Not that one didn't know it would happen sooner or later. (He was 95.) Still, it feels like the end of an era, even though he had long since ceased to be the creator/writer/editor who made Marvel what it is.

'Nuff said.

On Wednesday, I went for the final time to Dragon Lady Comics. I've been shopping there weekly (more or less) since I moved downtown in 1985. That's a long time; and I'm very much a creature of habit. The store opened in 1979, having been a mail order business the previous year; and, according to the owner, John Biernat, he remembers me shopping there on the very first day. I wouldn't have thought I was all that memorable! After all, we didn't meet again until seven or eight years ago. (He had a succession of managers look after the store.) Well, I guess there aren't all that many middle-aged women who collect comics. He must have had a mental image of "comic collector" that I totally didn't fit; and that made me memorable.

Anyway, the store did well for many years. It was badly hit by the recession, but staggered on—fewer employees working longer hours, basically. The final straw came last summer when the rent was hiked by about 25%. It was just no longer profitable to keep a storefront open. So the stock has all been moved to a warehouse for mail order sales.

If I was truly there on the first day, then I had to go in on the last day.

To cope with the shock, I took my camera down last December and snapped a lot of pictures; and then filled in some gaps last week, and again on Wednesday. I've put up a sort of "Memoriam" page on my website, too: full of reminiscences. It helps, I think, to get a perspective on the whole time I shopped there.

Fortunately, some local comics types haves wangled some financial backing to start a new shop about a block away. Not that they've rented a whole store: it's a room in space shared with two other comics-related businesses. Upstairs. (Street level stores are just too pricy.) Since John Biernat's getting out of direct sales, he let Joe take over the contract with Diamond Distributors; and he's the manager of the new store. I think most of the Dragon Lady regulars are moving to there. It minimizes the disruption to their routine.

Still, it's always a shock when things go.