I don’t remember the exact day that I met Dave, but it was sometime in the early 80s. My friend George had told me there was a relatively new thing called Comic Book Shops. I had been getting all my comics from 7-11 or Peoples Drug Store. We started going to Nostalgia Plus on Patterson Avenue. Somewhere along the line he mentioned there was another place down the road called Dave’s Comics in the Village Shopping Center. Dave’s had subscriptions that would allow you to never miss a comic and save 10%! On top of this all his comics came already bagged.
After several visits and conversations I started to become friendly with both Dave and the store manager Marlon Cohen. When Dave decided to move to a larger space a few doors down, he talked to me about his plans. I would visit regularly and check on the progress of his larger, more modern store. This store would have Back issue bins with sliding drawers and neon lights on the walls. This is the space his store currently occupies.
Besides being a regular customer, Dave and I became outside of work friends. There were a couple of breaks for things like college and a short lived experiment of my own Comic Book and Racing collectibles store on the other side of town. Dave and I had more conversations about life, the universe and everything than I can count.
When we were both single, Wednesdays at Innsbrook After Hours became a regular thing for us. We enjoyed the music, but we were both admiring the pretty girls and looking for potential dates. Neither of us met any serious dates there, but eventually we both met ladies we wanted to marry.
Back in July 1990 we spent the day in DC with soon to be ex girlfriends and finished the day at a Paul McCartney concert at RFK stadium. It was a concert we always remembered that was capped off with Fourth of July fireworks.
More significant than old girlfriends, was The lady in his life Sheryl. I remember the day of their wedding like it was yesterday. From that day forward I never thought of Dave without thinking of Sheryl and Dave. It was funny how many times Martha and I ran into Dave and Sheryl on a Saturday at the Bow Tie cinemas on the Boulevard. More often than not we were going to the same movie without having planned a thing.
An important part of a relationship with Dave, and me for that matter was food. Dave introduced me to Vietnamese cuisine at restaurants on Horsepen Road. Innsbrook nights meant dinners at the much-missed Jimmy’s Deli. I don’t remember what restaurant it was, but there was an evening when Dave introduced me to comic book legend Martin Nodell, creator of the Green Lantern. There were also a number of enjoyable afternoons in November at the annual Urbanna Oyster Festival.
In recent years the more common scenario was seeing Dave and Sheryl when I stopped by the shop to get my comics. I’d let Dave know that I would be having lunch next door at Mai Sushi and to come and join me. Dave would come over and we would spend lunchtime talking about our lives and the world of comics.
I am going to miss seeing my old friend. New comic Wednesdays will never be the same, but I am glad to have over 30 years of memories of my kind, intelligent and humorous friend.
