901 COMICS, EXCELSIOR!
Dynamic duo open friendly neighborhood shop
New store pops up in Cooper-Young, ready to save the day, one comic book at a time.
Right now, comic book popularity is bigger than it’s ever been. They highest-grossing movie franchise in the world is Marvel Cinematic Universe. Geek culture is on the rise with the conventions and all the TV shows. And it’s time for Midtown to be a part of it.” Shannon Merritt, Co-owner of 901 Comics
Shannon Merritt and Jaime Wright hope they’ll soon be laughing all the way to the bank.
The time is right for a comic book store in Midtown, said the owners of 901 Comics, the shop that opened Saturday at 2162 Young.
“Right now, comic book popularity is bigger than it’s ever been,” said Merritt, an officer with the Memphis Police Department. “The highestgrossing movie franchise in the world is Marvel Cinematic Universe. Geek culture is on the rise with the conventions and all the TV shows. And it’s time for Midtown to be a part of it.”
Veteran comic book artist Allan Bellman, who worked during the Golden Age of Timely/Marvel Comics in the 1940s and ’50s, was a special guest at the grand opening.
“Without the comic book stores fans would wither away,” said Bellman, who celebrated his 92nd birthday last weekend. “They like the old-time drawings as well as the new ones. And that keeps me alive.”
Merritt was hooked on comic books at age 6. “My grandmother bought me ‘Wonder Woman’ from Super D in Frayser,” he said. “I’ll never forget it. I liked it because the Lynda Carter (TV) series was on at the time.”
He didn’t start out as a collector. “I’m just always fascinated by the stories and the characters. I watched a lot of re-runs of ‘Batman,’ Adam West. And I used to watch re-runs of ‘Superman.’ I was fascinated by superheroes and such. As I got older and started reading more complex stories, it just became part of my life.”
He served in the Marine Corps for six years and was deployed to Iraq for about eight months in 2003. “The one thing I kept writing back to people was, ‘Please send me comics.’ And not a single person sent me comics the whole time. I’d get big boxes of candy and toiletries and magazines. But not a single comic the whole time I was over there.”
Now he owns 1,500 comic books. “I never collected until maybe the last 10 years. I would go to the flea markets or garage sales in search of that find. The one you get for 10 bucks that’s worth a thousand. A few times I found something. Not thousands, but hundreds.”
Merritt said he met Wright at the “local watering hole” — the P&H Cafe, where Wright was a barback and a cook. One night the conversation turned to comics. “I think his dad had just got some comic books in his shop. And he came up to me asking me what I thought about them.”
Wright started reading his older brother’s comic books at age 8, but he got away from it for several years until he saw “Blade,” a 1998 movie starring Wesley Snipes and Stephen Dorff, based on the Marvel Comics character. “The ‘Blade’ movie blew my mind,” Wright said. “I just loved the character. It’s still my favorite Marvel movie. Just the way they filmed it. It was rated R, but it was dark.”
He bought a collection of about 15,000 comic books for $400 from a friend of his dad Gary, who owns Gary’s Antiques. “It was just a mixture of everything, really: Marvel, DC, Image, Dark Horse. It was stuff from the ’40s all the way up to the ’90s.” He now owns 30,000. About three years ago, Wright began working for Stan Lee Collectibles. “Stan Lee created the Marvel Universe pretty much,” Wright said. “I was traveling to all the cities across the country. I eventually became a group manager. I was in charge of setting up the booth, helping out with Stan’s autograph sessions, selling his merchandise.”
Wright took Merritt to a Memphis Comic and Fantasy Convention. “He had a booth for the first time,” Merritt said. “I was like, ‘I want to help you out. I want to be selling comic books.’”
Merritt began talking up the idea of a comic book shop to Wright during late-night P&H visits. “I kept putting a bug in his ear to open a shop,” he said. “Because it’s a lifelong dream for me. It’s been in the back of my head forever.”
Wright liked the idea. “We worked well together,” he said. “Because he’s a story guy. He knows all the stories. Me, I’m the key issues — the first appearances, the values.”
They knew they wanted the shop to be in Midtown. “I wanted it to have the Midtown feel,” Merritt said. “Like Magazine Street in New Orleans has its feel, Midtown has its own feel. And I wanted the shop to reflect Midtown.”
They didn’t want an uptight comic book shop, where “you walk in and you feel like it’s a library and everybody’s quiet,” Merritt said. “Everything is kind of disorganized and thrown around. People get intimidated walking in comic book shops. I’ve heard it all the time: ‘I went in there, but I felt really uncomfortable because they didn’t really direct me. They were just kind of looking at me. There was no conversation.’
“I’m a talker. I like to talk. I want people to come in and buy comics and sit and talk to me about them. That’s why we have these seats here. I want people to sit here after they buy their comics, hang out and read. We’re going to have a TV here. And we’re going to play comic book movies all the time.”
People will be able to buy, sell and trade comic books, and the store will feature old and new titles. “And they won’t be in plastic. You can pick them up,” Merritt said.
Comic book art also will be a part of 901 Comics. “I’m working real hard to get the art community involved because there’s actually a lot of comic book art out there and artists,” Merritt said. “Not necessarily the published artists, but the local artist that does comic book-related work. Every three months we’re going to do art shows.”
Adam Shaw, 43, the first featured artist, will show his work in July. He will display covers he did for pulp-fiction novels as well as his paintings of the comic book characters Daredevil and Swamp Thing.
The shop will open with about 40,000 comic books. They plan to eventually carry 180 new titles. And they’ll be buying more collections.
“I can’t imagine comic books not being in my life,” Merritt said. “My apartment looks like a comic book. Even my bedroom — I’m 44 years old — and I have a Spider-Man bedroom. I actually have a quilt that has Spider-Man on it. And I had Spider-Man sheets for a while.”