I Went to Aw Yeah Comics

Last week Aw Yeah Comics in Skokie, Illinois opened for business. I went for a visit on their second day so I could give you the lowdown on the what's up.

Let's be clear that this is a "soft opening" in that not everything in the store is finalized. The characters being painted on the wall and the shelving for the merchandise and, well, everything on the premises is a work in progress.But hey, once you start paying rent you might as well open the doors. The Grand Opening will be on Free Comic Book Day, 5 May 2012, and that's when the chimes will ring with perfect pitch.

The gent in the picture above is Action Cat, I mean Marc Hammond. (Action Cat on the wall, as painted by Art Baltazar, was not quite finished on the day of my visit but probably is by now. Adventure Bug is on the opposite wall.) Marc is the manager of the store, and he and Art and Franco are equal partners in the business (but wait, Marc thinks one of them actually has 34% while the other two have 33%). Marc was very pleased to report to me that the very first customer in the store was a young lady, and later that first day a family came through the doors.

The drawing table that Marc is standing next to will be a permanent fixture in the store, and any professional artist that stops by will be invited to take a load off and draw at it for a while. There will also be comfy chairs for kids to sit around and read comics in and, starting in May, the store will host Sunday brunches every week featuring doughnuts or bagels or some other treat in an attempt to encourage folks to hang out and talk about comics with each other. Isn't that fun!?

Here is an article from The Skokie Review that tells even more, and the Aw Yeah Comics Facebook Page makes new announcements about upcoming events at the store on just about a daily basis. Good luck to all three guys in their fun venture!