FRANCO’S FREE-FOR-ALL FRIDAYS!
By FRANCO
One of my earliest memories was going with my father to a corner newsstand in the Bronx, where he would get his newspaper and occasionally buy me a comic book. I was a struggling reader and I learned to read because of comics. My love of art is because of comics. They have been with me my entire life.
At one point, before all of this, I even opened my own comic-book store. I was so excited and then crestfallen when it failed miserably. And people thought I was crazy when I voiced opinions about the possibility of opening another store.
I pursued a career in writing and artwork, and when I thought that wasn’t going to work, I pursued a career in education, where again, I brought my love of writing and artwork to students. I worked really hard at both of these and I was successful with both my career in education and in the comic-book fields. The one thing I was told throughout these years was that I couldn’t possibly do both. That I would have to give up one or the other. I thought about this but questioned, why?
One thing that really gets my ire going is telling me I can’t do something. It gets me riled up. Why? Who are you to tell me I can’t do this? Why? That is the question that was my general answer.
So I went back to the one thing that I had done and failed miserably at: What if I opened another comic book store? It took a few years and, I will admit, there was a confluence of events that steered things in the direction I wanted to go, but it happened.
Aw Yeah Comics in Harrison, N.Y. Dan goes here!
It was about 14 years ago, and in conversations with my friends and partners, Marc Hammond and Art Baltazar, we would open Aw Yeah Comics. Shortly after the launch of our first store in Skokie, Illinois, we would kick off a comic-book series with characters like Action Cat and Adventure Bug in the pages of Aw Yeah Comics. (Are you sensing a theme yet?) To shorten a story that took years to unfold, we opened Aw Yeah Comics in Harrison, New York, with even more partners (and now lifelong friends), and expanded into Muncie, Indiana, with Christy Blanch.
The next chapter started this week with the beginning of the Aw Yeah Comics Universe, marked by the release of Action Cat & Adventure Bug: Let’s Do This! from Papercutz.
It’s been a heck of a bunch of years, with no stopping now. I, along with a crew of friends, have a number of books and initiatives that will be coming out this year and I can safely say it will be my biggest publishing year to date. We have a load of exciting guests and events at all of our stores and I have this little column that Dan lets me play with here at 13th Dimension every Friday, to talk about everything and anything that crosses my mind.
And it all stems from the newsstand on that Bronx corner.
I love comics.
Aw. Yeah. Comics.
Happy Friday!
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Want more FRANCO’S FREE-FOR-ALL FRIDAYS? Come back next week!
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Franco and his forehead have traveled the world and he writes and draws stuff. Franco is the creator, artist and writer of Patrick the Wolf Boy and Aw Yeah Comics! Franco has worked on books/comics, including Tiny Titans and Superman Family Adventures. Franco was also a high-school teacher and is one of the principal owners of Aw Yeah Comics retail stores. Dan made Franco add that he has won three Eisners.
His latest, with Art Baltazar, is Action Cat & Adventure Bug: Let’s Do This! from Papercutz.
