Posted in: Comics | Tagged: anniversary, comic store in your future

Comic Store In Your Future Celebrates 15 Years of Rodman Comics' Past

Comic Store In Your Future celebrates fifteen years of Rodman Comics' past

It's time to plan an anniversary for a comic store. They say fifteen years is a milestone, and I have been going through my head with all the past stories of the store. Like the current Diamond mess, I never foresaw or dreamt of what would come when I first opened. I have been the bad guy (see an upcoming column on that), the good guy, and I have seen a lot and learned even more about people.

Currently, I am trying to make Rodman Comics' store anniversary as big as reasonably possible. People usually have more free time on the weekend than on weekdays. The store opened on October 1st, though that falls on a Wednesday this year, so that would not be a good day to have the anniversary.

Rodman Comics fun fact: At one of the first Diamond Summits I went to in Las Vegas (of course), I met a fellow store owner, Brad Owens, who is the owner of Rock Shop Music and Comics in Georgia. We were talking about our stores, and as unbelievable as it seemed, we both opened up on the exact same day and year. What were the odds? We became friends at the summit, kept in touch, and I learned I enjoyed talking shop with a fellow store owner who was not competition, we were not even in the same state. We both had exclusive covers and traded each other for them.

Here is what we traded for his.

The good old days. As cover prices increased, so did the store's cost of making exclusive covers, so that was the last one we did. Come 2018, Brad let me know Rock Shops' last day would be on September 26th of that year. I will admit that surprised me. Someone I thought of as a friend, whose store was inside a mall with more employees than mine, was shutting down as a store owner, making me double-take. Brad does business on www.forbiddengeek.com now. Ralph of Alternate Reality Comics in Las Vegas, Nevada, is the person I currently talk shop with. That guy has been running his comic store for decades.

So, what of our upcoming anniversary? We will have it on Saturday, October 4th, so hopefully, as many people who would like to come will be able to make it. I have so many ideas, I worry I have too many ideas. We will, of course, sell 20 percent off everything that has not already been discounted. Auctions will start on September 4th on our Facebook page, and we will post auction items each day until October 4th. We ship within the USA as long as the person pays the shipping cost. I am trying a wide range of material, everything from well-known characters such as Batman and Spider–Man to lesser-known characters such as Sgt Rock and Barbarella. Every character is someone's favorite.

I jokingly call this idea the anti-Free Comic Book Day event, and I am working on gathering a wide range of comics to give away—anything from exclusive covers and Amazing Spider-Man #207, to past Free Comic Book Day comics. Buy something, get a free comic book while supplies last. I figure a fifteenth anniversary only happens once, so go big. To save time, though, it will have to be random comics. If every person went through the boxes to find what they wanted, it would take way too long. I figure by telling everyone if they come back at 7 that day and trade, that would work better.

I even drew two pieces of artwork with various characters to auction off. When I was young, I thought I would be an artist. Sadly, I have rarely drawn anything over the years. Too busy working at a comic store. If one wants to become a good artist, one needs to draw a lot. I gave the two pieces to a person to ink, so hopefully they will be returned in time for the auction. Maybe people will get a good laugh from my attempt to draw, if nothing else. Maybe when I get them back, I will use them for featured images in an upcoming Bleeding Cool write-up. Maybe they will break the internet.

I managed to get the person who, over the years, made the best cakes we have ever had back again for this year's anniversary. Each year, she was not available to bake cupcakes for our anniversary, so they have not been as good. Sugar highs for everyone.

I still have lots of plans and goals. I'm working on scheduling the auction items on our Facebook page. It's hard to believe that October is not that far away. I'm hoping for great weather and a lot of fun.

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