The Comics Rack

Comic Book Memories Pt. 10

I guess my main memories of Glenwood are all pleasant. The mid-80s were a fun time for all of us. Most of us were near the same age and Glenwood became a social, as well as business, gathering place for us all. Tuesdays were a good day for morning gatherings. After making the run to Whittier, and picking up the magazines and returnable comics, I would usually arrive at Glenwood around 10:30. Usually there would be some material that had shipped by truck that would be there for us and some of the other dealers would be there at the same time. We would look through what had arrived, shoot the breeze and the ptomaine ptruck would arrive near 11 so we, and the Glenwood employees, would take a break for an early lunch/late breakfast (that truck made the best beef and potato burritos!).

Shopping the warehouse was also a Tuesday task. Unlike the comic drop points of today, the comic warehouses of the old days had a lot of stock on their shelves that the retailer could purchase to re-stock the store. Sometimes this was comics that were over-ordered on purpose. Other items were books and graphic novels, collections, shirts and posters: any of the items that could be re-ordered from their producers on a regular basis and kept in stock so we could re-stock our shelves. We also had a good "in" with Glenwood, as we sold mainly to readers and not collectors. This meant that we weren't quite a picky as some stores as to what condition the comics needed to be in for us to purchase them and sell to our customers. A slight bend here, a small cover rub...our customers wanted to read the comic and, as a result, we only had to worry about so-called MINT copies for a very small percentage of our regulars. Pat was more than happy to let me go through the returns from the previous weeks that had come in from other stores and pick out saleable stock for our store. After all, this meant he didn't have to write them up a damaged for whatever publisher had printed them.

In addition to our Glenwood orders, we also wanted to keep our hand in with Bud Plant, just in case. Since our sales had increased dramatically over time, we started to order some speciality items from Plant and, since Plant kept a larger number of items in stock than Glenwood, we would use Plant to re-stock the items that weren't regular comics. Every couple of weeks, we added a mid-week trip to LA with a list in hand. Richard would usually make this run, since he and Ken were friends, but I would make the trip on occassion, just so they would get to know me.

Tuesday and Friday were the regular comic days for quite some time and then, due to what circumstances I don't recall, somebody had the bright idea that comics could actually be air freighted out on Thursday morning and the distributors felt they could break down the shipment fast enough that the books could be ready by late Thursday afternoon. This was an idea that just was not thought out completely before it was implemented, but everyone jumped onboard, just as they had with air freight a few years earlier. From my end of things, it was a disaster. The crew at Glenwood had to break down the shipment too fast and there were often errors in our order. It also placed a great strain on our resources at the store, since I would have to leave the store between 3 and 4 in the afternoon, head into heavy traffic, arrive at Kolb to pick up our order there, swing back to Glenwood, then drive though rush hour traffic back to Long Beach, unload, check the order against the invoice and then try to put things out for sale before we closed at 7. A couple of times, I didn't get back to the store until near 8, due to delays at the warehouse and traffic. Finally, saner heads prevailed and the local distributors only made the comics available after a certain time, which allowed us to pick up the books on Friday morning just as we had before.

Eventually, all good things must come to an end and in late 86 or early 87, Pat announced that he was going to be transferred back to the main Glenwood facility in Illinois. Most all of us were saddened by the news, although Pat had never really warmed to California. Of course, since he was my friend and roommate, as well as the manager of my comic supplier, I was very sad indeed. Over the course of a couple of weeks, Pat took carloads of his collection and belongings to the warehouse each day where his crew helped him box the stuff and load it onto pallets, which Glenwood was paying to ship back East. Many of the comic dealers who dealt with Glenwood took Pat to dinner and let him know that he would be truly missed. Finally, the eve of his departure was at hand and so Pat and I walked across the street to a Mexican place near our apartment and had dinner with a previous roommate, Jim, who had been with us when we all shared a house together. We stuffed ourselves with chips and combination plates and drank way too many margaritas before we staggered back to the apartment. There, I convinced Pat to help me finish off the vodka we had in the freezer (Jim had left by this point, as he had drunk less than the two of us and had to get to work in the morning). The next morning Pat was fairly hungover (I wanted to get even with him for leaving, after all) and, with severly bloodshot eyes, hit the road for the drive back to Chicago.

The world of comics continued on, however and the new manager of Glenwood was one of our customers, Glenn Quasney (I think I spelled his name right). Glenn had been at loose ends around the time Pat was getting ready to go, we had recommended him for the job and things just worked out. Under Glenn, Glenwood was a little less zany, but still efficient and things continued on as before...but, what we didn't know, there were more storm clouds on the horizon.