Category: Comic Books

This picture was taken at That’s Entertainment, Paul Howley’s award-winning comic book and collectibles store in Worcester, MA. The comic book is Captain America issue #108, on newsstands September, 1968. The pencil art was drawn by Jack Kirby, and it was inked by Syd Shores. Captain America #108 was the last issue of Cap I bought in Norwalk, CT, before my family moved to Massachusetts. The villain was the Trapster, a revamped version of Paste Pot Pete, who should have worked for 3M, but instead used his expertise in adhesives for evil.

What would I have done without comic books when I was a kid? The point is, I like comic books being physical things, but like music and movies, comics are becoming virtual products. The Boston Globe has an article at this link about comics publisher DC offering a digital alternative. Of this development, Paul says…

“Once one of my customers buys a comic online, then DC Comics has them forever,’’ Howley said. “They don’t need me. They have no interest in keeping people like us in the middle. This really is, in the long run, cutting our own throat.’’

My friend Morris doesn’t see digital comics as replacing the real thing, on paper. He has a point. How many casual comics readers are there? There used to be many, when comic books were sold in drug stores and read in barber shops, but these days almost all comic book readers are also collectors, and who wants to collect PDF’s?

I remember reading this item in early 2008, about a new comic book shop that was opening up.

He wants to draw a different crowd

James Welborn, 34, thinks the average comics shop still feels like a “man cave . . . a smelly hole where a bunch of kids sit around and play Magic cards.”

As he prepared to open Hub Comics, he put a sign in the window promising a different kind of establishment: “a comics shop for NPR listeners.”

Creating Hub Comics has been an act of love. “When I got my first job, I spent probably every dime on comics,” Welborn said, recalling that he would take an hourlong bus ride to a shop in Las Vegas.

Now a software engineer at Akamai, Welborn hopes Hub Comics can become his full-time job, but would be happy if it simply breaks even.

The thing is, the “man cave with kids playing Magic cards” formula is how a lot of shops have survived, and as a business plan “act of love” and “simply break even” sounded shaky to me, but Welborn had a day job that presumably paid well. Hub Comics is a short walk from where my friend Morris lives and I went there a couple of times. The place seemed to have a good combination of location, selection, and atmosphere. I bought a few things and put my name on their mailing list. Then last year there was trouble.

Hub Comics struggles to survive

Hub Comics owner James Welborn sounded the bat alarm in an open letter dated Oct. 13 announcing a plan to raise “basic survival revenue,” including the option to buy “comic credit” and a nine-day sale.

Eric and I went there and dropped more than a hundred bucks, and we returned again after another “emergency sale” mailing was received. When Free Comic Book Day came up this year it seemed that Hub Comics would stay in business, but a couple of weeks ago the manager sent a message saying that Welborn had been seriously injured and was in the hospital. He didn’t say what sort of injury.

James Welborn, comics store owner, dead at 37

Emergency personnel discovered Mr. Welborn in his Summit Avenue home May 16. Police have been investigating circumstances of the death, which included a note on a bathroom door warning of poisonous gas.

I’m running a road race in Boston tomorrow, and I’m planning to see Morris after that. I’ll walk down to Hub Comics and see if the store is still open.