Sequential // Comics News & Culture from Canada

Canadian Comix News & Culture

Thursday, March 01, 2007

Strange Adventures Celebrates 15 Years

:: Posted by Bryan @ 3/01/2007 03:47:00 PM

Halifax Comic Shop an Institution

by Bryan Munn

The Halifax comic book store Strange Adventures is celebrating its 15th year of continuous operation on Friday, March 2nd. Founded in 1992 by Calum Johnston, the business has since expanded to a second location and become the center of a thriving East Coast comix culture that includes cartoonists like Darwyn Cooke and Hope Larson.

In honour of this landmark anniversary, Sequential lobbed a few questions to owner Calum Johnston via email and began by asking about the store's beginnings.

Johnston started Strange Adventures with his own "large comic collection on March 2nd 1992 in a small second floor location in Fredericton, NB. It's moved a couple of time to larger spots, now located on [the] ground floor in beautiful downtown Fredericton. Opened second location in Halifax, NS on April 1st, 1995. Why? I love comics and sharing the joy of comics is a wonderful feeling. That I can make an okay living and employ some nice folks is an additional blessing."

Johnston describes his staff as follows:

"In the Fredericton shop, we have long-suffering mangler Derek who started out with me in 1992 filling in one or two days a week and in 1994 was asked if he could do 2 weeks of full-time while Calum went to Halifax for a contract design job. Thirteen years later, Derek's still filling in for Calum at the Fredericton shop while Calum opened the Halifax location. Derek is ably assisted by artist, musician and raconteur, Jason."

In Halifax, Dave (our resident Supersnipe cartoonist) is the manager and the staff is made up of Mike (voted Halifax's best salesperson two years in a row by a weekly newspaper reader's poll), Tiina [yes, (Mrs. Grant Morrison and the bassist in The Stolen Minks), Ben (gonzo cartoonist), Cassandra (the fairy pirate girl), Jaime (Vitamin J), Addison (our kids comics advisor and daughter of the boss) and Rachelle (Mrs. Batman and keyboards in The Stolen Minks)."

For Johnston, some of the best memories of the past 15 years center on the experience of his customers and their growth as comics readers. He has seen some of his customers "go from Spawn to Grendel to Mage to Morrison and Moore and Eisner, as well as going from elementary school, to high school, university, jobs, marriage, kids and now getting their kids hooked on comics!" In addition, the store has been a rich source of family memories, including the time when Johnston's wife Sandy came into the Halifax shop to tell him she was pregnant. In fact, Jonston can't think of any negative experiences relating to his business: "I always make lemonade out of lemons, so I don't have any really bad memories."

Over the years, Johnston's customers have been treated to the occasional sight of well-known visiting personalities, cartoonists, musicians, and actors. "We've been lucky enough to have several "celebrity" sightings in the shops over the years: Billy Bragg, Linda Hamilton, Corbin Bernsen, Snow, Tom Selleck, Rick Mercer, Cathy Jones, Dean Cain, Gilbert Gottfried, Sarah Dunsworth, Colin Mochrie. We've played host to numerous signings, including Seth, Chester Brown, Mark Oakley, Stuart Immonen, Bryan Lee O'Malley, Darwyn Cooke, Steve McNiven, David Finch, J. Bone, J. Torres, Steve Rolston, Scott McCloud and Mike Holmes."

In terms of store demographics, Strange Adventures attracts an interesting mix of customers: "all ages, and all genders, customers from 4 to 94 and roughly 60% male, 35% female, 5% other."

This crowd has equally wide-ranging shopping habits reflective of current trends in the comics marketplace. In reference to Milton Griepp's recent report about North American graphic novel sales, Johnston is leery of indulging in graphic novel triumphalism. "Remember that the ICv2 folks, like everyone, have their own agenda and read it with that in mind," he writes. Johnston further notes, "I hate the term graphic novel, they are comic books. Comics are published in various forms. Some are periodicals, such as the serialized adventures of Superman; and others are published in book form, such as Pride of Baghdad; and some are collected editions of the peiodicals, such as Batman: Year One. In sales terms, it's just about the same, periodicals are bigger one month, then the next it's books."

It is this open-minded policy that may be the secret to Johnston's success. And he is pragmatically optimistic about the future: "More comics in more outlets, hopefully good comics in good outlets so we don't get another artificial "boom" like the early 90s."

(Strange Adventures in Fredericton is celebrating the anniversary with a 2-day 25%-off sale this Friday and Saturday and the Halifax store is planning a big event for this summer.)

Strange Adventures
5262 Sackville St., Halifax NS
&
68 York St., Fredericton NB
www.strangeadventures.com