Why comic book shops are a special place
A fond adieu to Manhattan's JHU Comic Books
Editor’s Note: It’s Wednesday, so that means it’s New Comic Book Day and another edition of Amazing Journey!
The Amazing Journey column will touch on a comics-related topic, such as writing the first issue of a series, what it’s like to run a comic book store, working with artists, and how writing comics is different from writing prose.
Amazing Journey back issues
True believers unite (#1) | My comics origin story (#2) | Comic event series (#3) | The comics of Kickstarter (#4) | Single issues or trades? (#5) | From prose to comics (#6) | Adapting a celebrated fantasy series into a comic (#7) | Charting a career in comics (#8) | Comic book spoilers (#9) | Lessons from Kieron Gillen’s masterclass (#10) | Comics marketing 101 (#11) Designing memorable characters (#12)
I remember the first time I stopped in to JHU Comic Books five years ago.
I wanted to pick up a copy of DuckTales for my then 5-year old, and the shop happened to be closer to my office than Midtown Comics, the behemoth retailer here in New York City. JHU had the latest issue, so I purchased it and went on my way.
Fast forward a year and Jonathan Hickman’s House of X / Powers of X had me excited about comics in a way I hadn’t felt since I was a kid. After reading House of X #2 on the Comixology app on my phone, I knew I had to get a physical copy.
So I went strolling down to JHU during my lunch break several weeks later only to find that the store was gone!
Was this one of those weird memory episodes, where the store never actually existed? Fortunately, a quick Google search revealed that it had merely moved several blocks east, to a storefront on Third Avenue.
I walked over and searched in vain for the issue, only to be told that the first printing had sold out (and the first printings of House of X #1 and Powers of X #1 as well). Dejected, I purchased the black-and-white second printings, but made a note to return on release day of the last issue of the series.
Which I did.
And then I made a note to return on the day that X-Men #1 launched. That was also the day I noticed a particularly striking cover perched behind the counter:
At the time, I had no idea who the cover artist, Russell Dauterman, was, or that he had drawn The Mighty Thor, or that he was about to become one of my favorite cover artists with his ongoing series of costume variants. I was just excited to get a really cool cover featuring one of my favorite characters.
Over the next few months, I stopped in to the shop when a notable issue was released, but continued most of my reading via Comixology.
That all changed in March 2020.
The pandemic shut down most stores in New York, including JHU, but the double-whammy was that Diamond (then the distributor of pretty much every comic in the US) announced that it was shutting down distribution of all new comics for the foreseeable future.
That meant that stores like JHU not only had to close to the public, but they were denied new product in a retail environment where customers expected new comics every single week.
The store quickly pivoted, launching a web store and mail-order, and running weekly Facebook Live shows, where JHU co-owner Nick Purpura would regale us with tales of comic ages past and continually pitch issue number one of Kurt Busiek and George Pérez’s Avengers, with its cavalcade of Avenger members.
Thankfully, Diamond started up operations again by July 2020, and JHU was able to open back up to the public soon after.
I then had a choice to make.
Should I continue buying digital issues from a faceless trillion-dollar conglomerate, who at that time, barely cared about comics (and most certainly doesn’t care now)? Or should I spend the same money and get a better reading experience, and support a local business that had been around for 40 years?
The choice was easy.1
Over the last four years, as my love of comics grew, I realized how big an impact a place like JHU has on the comics world and comics readers. And how special a store it is.
It’s not just a business selling comics, books and toys. It’s a place where the owners and the employees have been deeply immersed in the medium for most of their lives.
Where you can get an honest recommendation because Nick or Nicky G. or Ray had already read what you were thinking about buying.
Where you can meet other readers who are happy to chat every week about the latest comic news, movies, and what books they are picking up.
Where the owners know all the regulars by name, even if they stopped being regulars years ago.
Where Benedict Cumberbatch might show up in full Dr. Strange regalia.
Where you never know what book you might finding waiting in the back-issue bins.
So it was with great sadness when I read the news over the summer that JHU’s Manhattan shop, which had been around in one more or another for 40 years, was closing at the end of September.
Although JHU’s main Staten Island location would still continue the store’s legacy, its distance meant that regular visits on Wednesday to pick up the week’s new books or a weekend outing there with my kids was not really feasible. And although I’ll continue to get my comics from JHU, opening a package in the mail is not the same as walking into the shop and seeing all the new titles arrayed out in front of me.
It was a real testament to the shop, and to Nick and Ron, to see so many people come in for their last visit over the past month and share their own JHU and Jim Hanley’s Universe stories. Even though I only became a regular in recent years, JHU will always hold a special place in my comics heart.
That brings me to the Question of the Week: What does your local comic shop mean to you?
What I’m reading this week / Variant Watch
No new series this week, so I wanted to highlight some noteworthy variants, particularly the extremely fun Ms. Marvel and Wonder Woman covers below. Meanwhile, Peach Momoko provides a palate cleanser with her X-Men 60th Anniversary Dark Phoenix variant.
What are you picking up this week?
Thank you for reading ARC Worlds!
If you can take an extra five seconds to hit the Share button below, that would be much appreciated!
Finding a place to now store all those physical comics, however, was not.
It’s familiar with characters I know. I’m only one book in right now but so far so good. I just hate how Amazon ended the series though so still have some PTSD from that fiasco. 😂
Sharing your sadness for your local comic shop closure. 😭 It's a nice pass time to go into a comic shop. I haven't picked up my copy of Hexagon Bridge #1 from last week yet so that's on my list and then Void Rivals #4. I also been reading The Expanse: Dragon Tooth series - sucker for anything Expanse related.