The 30th anniversary party for Flying Colors Comics & Other Cool Stuff is Saturday October 13 (be here for the cake at 3pm!).
I hope you'll go along with me as I write here about two very important people in my life: My father, Joe Field, and my father-in-law, Libby's dad, Bud Fisher.
My dad was in real estate as a part-time gig from the late 1950s until he made it his full-time job in the late '70s. He knew Contra Costa County as well anyone.
I was still working at KJOY Radio in Stockton until May '88, but I'd take most Saturdays to research my future and to see potential locations. With Dad driving and Oakland A's games on the radio, Dad and I would sometimes stop for lunch, usually for hot dogs, sometimes at roadside hot dog trucks. Dad seemed to know the location of every hot dog stand in Contra Costa. 
Bud Fisher, was the former chairman of Lucky Stores Inc, and he was well respected as a retailing genius. He took the Gemco Department division of Lucky Stores Inc from a money-loser to become the largest American membership department store (prior to Wal-Mart's world takeover, but that's a sad tale for another day).
Bud was very direct. When we'd check out other comic shops, while I tried to keep a low profile (what business owner wants to talk to someone who could become competition?), Bud had no qualms about talking to shop employees. He'd also scope out shops, determining their square footage by counting ceiling tiles. Bud also had his "business mode," when his voice would drop precipitously to make a point.
But here's the deal: While both Dad and Bud were enthusiastic in helping me get Flying Colors off the ground, comics never seemed like a big deal to either of them. I'm sure they both thought I was crazy to open a comic book store--- like I was selling something as obsolete as a buggy whip. I'm sure they both loved that I was taking a chance... a chance to build something out of nothing. And a chance to make a new and better life with my young family. 
My Dad passed away in late 1998. In the last few years before he died, I asked him if he had any fond memories of comics in his youth. He brushed off the question, initially saying no, then talked about how during World War II, he saw many other servicemen constantly reading comics. "But I was always playing cards," he said.
After a while, he thought again and told me he did remember one newspaper comic strip he loved when he was young... Percy Crosby's "Skippy." As a comics fan, I knew "Skippy" as major inspiration for a young Charles Schulz. "Peanuts" is a clear descendent of "Skippy." And "Peanuts" was always a favorite for me when I was young. Maybe a year or two before Dad died, I was able to find and give him a compilation of "Skippy" comic strips from his youth... and he lit up! Good memories do that!
And with Bud, who passed away 25 years ago this week, I never got the sense he liked or cared for comics. So imagine my surprise, when Libby and I were going through some old family photos we recently received and we saw the photo I've included here. Bud and his older brother Dana, in 1931 or so, reading broadsheet newspaper COMICS! Likely these two adventurous boys were gazing on one of the great strips of that era--- Hal Foster's Tarzan or Dick Calkins' Buck Rogers or maybe Chester Gould's Dick Tracy. That was quite an era for adventure strips! 
Finding this photo made me happy... more than 30 years after having to run the gauntlet of doubts I received from my parents and my in-laws about the thought of opening a small retail shop, I got some validation that comics played at least a small part in the young lives of Joe Field and Bud Fisher.
On this occasion of the 30th anniversary of Flying Colors Comics, a business that likely wouldn't exist without the encouragement and help from these two great guys, I salute my dad, Joe Field, and Libby's father, Bud Fisher.
