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Death of a Hen
2008-01-24 17:22:24

Tomorrow we'll tally up the results and post the nominees for assorted categories in the 2007 GOLDEN LOEB AWARDS. So there's still time to put in a good word for your favorite titles or creators, just a few entries back from this one.

I was saddened to read on Tom Spurgeon's excellent Comics Reporter blog of the potential impending demise of the Lancaster, Pennsylvania branch of Captain Blue Hen Comics. During the decade that I lived in Delaware (home of the University of Delaware's Fightin' Blue Hens, hence the name of the operation), the Newark branch of CBH was my regular store, at least from the point where I could drive. The guy who owned and ran that shop, Paul Stitik, was a High School teacher who had partnered up with another guy to start the operation. I forget the name of his partner offhand, but he moved to Lancaster and started the branch up there.

The Lancaster CBH was about an hour's drive away, a treacherous hour on small, winding roads that sanked through Amish chountry. It would be a regular thing on a trip to the Lancaster store to wind up behind a horse-drawn buggy and have to crawl along for a mile or two until you could finally go around. Due to the distance, it wasn't a shop I frequented regularly, but it was well worth making the trip to for one important reason:

The Lancaster Captain Blue Hen's had a twenty-five cent room.

This was a massive room, the size of some shops I've been in, with just boxes and boxes and boxes of unsorted, unbagged comics from teh last twenty or so years, all priced-to-move at a quarter a pop. If memory serves, they also gave even better terms if you filled up a long box, or hit certain buying thresholds. And while not all of the material was choice, teh sheer volume of it meant that you would inevitably walk out with a massive stack of books whenever you made the journey up that way.

It also had a particular ambiance, in that the store was located in a converted church basement--you almost had to know that it was there beforehand if you were going to have any hope of finding it. I remember it being relatively well organized and relatively clean and inviting--but not too much so. There was a certain special magic to those dusty, slightly moldy, slightly sinister comic shops of my youth, a promise of unknown, unseen wonders for those daring enough to pass through the doors.

I would typically make my way up there once or twice a year, usually around the X-Mas holiday, when like-minded friends would be in town for the break. I can remember almost being killed on one such venture on the way back from the store, when a buddy of mine launched into an extemporaneous comedy routine right as we were on a particularly nasty stretch of road,and I was lauching so hard I lost control of the car for a second.

I haven't set foot in the place, though, in close to twenty years. I had been vaguely in the area two or three years back, and thought abotu swinging by, but didn't remember enough of the details about its location to get there. And in point of fact, I wasn't entirely sure that it still existed after so much time. Nevertheless, it's still kind of a shame to hear this news. It was one of those magical places of my youth, and I liked the intangible idea that it was still there for those who came after me. But I guess time has a way of grinding away at places like this; the old must ever make way for the new.

The Newark Captain Blue Hen still seems to be thriving, though, no longer under the management of Paul Stitak, but in the hands of his long-time underling Joe Murray.

More later.

Tom B

The Demise of a Comic Book Shop !
Hey Tom,

I am glad you at least got to read about the closing of the Hen. There was a store where I grew up in Washington State that was a great place to go. But it closed without my knowledge. It was called Wally's Books in Kirkland, WA. I moved out of that area 20+ years ago. But returned a few years back for a visit and Wally's was gone. What I liked about Wally's is that it was small, but had tons of back and new issues to choose from. It was quiet and off the beaten track. A man I knew, Kirk, I think his name was, ran the store. He was always very helpful and gave me plenty of time to browse through their inventory and find what books I wanted. [Sigh!] I miss those days, as I know you will miss the Hen!

Monday Morning Lunatic !

Posted by Mon Morn Lunatic on 2008-01-24 19:49:55

Boy, does this bring back memories. I was going to Jr College in the mid 70s in Champaign, IL. I took my sisters to a downtown dept store. Not wanting to hang with them I walked around the parking lot. Across the street was a store called The Book Nook. Curious, I walked over and entered. I was amazed to find that this tiny store was a comics shop! With back issues and a subcriber service! Thus began a long friendship with owner Doug Sanford and his comics guy, Brian Morris. I spent many Saturdays in the store, shooting the breeze with what would become "The Regulars", some of whom I am still very good friends with.

We all pitched in and helped when the owner decided to move the shop to a more family friendly area of town. The store changed it's name to A+ comics. The store stayed in that location for several more years, until Doug took a job with the University of Illinois (for the health insurance) and the store slowly started to decline, fianlly shutting its doors a few years later.

Tom Reed

Posted by Tom Reed on 2008-01-25 09:56:55

About Positivity...
yeah I know, one post later...
despite I 'm the biggest fan of the Defenders in the world, and had been the most happy person in the world when I heard about the new release by Joey Casey, I had been incredibely shocked with the previews I had seen...where it is showed Nighthawk switching an uppercut to the vilain...

I prefer warning everybody to even p.ss me off with violence in comic-books.
When I feel alone in the world, I could be able to say stupidities ( you haven't heard them all by the way ) like :
'Frank Miller is my self-defense teacher', right, sometimes I really mean it (Daredevil :Origins, drawn by John Romita Jr ) , and I'm sure that it's not the first uppercut showed in comics.
I'm not boxing, I even do not watch it on TV.
But I'm old enough to know that only one punch well given where it is needed can kill somedody.

I'm sorry but Nighthawk is a killer.

Posted by notapotatoe on 2008-01-25 11:01:14

Nice picture by the way
at the first look I tought it was Hank Pym's new avatar.

Posted by notapotatoe on 2008-01-25 11:14:51

LCS Nightmares
As a kid I used to have nightmares that I would walk into my LCS, Bayonne Comics, and it would be transformed into one of those places that used to sell crystal butterflies and dragons. Over the years it did relocate to the basement of the building to allow for the owner's son to open a gym and it took on more of a gaming dungeon vibe. To my knowledge, the owner has retired and both the gym and shop have now closed. Losing these shops is definitely something to mourn along with the ourpricing of any ma and pa shop. But, here's to comics escaping the basement and rightfully taking their place alongside other media online, in the bookstore, and back on magazine racks. It's time to lose the stigma of the direct market and the limitations of an aging, albeit devoted, fanbase. Advertise!

Posted by hamgravy on 2008-01-25 11:30:56

All Good Things...
I've definitely seen my fair share of comic store closings, as well. There was an old comic store in the University District of Seattle, WA that had a great selection that I would get to only rarely visit if my father happened to be visiting the area. I remember the place best because the guy behind the counter (owner, maybe?) saw me oogling the vintage FF issues and took out their copy of #1 to let me hold and see. Being so young, it had a great impact.

By the time I was attending the college it was a used bookstore that I believe was also headed on the way out.

Posted by PseudoSherlock on 2008-01-25 12:54:42

What?!
Tom, I'm from Lancaster originally and I used to get a ton of back issues at Captain Blue Hen's all the time. Your blog is the first I heard about it's closing. That really stinks!

Posted by The Fox on 2008-01-31 20:54:51

Marvel Universe
For awhile I was unable to read about an inch of text to the left of all Marvel Universe bios because my monitor is too small. I complained about this and I've noticed that I can view the entire screen by adjusting it again.

To the person(s) responsible: THANK YOU VERY MUCH!!!

Posted by Ann E. Nichols on 2008-02-08 02:00:37

Huh???
What was offensive about my thank you-note to the site for fixing the problem with the Marvel Universe section after I'd complained about it? Was it because my closing "thank you very much!" was in all-capital letters because I felt so grateful?

If so, I do recommend you change the wording to "flagged for possible offensiveness". That's not nearly as offensive as to declare a post has been flagged for offensiveness based on something that might not be offensive to a human who reads it.

Posted by Ann E. Nichols on 2008-02-08 02:15:06

Your filter really needs work
If a polite post asking why another polite post was being flagged as the "o" word.

Posted by Ann E. Nichols on 2008-02-08 02:16:35

What?
Although this post isn't about the death of a comics shop, I'm posting it here because I don't know where else to post my thank-you note to this site for fixing the problem I was having reading all of the text in the Marvel Universe bios. Thank you.

Posted by Ann E. Nichols on 2008-02-08 02:18:40

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