On April 6, I got off work early and had some time to kill before I had to meet Angel and Aaliyah back home. I decided to head over to Westover to check out the newest edition to Morgantown’s comic shop selection, Comics Paradise Plus 2. Matt and I had tried to go on a Monday last fall but they were closed. As I previously mentioned, I’m a Gary’s kid all the way, but I’m willing to see what other shops have to offer. It’s located at 183 Holland Ave, just up (or is that down?) the street from the Circle K.

I walked in and it immediately felt like a comic book shop. One of the things I don’t like about Four Horsemen (besides the fact that it’s a gaming shop posing as a comic shop) is the fact that it never felt like a comic book shop. As someone who spent way too much of his 20s working in a mall, I know when I’m in a mall space, a store, or a comic shop. I have never been to their first location in Fairmont, but this place definitely was off to a nice start. It actually reminded me of Phantom Of The Attic, a shop in Pittsburgh that Matt and I discovered when we went to The Blueprint 3 tour in 2010.

When you first walk in, you’re greeted by a ton of toys. Not regular ol’ toys for the uninitiated; action figures, statues, busts, etc. If I was more of a collector of those items, I could have spent 30 minutes in there. Instead, I ventured forward past long shelves containing trade paperbacks (more on that later) and into the main section of the shop. I was greeted by the cashier and I proceeded to turn right towards the new comic book section.

They have a ton of books. While I wasn’t able to figure out the exact sequencing of everything (I believe it was alphabetic order but it was also new comic book day Wednesday, so I didn’t get too upset by it), I loved that there was so many options to look through. Considering my only two pulls (pulls=books you can have a comic book shop hold for you until you come in to buy them. Both Comics Paradise Plus 2 and Gary’s offers this service for free) at Gary’s right now are the new Archie series and Spider-Gwen, I have no idea what’s really going on with Marvel or DC. So I spent some time checking out the new Iron Man series, the new Miles Morales Spider-Man series (I actually purchased this. You can’t spend all that time in a shop and not buy something), and The Dark Knight III: The Master Race.

Not wanting to spend all my time with the floppies (floppies=what we call a single comic book), I headed to the other side of the shop to check out the trades, and just like with the new books, they have a lot of trades as well. These are organized alphabetically, and I flipped through a few of them before I got to The Walking Dead Compendium Three. I own One but I hadn’t come off of the $120(!) to get Two or Three. I decided it was time to finally read issue #100 and no spoilers but… yeah.

They also have a second floor and according to what I saw online, you can do some gaming up there if you’re into that kind of thing. I did ask if there was more books up there while I was checking things out, just in case. Once I got done looking at the compendium, I grabbed that issue of Spider-Man and headed to the register. I was greeted with none other than those Green Lantern rings that DC put out during their Blackest Night event some years ago. They were only a few cents so I picked one up since I’ve lost my collection somewhere in my three recent moves. The cashier was cool enough to throw it in for free for me. Or maybe he only charged me half of the already small price. I don’t remember, it was April! Anyway, I thought the customer service was top notch. As someone who spent way too long in retail, I don’t like for someone to harass me the whole time in the store; on the other hand, I don’t want to be ignored. Even though there was only one gentleman manning the shop, I thought there was a nice balance.

I highly recommend Comics Paradise Plus 2, even if you already have a comic shop that you call your own. You might be able to track down a book you were looking for that you couldn’t find elsewhere. In fact, they only keep 2 months worth of books on the shelves, so they have a massive library of new back issues. So if you are missing a book, it might be easier to come ask for it here.

Unless you’re me, but only because I got a guy (or gal) for everything. Stinson out.

Pro tip: Support your local comic book shops. And I liked Batman v. Superman: Dawn Of Justice. There. I said it.

Living in Capon Bridge, the closest comic book store was Four Color Fantasies in Winchester, VA. As often as my parents took me to get comics from there, most of my early collection came from the newsstand (yes kids, when I was a boy you could get comic books everywhere. The grocery store, the convenience store, drug stores, etc. It’s a shame they’re not readily available anymore). So when I moved to Morgantown in 2003, it wasn’t long before I ventured out of my College Avenue apartment and went exploring on High Street.

It was a Saturday in August and there were kids all over the place with their parents (it might have been Kid’s Day, but considering I had only lived in Morgantown for a few weeks, I didn’t know this). I thought I had spied my potential destination from the passenger seat of Angel’s Rav4 a few days before, so I tried my best to remember its location since I was walking from the opposite direction. I struck pay dirt when I found it: Gateway Comics on Fayette Street. I had my very own comic book store a few minutes from my apartment!

This isn’t a column about Gateway however; they had a good selection and I went there for many months. I once wrote them a check that bounced for a couple dollars because I had to have Batman #619 (it resolved the original Hush storyline and spoiler alert, it was a disappointment), so that one issue cost me almost 30 dollars because of the returned check fee they charged. My relationship with them ended the day I went there to browse around and I picked up maybe 10 or so different comics. I then realized it would be extremely irresponsible of me to buy these comics as I wouldn’t have enough to cover my bills at the time. Dejected and depressed, I put the books back and walked out.

I hadn’t even reached the car when the cashier rushed out and called me by my name (something he had never done before) and asked if I had put the books I was holding back before I left the shop. Now angry at the suggestion that I had walked out with unpaid merchandise after being a faithful customer for several months, I held back tears as I answered with a loud, “Yes!” and got into the car to leave.

A few months prior, in November of 2003, I was home alone. My roommate Steve had already left town for Thanksgiving break and I was waiting on Angel to pick me up so we could both go see our respective families for the holiday. Morgantown was icy from a previous snow storm but I was bored with playing NCAA Football 2004 (I’m a beast, come see me) and decided I needed to get out to breathe some fresh air.

A lot of the normal restaurants and shops were closed, which is the norm when the students are away on break, so I didn’t have much to choose from in order to escape the cold for a few minutes. I had almost reached Walnut Street when I noticed an open shop to my left. It was pretty barren, but I immediately recognized it was a new comic book store and headed inside.

All of the new issue racks were still where they are today, on the far right wall, but there were not new issue racks on the other side of the aisle yet. In fact, the only other thing I recall being in Gary’s was 1 or 2 back issue bins. I spent some time looking at the new issues but didn’t pick any up as I was current on the books I was buying at the time from Gateway. I then headed over to the back issue bin and rifled through some old comics. I spent a good 30 minutes or so inside, and while the owner Gary Loring (an all-around good dude who would give you the shirt off his back) did check to see if I needed help, he seemed largely unbothered that I stayed and read for so long even without a purchase. He told me he had plans on expanding the shop and asked me to keep checking in; I promised him that I would.

After the Gateway debacle, I never purchased anything from there again and I began visiting Gary’s for all my comic needs. Just as he said, the shop grew in the next few months to include an expanded new issue section. Several more back issue bins joined the earlier ones I went through my first visit. And soon another aisle filled with graphic novels and trade paperbacks took up the left side of the store. In addition to that, Gary’s has your standard long and short boxes, backing boards and bags. They have some action figures and t-shirts on the opposite side of the back issue bins. There is now a younger reader section at the front of shop, right where the kids can start looking as soon as they get in the door. And if that’s not enough, there’s a DVD section and the shelves above the books are lined with statues that are for sale. The little comic store that gave me something to do on a cold November evening has become the biggest comic book store in Morgantown. Gateway closed its doors a year or so after I walked out for the last time.

Despite my not buying books weekly anymore, I still have 1 to 2 titles being pulled regularly for me. I think the reason for that is out of loyalty to Gary and the shop. There have been several times when I’ve found myself in Gary’s for no other reason than needing a place to go; a place to escape the current stresses of the day, even for 30 minutes. One of his former employees, Matt Godwin, shares a birthday with me. For years, I would lose track of time just talking comics with Matt or Gary or any other random person in the store. There have never been arguments or fist fights; just some loud voices occasionally. I always preferred talking about comics in the store versus on the internet because we all know how brave people can get from behind a keyboard and I didn’t feel like insulting someone in Nebraska because they didn’t like the Clone Saga.

I haven’t had too many column worthy adventures since my last one. There have also been a lot of personnel changes at work so by the time I get home, I really don’t want to do anything, let alone write. E told me when he suggested I start this column that as an official “townie”, I could use this space to talk about things I do in Morgantown as well as things I love in our great city. Gary’s was one of his immediate suggestions since he knew I frequented there and I was even able to get some footage in the shop for a music video in 2011. For anyone who has a slight interest in comic books, no matter how you were introduced to them, Gary’s Comics And More is a place you have to take some time to go to… no matter what.

And that’s all thanks to Gary himself. No matter where I see Gary, we always take the time to wave and/or chat if we have a few minutes. He still loves comics and it shows in the care he’s taken to grow the store over the past 12(!) years. He’ll still go out of his way to order you whatever you want, no matter how obscure or if he knows it will sit in the store unsold if you decide not to buy it. He also still sits and crafts the weekly store newsletter which has now started arriving on Thursdays instead of Fridays like they used to do. He not only lists all the books arriving at the store on Wednesday but also any problems with the current or previous shipment, books that have had their shipment date changed, as well as key books that he recommends.

And he announces the store news, and he takes the time out to mention any of his reservists birthdays and there’s a koala… but that’s a whole different set of circumstances.

I’d like to finish this column with a heartfelt thank you to Gary for his hard work in the store and for his continued dedication to downtown Morgantown, reservists like myself, and most importantly, the new comic book reader, no matter how old or young they may be. In a market where the Big Two feel a need to constantly reinvent their tried and true heroes in order to boost sales, Gary has made sure the shop has stood throughout it all, 6 days a week, 11 am to 7 pm. Thanks for taking in a 20 year old kid with nothing to do on a cold November weeknight. And thank you for taking in a 33 year old kid who now has his own kid and has to be reminded to come get his books every now and again. The 9 year old kid who was trying to piece together Spider-Man storylines through his purchases at Food Lion couldn’t be happier.

On January 22nd, I celebrated my 12th birthday in Morgantown. On January 30th, E took me out on the town.

In the past, I used to have something called a Birthday Bash at Buck’s Corner Pub every year. It was really just a ruse so I’d have an excuse to headline my own show; all the drinks and time with friends was an added bonus. The Birthday Bash ran from 2009 to 2012, when I was so intoxicated that I passed out on Willey Street and almost ended up in jail and/or the hospital. I took it easy the next few years, choosing to remain home, but last year I ventured to the Apothecary for the first time.

I don’t remember anything after the Apothecary.

So while I was anxious to do something for my birthday, I didn’t want to go all out like in years past. As I mentioned last week, there was a bit of snow that put the brakes on doing anything remotely fun the weekend of my birthday. E suggested that we get together the following weekend and after some morning errands with the family, I was dropped off at his doorstep.

After he finished his studio session with his band Quie (please check them out. Now. This column will be here when you get back), we headed downtown to JW Thirsty’s, a restaurant he claimed had the best wings in Morgantown. I had my doubts as I’ve always been loyal to local favorites like The Sports Page and Kegler’s, but I wasn’t going to turn down a chance to see for myself.

We sat at the bar and soon E had these delicious Jolly Rancher-flavored-magical-unicorn mixed drinks being put in front of us with alarming regularity. He ordered wings with bucket sauce and parmesan garlic, as well as an order of brew fries. I say this with full confidence that these may have been the most perfect wings I’ve ever had in my life. While I enjoyed their 341 Burger a few months back through OrderUp… if you like wings, go to JW Thirsty’s in person and get you some wings. I could go on but there’s more to this outing than the eating and drinking.

When the dessert menu didn’t measure up to our liking, we ventured to Walnut Street with full intentions of going to the Blue Moose for caffeine and the aforementioned desserts. I was rambling on about something when E made a beeline for the new location of Vintage Videos and Games. I had shopped at the old High Street store since I moved to Morgantown but this would be my first visit to the new digs.

So while Vintage did have the advertised videos and games on display, they had something neither of us expected: vinyl. We settled into crate digging and immediately started finding winners. While I didn’t buy anything, E was able to find several records that he wanted to use for sampling purposes. Vintage even had a record player set up so you could listen to the records and that helped E buy a record or two he normally would’ve left alone. When we were done, we talked with two employees about possibly setting up a future video shoot for I Love Morgantown WV. It’s always cool to find new things in a place you’ve been in a million times.

We ended the evening at the Blue Moose as we planned. We both had our caffeine, E had cake, and I had a chocolate chip muffin. The sun had set by now and since the day had gone so well, it felt natural for us to keep the fun going until the wee hours of the morning. Instead, E paid the bill and we made our way back to the Chestnut Street garage where we had parked several hours earlier. I had to get home to bathe my daughter and put her to bed; E wanted to make an attempt to watch the Cavs game before he fell asleep for the night.

While it didn’t have the grandeur of blacking out from too much alcohol, I can definitely say it was one of the best birthday celebrations I ever had.

Pro Tip: Listen to Quie and go get those wings as soon as humanly possible.

I’m not a fan of snow. I don’t think I ever have been since around 8^th grade. It was my first year playing organized basketball in Hampshire County and snow canceled one of my basketball games (it wasn’t the last). Since then, snow and I have had a very hate/hate relationship.

I’ve heard some people say, “This is the most snow we’ve had since 2010.” No. Stop it. While what I affectionately dubbed “The Snotorious B.I.G.” of 2010 was a fair amount of snow, I don’t remember being snowed in like we were with Jonas. I vaguely remember there being a lot of snow in 2003 and I was in Keyser for that one. Still not even close to the 30+ inches we got in some parts of town.

The last time I remember there being this much snow was in 1995. That was a real blizzard. I was only 12 at the time, so I remember helping my dad dig us out and tunneling my way around our driveway. When I get to play in it (which is rare anymore), I love the snow like anyone else. But I despise not being able to go anywhere or having my plans ruined. And having a January birthday normally leads to my plans being ruined thanks to snow and inclement weather.

The snow started falling in Morgantown around 1 and picked up to a consistent pace from there until late afternoon on Saturday. Upper management made the call for my job and we were all on the road home by 2 PM but the conditions were already getting terrible. Schools were closed and some businesses chose to either not open or close shortly after they had opened their doors for business.

Thankfully, Morgantown was a ghost town so I didn’t have to sit in traffic like I did a few days earlier, when snowfall slowed Morgantown traffic to a crawl for the second time in as many weeks. I got to my house and pulled in and there was already at least an inch of snow covering the ground. Once inside, me and my family settled in for the long haul.

I made the mistake of not trying to keep up with shoveling the snow as it fell though. “Oh, I’ll go out once it’s all over and start digging us out.” That was before the forecast changed and more snow came down on top of the Friday’s snow. It was shortly after 1 PM Saturday when I heard a loud whooshing followed by a thud.

I scrambled to my front door and confirmed my fears: A large amount of snow that had been sitting on our roof slid off and right onto our front porch. So we were now double buried in the accumulation we had received. I can’t even begin to explain the joy that brought to me.

Late Saturday, I was able to clear the porch and the steps; Sunday we cleared the driveway and shoveled out to the main road (which would remain unplowed until Monday). My friend Anthony Sellers was able to escape from his apartment and make a run to Wendy’s for us. The convenience of fast food after being snowed in was welcomed after we had been making our own meals since Friday (so primitive, I know). By Sunday afternoon, we realized that someone in the neighborhood had dug out the far side of the road with their Bobcat, so I was able to get my brother-in-law’s and my car out (I did get stuck at one point in his car but I had backup, so I was okay). When Monday arrived, I went to work and it was business as usual.

Things could have been much worse so I can’t complain too much about Winter Storm Jonas. We didn’t lose power, we had food, and we had heat. I even played Arkham City for the first time in almost 3 years. So while I still would rather it be 70 degrees all the time (why yes, I do know I live in West Virginia where the climate is not 70 degrees year round), I will reluctantly say that the blizzard didn’t make me miserable.

But the snow falling off the roof wasn’t fun at all.

Pro Tip: Don’t be me and try to shovel everything after the storm. Shovel during the storm if possible. It makes things easier when the storm does stop. I could hear my mom mocking me on Saturday as I shoveled double snow off of my porch.

In this new column, I’m going to take a few paragraphs to share my various travels around Morgantown. I don’t know how I ended up doing this but I think E started complimenting me and I turned into putty. A word of advice: If you want a writer to do something for you, make sure you tell them how impressed you are with their writing. Sixty percent of the time, it works every time.

Last Friday, I headed over to Patteson Drive to Volcano to meet up with my arch-nemesis good friend Steven Sherer. Steve aka Stevie aka Steve-O and I met back in my Potomac State College days and he is the primary reason I moved to Morgantown in 2003 when he asked me to be his roommate out here. He had been pestering the crap out of me to go on our infamous sushi dates (we went to Ogawa in a snowstorm once and drank too much sake. We barely made it home and then we were sober an hour later) and my bank account finally allowed me to do it. I hadn’t been to Volcano since it opened in Morgantown, so I was eager to see how it had improved since my last visit.

I sat at the bar upon arrival and Steve joined me shortly after. We both started with water but we did end up ordering a small sake (which I drank most of…). For a Friday night, it was busy but it definitely wasn’t overcrowded. Despite its smaller size due to its location next to other businesses and restaurants like Radio Shack, Pizza Hut, and Boston Beanery, the atmosphere was quite roomy as I didn’t hear anyone else’s conversations invading ours. It was so quiet that I barely noticed my friend Megan eating with two of her friends on my way out. Hopefully the sake didn’t make me too loud for other patrons.

It was a nice time catching up with my recently married friend and the food was delicious. I ordered the scallop tempura, a hurricane sushi roll (white fish, crab meat w/ special sauce), and the spicy red clam after Steve ordered it right before the waitress took my order. We both also ordered a salad and a bowl of miso soup. The service was top notch as we were never left looking for help and one of the sushi chef’s was nice enough to get me another set of chopsticks after I accidentally dropped one of mine in a fit of sushi passion.

It was a nice change of pace after a busy week at work and I would recommend Volcano for anything as simple as a quick lunch to an intimate gathering with your friends after work or even for a date. It was clear to see it has staying power beyond the fact that it serves sushi in a college town. I’m hoping to make it a regular destination in my travels about town.

Pro tip: You can use Pizza Hut’s wi-fi for free since Volcano’s wi-fi has a password! You’re all welcome.