Showing posts with label Big Planet Comics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Big Planet Comics. Show all posts

Saturday, January 06, 2024

Stuart McIntire of Maryland Funnybook Fandom has passed away

Stuart McIntire, owner of the Facebook group, "Maryland Funnybook Fandom" has passed away. Stu was a font of knowledge about area cartoonists, and his passing will be a big loss to the community. His wife Amy has posted a note on his personal FB page that he died in hospice of stomach cancer.

I didn't know Stu well enough to write anything more personal, or even professional, but I hope to get someone who did write a formal obituary for ComicsDC. Stu wrote a few articles and comments for us here at ComicsDC.
 
With permission of his family, here's the note from his Facebook page:
 
We are heartbroken to share the news that Stuart McIntire died of stomach cancer on January 6, though we are grateful that he was comfortable at home and surrounded by most of his favorite people. He was only 65 years old.
 
Stu and his beloved wife Amy were inseparable since their first date over 45 years ago. He was the biggest fan of his three children and their partners: Katie & Vann Crucillo, Sarah & Joe Garifo, and Kevin McIntire. He got immense joy from being Papa to his five grandchildren: Molly, Steven, Asher, Logan, and Phoebe.
 
Stu loved sharing his love of Halloween, his comics collection, Universal classic monsters, the AFI Top 100, 20th-century American politics and ephemera, and making (and of course, eating) damn good barbecue. He was a gentle man: sentimental, nostalgic, playful, intelligent, creative, curious, kind, and brave.
 
Stu wants all of his family and friends to know that he loves you very much and you all touched his life in meaningful ways. He really enjoyed keeping up with all of you over the years.
 
The details of his memorial service are forthcoming. In the meantime, please give your dad a big hug and consider making a donation in Stuart’s honor to No Stomach for Cancer (nostomachforcancer.org) or the National MS Society (nationalmssociety.org).
 

Tuesday, January 03, 2023

Big Planet Comics Bethesda store changes owners, continues on course set in 1986 [updated w/ quotes]

Joel and the logo he designed

by Mike Rhode

[updated at 9:47 with 2 quotes from Joel]

First, here's the minimalist press release they sent out tonight...

For immediate release:

January 3, 2023

The end of an era.... A passing of the torch....

Big Planet Comics founder Joel Pollack has retired after more than 36 years at the helm of the Bethesda landmark.

The shop will continue on in the more-than-capable hands of Nick Liappis, manager of the Big Planet U St shop for the past decade, and member of the Big Planet family going all the way back to the old days of the Vienna store.


After operating curbside only since 2020, the shop will now be open for in-store shopping,

Tuesday-Friday 11-7
Saturday 11-6
Closed Sunday and Monday.

7939 Norfolk Ave,     Suite 200
Bethesda, MD 20814
301-654-6856

 

 

 

 

Now, my comments...

Joel opened the store in July of 1986, just as some great adult comics such as The Dark Knight Returns and Watchmen were hitting. There were competing stores around, including Geppi's, Barbarian and Another Universe, but he's outlasted all of them via wise stewardship. The initial store has remained in Bethesda's Woodmont Triangle for all the intervening years. It opened on the 2nd floor of a building on Cordell Ave, moved to a ground floor space on Fairmont Ave, and then back to another building on Cordell but on the ground floor. COVID-19 hit the business hard and it moved to the second floor of the building above the California Tortilla (which also was founded in Bethesda). The store survived by being pickup only in the current space, a situation that is now changing as Nick builds out the space for customers. I've seen it and it has the usual great BP selection. When I sent this blog post to him, Joel provided detailed information on the store's moves, stating "We started in 1986 on the second-floor of 4865 Cordell Ave. In 1991, we moved to 4908 Fairmont Ave. When the wrecking ball came for the Fairmont store in 2012, we high-tailed it to 4849 Cordell where we spent eight glorious years until Covid struck. We were forced to seek radically lower rent which we did by moving to a second-floor location at 7939 Norfolk. So I started on a second-floor and finished on a second floor. Funny, the same family owns both of those buildings."

Matt Wagner and Greg Bennett at SPX

Co-owner Greg Bennett, who began working at the store when it opened, and he was 16, has also sold his stake. He tells me he's considering moving to Europe to work in the field there. Greg had previously owned and operated a branch in Georgetown which metamorphosed into the U St store, now owned by Mars Imports founder (a great 1980s project to import European comic books) Jared Smith. Smith also owns the 3rd store in the chain in Vienna. The 4th store was bought into the chain by another employee, Peter Casazza and co-owned with Jared, until it was recently sold earlier this year to 3rd Eye Comics. As you can see, the chain has grown by bringing employees into ownership positions - something that has always impressed me. Dan Nadel escaped though to become an art historian of comics. Joel and Greg were big supporters of the Small Press Expo (SPX) since its very earliest days as well. The local comics scene owes Big Planet an immeasurable debt and wouldn't have been the same without them.

The Fairmont Ave store awaiting demolition

Joel has been part of my life ever since that July he opened, when I was brought up there by a girlfriend who had heard about it. We've become friends and hit the road to tour exhibits together. For many, many years I would take my Wednesday lunch time at his store, while my coworkers ate in the local restaurants. I've met some great cartoonists there too. For years, Joel & Greg saved me the ephemeral advertising that comic book companies put out, and lots of it is in the Library of Congress and Michigan State University among other collections; some went in the mail to MSU today in fact. They also regularly set me up with Halloween comics and Free Comic Book day floppies that I could hand out for Halloween, as well as donate sets to those comics collections.

 As the years went by and my work situation changed, I couldn't head up every week, and I was becoming disenchanted with big two companies anyway. The guys would set aside material they thought I'd be interested in for me, and I usually was. Whenever I'd go in, I'd find more to buy as well -- including last Thursday. I've still got my pull box of the original #45 though and I'll be visiting monthly to give Nick my money. 

As for Joel? "My love of the comics medium was a driving force in Big Planet's creation, but it was the wonderful people I got to meet through my business that sustained me all of these years."

Leigh Tyberg and Morgan Epstein in 2015 at the 2nd Cordell location

Joel and I plan to sit down soon for an oral history, and I've mentioned wanting to do one with Greg as well. There will be "more to come" to steal a line from some other real comics journalists...
 
Richard Thompson and Joel, who introduced me to him and changed my life.

 
A new graphic logo for the 21st century

 
The pickup table during the start of the Covid downturn


The Georgetown location run by Greg.
The current U St NW store and Belgian comics museum curator Willem Degraeve.

Greg, Nick Bertozzi, Joel, and Jason Little on Fairmont.

Nick Bertozzi brought Picasso with him to Fairmont Ave., but this is a picture of me.


Baltimore Comic Con's Randy Tischler talks to Gene Yang on Fairmont Ave.


Jared and Peter set up at Baltimore Comic Con.


The FCBD rack at the Vienna store was typical of the whole chain.

A post SPX party night at the Fairmont Ave location.


Greg at the counter of the 2nd Cordell Ave store.

Jared likes to publish comics too. Cartoonist is Chris Artiga-Oliver

Halloween comics to hand out in 2016.

The Vienna store.

David Lasky dedicace from his signing in 2014.  

 Here's 184 photographs tagged with "Big Planet" on my Flickr account. I'm sure there's many others waiting to be labelled.

Wednesday, May 25, 2022

Ray Rose of Barbarian Comics (formerly Books) has died (UPDATED)

 
We are saddened to receive the news that Ray passed away yesterday. Numerous folks have known Ray throughout the many years he was at the shop. He was always kind, helpful, and in good spirit to everyone he met. He will be missed greatly.
Some additional information here:
 
Joel Pollack of Big Planet Comics Bethesda told me about this, noting, "Ray was Carl's very capable assistant. His knowledge of older comics was nearly equal to Carl's, and his knowledge of newer comics far surpassed Carl's. He was always fun to converse with."

------------

Raymond A. Rose

UPCOMING SERVICE
Shiva
May, 26 2022
7:00p.m.
at the home of Sharon Cohen
Send Flowers
ROSE

RAYMOND A. ROSE

Raymond Rose, formerly of Silver Spring, residing in Columbia passed away on May 23, 2022. He is survived by his sister Sharon, brother in-law Jeff; his beloved niece, Mallery, nephews, Corey and Kyle; Great nieces, Arianna and Lyric, and great nephews Isaiah, Jude and Blaze. Also very loyal cousins and friends. Enjoyed his comic books and hero movies as well as his varied feline pets through the years. Grave side service will be held at King David Memorial, VA on Wednesday, May 25 at 3 p.m. Shiva will follow at the home of Sharon Cohen at 7 p.m. on May 25 and May 26, 2022. Donations please send to Childrens Hospital Washington, DC or your favorite animal rescue.


Wednesday, August 25, 2021

Free Comic Book Day comics arriving in 2 research libraries


With help and gratitude from Big Planet Comics (Bethesda), Fantom Comics, and Victory Comics, I was able to put together 2 almost complete sets for the Library of Congress and Michigan State University (as well as for myself, natch, because I am a true collector). I delivered the LoC's set yesterday, and am almost ready to mail the other set to MSU.  Both sets are light on five comics - in case there's any other donors out there. And I do have extras if there are any other research libraries looking for issues.

Missing are:

10 TON PRESS
FCBD 2021 10 TON OF FUN SAMPLER
AUG 14, 2021

MAD CAVE STUDIOS
FCBD 2021 BOUNTIFUL GARDEN #1
AUG 14, 2021

NEW ENGLAND COMICS
FCBD 2021 THE TICK
AUG 14, 2021


DEVILS DUE
FCBD 2021 TRAILER PARK BOYS
AUG 14, 2021
 
 
SCOUT COMICS
FCBD 2021 WHITE ASH SEASON 2 #0
AUG 14, 2021
 
 

Saturday, January 23, 2021

Maryland cartoonist Steve Hauk (1954-2021) R.I.P. (UPDATED)

from Facebook
by Mike Rhode

Maryland cartoonist Steve Hauk (pronounced Hawk) passed away sometime this week in Silver Spring. The discovery of his death was on the morning of Friday, January 22nd, but he had not been seen in public since Tuesday, January 19th. He apparently was out of his room some time on Wednesday, so most likely passed away on the 20th or 21st.  His death is considered to be of natural causes, and won't be further investigated. Hauk identified himself on his Facebook page as a type-2 diabetic who needed to self-inject insulin on a daily basis. Hauk was born on August 4, 1954 according to the Grand Comics Database. For a short time in the early 1990s, he broke into drawing for mainstream comic books, but was unable to make a career of it. On his Linkedin page, Hauk wrote of himself, "Successful retail manager for such companies as Rosetta Stone, Brookstone and The Sharper Image. My life experiences have been varied including being an FM Disc jockey, gag writer for comedians, editorial and comic book cartoonist."

Joel Pollack, founder of the local Big Planet Comics chain said, "I believe Steve first moved to the DC area (from Cumberland, MD) in 1973 to attend University of Maryland. I met him through the UMD Comic Art Society where he also met his best friend, Gary Sommer. Gary and Steve hosted a radio show on WMUC for several years. Steve worked at Big Planet Comics circa 1990-1992, and was there when we moved from Cordell Ave. to Fairmont Ave. At that time, Steve relocated from Adams-Morgan to Triangle Towers where he resided for 20+ years. I know he drew Fish Shticks for Steve Moncuse, and "Emperor of Da Universe" for Comic Buyers Guide. He was living in a group house in Silver Spring at the time of his passing." Debbie Kozak said, "He was a beloved housemate of our group house in Silver Spring since May of 2015. Steve was a good friend. He always made me laugh. I miss him terribly."


Hauk and his painting of Lobo (after Bisley) for Big Planet Comics store on Fairmont Ave.

Fish Shticks #3

Gary Sommer recalled his time with his friend today for this obituary. The two met at UMD in the early 1970s as part of the Comic Arts Society and both worked on MetroCon. Gary Groth of Fantagraphics was a also member as was Joel Pollack. Steve was trying to break into comics at the time and did minicomics. Sommers and Hauk did eight years of college radio together on their show Sub-Ether Waveband, where they played a mix of up-tempo new wave, electronica, comedy and some original comedy. Steve did a segment called "Cooking with the Emp" with the self-proclaimed Emperor of the Universe, Andy Looney (who now does game designs for his company Looney Labs). This led to a series of minicomics about the Emperor's adventures. His minicomics were done in small runs and given away to his friends. 

As noted, from 1992-1993, he drew Fish Shticks (Apple Comics) for Steve Moncuse's Fish Police series. Eighteen pages of his original art for issue 3 can be seen online. Sommer says Hauk also inked an issue of Barbie for Marvel. Hauk's GCD credits also list a story in Vamperotica #10. The last of his comic book work appears to have been in the late 1990s in John Gallagher's Buzzboy comic.

Sommer notes that Steve kept drawing up to the very end, and his most recent minicomic was What We Do in the Pandemic, a parody of the tv show What We Do in the Shadows. He also drew his own Christmas cards, including a coronavirus-themed one for this past year's card as well - they were always funny or topical cartoons.

from Linkedin

 I personally knew Steve when he clerked for the Bethesda branch of Big Planet Comics. I can't believe that was 30 years ago. I enjoyed seeing Steve on a weekly basis back then and hearing his sardonic comments on life. It's a shame that he wasn't able to continue creating comic books, but it's always been a hard field to make a living in. Steve remained a Big Planet Comics Bethesda customer until his death.

  This obituary will be updated in italics as more information or images are sent to me.


2019 Christmas card

2020 Christmas card cover and interior


Steve with our youngest cat, Violet, from June of 2019

Steve wearing a Svengoolie T-shirt, August 2015.

From Gary Sommer, January 31st - "I ran across 3 pieces from the 1980s..."

 

After Max Headroom

Budgie Hunter

Dash Headon

 

2/13/21 UPDATE

Courtesy of Randy Scott, librarian of Michigan State University's Comic Art Collection, Steve wrote a mini-biography for:

Entry (p. 90) in Comic-Book 
Superstars, by Don & Maggie 
Thompson (Iola, Wis. : Krause
Publications, 1993). -- 
Call no.: PN6707.C65 1993

Steve Hauk. 4853 Cordell Avenue, Unit 1501, Bethesda, Maryland 20814.
Born: August 4, 1954, in Washington, D.C.
College or other education: Self-taught.
Biggest creative influences: Will Eisner, Vaughn Bode, Mike Ploog, Mike Hinge, George Carlin, Monty Python, Douglas Adams, Rocky and Bullwinkle, and Robert Sheckley.

1993 projects: Developing a title for Parody Press, full art and story. Emperor of Da Universe back-up story in Team Danger #0 from Obsidian Publishing, inks on Marvel Comics' Barbie Fashion #29.

Past comics tides and related projects:
Since issue #677 in November 1986 contributed editorial and other cartoons to Comics Buyer's Guide. Multiple logos for the Arrow/Caliber book Deadworld. Two contributions to the Apple Press book 101 Other Uses for a Condom (mine were "Frog Partyhat" and "Emergency Airsickness Bag"). A Fish Police mini-series from Apple Press, Fish Shticks, six issues, all interior art, pencils, inks, and tones. Recently my inks over Dan Parent's cool pencils on Barbie Fashion #29 for Marvel (and on my first work for Marvel, my first work to see color, Michelle Wrightson does the coloring. Wow.). I've written gags for Don Martin and Larry "Bud" Melman.

Favorite comics not worked on: Any Ambush Bug comic, 2000 AD, Epic Comics' The Sleeze Bros. and Lance Barnes, Post Nuke Dick, and Ostrander's Grimjack.

Dream comic-book project: Realistically, to ink a Keith Giffen pencilled Ambush Bug special (or any Giffen pencils; I especially like his silly side). Total fantasy, to have worked with Vaughn Bode.

And his friend and housemate Debbie wrote in to note, "We have converted Steve's room into a den and have affixed this memorial plaque to the doorframe so that anyone entering the den will see that our den is dedicated to Steve's memory."

 


 

Friday, March 20, 2020

Big Planet Bethesda & College Park still open (UPDATED)

I just stopped by and picked up my comics in Bethesda, very quickly.

College Park is open as well.

The Vienna and DC stores are closed but doing mail order.

Here's the information from their website.

Important Update

Some Big Planet Comics locations will be closed for the foreseeable future. We are still sorting it out, but for the time being keep an eye on our Facebook and Twitter accounts for more information. Sorry for the inconvenience, but your safety and ours is more important right now. Everyone take care of yourselves and be safe.

Bethesda store
Sunday 12-5
Closed Mondays
Closed Tuesdays
Wednesday 11-7
Thursday 11-5
Friday 11-5
Saturday 11-5
Curbside pickup available
Mail order available (free shipping!)
To set up mail order delivery or arrange a curbside order pickup:
Call 301-654-6856
Or email bethesda@bigplanetcomics.com

College Park store
Sunday noon-5pm
Monday noon-5pm
Tuesday noon-6pm
Wednesday 11-7pm
Thursday noon-6pm
Friday noon-6pm
Saturday noon-6pm
Curbside pickup available
Mail order available (free shipping!)
To set up mail order delivery or arrange a curbside order pickup:
Call 301-699-0498
Or email collegepark@bigplanetcomics.com

U Street store
Closed for the foreseeable future
Mail order available (free shipping!)
To set up mail order delivery:
Call 202-342-1961 on Tuesdays (11am-3pm) or Wednesdays (11am-3pm)
Or email dc@bigplanetcomics.com

Vienna store
Closed for the foreseeable future
Mail order available (free shipping!)
To set up mail order delivery:
Call 703-242-9412 on Tuesdays (11am-3pm) or Wednesdays (11am-3pm)
Or email vienna@bigplanetcomics.com