helping me, I gave them the first pick of the comic books that they wanted for their own collection. With their help, (and lots of help from my wife, Mal) I had the comics ready to sell in my store within a few weeks.
In the meantime, lots of things were happening in my personal life. Mal had found a school for our son, Adam. We signed him up for “Power Prep Preschool”. Adam was only four years old but he was already reading simple books. He seemed to be a very bright kid and his vocabulary seemed quite advanced. We knew he’d do great in school.
We had been attempting to have another child for the past year or so and we were surprised that it was taking so long to conceive. When we had decided to have our first child it seemed so easy and Mal was pregnant within a few weeks. Now that it was taking so long, we realized that we weren’t in complete control of everything. We were thrilled when Mal learned that she was expecting our second child.
Next chapter: We learn to live debt-free!
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
My Life With Comic Books: Part # 30
MY LIFE WITH COMIC BOOKS: THE HISTORY OF A COMIC SHOP - Part 30
I had given my business card to a man who had some comic books that he wanted to sell and a few weeks later he was killed in a car accident. His mother found my card in his wallet and called me to see if I wanted to buy the comic books. I explained that I had already seen the comics that he stored in the basement of the music store and I really wasn’t interested in buying them. She said, “Oh, not those. I mean his private collection in his apartment.”
She gave me directions and I drove over there as soon as I could. Her son had been a comic book dealer in the 1970’s and I remembered the great selection of comics he always had at the Boston conventions. I hoped that these would be at his apartment. When I entered his apartment his mother introduced me to her son’s girlfriend and a family friend who was there to help clean out the apartment. She led me to the bedroom and I was surprised to see thousands of comic books on shelves that went almost completely around the room. The comics were carefully stacked in piles on the shelves and they were all “double-bagged” for protection. As I sorted through them I realized that there was at least one copy of every Marvel comic book from 1960-1970 including Fantastic Four #1, The Amazing Spider-Man #1, The Hulk #1, The X-Men #1 and Daredevil #1! There were duplicates of many of these valuable key issues too! It took me over an hour to sort through just the Marvel comics. Then I started on the DC comics.
When this collector had sold comics at the old Boston conventions in the 1970’s, there was very little demand for the DC comics of the late 1950’s and 1960’s. Judging by the enormous quantities of these comics he had at his apartment he wasn’t very successful selling these at the shows. In 1983, however, these comic books were in high demand. DC Comics published Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman and those always sold well, but they also published lesser-known titles including Rip Hunter, Sea Devils, Metal Men, The Brave and the Bold, Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen, The Flash, Green Lantern, The Justice League of America, Mystery In Space, Strange Adventures and dozens more. This collection had as many as twenty copies of almost every issue! This was going to be an expensive collection!
As I was calculating my offer for this important collection, I could overhear the mother and the girlfriend begin to argue about the comic books. The girlfriend claimed that since she might have eventually married the collector, the comic books would have belonged to her. The mother disagreed and continued arguing. Every so often the mother would say, “Have you come across a Batman #1? I know he had a copy of it.” This made the girlfriend even greedier because she knew that would be a valuable comic book. I was also hoping to find this rare comic book! The girlfriend began to cry. The other friend who was helping to clean out the apartment ignored them and continued working.
I was almost finished with my calculations when I began to worry about leaving the girlfriend around the comics. If, out of greed, she grabbed even a small handful of the comics, it could cost me thousands of dollars. I called my cousin, Steven, quietly explained my problem, and asked him to come over to help me. By the time he arrived, the mother had accepted my offer. This was the most expensive collection I had purchased since I split up with my partner from Sparkle City Comics.
We began to load our cars with the thousands of comics, being careful to always have one of us in the apartment with the remaining collection. When we were finally done with the loading, I went back upstairs to get my price guide and calculator. I assured the mother that if I discovered a copy of Batman #1 mixed in with the rest of the comics, I’d call her to give her more money. As my cousin and I were walking out, the guy who was helping to clean out the apartment reached into a closet and pulled out a huge trash bag and said, “Hey, what’s this?!” The bag was filled with golden-age comic books from the 1940’s!
Next chapter: I renegotiate the deal.
I had given my business card to a man who had some comic books that he wanted to sell and a few weeks later he was killed in a car accident. His mother found my card in his wallet and called me to see if I wanted to buy the comic books. I explained that I had already seen the comics that he stored in the basement of the music store and I really wasn’t interested in buying them. She said, “Oh, not those. I mean his private collection in his apartment.”
She gave me directions and I drove over there as soon as I could. Her son had been a comic book dealer in the 1970’s and I remembered the great selection of comics he always had at the Boston conventions. I hoped that these would be at his apartment. When I entered his apartment his mother introduced me to her son’s girlfriend and a family friend who was there to help clean out the apartment. She led me to the bedroom and I was surprised to see thousands of comic books on shelves that went almost completely around the room. The comics were carefully stacked in piles on the shelves and they were all “double-bagged” for protection. As I sorted through them I realized that there was at least one copy of every Marvel comic book from 1960-1970 including Fantastic Four #1, The Amazing Spider-Man #1, The Hulk #1, The X-Men #1 and Daredevil #1! There were duplicates of many of these valuable key issues too! It took me over an hour to sort through just the Marvel comics. Then I started on the DC comics.
When this collector had sold comics at the old Boston conventions in the 1970’s, there was very little demand for the DC comics of the late 1950’s and 1960’s. Judging by the enormous quantities of these comics he had at his apartment he wasn’t very successful selling these at the shows. In 1983, however, these comic books were in high demand. DC Comics published Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman and those always sold well, but they also published lesser-known titles including Rip Hunter, Sea Devils, Metal Men, The Brave and the Bold, Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen, The Flash, Green Lantern, The Justice League of America, Mystery In Space, Strange Adventures and dozens more. This collection had as many as twenty copies of almost every issue! This was going to be an expensive collection!
As I was calculating my offer for this important collection, I could overhear the mother and the girlfriend begin to argue about the comic books. The girlfriend claimed that since she might have eventually married the collector, the comic books would have belonged to her. The mother disagreed and continued arguing. Every so often the mother would say, “Have you come across a Batman #1? I know he had a copy of it.” This made the girlfriend even greedier because she knew that would be a valuable comic book. I was also hoping to find this rare comic book! The girlfriend began to cry. The other friend who was helping to clean out the apartment ignored them and continued working.
I was almost finished with my calculations when I began to worry about leaving the girlfriend around the comics. If, out of greed, she grabbed even a small handful of the comics, it could cost me thousands of dollars. I called my cousin, Steven, quietly explained my problem, and asked him to come over to help me. By the time he arrived, the mother had accepted my offer. This was the most expensive collection I had purchased since I split up with my partner from Sparkle City Comics.
We began to load our cars with the thousands of comics, being careful to always have one of us in the apartment with the remaining collection. When we were finally done with the loading, I went back upstairs to get my price guide and calculator. I assured the mother that if I discovered a copy of Batman #1 mixed in with the rest of the comics, I’d call her to give her more money. As my cousin and I were walking out, the guy who was helping to clean out the apartment reached into a closet and pulled out a huge trash bag and said, “Hey, what’s this?!” The bag was filled with golden-age comic books from the 1940’s!
Next chapter: I renegotiate the deal.
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
My Life With Comic Books: Part # 29
MY LIFE WITH COMIC BOOKS: THE HISTORY OF A COMIC SHOP - Part 29
In 1983 my store had a decent staff of employees and I thought it would be a good time to expand our business by opening another store. I chose the small town of Maynard, Massachusetts. I lived about fifteen minutes away in Bolton. I knew that I’d be working there for at least a few months so the commute would be easy. Maynard was the corporate home of Digital Equipment Company, one of the leading manufacturers of computers. Their workforce was primarily made up of professional, well paid, technical people and I hoped that many of the male employees would be interested in comic books, sports cards, and adventure and war games. I rented a small storefront on one of the busiest streets in the town, very close to the main factory building.
My carpenter friend, Jim Stoll, quickly made all of our custom display racks and shelves and we were open for business within a couple of weeks after the decision was made to open the store. Many of my business choices have been impulsive. I tend to make quick decisions but most of them have worked out. This particular business decision worked out, although it was not as I had expected.
Each weekday in the town of Maynard, the downtown was crowded with employees from Digital Equipment during the lunch break. I could see hundreds of potential customers walking up the street towards my new store but they would stop at the corner before they got to my shop. In my rush to open this store, I hadn’t investigated the traffic patterns of Maynard. It just wasn’t customary for people to walk that far. My store was really the last retail building on this street and the people would have to cross the street to visit my shop so I would watch as they turned around and walked away. It was frustrating to me. My other store locations were successful as soon as we opened. This store was going to require more work.
After I had been open for a few months a man came into the store and I recognized him from the Boston comic book conventions in the 1970’s. He apparently didn’t remember me and I didn’t want to embarrass him, so I didn’t mention that I knew him. He told me that he had a large amount of old comic books that he might be interested in selling. I remembered that in the 1970’s he always had a great stock of comic books from the 1940’s and 1950’s but he didn’t sell very many because his prices were too high. He usually charged twice as much as the other dealers. I told him I was very interested in buying all of his comics so we made an appointment for me to appraise his collection. Two days later I found myself in the basement of a local music store, searching through thousands of comics. I spent a few hours digging through the piles but I was disappointed to find that they were all from the 1970’s. I figured that he must have sold all of the great old comics from the 1940’s-1960’s and I told him that I couldn’t offer him very much money for these. I told him that his best alternative would be to take all of these comic books to the monthly Boston comic book conventions and he should price them at fifty cents each. I knew that he’d sell a lot of them at that price. I gave him my business card and offered to help him with this project if he needed me.
Three weeks later this man was tragically killed in a car accident. His mother found my business card in her son’s wallet and called to see if I would be interested in buying her son’s comic book collection. I told her that I had already looked at the comic book collection in the basement of the music store and I really couldn’t make a good offer on it because I didn’t need many comic books from the 1970’s. She said, “Oh, not those. I mean his private collection in his apartment.”
She gave me directions to his apartment and I drove there right away.
Next chapter: I buy one of the most memorable comic book collections of my career!
In 1983 my store had a decent staff of employees and I thought it would be a good time to expand our business by opening another store. I chose the small town of Maynard, Massachusetts. I lived about fifteen minutes away in Bolton. I knew that I’d be working there for at least a few months so the commute would be easy. Maynard was the corporate home of Digital Equipment Company, one of the leading manufacturers of computers. Their workforce was primarily made up of professional, well paid, technical people and I hoped that many of the male employees would be interested in comic books, sports cards, and adventure and war games. I rented a small storefront on one of the busiest streets in the town, very close to the main factory building.
My carpenter friend, Jim Stoll, quickly made all of our custom display racks and shelves and we were open for business within a couple of weeks after the decision was made to open the store. Many of my business choices have been impulsive. I tend to make quick decisions but most of them have worked out. This particular business decision worked out, although it was not as I had expected.
Each weekday in the town of Maynard, the downtown was crowded with employees from Digital Equipment during the lunch break. I could see hundreds of potential customers walking up the street towards my new store but they would stop at the corner before they got to my shop. In my rush to open this store, I hadn’t investigated the traffic patterns of Maynard. It just wasn’t customary for people to walk that far. My store was really the last retail building on this street and the people would have to cross the street to visit my shop so I would watch as they turned around and walked away. It was frustrating to me. My other store locations were successful as soon as we opened. This store was going to require more work.
After I had been open for a few months a man came into the store and I recognized him from the Boston comic book conventions in the 1970’s. He apparently didn’t remember me and I didn’t want to embarrass him, so I didn’t mention that I knew him. He told me that he had a large amount of old comic books that he might be interested in selling. I remembered that in the 1970’s he always had a great stock of comic books from the 1940’s and 1950’s but he didn’t sell very many because his prices were too high. He usually charged twice as much as the other dealers. I told him I was very interested in buying all of his comics so we made an appointment for me to appraise his collection. Two days later I found myself in the basement of a local music store, searching through thousands of comics. I spent a few hours digging through the piles but I was disappointed to find that they were all from the 1970’s. I figured that he must have sold all of the great old comics from the 1940’s-1960’s and I told him that I couldn’t offer him very much money for these. I told him that his best alternative would be to take all of these comic books to the monthly Boston comic book conventions and he should price them at fifty cents each. I knew that he’d sell a lot of them at that price. I gave him my business card and offered to help him with this project if he needed me.
Three weeks later this man was tragically killed in a car accident. His mother found my business card in her son’s wallet and called to see if I would be interested in buying her son’s comic book collection. I told her that I had already looked at the comic book collection in the basement of the music store and I really couldn’t make a good offer on it because I didn’t need many comic books from the 1970’s. She said, “Oh, not those. I mean his private collection in his apartment.”
She gave me directions to his apartment and I drove there right away.
Next chapter: I buy one of the most memorable comic book collections of my career!
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