‘Not Just Comix’ owner celebrates 31 years in downtown Park Hills
After 31 years in business, David Easter is still having fun as the owner of Not Just Comix, located at 339 W Main St., in Park Hills. Kevin R. Jenkins
Former mayor and current alderman David Easter loves his job
Today is a special day for many comic fans living in the Parkland because this is the 31st anniversary of the Not Just Comix store, located at 339 W Main St., in Park Hills.
It’s undoubtedly an important milestone for the store’s owner, David Easter, who is proud to officially celebrate his more than three-decade-long career in downtown Park Hills. It doesn’t matter if you’re a fan of comic books or not. Listening to Easter talk about his teaching career and how he ended up selling comics for 31 years is an interesting one.
“I was born in St. Louis, and my father, being a military man, moved the family down to Georgia,” Easter said. Our roots are up here in this county, so that’s why we got resettled up here. I went to college and got a teacher’s degree in English, speech and drama. Then, I went on to be a teacher for 17 years.
One of David Easter’s regular customers thumbs through a box of old comic books for sale. Some of the older and rarer issues sell for more than $100, but many comics for sale at the store don’t cost such a pretty penny. Kevin R. Jenkins
“In that time period, I also started the store in the last two years of my teaching career. The store started in 1992, and I retired from teaching in 1994. I found that I couldn’t serve two masters. I was working about 80 hours a week, and something had to give, so I retired from teaching and have done this full-time ever since.
Asked why he decided to sell comics, Easter quickly replied, “Why not? The main thing was that I knew there was a niche in it. In 1988, my college friend ran a comic book store up north and wanted me to work on the weekends. That gig lasted for about two years, and then he closed up his business. So, I got a background in knowing how to do this. Then, there was someone who later became a friend that I met through this same guy. He contacted me and said, ‘You know, there’s a guy in Illinois that would like to talk to you.’
“His name was Nick Kocurek. I was an apprentice, but I didn’t work for him. I gave him money, so to speak, for buying stuff. But he took a kindness to me, and when he was there, he’d show me a few things about the business. He was way more successful than me. He had five stores all together. Most of them were in Missouri, but the main one was in, if I remember correctly, Collinsville, Illinois, and I learned things from him.”
And how did Easter come up with the store’s name?
He recalled a conversation he had one day with George Easley, who was then the Daily Journal advertising manager. “I was placing an ad in the newspaper, and George and I got to talking. I said, ‘One day, I plan on opening up a comic book store, but it’s not going to be just comics. It’s going to be a gaming store with sports supplies for collectors, and you know the whole gamut.’ When I said it’s not just comics, I stopped for a second, smiled, and said, ‘You know, that would be a good name for a store!’ And so, George kind of indirectly named the store for me.
Later, Easter heard about a bookstore opening in Farmington and decided to check it out.
“So, I walked up to the window and saw a display of comic books off to the side. I said to myself, ‘If I don’t do this now, I’m going to lose out.’ So, that got me propelled to open up my own store. I supported them, by the way, because I really wanted a regular bookstore to succeed in this county, but unfortunately, circumstances being what they were, they didn’t.
“So, I went ahead and did [my] store, but the funny thing was that the guy [who owned the bookstore] didn’t do the comics. There was another guy that did the comics for him. One day, he walks [into Not Just Comix], and he starts pulling comics off the stands. I walked over to him and said, ‘You know, you can buy this stuff cheaper than what you’re paying for it.’ He said, ‘Not anymore. We’re closing up.’ That’s when I knew that they had closed.”
While many people may assume a comic book store’s clientele is mainly children and young teens, according to Easter, that’s not the case.
Comic fans and collectors have grown quite familiar with the Not Just Comix sign hanging outside David Easter’s business on Main Street in Park Hills. The store brings in customers from all around the area. Kevin R. Jenkins
“It’s a microcosm of life,” he said. “I see all kinds of people coming in. You just wouldn’t believe the spectrum — the rainbow colors — of people who have come in the store over 31 years. It’s created some friendships and — I hate to compare myself to a TV comedy, but the camaraderie of ‘Cheers’ comes to mind, where everybody knows your name.
“It’s also getting to the point where — and teachers know this too — if you stay in for 30+, the young men and women that come in through those doors now have children of their own. I had one to bring in his baby grandson, so it’s neat how your customers get to be your extended family.”
In the years he’s owned Not Just Comix, Easter has noticed some changes in the comics he sells.
“I know they’ve changed since I was a kid, the same way as TV shows,” he said. There’s still a variety for everybody. You still have reading levels for all ages. I sell lower reading levels for elementary children, and [the reading level] moderates as you go up in age.
“The biggest shock is that I started when comic books were approximately a dollar, and the average price is now S3.99 and $4.99. They go higher, but it’s just the way that reading comics is more acceptable now. There are some jives and
kidding, of course, that’s nationwide.”
Surprisingly, Easter believes the gradual acceptance of those who read comic books has been through the characters on a popular TV situation comedy.
“Big Bang Theory helped to legitimize the popularity of collectibles, as well as top video games,” he said. “And I have to give a nod to Warner Brothers Discovery — and also pre-Disney, Sony and Fox — for making movies based on comic book characters that popularize the characters and, in turn, they make a lot of money for them.”
As one might expect, most comic book readers are male, but some females are also fans.
“It’s 90% to 10%, Easter said. “It’s male-dominated. That’s just the nature of the beast. I mean, I’ve seen statistics as high as
85% to 15%, but yes, there are females interested in comic books. There are female writers and artists just like there are female producers, directors and writers for movies and TV shows — maybe not as many as there should be, but on the other hand, they’re well-represented out there, and they have their own interests.”
Easter recalled a mother and her young daughter walking into his store.
“[The mother] was looking over the store, and if anybody knows anything about female superheroes, they are usually wearing tight outfits,” he said. “Generally, they are almost always pretty, heroic and brave — just like their male counterparts. After taking some time looking around, the mother asked me, ‘Don’t you have anything for a girl this age?’ It was a challenge because this was early in my career.
A shelf full of colorful comic books, one of several found throughout the store, draws the eye of customers the minute they walk in the front door. Kevin R. Jenkins
I said, ‘How about Elfquest?’ Now, that’s going to take some Googling for people to look up because that’s not a big name right now. There are no movies or TV shows that I know of. They’ve tried, but it’s just one thing after another. It never developed. So, I showed her Elfquest, and they both became regular buyers after that. The young lady grew up to be an archaeologist and worked on a project in Africa. The last I heard, she was working in Washington D.C.”
Easter’s clientele goes way beyond children and teens. Many of his customers are successful adults in their fields of work.
“I have two doctors that buy from me from this area,” he said. “I have a retired prison warden, and I used to have a prosecuting attorney. They come from so many different facets of life, and It’s just fascinating to hear their stories over the years.
Easter’s response was somewhat unexpected when asked if he has a comic title that sells more than the others.
“Of course, Amazing Spider-Man is key, but there are various other characters as well. The title I have continued to sell out of for at least the last 15 years is Sonic the Hedgehog. I had somebody ask me that in the store one day. And that’s another thing about the store — it’s like a coincidence corner.
“I don’t know why, but the oddest things occur in that store. Somebody asked me that same question, and I said, “Sonic the Hedgehog.” They said, ‘Oh, come on!’ About that time, somebody walks in off the street and asks, ‘Where’s your Sonic the Hedgehog comics?’ I said, ‘Over there — third stand on the bottom. He goes over and picks up about 10 of them, brings them up to the counter and checks out. I didn’t have to say a word.”
Kevin R. Jenkins is the editor of the Daily Journal. He can be reached at kjenkins@dailyjournalonline.com.
