"COMIC WORLD in Largo, Florida began as part of the Geppi's Comic World (GCW) chain in June of 1982, two months after Steve Geppi opened Diamond Comic Distributors, which had spun out of his GCW chain located in Baltimore, Maryland. Steve bought out the Pinellas County, Florida-based New Media/Irjax, which many may remember as being the publishers of many fanzine type books about Star Trek and various Irwin Allen TV series, as well as Comics Feature magazine.
"I discovered the store while driving by in May 1982, a month before GCW was scheduled to open. The sight of Superman and Spider-Man on a sign caught my eye, so my then-fiancee and I pulled in, and I jumped out to check out my first (!) comic book store. Never before had one place been entirely devoted to comic books in the Tampa Bay area, though some local bookstores had featured comic book sections.
"I was met with a rather brusque 'What do you want?' by the Diamond manager, which had offices in back of the store. He explained the store wasn't ready to open; they had no staff or even a cash register, and that I could come back June 26th to shop at their grand opening (the actual 'grand opening' was October 15th and 16th, 1982; the Diamond manager merely meant, when their doors officially opened). I explained that I was getting married that day. Therefore, I didn't return to the comic store until early July, where I met Chuck Zepp, a really great guy who immediately got me hooked on Cerebus comics, and struck up many a conversation about the Silver Age of Superman, one of my favorite characters.
"At first, Chuck asked me to keep on eye on the shop while he would run to the restroom, and then it was while he ran over to McDonald's. Since I only came in after work at Zayre in Largo, Florida, he often went all day with nary a break, so I was happy to help out. After Chuck went back to Baltimore in early August, Jay Warmke took over as manager, with Kevin Connelly as his assistant. I was just getting to know Jay and Kevin when I found myself laid off from Zayre.
"I began working at Comic World regularly for store credit in August 1982 after being laid off from Zayre. As with Chuck, the whole thing started out with Jay just needing me to watch the store so he could use the rest room or grab something from McDonald's. Before I knew it, I was asked to keep an eye on the store regularly so one staff member or another could run an errand. By October 1982, I was asked to join the staff officially, which I happily accepted. As I mentioned earlier, the official Grand Opening was October 15th and 16th, 1982. The store hosted an appearance by Dave & Deni Sim of Cerebus fame on the 15th, and Jim Starlin, who was promoting Dreadstar, on October 16th. In December 1982, Jay Warmke made me a full timer!"In April of 1983, Jay was promoted to Diamond manager, taking Kevin back to work in the Diamond offices with him and Andrea Johnson to help run that part of the operation, putting me in charge of the front store retail part of the operation. Jay kept an eye on me at first, grooming me as I grew into the management role. By the fall of 1983, the unpredictability of TWA made moving Diamond to Tampa nearer the airport a necessity, as Jay and Kevin were forced to drive back and forth to get the shipments sent down from the Diamond home office warehouse. This was before Diamond regularly used UPS, I might add. As November rolled around, and my first child, my daughter, was born, I found myself working at the store usually entirely alone, my days off covered by either Kevin, Jay or another Diamond employee. Sales were brisk, though, so I was never really alone, but always hopping. Those days sure kept me on my toes!
"Things proceeded apace until October 1984, when Tom Fielding came to work at the store. What was supposed to be a temporary gig - Tom was supposed to open a second store in Tampa - became three and a half years of a shared management experience which had its ups and downs.
"That's not to say there weren't some great times during those years. In 1985, I was fortunate to attend Creation Con with Tom, where I met Star Trek's George Takei (Hikaru Sulu), and Doctor Who's Mark Strickson (Turlough)! Also in 1985, we hosted a DC 50th Anniversary Party, with The Answer Man himself, DC Comics' Bob Rozakis as our 'Mystery Guest Caller'! We also had a signing with Carl Potts to promote his then-new title, Alien Legion!"I gained a great deal of knowledge from Tom's experience in the genre, especially when it came to Golden Age and Pulp classics, but lost ground as Tom was sorely disillusioned with working for others and longed to be running his own store. Tom left GCW in June 1988 to open Comic Cave with his then-new wife. (After years in the business, Comic Cave closed just before Tom passed away of liver cancer in 2004).
"After Tom's tenure with GCW, in the years that followed before I bought the store, we continued to host great events, including an annual Halloween event and costume contest, plus several signings, including one memorable signing with Firestorm and Hawkmoon's artist, Rafael Kayanan!
"Ten years after becoming a full-time employee for the Geppi's Comic World chain, I purchased the Florida Comic World location on December 1st, 1992, forging ahead on my own.
"Those first three years, I kept the store in our original location, hosting several events including an in-store Haunted House and a signing with Marvel's Doom 2099 artist Pat Broderick, which had been in Keene Plaza, a larger store front that had as many advantages as pitfalls. In 1995, Keene Plaza had a massive exodus of tenants after a dispute between Winn Dixie and the landlord caused the WD to move out.
"I landed on my feet in Champions Plaza in 1995, where I remained for five years. Popularly called the Outback Steakhouse center, the problem we found there was in the lack of parking. Outback customers always took up all the parking.
"When the lease was up in 2001, we moved to Royal Plaza, a smaller center close to Largo Senior High School, which just never went over well with anyone.
"This led to our returning to our roots, heading back to Keene Plaza, in 2003. The center had new landlords, new tenants, and seemed to be on the upswing. There, we celebrated our return to our home turf by having a huge 25th Anniversary Spectacular in August 2007, featuring Jimmy Palmiotti, Amanda Conner, Chuck Dixon, Pablo Marcos, Paul Pelletier, Ben Filipiak and Pat Batton from Fierce Comics, Rob Rhine & Mike Foss of Maniacal Smile, Javier Lugo, Austin Janowsky, JS Earls, Artistic License Studios, and author Robert Cales. Then, we did it again in 2008 with a second event featuring Barbara Kesel, Nick Cuti, Pat Broderick, and many of the above Florida-based creators.
"We remained there five more years, moving down the road after the landlords went wild with their rent hikes. Opening next to the Tampa Cuban Restaurant, we spent three years more on East Bay Drive until we parted company with that center, moving to where we are now: The Village Plaza, 1901 West Bay Drive, Largo, Florida. Located at the edge of Belleair, Florida, a short drive from the beaches, our center features a variety of unique businesses and restaurants.
Since opening in the Village Plaza location, we've been privileged to host several Free Comic Book Day events, which we've been doing since 2002, as well as Comic Fest for Halloween, Star Wars Day, and have had several wonderful guests appear, including Dawn of the Dead's Mike Christopher (best known as 'The Hare Krishna Zombie'), his lovely significant other, actress & model Shade Burnett, returning writer/artist Nick Cuti, film producer Andy Lalino, and artist Adonis Charles, who dazzled fans with his beautiful renderings! We were also blessed to have members of the Suncoast Ghostbusters on two occasions, the Mighty Thor (Doug Moody), and Batman (Zac Hurst)!!
"I've had a lot of successes, and a few failures, in the over two decades as owner, but I've persevered and always risen to the challenge to bring comic book fans, adults and kids of all ages, great comic books, graphic novels and trade paperbacks, novels and paperbacks to read because I believe that reading is the greatest gift that anyone can receive. It opens doorways to new worlds in one's mind, sparking the imagination in ways that video and the internet will never do!
"People ask me, 'why buy comic books'? Why not download them? Well, reading a comic book, or a novel, is an interactive experience which utilizes all your senses, whereas reading comics on a computer screen or iPad isn't. You use other senses when you touch the book, turn the pages, hear the pages turning, and smell the ink on the paper, which sometimes can also trigger your sense of taste. So you have the potential to use all five senses with real comics and books, which you don't have digitally.
"I'm also dubious about technology changing. Therefore, let's say one downloaded a comic in 2012. Will they be able to view it in 2020? Or will they have to download and pay for it again and again as technology changes? Well, comic books have been around for almost 100 years in the format we know and love so much. I can pick up a comic from 1940 and read it just as easily as I can with a comic from 2012, and I will be able to with a comic printed in 2020. Oh, I think eventually scientists will invent a substitute for paper, which will take the place of the material comics are printed on, but I doubt we'll even be able to tell the difference.
"That's not to say that I don't believe in having an internet presence. I believe it's crucial to reach out to everyone, of every generation, in order to encourage interest in reading. That's why, though I prefer real comic books as opposed to digital comics, I will be providing links to some sites on our new upcoming website that will connect fans to places where they may digitally download their comics. Hopefully, though, those folks will still find merit in a good old-fashioned comic printed on real paper!
"As the owner of Comic World, folks ask me if it's all business to me. They assume, of course, that I probably don't read comics anymore, but that's not true at all! I'm a HUGE comic book fan! I still love comics, and read a variety of titles from DC Comics, Marvel Comics, IDW, Dark Horse, and several others from smaller publishers, especially anything by Terry Moore and Jeff Smith. No, I don't sit here at work reading comics -- I reserve that pleasure for when I'm home. Speaking with other store owners, I've surprisingly encountered some who don't read comics, who are all about making money and not in touch with what they sell. But that's not me. I love reading comics, as much for the great sequential storytelling and artwork as for the story itself. I started reading comics in 1967 with Superman #200 and my love of the genre is as strong as ever, if not more so. If I'm sure of one thing, that is that I'll never stop reading comics!"
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