Georgetown
3145 Dumbarton St. NW
Washington, DC 20007
202-342-1961

Bethesda
4908 Fairmont Ave.
Bethesda, Maryland 20814
301-654-6856

Vienna
426 Maple Ave. E.
Vienna, Virginia 22180
703-242-9412

Joel Pollack owns one comic store, co-owns two others. From the beginning, Pollack seemed to know instinctively that good relationships were the key for him. His first employee, Greg Bennett, still works with him. Since the late sixties, when he went to his first convention, until today, he has met hundreds upon hundreds of people and he has remained friends with almost all of them. Whether he is telling the story of how he met artist Walt Simonson or explaining what he looks for in the people he hires, Pollack's enthusiasm and love for comics, as well as the people he has met, has been central to his success.

"I went to my first convention in 1968. That was the first major convention in the Country. It was held in Manhattan and Phil Seuling ran it. They called it 'SCARP-Con'. Since than, I have been to so many conventions that I can't really remember much about that first one. I only know that I immediately loved the atmosphere and the people involved." Pollack had learned about comics just a few years before this Con took place.

"When I was 8, I was sick at home. My mom was nice enough to get me something to read and it turned out to be Adventure #237 featuring Superboy. I was already familiar with Superman through his adventures on television. I was an avid TV viewer, and enjoyed many shows, but Superman was my favorite. Sadly, my mother passed away the following year and comics became my refuge. As time went on, I became very interested more specifically in the drawings in comics."

His mother's passing brought an unexpected twist to his life. "I ended up summering at a lot of relatives homes. One of my aunts, a woman I love named Kitty Goldberg, lived in Manhattan. She has been a major influence in my life." The size of her influence cannot be over-estimated. You see, his aunt had a close friend who worked at the offices of DC Comics. That friend's name was Ira Schnapp.

Of all the names in the history of DC, the name of Ira Schnapp may be the most overlooked. He was a designer and his touch on the DC style is incalculable. He worked on the Superman Logo, he designed most of the cover logos, and he did almost all the lettering for each cover (Schnapp designed the Comics Code Authority symbol). Schnapp also did the house ads. He was highly influential for the tone and success of the DC style for a very long time.

Some of his designs were simple, yet ultimately very memorable. It was Schnapp who took two covers, put them at a slight angle, (with the bottoms turned towards each other), and added the DC Logo between them. With the addition of his distinctive lettering style, he created a unified feel for DC advertising.

His aunt's friendship with Schnapp led to the 15-year old Pollack visiting the DC offices not once, but twice. "The first time, I spent the day with Murphy Anderson. He was a real gentleman and showed me the most incredible amount of patience. The second time, I spent the day watching Curt Swan draw a cover for Action Comics #328. It was amazing." As if this wasn't enough for the young fan, each time he left the office of DC Comics, he was given original artwork to take home. "The art is long gone now. I mean I was a kid, how could I know what they really would mean, but the gesture just blew me away".

Years later, Pollack was at the very First Baltimore Comic Con which was held in 2000 in Towson, Maryland. "I got a chance to speak with Murphy Anderson and, of course, he didn't really remember the visit I had made to the office, I mean it was 1964 when that happened, for Pete's sake! But when I mentioned the name of Ira Schnapp, his face lit up. Murphy told me that in all the years people had been talking to him, that this might be the first time someone had mentioned Ira's name. He shared several memories with me and than told me he wasn't sure, but before Ira had come to DC, he had designed US Postage stamps. Mr. Schnapp continued working until he passed away in 1970.

Pollack was a major fan of Carmine Infantino and wrote DC to let them know his opinions. Two of his letters were eventually published in issues of Detective. As a result of his visits to the offices of DC, Pollack decided to work at becoming an artist. "Going to the offices and seeing how they actually created the art and the books really made me stay involved with comics longer than I may have. It was the major inspiration towards me wanting to become a professional artist."

He worked hard at his art and still continued to attend every Con that he could "I went to every July 4th Con that Seuling ran. Since they were always held Manhattan in the summer on the Fourth of July, it was easy for me to get there."

It was through his attendance at the Cons that Pollack began to see where his art career was headed. "One year, I am in line at the registration area. I am holding my art samples to show DC. I notice the guy next to me also had some samples. We began talking. He told me his name was Howard Chaykin and that he was bringing in a story he wrote and drew called 'Cody Starbuck". After I saw his samples, I never showed my samples to anyone again. We ended up becoming friends and years later, he was kind enough to give me the very art that he was holding that day. He gave it to me on the condition that I would never publish it or he could have me killed! I'm pretty sure he was kidding."

Pollack did publish a few pieces professionally. He drew a cover for Rocket's Blast/Comicollector (a precursor to Comic Buyers Guide) in 1968. Many years later, he had an illustration in Fantastic Magazine. "But I was basically a lazy person and drawing comics is a hell of a lot of hard work. I kept comparing myself to the people who were coming up and the people I was meeting, and the truth is that I couldn't hold a candle to most of them."

Pollack was meeting people all over the place. "I used to visit the University of Maryland Book Exchange. I was looking for the art that was on the covers of science fiction books. Specifically, I was looking for Frazetta and Jeff Jones covers. One day I noticed there was a new sign hanging in the store and I asked the girl behind the counter who drew it. I thought it was incredible. She told me that the artist was an intern and he happened to be in the back working. If I wanted, I could walk right back and introduce myself. That is how I met Walt Simonson. He was home on vacation from the Rhode Island School of Design. We are still friends to this day."

Attending Conventions is a great way to meet people. "I helped with the third Metro Con in 1973. The first two, organized by Gary Groth, had been in '70 and '71 respectively. For the one to be held in 1973, Warren Bernard was really moving things. I bring this up because at this Con, Warren was able to secure a rare (for the time) showing of the film 'Freaks'. Attending the convention that year was Bernie Wrightson. It was the first time he had seen the movie and it proved to be a major influence on his work over the next few years."

The guest list for that 1973 Con was impressive. "We had Denny O'Neil, Bernie Wrightson, Jeff Jones, Chaykin (who by that time was drawing Swords Of Sorcery for DC) and Archie Goodwin. Despite the major talent we had, attendance was low and the Con lost money."

Since he had decided that his dreams of a career in art weren't real, Pollack took a job with his father's drapery business. For the next ten years, he attended Cons on the weekend and, during the week, did all the jobs he could for his Father's business. "I worked in the installation, in the office and eventually, became the office manager. I got a lot of experience in dealing with people on many different levels, as well as learning rudimentary bookkeeping." It was the cons that really provided the excitement in his life "I just met so many people. In 76, I worked for Bud Plant who was just a super-nice guy. Other years, I just attended, or maybe helped other friends who needed a hand."

All these years at the Cons began to pay off. In the eighties, Pollack began to see a window opening up, acting as an agent for the artists he knew. "My early sales came from the guys I knew; Wrightson, Jeff Jones, Dave Dorman and John Jay Muth. "I always tried to buy the art at tax time so that I could get the most reasonable prices possible! Eventually, I did four art catalogs. They were called Fantastique Illustration Catalog. These were actually half-sized and you can still see them pop up on eBay."

For a few years, this was enough for him, but in 1985, Pollack got married and that changed things real fast. "For years I had toyed with the idea of opening a store. By '86, I had made my mind up and begun to do the preliminarily research. I was checking out locations, trying to figure out what direction the store would take. One thing I knew, and had known for a while, was that Bethesda, MD needed a comic shop. While Bethesda is in Maryland, the city is a suburb of nearby Washington DC. It has a fantastic population, both in personality, education, and income. The area was definitely under-served when it came to comics. I was really aware of this because it meant that I was going to open in a marketplace that had little, if any real competition."

Several other factors were going on at the same time. First off, in 1986, there was tremendous amount of publicity for comics themselves. From the rebooting of Superman to the Dark Knight and the Watchmen, the word was beginning to spread that comics were hot. Secondly, there was someone else locally who was thinking along the same terms. A longtime friend, Gene Carpenter, was thinking of opening a store in Bethesda. They decided that it would be easier to work together than work against each other. Together, they found a second floor space right in the commercial district of Bethesda. "The second floor may not sound like anything great, but the real estate in this town is very expensive. We felt lucky to find what we wanted in such a great location."

The next step was figuring out how to outfit a store. It is one thing to help set up temporary fixtures for a convention or show, it is another to create something with a sense of permanence. "Here, we really lucked out. Back in 1974, at a convention, I had met a postman named Steve Geppi. We were always cordial and got along, but had not really connected with each other; there never was any real time. Over the years, when I would see him I had even suggested that he open a store in Bethesda, but it just never happened. So, now it is 1986 and he was trying to keep a store open in the vacation town of Ocean City, MD. The store was doing fantastic business, but it was only doing that business half of the year. The rest of the year, no one is coming down to spend time at the beach on the Eastern Shore. To make it short, he gave us a great deal on the fixtures and racks that he was using in the Ocean City store. He, and his than business manager Bob Cook, really did right by us. They gave us a great deal and it helped a lot. I still appreciate it. This made our opening a lot easier for us."

Their store, Big Planet Comics, opened in 1986 and was a success out of the gate. Pollack had accurately judged his products unavailability in the community. He and Gene had a popular store from the very first day. That first day also proved to be important for Pollack as one of his first customers turned out to be his first employee.

"Greg Bennett had called me on the phone, that's how I met him, he than came in the first day. He was a high school kid who also had been working at the local library where another friend of mine had been working."

More than any point in his story, this really demonstrates what helped Pollack establish himself as a successful storeowner. For years he had made friends and contacts throughout the industry. This had first led him to working as an agent. Later, many of the people that he met were able to advise him and help him when it came time to open the store. It was the relationships that he had been building for years that provided the concrete base for his store. He had also been building relationships with the people who lived and worked in his town. The librarian, Annette Curtis Klause who worked with Bennett, had vouched for him. This helped Pollack make the decision to hire him as his first employee

After a year or so of business, Pollack bought his partner out. "There was nothing acrimonious about it, he wanted to do business a certain way and I felt that the business should move in another. He had wanted to concentrate on back issues and collectibles. I felt that the future lay in current books and the readability of product. We came to a friendly agreement and Carpenter went on to work many of the Cons on the east Coast. He is one of the most respected people I know in the industry. In the Washington DC area, he is probably the best. We are friends to this day."

From the beginning, Pollack felt one of things that would be key to the store's longevity was a strong subscription base. "I make sure my subscribers know they are welcome. I know their names by the end of the first visit and also where their boxes are the minute they walk in. They know their product is going to be there when they come in. If they order something, they are going to see it. Things do happen sometimes, like a late book or damage, and the customers understand, but they really like the personalized service."

Soon, after about 4 and half years, Pollack was able to move from his second floor location. "We had been doing enough volume that I could afford to look around. We had always advertised ourselves as being off the beaten path. We used this approach in the advertising and it paid off. We are a destination store. The customer is coming to this place to specifically see us."

The new location had another benefit. "We are one of the few actual stores in our location. Almost everything else around us is restaurants. This really helps with the foot traffic. While we don't benefit that much from the actual walk-in traffic, it does help a bit. Because of the restaurants, the location is well known and popular, so people actually don't have that hard of a time finding us."

After a few years in the business, he had started to spot a trend. Pollack watched what was selling and felt that the industry was moving in a certain direction. "About 7 years ago, we really started really pushing trades. This has really paid off for us. Right now, 70 percent of our floor space is trades. This does not mean that we ignore the weekly product or fail to display that week's books. We just felt the trades would pay off. Our sales numbers continually reflect that belief week after week."

When it comes to staffing his store, Pollack has a simple belief. "I try to hire my customers. They know the product, they know what my customer service beliefs are and they really want to work." He must know something about potential employees, because that first employee he hired, Greg Bennett, he is now Pollack's business partner! It started a few years ago.

After working at the store in high school, Bennett had gone away to Dickinson College in PA. During the summers and holidays, he would always return to work in the Bethesda store. After finishing college, he eventually came back to work and together, Pollack and Bennett decided to open another store.

"I had my eye on Vienna VA for quite a while. Like Bethesda, it is essentially a solid suburb of Washington DC. The similarities were obvious. However, I had not taken any direct action. Greg and I started to drive to Vienna to look for possible locations. I kept thinking how well the idea of being off the beaten path had worked in MD and so I wasn't exactly worried about the location. We would make people want to come to us."

Bennett ended up opening and managing the store. This time though, there was no magic solution to the problem of fixtures. "From the beginning, we had to get fixtures made to meet the demands of the space. We were able to have several custom built racks made and also utilized other sources. What made it easy is that we had our experience to help us. We knew what customers would like and we knew what our priorities were." Eventually, Bennett's participation evolved into a partnership, and, ultimately, full ownership.

With their geographical closeness to DC, it is inevitable that they would turn their attention to the Nation's Capital. "We had talked about a location in town from the time we had started working on the Vienna store. I had a friend who owned a used bookstore in Georgetown, a section of DC. I had told him for years that he should add comics, or go into comic books completely. He was never much for the idea. One day, in 2001, he decided to get out of the business and asked me if I wanted to rent the space. What was great about this was that he had tremendous amount of shelving and bookcases that we could get with the deal. This made the offer too good to resist." Together, Pollack and Bennett decided to open a third location. With one store each, they decided to be co-owners this time. There was an unforeseen problem though.

"One of the reasons we decided to open the store was that the store two blocks away was going to close. However, at the very last minute, a buyer had emerged. So all of a sudden, for the very first time, we were in competition with someone!" This time, the store was not a success on the first day. It wasn't a success the first year either. It has taken some time "We have a great manger, Jared Smith. He is another former customer. He is doing a great job for us in a difficult situation. We get along with that other store, but they are still our competition. As far as I know, both stores are doing OK. After a rocky start, we are doing OK. Its funny that in the city of Washington DC, there are only two comic stores (there are plenty in the neighboring suburbs) and they end up being two blocks apart from each other!"

Recently, Jared Smith became the co-owner of the Vienna store, and Peter Casazza, a former Bethesda manager, became co-owner of the Georgetown store.

Pollack has a good-natured way of looking at everything, He knows that he is in a business, but he insists that it still be fun. One of the major reasons for his success is his ability to work with so many people. From the friends he has made at the early conventions to the friends he has made in town and at his store, he values his connections to these people. Coupled with his own realistic vision and planning, it is the human connections that have made his stores work for him.

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