After Pandemic Shut Down, Philly's Oldest Comic Shop Fights To Stay Alive

While comic book based movies still soar at the box office and fill Hollywood coffers, the specialty stores that sell actual comic books have never faced such dire times.

Fat Jack’s Comics Crypt has been the place to get your comic fix for denizens of Philadelphia for 42 years.

But now crippling inflation and the boom in digital comic sales coming on the heels of Covid-19 closings may just kill Philly’s oldest comic book store.

The Philadelphia Inquirer:

“We’re in a terrible situation and we desperately need your help,” wrote Fat Jack’s manager, Eric Partridge, on the store’s official GoFundMe. According to Partridge, who has been managing the store for 28 years, most Center City clientele had settled into remote work and were no longer making their way into Philly — a reality that, per the 2022 Center City District report, the city continues to struggle with. Only 57% of foot traffic is back, compared with 2019 levels.

Above: Tom King signs books in 2020.

“We used to have about 222 to 250 people a week, but now we are down to about 180,” said store owner Mike Ferraro. Fat Jack’s subscription program has also been affected by this. Since it relies on comic lovers being able to set aside their favorite books to pick up at a later time, working from home meant that many readers had to cancel due to being unable to pick up their comics.

Seventy-one-year-old Ferrero looked for many alternatives to prevent the store from reaching this point, Partridge said, including filing for the Paycheck Protection Program — the federal business loan created during the pandemic to help small businesses keep their workforce — but funds ran out before they could receive help.

Now, they are running a GoFundMe in the hopes of raising $20,000 to cover the cost of product acquisition and catching up on bills. Though the total debt amounts to $80,000, “this will keep our head above water,” Partridge said. At the time of publication, $9,667 has been raised to help Fat Jack’s.

In the meantime, they are having a half-price sale of older comic back issues in store until the end of January, and doing a Sunday online sale through the broadcasting live website The Experience, at 4:30 p.m.. Local comic artists are showing their support this weekend, visiting the store to make drawings for customers, and selling their original artwork to raise funds. Check the Instagram account for announcements.