My favorite comic book shop was looking pretty thin and empty one day. I asked what was up and they said something about financial problems. It was certainly not the first time I saw a shop close. I had family in downtown Chicago and there were several HUGE comic book shops I remember visiting as a child that are now wiped off the map. Even in my home town, there are several rival shops that have come and go over the years. However, this last comic shop was my favorite and I was willing to do a lot to keep that dream alive, but I would eventually find my limits.
My Favorite Shop
My favorite shop was run by a dude named Lenny. He is probably 15 years older than me, and rather wise in the way of comics. Lenny looked and spoke EXACTLY like this guy from The Simpsons, no joke.
Lenny was a very poor salesman, he didn't speak much or try to sell us anything as kids. Thinking back, he had a tolerance for children but, they were far from his expertise.
Years went by and as I got older, Lenny recognized me more and opened up a bit. Once I was talking to Lenny regularly in high school, he offered to set aside new books coming out, just for me. He knew what I wanted, so before he put them out on the shelves for sale, he would pull one out and save it for me. This way, I could still get the cool books that were sure to sell out, even if I could not get to the shop until after school, or the day after release. Lenny called this "pulling books" and he did it for several of his friends.
Tough Times Hit
The shop actually closed down when I was an adult, out of college and in the workforce. The shop had moved before, across town, several times without any problems. They just ended up in an expensive strip mall that didn't work out this time. They closed rather abruptly and Lenny said he was taking his shop to a new, cheaper location.
I was relieved to hear about the new location at first because Lenny was pulling 5-10 books for me every week. If he was not around for that anymore, I would get stuck back on the front lines of the other shops. Shops that I had no relationship with. Shops where I was just another peasant forced to fight for books on release day with all the other plebs. Like some sort of... Hobo! I would certainly miss out on all the good books, because that stuff sells out fast. As a result, the demand goes up, then the same dang book shows up a few months later at Lenny's shop for three times the price!
Lenny's new address was on the other side of town, probably a 25 minute drive for me. It didn't matter though. Lenny was pulling my books, they would always be there waiting for me.
The New Location
I arrived at Lenny's new location at my usual time, on a Sunday around 11:00 am. It was on the edges of town and the address had lead me to a very large sports bar, that had numerous baseball, softball, and volleyball courts surrounding it.
I have never really fit in well at bars. I like to drink alcohol, and I can fit in at a restaurant or parties, but I struggle with bars. So I was nervous right away and I wasn't even sure if the place was open. It was 11 am... On Sunday! So after several minutes of pacing, and retracing my steps, I decided to go in and see.
Once inside, I ran into the locals from the outskirts of town who were lit up pretty nicely already. One of them looked at me like I had some sort of problem.
I should have known better, but I had made eye contact so I just asked, "Is Lenny Around?"
The drunken hick answered, "Who the hell is Lenny?"
I really did not want to answer that question.
Not here, not now, but there was no other way out of this conversation.
"He sells comic books", I said.
The entire bar got involved quickly thereafter. They started laughing and poking drunk fun. Which is cool, a little hazing, I get that. However, things are funnier under the influence of alcohol. Yet, those same jokes can just be rude and foolish things to say to people who are sober.
These people didnt know me from Adam, and this shit, was important to me!
I was not about to start drinking, and I think that was pretty clear. So eventually the bar tender stopped by to throw me a bone after watching me squirm for a few minutes. She told me that I need to go back outside, around back by the baseball diamond where they had a closet for keeping drinks and baseball equipment.
The room was literally a closet full of junk and stacks of comics being mis-handled outside their plastic, it was a nightmare. There was no display wall anymore, no glass cases. Lenny pulled books for me for a few more months like that, until I eventually just called and asked him to stop. It wasn't my thing, it wasn't the same. The entire process had lost all of it's appeal and Lenny didn't ask why. He just said OK, hung up, and I never heard from him again.
I moved on to places like eBay where I can get really good deals on bundles of anything you can imagine. Again, it just wasn't quite the same. There was no one to talk to and the social aspect of this hobby was totally gone, reduced to a cold, commercialized robot selling books at an online auction.
Not long after that, I quit collecting comics all together. I could not get new stuff from eBay and I was spending too much money anyway.
I heard Lenny has a new shop over there that is pretty nice these days but I have not seen it. I am glad for him, I really am.
Enter Steemit
I have met some really cool people on Steemit including my friend 
Cryp shares a bit of info about new books, old books, even really, really old books book from the private collection. Watching my feed for Cryp's posts has become my new comic shop though the social aspect of Steemit. I feel like I hang out in Cryp's shop, sitting in the shop's only free chair, reading comics and talking about comics once again. Just like the good old days. The world is changing and the future looks bright!
Now I just gotta wrap my head around this crypto currency thing, then I am back in the game! WOOT!
