Life In Four Colors Special Edition
Main Street Comics and Games One Year Anniversary Party!
Saturday March 6 th 2010, the best comic shop in little ol' Springfield Ohio celebrated its very first birthday and we invited a hundred or so or our closest friends and...hey family to enjoy the fun with us. We're talking blood relatives, our great customers, and all the incredibly talented guests we have had in the store over the course of the last 365 days.
When store owner Scott Riley decided to open the first comic shop in our home town in over a decade, mutual friends were hard at work to introduce the two of us from day one. It's hard to believe that two guys with much of the same interests and many of the same friends (not to mention the exact same birthday) had never met before in a city about the size of a quarter.
A year later I think that these same friends had the right idea. The partnership between the two of us has seemed to really have paid off. Just like in the store itself, Scott is strong in areas that I am weak, and I mask his own weaknesses in my areas of strength. It's a friendship that has not only successfully launched a comic shop in hard times, in a city that has had a track record of not really supporting small businesses but the opening of this shop March 2 nd 2009 also proved to be the spring board that saw various other ideas evolve into the first local comic book convention in 20 years (Champion City Comic Con) and the formation of the first creative art studio in 12 years (Twilight Star Studios).
We wanted to make this party something to be remembered fondly for another 365 days. We had coverage in the local paper, four different websites covered the event (including the Comic Related road crew, Necessary Cool, Underground Video Network, and of course the Main Street Comics and Games site), we recorded a special mix of music, had games, provided free food and drinks pretty much all day, had special sales, hourly door prizes, and over 26 INDEPENDENT WRITERS, ARTISTS, AND "COMIC RELATED" GUESTS were in attendance over the course of the day.
And yes even Catwoman was there.
There was live podcasting going on, video shoots, cook outs, a Billy Bob Thornton look alike contest, gifts being exchanges, introductions being made, portfolio's full of incredible art work everywhere you turned, story ideas and promotion tactics being shared.
The event started at noon....and as Scott, "Little" Richard Katterjohn, my wife Ellie, and myself worked to put the final touches on the store before we opened the doors...a crowd of about ten people were already lining up at the door as early as a quarter after eleven.
Scott Riley taking a quick picture of the "birthday cake" just seconds before the doors were opened at high noon. Scott had been walking on sunshine as the store just enjoyed three consecutive record breaking weeks in sales. Sales wasn't what was important Saturday, but at the end of the day it ended up being the second best day in the history of the store with the most people in and out ever. So far. There's got to be a way to top this and you can bet we're going to try!
The walls were lined with special, affordable "#1 issues" on sale to celebrate our big, first #1. We gave away over two hundred other #1 issues to every person that walked through the door, EVERY comic in our general back issue inventory was on sale for just one buck! Necessary Cool supplied us with great stuff to give away as door prizes every hour of the day with help from yet another comic shop in the Hilliard Ohio area (thank you Jamie and Teresa Colvegrove of Pack Rat Comics). Even our customers donated items to be given away from their personal collection (Todd Graver and Brian Mercer) why other customers helped supply the food and drinks (thanks Thelma and George!)
After the first door prize was given away at 1:00 in the afternoon, I had the honor of cutting the cake. The first piece went to my wife, as promised.
John Wilson, Dustin Carson, and Scott Riley.
Jef Price, Tim Hagans, Dustin, Chuck Moore, and Chris Metzger.
Cullen (co-founder of the Necessary Cool web site) listening in on a discussion between Jef, Chad Strohl, and Chad's girlfriend, Lainey. Brant "Gonzogoose" Fowler also in earshot.
Jacob Newell, BJay Johnson, and Chris Hoskins from Studio Akumakaze.
Comic Related in the house! John Wilson, Chuck "Big Cheese" Moore, G-Man and Gonzogoose.
Our very first guest to make an in-store appearance, writer Chad Lambert returns yet again and brings his son Spencer with him.
Victor Dandridge from Freestyle Komics shows up just around 2:00 p.m...
...and two minutes later walks away with the 2:00 door prize! This guy should play the lottery more often!
Matthew J. Smith co-author of The Power of Comics and his two sons. Matt was the guy that helped us secure the location of the Champion City Comic Con at the Wittenberg University campus and is already looking forward to helping Scott and I plan out this coming year's show. Matt hosted two of the panels at the 2009 show. Look for a LIFC review of his book coming soon.
John ,in his own unique way, asking BJay "Where the Hell is the story I wrote that you were supposed to publish?" It's coming...look for it in a future issue of Visions of the Macabre from Studio Akumakaze.
Speaking of Visions of the Macabre...artist Chris Hoskins gave me the original thumbnail layout and the finished ink page of the story "Driver's Seat" which I wrote and Chris illustrated for the first issue of that book due at next month at Gem City Comic Con in Dayton Ohio.
Jef Price also had Marvel assistant editor Tom Brevoort do several original sketches that were given away as prizes, including two custom sketches for Scott and I. Scott got Deadpool and I got Nova!
Jef Price also had Marvel assistant editor Tom Brevoort do several original sketches that were given away as prizes, including two custom sketches for Scott and I. Scott got Deadpool and I got Nova!
Jef thinks Catwoman is Necessary Cool.....
....and so does Chris and his friend, Mike.
Frank Raynor, Chris Martin and Chris Hoskins.
The party spills outside as Rob and Thelma enjoy a beautiful afternoon. Hard to believe this parking lot was snow covered and bitterly cold just seven days prior.
Scott's brother, David "Kool-Aid" Riley and Dave's girlfriend Heather firing up the grill. Dave cooked all afternoon, and both he and Heather were a great help.
Brain "Smallville" Latimer doing his best Cheshire Cat imitation.
Andy McGinn, entertainment editor of the Springfield News-Sun, writer of the Legacy graphic novel (on page #249 of the current Diamond catalog) , and Main Street Comics and Games very first file customer hanging out with John Goodman.
Andy will be at Main Street Comics and Games Saturday May 8 th for a book signing.
Let the podcasting began! These conversations will appear on the March 12 th episode of the Zone 4 podcast on Comic Related. Also be on the look out for more podcasts discussing the party with the March 8 th episode of the RaynMan Power Hour, and the March 10 th episode of The Related Recap. Video coverage and more photos will soon be going up on the U.V.N , Necessary Cool, and Main Street Comics and Games sites.
My partner in crime, Gary "Smoothe" Church fellow co-founder of Twilight Star Studios.
Thelma convinces BJay to sign her copy of Scrap #1 "with love, from Billy Bob Thornton."
We wrapped up the day with a game of "Scene It" the Marvel Edition. Because D.C. isn't cool enough to have a version of this game.
That's it..... what a great time. I did want to list all the "Comic Related" guests that showed up Saturday in order that they attended.
Bill Gladman-Comic Related, Wild Wolf, Main Street Comics, Studio Akumakaze, Twilight Star, Airship 27, U.V.N. and Champion City..
Richard Katterjohn-Underground Video Network.
Scott Riley-Main Street Comics, Champion City, Twilight Star, Wild wolf, and working with Dustin Carson.
Jef Price-Necessary Cool, Twilight Star, Champion City, Comic Related, and Main Street Comics.
Tim Hagans-self publishing.
Dustin Carson-self publishing, Studio Akumakaze, and Wild Wolf
Chuck Moore-Comic Related
Chris Metzger-Wild Wolf, Studio Akumakaze, Twilight Star, Comic Related, Tiki Samurai, working with Dustin Carson and Ron Fortier.
John Wilson-Comic Related, Sketch Magazine and Studio Akumakaze.
Brant Fowler-Comic Related, Gonzogoose Productions, Haven Distributions, Image Comics, and Twilight Star.
Chad Strohl-self publishing, Comic Related, Wild Wolf, and Twilight Star.
Jacob Newell-Studio Akumakaze, U.V.N., and Wild Wolf.
Chris Hoskins-Studio Akumakaze, Comic Related, Penny Dreadful Press, U.V.N., and Wild Wolf.
Jamal Ard-Studio Akumakaze
BJay Johnson-Studio Akumakaze, Wild Wolf, and Twilight Star.
Jeremy "germ" Edgington-Tiki Samurai.
Jesse Mounts-Tiki Samurai.
Chad Lambert-Twisted Gate, Ape Entertainment and Digital Webbing.
Victor Dandridge-Freestyle Komics
Matt Smith-Duncan and Smith Publications and Champion City.
Frank Raynor-Comic Related, Wild Wolf, Studio Akumakaze, Twilight Star, U.V.N., and Champion City.
Chris Martin-Studio Akumakaze, Wild Wolf, and Twilight Star.
Brain Latimer-PDK Media, Comic Related, and Studio Akumakaze.
Andy McGinn-Dragon Fish Publishing and the Springfield News-Sun.
Gary Church-Twilight Star and Wild Wolf.
Raichal Gladman-self publishing, Comic Related, Wild Wolf, and Champion City.
Charles Lane-self publishing.
Bill Gladman - Bill is a writer and illustrator and currently working on several different projects including the first issue of an ongoing comic book series (Prodigy), an illustrated fantasy novel (The Book of Noheim), and the first of four illustrated science fiction/fantasy novels (Jack the Rabbit, Living Legend of the Purple Plains) as well as a light-hearted on going mini-comic (Three Wise Men). Bill also pens a column for Comic Related and will be doing a mix of regional convention coverage.
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