A Cool Deal for Shopping Local!

In a bold move to Keep Local Dollars Local, our City of Concord is offering a new round of SHOP CONCORD giftcards. 

When you buy SHOP CONCORD giftcards, it's a great way to save $$ at Flying Colors Comics... and many other favorite local shops & restaurants.

Buy a $50 giftcard and get a $25 bonus giftcard!
(Hint: That's like buying a 30% discount at Flying Colors!Yowza!)

This special offer is limited, so get your SHOP CONCORD giftcards now!

Hit this link to get your giftcards 

NOW!

https://app.yiftee.com/gift-card/concord

FlyCoJoe's Birthday Musings

It's my birthday. Woo-hoo to the 65th power! 

As kids we're all asked that question "What do you want to be when you grow up?"

And like most kids, my answer to that question changed somewhat often.

At my youngest, I wanted to be a baseball player. But as much as I loved to play, that wasn't in the cards.

When I was six, about the age in the photo here taken for my first grade photo at Santa Maria School, I wanted to be an astronaut. I think every kid wanted that during the era when John Glenn made his flight on Friendship. Look at the photo again... I even had John Glenn's haircut!

For a short time, I wanted to be a doctor. I think that had to do with all the medical shows on TV and how the lead characters were smart and caring.

From the time I was 12, I wanted to go into radio or TV. I still have dreams about being a TV game show host.

I did wind up going into radio on the sales/marketing side, but I really wanted to be on the talent side. Didn't help that my voice didn't really mature until way too late.

And as much as I have always really enjoyed comics, I never thought about being a comic book retailer!

I didn't even think about being a husband or a dad until Libby and I fell in love... and those two roles are much more vocations than mere jobs.
 

The thing is, life just doesn't travel on a straight line from dreams to reality. 

 

Life experiences move us on curves through time from who we were to who we are.

Each of those ideas about my future seem to reflect something of who I am.

* The baseball player represents tradition, as my dad passed his love of the game on to me and my brother. 

 

*The astronaut is my adventurous and daring side (the most daring thing I've done is started a business when everyone told me there was no future in it).

*The doctor represents my care for others and maybe the need inside me to be something of a leader.

*The radio/TV/ game show host combination is my humorous side. I've always loved to entertain myself and others, making them laugh... making them feel happier.

All those qualities of the dreams I had of what I might do as an adult are parts of who I am as a husband and father, entrepreneur and friend.

Sure, it's my birthday, but I want to wish everyone reading this heaping doses of happiness. 

 

Now let's all hope there are a lot more healthy birthdays to celebrate! 

 

Peace!
--- FlyCoJoe

Comics & COVID: One Year Later

"It has been the hardest year 
of work in my 35 years in this 
business. But it has also been 
the year with more blessings 
than any other..." 

I contributed to a Comics Beat report about life in the retail trenches of the comics' biz one year after the COVID imposed industry shutdown. 

 

Several other sharp comics retailers are also featured.

Please read the full report HERE!

Colorful even in the Rain...

Rain or Shine, Flying Colors is OPEN daily from 11AM-6PM.
We invite you to visit us soon!

Cogent Comics Image for Today, Yet it is 50 Years Old

 Jack Kirby had it right 50 years ago because he saw the atrocities 75 years ago. 

Watch this! Flying Colors Mini-Documentary 2020

Here's the new Scotch Parlor short documentary focusing on Flying Colors Comics.

We've worked hard for many years to build this community of comics lovers, so we dedicate this to our FlyCo Faithful.

Thank you, All Ye FlyCo Faithful, for helping us get through this year, for being part of our comics community and for your ongoing patronage and your enthusiasm for what we do in this humble small business.

Thanks to Rick "Scotch" McDaniel for this video.

For Scotch Parlor's deeper dive into the Flying Colors story, hit this LINK!

Something is coming... soon!

To see the teaser video here, please hit THIS LINK!

Free Comic Book Day will be August 14 2021

Diamond Comic Distributors announced today that Free Comic Book Day (FCBD), one of the comic book industry’s most beloved and anticipated events, will once again be a single-day event, scheduled to take place Saturday, August 14, 2021.

The event, which traditionally takes place on the first Saturday in May, will be celebrated in August 2021 in the hopes that much of the uncertainty and disruption related to COVID-19 will have passed.

Joe Field, founder of Free Comic Book Day and owner of Flying Colors Comics & Other Cool Stuff in Concord, CA said, “Celebrating 20 years of FCBD is a fantastic milestone. Free Comic Book Day continues to be the introduction to comics for so many. While the world has changed over these last 20 years, our love of comics and the power of comics to entertain and enlighten is stronger than ever. I’m thrilled we’re focusing on a fun-filled worldwide single-day FCBD again for 2021. I can’t wait to see all the first-time comic-curious readers, as well as our long-time faithful fans come together once again.”

“I am so happy to be making this announcement today and so proud of our work with retailers and vendors these last 20 years to bring more awareness to the comic books we all love,” said Steve Geppi, President, Chairman & CEO of Geppi Family Enterprises. “In the past two decades, fans have experienced some truly remarkable Free Comic Book Day events because of the commitment of our partners to create an incredible celebration of comics. It’s such an energizing day and we look forward to making our 20th anniversary celebration the best one yet!”
 
This celebration marks the 20th anniversary of Free Comic Book Day and plans to commemorate this anniversary include themed T-shirts, posters and a commemorative 20th anniversary logo.
 

Tower Records Fall & the Rise of Flying Colors Poster/Calendar

A look back at the last 14 years of our Flying Colors exclusive calendar/poster...and the story of how we came up with the idea to do a calendar/poster.

Basically, we stole the idea from Tower Records. In late 2006, Tower Records had declared bankruptcy and was closing all its stores.

You can read my blog about the final fall of Tower Records HERE!

As most old-time music fans know, Tower Records was a chain of great shops (even though in this last years of the company, customer service was way less than stellar).

But music lovers really depended on Tower as a place to find not just current best-selling albums/cassettes/CDs, but as a place to discover music we didn't even know we wanted.

Every year, Tower would produce a poster to give away to anyone visiting their stores. So when Tower was on the slow death march to shutting down, I was a bit bummed that the tradition of getting their annual poster was going to end.

So, I thought, let's begin a Flying Colors' tradition to pick up what Tower dropped... but do it in our own comic book lovin' style!

The first year of the Flying Colors poster, 2007, we went with an all John Romita Jr look.

JRJR had done a commission for us featuring several Marvel characters on the roof above Flying Colors. We made that the centerpiece of the calendar (and our exclusive cover to Amazing Spider-Man #666)... and that's how it started.

Over the years, we've distributed thousands of these poster calendars every year to schools, libraries and to FlyCo Faithful.

2021 will be our 15th annual poster/calendar... and we'll let you know when it's available (hint: very soon!).

These poster/calendars are designed by cartoonist Jeff Bonivert.
Read Jeff's TMNT/Casey Jones graphic novel HERE!

Read more of Jeff's kooky comics HERE!


Thanks for reading... and please share this with your friends!

As always, more Comics & Other Cool Stuff are on the way!

SyFy Wire looks back on Mark Gruenwald's Squadron Supreme

I was recently contacted by the good folks at SyFy Wire. They were putting together a feature about Marvel Comics' SQUADRON SUPREME series, so they asked to use a screenshot from my 1988 interview with the late writer and editor Mark Gruenwald.

See the the Squadron Supreme feature HERE!

And HERE's my original interview with Mark Gruenwald from WonderCon 1988 in Oakland CA... one of a very few interview videos with him. Mark is a well remembered, highly regarded writer and editor for Marvel in the '80s. Besides Squadron Supreme, his Captain America run is still sought after...and it's still a fun read!