BLACK OCTOBER SALE

Here are some pictures from our Mountain View store. These were taken at the “Black October Sale”, October 22nd. We hold this sale each year in October, which is traditionally the slowest month of the year for comic book retailers.

This year we tried something different. We had thousands of comics on sale for just a quarter each, and we set them all up outside so that customers had plenty of room to move around. Since we were short handed, I enlisted the aid of my friend Mark Arnold to run the register outside. He is the fellow you see behind the counter. Mark did a great job. We sold thousands of comics for a quarter each.

Inside it was a great success too. Over 400 people visited the stores. I want to thank everyone who came! Be on the lookout for exciting future Lee’s Comics events.

MARK SCHULTZ

Mark Schultz appeared at our Mountain View store on Aug 6. Mark is as nice as he is talented, and we had a great time hanging out with him and his publisher John Fleskes.

Mark is pointing to Charles Hymes. He’s a regular customer in San Mateo. He’s been reading comics for years, and Xenozoic Tales is his all time favorite comic.

Here’s Mark with my partner in comics, Mark Crane.

This nice young lad scoured ebay to come up with an amazing assortment of Cadillacs and Dinosaurs toys. We talked him into taking the Caddy out of the box. It’s a really sweet item. I have to get me one of those!

Here is the print that Mark Schultz produced for our event. I think it’s awesome!

SAN DIEGO SCRAPBOOK

Usually I like to post convention pictures right away. This time, the fates have kept me from that task. I hope that there are still a few people interested in a few snapshots from the front. In my case, I was set up at booth #1100 in the Golden and Silver age area. Sales were brisk this year, as we seem to have built up a loyal annual following. Richard Garcia and I worked the both. All the pictures are taken from inside or in front of the booth, except for #7 and #8, which were taken in the field. These few pictures and short paragraphs don’t begin to scratch the surface of my experience at the con, let alone the individual experiences of the over one hundred thousand people that attended the event. The San Diego con is an endless buffet…a pop culture explosion. From a size standpoint alone it’s awesome. The convention floor is a half a mile long from one end to the other. All one can do is sample from the diversions offered. I was happy to play my own small part in the festivities.

Loading the van, driving, setting up, selling, packing down, packing the van up again, driving it back and unloading it was a huge amount of work. In between the work, I met some cool people and reacquainted myself with old friends. I bought and sold a bunch of comics and other cool items. I’m looking forward to next year.

1. Here is a candid shot of the lovely Fatima Kioskli. Her friends call her Tim. She works at Jeffrey’s Comics in San Francisco. They were nominated for an Eisner award this year.

2. Here’s Richard and Chris Williamson. Chris is a nice guy, and a loyal Lee’ Comics customer. You can see Tim in the background checking out the back issues.

3. Here is famous comic book artist Eduardo Baretto. He is holding up the comic book that he just purchased from the Lee’s Comics booth. It is a shadow comic featuring the artwork of Frank Robbins. Remembering back to the 1970s, Robbins was one of the most hated artists among the fans. Lately I have noticed that quite a few really good artists that I know love and collect his work. I remember Steranko telling me how much he liked his art. My buddy Rafael Navarro picked up a couple of original Robbins pages from The Invaders, and was showing them to me at his booth during the convention. I must confess that I was one of those people who were not fond or Robbins back in the day. I’ll have to give his work a more serious look.

4. Here is EC Fan Addict Grant Geissman with the rare comic book he purchased from us. Grant is the author of 2 definitive books on EC comics. His most recent book is “Foul Play: The Art and Artists of the Notorious EC Comics”.

5. Here is a couple of Lee’s Comics customers dressed up as Escaflowne characters.

6. Another great costume.

7. I wasn’t able to break away from the table for more than a few moments at a time. I managed to see about 20 minutes of the Stan Lee panel. He kept the audience in stitches the whole time. He was very animated and came up with a funny and interesting answer for each question that he was asked. I think Stan injected a very vial force into comics in the ’60, and that is Personality. He’s definitely a larger than life personality himself.

8. I always like to stop by and see my friend Maggie Thompson. Editor of the Comics Buyer’s Guide. Maggie is a national treasure for the comic book world, and she is always the brightest person in the room. Maggie mentioned that she sold her high-grade run of Amazing Spider-man #1-100, and was looking to rebuild it with low grade, low cost issues. I helping her build that collection starting with this copy of #6. It’s really nice except for the 2-inch square piece missing from the front cover.

9. Gary Owens the famous announcer of Laugh In, the voice of Space Ghost, roger Ramjet, powdered Toast Man, and many other credits, stopped by the booth. He mentioned that he was a big fan of Alex Ross. I had never met Gary before, but I had always been a huge fan. He was incredibly friendly and gracious.

10. Here’s Gary and my buddy Ron Murry. Ron and I sell side by side each year, and help each other out. He’s a great guy, and when it comes to golden and Silver age comics, he’s the dealer’s dealer. I’ve never seen another dealer who buys and sells in such a low pressure and friendly manner. Ron travels all over the country buying and selling vintage comics, and enjoying life.

11.

Kauai Eye

Connie and I got married in Kauai 10 years ago. To celebrate our anniversary, we returned there last week. We stayed at the Aloha Beach Resort in Wailua Bay; the same place that we stayed 10 years ago. We had a rental car, and traveled all around the island. We did lots of snorkeling in the coral reefs. We hiked down to see waterfalls. We boogie boarded in the waves. We went to the obligatory Luau, and it was really fun. Connie and I even got in some morning runs. We are all back now, tanned and rested. Connie and I have returned to work, the kids are back for their last week of school, but we still carry some of that aloha spirit with us. Here are a few of the over 100 photos that we took.

IT BROKE AT BAY TO BREAKERS

Connie and I have been running the Bay to Breakers in San Francisco every year for 5 years now. It’s a 7 1/2 mile course that includes a brutal 200-foot climb up the Hays Street Hill. It’s one of the ways we celebrate our anniversary.

This year Connie did better than ever, finishing in just over an hour, which was her best time ever. I finished in 58 minutes. That was a little less than a minute slower than I ran last year. Last year was my record so far. I am a bit disappointed in myself for not beating my personal best. There’s always next year. As it turns out, mayor Gavin Newsom ran the race in 60:03, so I beat the mayor, and Connie came in right after him. I didn’t spot him at the finish, but there is a lot going on at this race.

Along the race path, there are a couple of areas where scaffolds are set up and photographers take pictures from above. If the pictures look like we are really hauling, I’ll let you in on a little secret. Over the years, Connie and I have developed a strategy when it comes to race photos. We look around for the most physically fit person running ahead of us and zip over to run near them. We also run extra fast, and try to show good running form.
It’s just for a few seconds, so it won’t kill us.

This new technique comes in handy for our self-esteem. Too many times we have finished thinking we really ran nicely, until we saw the pictures of us running flatfooted next to Grandma Moses, and an old toothless man with a walker. Now we just make a beeline for Wonder Woman, or Sam Studly and let the camera work it’s magic! We don’t run any better that way, but damn do we look good!

FREE THE COMICS!

It is another fantastic Free Comic Book Day at Lee’s Comics! The sun is shining brightly, and there is a crackle of excitement in the air. The gods have granted a reprieve from the unseasonable rains. People of all ages start to line up for their free comics. I stand by at the ready with a counter and spinner full of great free comics wearing my Free Comic Book Day polo shirt.

Some think that Kids don’t like to read comics anymore. Some of these people are even comic book dealers! These pictures provide compelling evidence to the contrary! Around 500 people showed up at each Lee’s Comics for Free Comic Book Day. About half of them were children, and they had a ball!

It’s Uncle Scrooge for her, and Betty and Veronica for mom.

My wife Connie brought our daughters Hannah and Sophie. She also brought our houseguests Billy Martinez, his wife Catherine and their two daughters. Here I am with Hannah and Sophie. The younger girl in the middle is Billy’s daughter Guinevere.

We handed the free comics out in front of the store. You didn’t have to come into the store to get them. Almost everybody came inside and shopped around, though. We were having a sale inside, and we enjoyed record sales. Here is a view from the register.

Here’s a view from the front of the store.

Here’s a view from the back of the store.

Here’s a view through the front door.

Our special guest Billy Martinez signs.

More kids!

Hannah takes over the free comic give-away duties. She does a bang up job, including laying down the rules, and calling out “Free Comics!”

ODE TO FREE COMIC BOOK DAY

By Lee Hester

The First Saturday every May:

It will be Free Comic Book Day.

Be sure to meet us all right here,

at the comic book store each year.

There’s lots of comic books for free.

Get one for you and one for me.

Bring all the people that you can,

for Archie, Simpsons, Spider-man.

We’ll read them all, and when we’re done,

we’ll trade them with our friends for fun.

I love the Free Comic Book Day:

It’s Halloween without decay!

TOM AND TAXES

Well, it’s been another crazy weekend. On Saturday, our No Tax event started at both stores. People began coming in and choosing their envelopes from the prize hopper. Five minutes after we opened, Eli Mantel won one of our grand prize $100 shopping sprees. He is pictured above with Walter Fink, the first winner of our T-Shirt prize. Walter chose a Captain America Shirt. Eli wasn’t even sure that he was going to come in that day, so let me tell you, he was one happy fella.

People took great delight in choosing their free Duck and Cover Bumper Stickers. I want to specially thank Jim Buser, the mad genus behind Duck and Cover for providing this special treat for our customers. Did you know that I used to buy my comics from Jim when I was a lad? Back then, Jim held down a position as a clerk at Comics and Comix. In those days they were in Downtown Palo Alto, at the corner of Cowper and University Ave. Jim’s long blonde hair is a thing of the past, but he still keeps his freak flag flying with his crazy bumper stickers. My favorite one is “Eschew Obfuscation”. That’s been my personal motto for years now, as you can clearly see!

Here’s (Jovial) Jason Chen, the first winner of our Free Wall Comic – up to $25 prize. He chose Tales of Suspense #49, with an early appearance of the X-Men. You can see that The Jovial One is beside himself with glee at his good fortune.

Tom Beland, creator of True Story Swear to God, joined us at our Mountain View location at noon. Tom drove here all the way from Napa with his brother Joe. Tom is a delightful guy! I have never seen such generosity from an artist before. He spent hours entertaining them, and doing free sketches. He even added a page of original art from the series for our raffle. Tom was a stand up comedian in San Francisco for a short time, and is a natural entertainer. He kept the fans in stitches for hours.

If you are not reading True Story, you should really give it a try. It is one of the freshest and funniest comics on the market. It’s a true love story too. I haven’t yet heard of anyone reading it and not liking it. My wife, Connie hardly reads any comics, and she loves it. Its popularity is just starting to catch on. Mark my words; True Story is going to be a huge hit. Remember, you heard it here first. By the way, we have copies of all the books and comics coming in soon. So far, there are 13 comics, and 2 graphic novels. One of the graphic novels reprints his earlier comic strip work, and the other one reprints the comic book series from #1-5. The next True Story graphic novel, which presents issues #6-11, is coming our next month.

The law of probabilities did not seem to apply to this raffle. Within a few minutes of adding the envelope with the prize of an original page of Tom Beland True Story Swear to God art to the hopper, along with about 300 other envelopes, we had a winner! It was young Alan Noah, whose dad brings him to Lee’s Comics every weekend. What a great dad! On his way over to pose for the picture, Alan exclaimed “This is the best day so far in my young life!” It might sound like I’m making this up for comic effect, but it’s absolutely true. Swear to God.

Here’s Pat Leong, another Wall Book winner. Pat chose Tales To Astonish #101, another silver age Marvel comic. My efforts to get rid of that wall copy of Huckleberry Hound continue to be thwarted.

Here’s Alyssa Tamajima, who won our second $100 shopping spree in the evening.

Here’s Tom and Me right before we said goodbye in the early evening. I think it’s the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

Here’s Joe and Tom Beland. As you can see the brothers are quite close. Some may even say they are a little too close!

Lacey leaps in!

While I was having fun at the store, Connie was at a house party at her friend Kevin’s house. She was helping him put up a tent, when she was struck in the left eye with a tent pole. After I got home, she initially wouldn’t let me take her to the doctor. Connie is a pretty tough customer, but the pain kept increasing, and eventually she couldn’t keep either eye open. Finally at around 9 pm she was in so much pain that she relented and let me take her in. Thankfully we were able to leave the twins at Grandma’s house.

We drove to the emergency ward at Good Samaritan Hospital. Since Connie could not open her eyes, I tried to entertain her by reading selections from Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader. Sitting in an emergency waiting room late at night can be quite a surreal experience. First of all you never know when, if ever, you’ll get to go in and see a doctor. Second, there are all kinds of people in all manner of dress. You discreetly look over at them, and wonder what affliction brought them at this hour to this awful place. The door opens periodically to let a new soul into this fresh purgatory. It’s a surreal out of body experience when a mother holding a young girl yells to the receptionist “I’m not TAKING this CRAP any more! My son DIED in this waiting room six months ago!!!” After that outburst they let her and her daughter in right away. I don’t even look up, and nobody else does either. But I wonder for a moment if I will need to make an outburst like this to get Connie in. Two years ago Connie made a similar outburst on my behalf at Valley Medical Center as I lay bleeding. Had she not, I would have likely bled to death in the waiting room. No, this time it’s not a matter of life and death, so I just continue to sit and read to Connie. Finally they let us in. The orderly in charge takes a quick look at Connie’s eye, asks a couple of questions, and sends us back out to wait. After another half hour or so they let us back in.

We get to go into a room now to wait some more. They tell us it's a busy night. Finally a doctor comes in to see us. She is a good natured, plump Asian woman. She puts some drops in Connie’s eye that dull the pain in an interesting way. They create so much extra pain that the nerves just shut down. Connie says the drops feel like gasoline. Connie gets a few moments of relief, and is now able to open her eyes. The doctor puts some phosphorescent drops in the left eye, and lets me look at it under a magnification. I can clearly see a gouge over the cornea. The doctor tells us it will start to heal in a few days, and should heal completely in two weeks. A nurse comes in and gives Connie a tetanus shot, and we leave the hospital at midnight with a prescription for eye drops and pain medication. The whole experience wasn’t as bad as it could have been. Connie even managed to have a few laughs through it all. Maybe we’ll see Sin City next week.