On Jan. 27, the Facebook page for The Comic Shop in Oswego posted that they would be closing the business. It wrote “However, after serving our community for over 27 years, I’m now making the decision to retire and close my business.”
The owner of the store, Arlene Spizman, has been in business since the early 90s and has expanded her store to welcome the Oswego community, often reaching out to various events and interacting with the student base. The store became a centerpiece of the community as a result. This led many old shoppers to revisit searching for rare finds and sales as the store looks to get rid of its stock.
Spizman attributed her closing to her newfound grandchildren on the West Coast, whom she would like to spend more time with.
“I need to be able to spend time with these little ones so I can teach them about how responsible Wonder Woman is, how cooperative Superman is and what a good citizen Batman is. Yes, there are younger readers on these topics!,” Spizman said in her post on Facebook.
She ended the post by saying, “I have thoroughly enjoyed meeting you all, getting to know you, sharing thoughts, opinions and family stories through the years. I appreciate your loyalty to shopping locally and supporting The Comic Shop in every way that you have.”
The store began as an antique store, however, as Spizman began to amass antique comics, the stores reputation grew. Eventually hitting a turning point with the release of “The Death of Superman” in the December of 1992, which had drawn the interest even further.
“There was a lot of hyped interest in comics, and I just decided to take the plunge and switch over gears … and The Comic Shop was invented,” Spizman said.
Despite being in the industry for as long as she has, Spizman has not seen a major change in the comic book industry.
“People might not be collecting single issues as much as they used to but trade paperbacks are very, very popular,” she said. Trade paperbacks are a series of comic books, bound together in order to better preserve the collection.
The store had drawn many casual customers, one of which, Frank Reagan, who came in shopping for an Amazing Spiderman Comic, had been with the company since the start. Starting as their first ever employee, Reagan graded the condition of books to judge their value and physical condition.
Joshua Plencner, a political science professor who uses comics to examine race, gender and other social issues was also a frequent-flyer of the shop, often making weekly trips to the shop while also sending students there.
Plencner has used The Comic Shop in the past as a part of his curriculum, and would commonly send students there to study the ethnography, which is the scientific description of traditions within a culture, in this case, actual comic shops.
“After I interviewed, one of the first things I did was make sure it was a place I felt comfortable sending students to,” Plencner said. “[Especially] if I had assignments based on how the economy of comics work.”
Plencner was also confident about the stores impact on the community and Spizman’s history working there.
“She seemed dedicated to fostering the shop for a long time, which was not only really helpful for the community, but also the school,” Plencner said. “Comic shops still have this really strong unique presence in the cultural space of the comics fandom,” Plencner said.
Currently the store is liquidating all of its comics and selling them at a reduced price in order to clean out inventory before the spring, while new comics will still appear on their shelves while orders come in. At the time of writing, Spizman is considering selling the store to someone who would likely keep it running after her retirement. As it stands, the store is set to stop receiving comics on March 25.
Photo by Stephen Novak | The Oswegonian
