Interview by Art Cloos

Jamie Graham was born in a suburb of Chicago. He grew up in Elmhurst, Illinois, started reading comics in the first grade and started collecting in the fifth grade. He has collected ever since. With his wife, Lori, he currently lives in Naperville, Illinois, where one of the nine stores in his Graham Crackers Comics chain is located. In addition to having the largest chain of comic-centric brick-and-mortar stores, he has a significant web presence, and they also run the site for The Hero Initiative’s online store.

Scoop: Jamie, so how did you discover comics?
Jamie Graham (JG): My earliest memories of comics start with my reading the Sunday comics. Then I would read Harvey comics and Archie at the barbershop. When I bought them in a store they would be DC war titles.

Scoop: Was your family OK with your reading comics?
JG: My parents had no problems with them because they believed it is best to be reading and reading was good...as long as it wasn't Playboy!

Scoop: Did you have friends who collected, too? Many of the dealers who we have talked to did not have other collectors to network with in the early days.
JG: I started reading comics on my own, but soon discovered my neighborhood buddy was reading comics, too. Only after I got into Marvel did he reveal he read the Fantastic Four and Amazing Spider-Man. Soon I found two more pals who were serious readers. Then after a time we had my brother and five or six guys in the area all of who were big comic readers and collectors.

Scoop: When was this?
JG: This was between 1965 and 1968. That is when it all came together. Then in ‘68 my next door buddy and I built a clubhouse in the back yard it had two rooms. The front room had a counter to sell comics and a display board for books with a swinging door so you couldn't go to the back room. We sold comics one summer in back there.

Scoop: Wow so you started as a dealer at an early age then?
JG: I tried. My first con that I attended as a customer was in 1973. It was at the downtown Pick Congress Hotel and I don’t remember its name. Then I set up at the next show. I was 16, I think.

Scoop: So how did you react when you got inside that first show?
JG: I felt pretty comfortable being in that room and I also felt that I belonged. It was a bigger version of what I was used to and it was a lot of fun taking it all in.

Scoop: I think that is true of a lot of both dealers and collectors. There is a sense of belonging at a show that is very special for those in the hobby. Did you continue to collect comics or give that up and just go right into selling?
JG: I collected from the moment I realized that they were numbered. At that point I had to have all the numbers in the series. I also vowed never to throw my comics away after one of my parents’ friends remarked that he wished he still had all his! So I remember those things to this day.

Scoop: You mentioned reading war comics. What were your favorite titles when you started collecting? For me they were Batman, Detective, Flash and JLA. You can see I was a DC guy back in the day…
JG: I became a Marvel guy. Tales Of Suspense, FF, Spidey, Sgt Fury and Strange Tales with Nick Fury. You have to remember early on Marvel could only do so many titles until 1968 when DC’s stranglehold on distribution ended

Scoop: You still have your books today? I have almost all my comics from when I was a kid.
JG: I built my collection up and sold off in 1997 or 1998 and then started buying everything back. I now have a collection of Golden Age that’s pretty good. I sold off the Silver Sge a few years ago because I realized I could always buy it back at any time. My Golden Age collection is one of the best in the collecting world because it is runs of things.

Scoop: What is its main focus?
JG: Superhero Gold. I have Batman #1 up, Superman #1 up, Detective Comics #27 up, Action Comics #1 up, Marvel Mystery Comics, Captain America, Human Torch and Subby all #1 up. I have most of the Exciting, Black Cat and Black Terror, and I am heavy into collecting The Spirit. I have almost a full run of Spirit sections including multiples.

Scoop: Now that is flat out amazing. How far out do your runs go?
JG: Up to a year ago they went to the present day, but I sold off the 1950s part of some runs, but nothing that I couldn't re-collect. I am a big early Golden Age guy!

Scoop: Jamie, that is very impressive. How important is condition to you?
JG: It wasn't so important as I was originally building my runs, but now I prefer a good looking book with eye appeal. But sometimes you have to take what is in front of you to fill a hole and then improve on it later. And as a dealer, that fits right in with how I work. That extra copy just goes into inventory!

Scoop: Yeah, whenever I get close to finishing a run, I get less picky about condition, too. You are one of a handful of dealers out there who collect as well as sell. Are you into fanzines and reading about the history of comics, too?
JG: Absolutely, unfortunately it is hard to collect, go to shows, read, manage 49 people, sleep, eat, and hang with the wife.

Scoop: Eating and sleeping are overrated. I am lucky 'cause my wife collects comics, too.
JG: I am lucky because my wife does not. But she collects other things and likes hanging with me. Weird, huh?

Scoop: What was your first comic show like for you?
JG: Back in the stone age the first shows I went to were in the basement of a bank with a bunch of tables and local dealers and collectors. It started out as a club and turned into a convention. The guy that sponsored it ran a weekend old time radio show and was a VP at the bank. He was intimidated by the age difference between him and the dealers and collectors who set up and came to the club meetings, but not for long. My problem being there was I liked too much stuff and had no budget for it all.

Scoop: Was there ever a time when you left comics and then came back to them? That seems to be a common event for many collectors.
JG: Yes, when I went to college. I had to cut expenses to pay for school. It was a couple of years after I graduated that I got back into it. I started going to cons again around 1978-1979 and by 1981 I had started my own with the aid of a dealer buddy. Then in 1982 on June 1, I opened the doors on my first comic shop. I was 28 years old at that time

Scoop: I had the same experience. Post-graduate work forced me to cut out comics for some five years.
JG: Yup, real life intervenes.

Scoop: How have cons changed since the early days?
JG: That’s too long a story to cover here, but I will say they grew up into real businesses, as did comic publishing, retailing and the like.

Scoop: How many stores do you run today? And was there a big learning curve to be a successful comic dealer?
JG: We currently run nine stores and a terrific website to boot. I also do about 22 to 25 shows a year and travel from one coast to the other. Yes, there is a big learning curve to be in business and to be a dealer. However, running a store is way different than setting up at a show, although there are similarities to stores and cons. You can look at con set ups as little stores of course.

Scoop: Do you see yourself as a founding member of that first generation of comic dealers?
JG: No, not really, not back then. I didn't feel a part of it until later.

Scoop: What advice would you give a newcomer to comic dealing today?
JG: I don’t know where to start. How about beginning by pointing out it is too expensive to break into today? It’s not as easy as it used to be, that’s for sure. But first of all you have to think in terms of it as a business not a comic store. For example, in 1983 I was the first store to have a half-off sale and the only the second one to actually have a sale at all. I was the first one to have a sale on new comics and other store product. The rewards are good, but you can't go into business with just your heart like most collectors do. You have to get some self-help books on business. For example, Bryan Tracy has some great ones on the subject.

Scoop: Where do you see the hobby 10 years from now? Is a bubble forming in the comic market?
JG: I hope I’m wrong, but I don't see enough new and or young collectors of the older stuff around. There are many who collect at the store level buying the new stuff but a lot of Golden Age will begin to languish in boxes as time goes on. I do think we will still have stores and the comic business as a whole will be good in the future though.

Scoop: I get a very much mixed response to that question. Some agree with you and others think the future is bright for vintage comic collecting. Those people see comics as part of our cultural heritage and believe the demand will remain strong for them…
JG: Well, demand should be good for characters that are still published today like Captain America, Superman and Batman, but the Black Terror? The Shadow? I am not so sure.

Scoop: Only time will tell. What do you think the effect of digital comics will be on the hobby in terms of reading and collecting back issues?
JG: Digital comics are a new genre on their own. They have taken some of my customers but they have their own niche and we seem to be able to exist side by side today. Tomorrow who knows? So we want people to buy the physical book because of the nature of collecting and the experience of reading from paper!

Scoop: Jamie what do you think of the growing market for original art?
JG: Original art? It’s never ending, it seems. Twice I predicted it would stop growing because there was so much art out there and twice I’ve been proven wrong. There are so many people that want to be in the art collector’s market who don’t necessarily want to do comics but love the art that comes out of them. That’s why the art from the ‘80s started to improve in sales because there actually seems to be a limited supply of good quality pieces.

Scoop: Do you collect or buy comic art?
JG: I collect some art. I sell extra pieces. My favorite artists are Kirby (I am a very big fan), Ditko and Adams.

Scoop: Jamie we thank you very much for taking the time to sit down with us for this talk.

About This Series
Art Cloos has been a passionate comic collector since the age of 10. He and his wife and partner in collecting, Alice, have spent many a day at shows across the U.S. looking for that next big find for their collections. His first comic convention was a Phil Seuling con in 1974. His love of the hobby and his interest with both the history of comics and their creators and of comic fandom comes from his background as a history teacher.

In this series of articles, Cloos looks at comic collecting from the point of view of the dealer. Whether they are part-time dealers at shows or the biggest of the top players in the world of back issues, comic book dealers have been an integral part of comic fandom and its history, and this is an area we believe is in need of further exploration.

Thus far he has profiled John Paul, Dave Reynolds, Ted VanLiew, Joe Vereneault, Phil DeMario, Mark Zaid, Dan Gallo, Bob Storms, Vincent Zurzolo, Robert Beerbohm, Mike Wilbur, Frank Cwiklik, Mike Karberg, Richard Makinson, Brad Savage, and Greg White.