This is a perfect time to emphasize that, kids, in the mid-90s, we didn’t take bicycle safety nearly as seriously as we should have an do now. Always wear your helmet and pads, and use reflectors and reflective clothing at night.
And maybe don’t drive in the middle of the road while you’re at it.
Let’s see. So, last week I was talking about my meeting up with Levi in the store, and getting a copy of his poster, and throwing it up on the wall. And how maybe my boss had other ideas.
See, Bob Smethers was a much better promoter and retailer than I was (likely still is, although I’ve picked up a lot over the years, built on the foundation that he and Jill taught me). And Bob’s thought was, “I like his art. I’ll support the comic. But we’ve got a poster taking up valuable real estate in the store. What is it doing for us right now?” The book was still months away from being printed or released, so, yes, it made more sense to have up Gen-13 or Justice League Extreme or Primal Force or Force Works…
Comics in the 90s, ladies and gentlemen.
Anyways, so Bob and Levi got together and almost immediately (I really can’t state enough how quickly this was), we got a brand new poster completely personalize to the store(s)! One tailor-made for Comic City, but still featuring some of the cast of Levi’s World proper. This got people who looked at the poster to know that, not only is this some amazing art work, but it’s also someone with connections to the shop. Who was Levi? Did we hire him for the new sign? Has he done any comics? Could people buy said comics?
Like I said… way smarter than I was.
I do not know, sadly, if Bob and Jill, or if Levi himself, have any of the original poster artwork (from either piece). But you’ll see some of what I’m talking about coming up later on today. And if you can’t contain your enthusiasm enough, you can go to the stop page for Don’t Ask Comics and get an idea of what it was like (and see both real world Levi and how Levi appears in his own brain). But even this is just the tip of the iceberg!
And hey! Here’s this page in its original ashcan format!
