Hello, my name is John and I’m the owner and Editor of “A Kid and a Comic”. Like many children at a young age, I was drawn to the color and art of the Sunday Funnies and Comic Books. That transitioned into reading, an appreciation for story lines and subtle humor and even specific artists.

                Through my teens I was hooked. I was neighborhood mobile with my bike and my best friend and weekly trips to the comic shop was a highlight. Conventions become more prominent in the 80’s and going to them was equivalent to a trip to a theme park.

                The life of a teen ager evolves quickly and soon the distractions of cars, girlfriends and sports nudged comics to side, for now. While I never lost interest and remain attached in some ways, it’s hard to get that early feeling back.

                Fast forward to 20+ years of marriage, two wonderful grown children and the same best friend and COVID 19 hit. Like many, a short time at home turned into months of partial to full confinement. I began to organize, prioritize and scale down the number of items I had accrued throughout a lifetime. Every time I started on the comic stash, I found myself rereading a story run as if it where new again and wanting more. So, I began collecting again. It started with things that caught my eye, went to series and then as it appeared the value of comics where skyrocketing, key issues.

                Social media was the chief form of communication with the outer circle at this time and the conventions where cancelled. So, I decided to start collecting comic art. I wanted a way to do this without going broke but still having a nice piece and at the same time a reminder of the work I had enjoyed by the artist. I began designing 11×17 posters of artists cover work with a small area in middle to

 sketch or sign. I began reaching out to artists online and building relationships, sending out posters and accruing a very nice collections (200+ as we speak).

                Then it happened, I was bagging and boarding a recent key issue I had just purchased and dropped it. Yep, right on the edge and smashed it all up!! I swore outload and was actually upset that the potential of this comic that could be picked up by Netflix in a series 10 years from now would not grade at a 9.8 any longer. After the initial fury I thought, my 10-year-old self would tune me up for thinking this is what reading comics was all about.

                For some odd reason this little incident stuck with me and the reality of how gently we collectors handle our comics set in. I asked myself, how to get back to the days of tattered Archie Comics that once laid around my home to be read without regard for condition. Any comic made today would be on a collector’s radar and generate the same desire for pristine condition and that wouldn’t do.

                That’s when A Kid and A Comic was born!!! A news paper format was the perfect time machine to the days of Saturday morning cartoons and a bowl of cereal. A full size paper, in color, with games, art, and a ton of comic strips that appealed to every big kid and a few of the little ones as well. Puzzles meant to be completed and written in, coloring panels meant to be colored and a paper you can fold up and take with you anywhere.  With hopes that I wasn’t alone in thinking this was a great idea, I began reaching out to all the artists I had developed relationships with the last few year and the response was overwhelming. And so it began….

                I hope these issues give you a moment of your youth back and you enjoy them as much and we did making them!!!