NEW YORK STORIES Part 1

Connie and I just got back from our trip to New York city. It was the first trip there for both of us. We left on Thursday November 3rd, and returned to our home in San Jose California on Tuesday November 8th. Connie was entered in the New York Marathon, and she asked me to accompany her there. We had an absolute blast. We crammed an amazing amount of fun into four days. We stayed in Manhattan and spent almost all our time there. There is so much to see, that I think we barely scratched the surface. We were busy all the time. We wanted to grab a piece of the big apple with both fists. The excitement is contagious.

We stayed at the Hilton on 8th Ave and 48th street, in Midtown Manhattan. I was surprised to learn that most of the famous places that I had heard about in New York were on the island of Manhattan. It's just 3 miles wide, and 11 miles long, yet this small island contains huge world-famous places like the Empire State Building, Rockefeller Center, Central Park, Times Square, The Chrysler Buliding, The United Nations, Ground Zero, Grand Central Station, and much more. It is surprisingly easy to get around, and almost impossible to get lost. The city is a grid of numbered streets from the Bronx to the Battery, and avenues from the Hudson River to the East River. Central park is in the middle. You can get around great by walking. This is one of the greatest walking cities in the world. There is great stuff to see and do on every block. It would be much more trouble to get around by car. If you want to get around even faster, you can take the the subway system which is everywhere, and very easy to use.

We were very lucky. The weather was mild, and warm the whole time we were there. It didn't rain once. I think the weather was better at the beginning of November in New York this year than it was in the San Francisco Bay Area. Another surprise was how nice the people were. I kind of expected to see a whole city full of rude, loud, and pushy people. The people I met were mostly really nice. There are tons of people everywhere. They crowd the streets, the subways and the stores. I guess in an area this crouded you have to eather learn to love your fellow man or flee to the suburbs.

As you stroll down the streets of Manhattan, you are never far away from snacks such as a hot pretzel, or hot nuts from a street vendor. The pretzel is the size of both of your hands. It is light, fluffy, and tasty. I tried the hot cashews. They are candy coated, and come in a small white bag. They are delicious, and warm your stomach. I wish I had a bag of them right now.

New York is really as great as they say. This was one of the funnest vacations ever for me. I really enjoyed my stay there. I think that a guy like me could do pretty well there. It's like a convention all the time there. There are lots of deals to be made. I have a fantasy about moving there and opening a shop. Don't worry, I don't plan on leaving the Bay Area anytime soon.

I prepared for my trip by watching "On The Town" starring Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra. The film is shot on location in New York, and the stars are seen dashing and dancing through many parts of town. I also prepared my itunes soundtrack of New York Songs. I'm still listening to them, they really capture the flavor.

Song Artist Album

Sunday in New York Bobby Darin The Bobby Darin Collection:The Pop Years-Part Two (Disc 3)

Manhattan Ella Fitzgerald The Rodgers And Hart Songbook

Autumn in New York Frank Sinatra Columbia Years 1943-1952 Complete Recordings - Disc 8

Autumn In New York Harry Connick, Jr. When Harry Met Sally

Manhattan Blossom Dearie Verve Jazz Masters 51

The Brooklyn Bridge Frank Sinatra Columbia Years 1943-1952 Complete Recordings (Disc 5)

Autumn In New York 4:38 Frank Sinatra Come Fly with Me

New York New York medley Mel Tormé and George Shearing A Vintage Year: Recorded Live at the Paul Masson Mountain Winery

Bleecker Street Simon & Garfunkel The Essential Simon & Garfunkel

The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy) Simon & Garfunkel The Essential Simon & Garfunkel

Theme From New York, New York Frank Sinatra The Complete Reprise Studio Recordings (Disc 18)

From Friday, a view of Rockefeller Center.

Grand Central Station

Jim Hanley's Universe Comic Book store. It's across the street from the Empire State building. It's a large store with an unsurpassed selection of new comics and graphic novels.

We had to wait quite a while to get to the top of the Empire State Building. The view is breathtaking though. By nightfall it was cold and windy.



Month Python's Spamalot at the Shubert Theatre on West 44th street. It was a riot! It incorporates all your favorite Monty Python gags into a lively parody of a Brodaway Musical. It stars David Hyde Pierce and Tim Curry. The book and music are by Eric Idle. It's directed by Mike Nichols. Connie and I laughed ourselves silly. We had a great time.

To be continued...

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!