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any friends, y’know? I just wanted to get the Eagle and split.

So I walked up to the whirling center of all this activity, and asked for the new Eagle .

"Hey, wejustopenedI’msureit’saroundheresomewhere;oh, that’sright,we’vesoldout,letmeputthisdownI’vegotalot ofballsintheairrightnowbutI’mgoingovertoVizlater tonightIcangetyouacopynoproblemwhat’syourname?"

I can see this guy is the new owner, and he’s got his hands full getting the place ready, and being open for business, and he’s probably trying to get his DSL connected or something, but he’s still got time to make sure a cus tomer he’s never seen before gets his comics. So I want to hear what made him take over a comics shop at a time when comics shops are going out of business. You can imagine I assume we are probably kindred spirits, what with my starting a publishing house back in one of the bleakest times for publishing comics. Comics and Da-Kind is an inviting place, now. Most strikingly, there’s room to walk around. The front of the store isn’t cluttered with whatever the lat est Big Thing is… it’s given over to a leather couch, some end tables (upon which are some quality hardcovers and trade paperbacks, tastefully dis played), and nicely-framed original comic art. There’s an Art Deco-inspired rug in front of the red and white padded counter. Behind this are glass cases holding all manner of Silver Age comics. At first I thought the physical layout of the store was due to James being a bit of a lounge lizard himself, but it turns out it’s reflective of James’ phi losophy: "Comics already are a mainstream medium," says Sime. "Look at all the Far Side calendars at Christmastime, Calvin and Hobbes t-shirts at the mall… not to mention all the idiots dressed up like Dilbert at the Halloween office party. So it’s time to market comics as a mainstream medium. And if Starbucks can take something that gives people stomachaches and diar rhea and turn it into something that’s become a standard modern lifestyle We get to talking, and I can see that new owner James Sime is on his way towards creating the perfect comic shop. The whole place looks like Frank Sinatra’s living room. Y’know, if Frank Sinatra had known who Stan Lee was.

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