Last Wednesday night (or maybe even early Thursday morning), in a fit of social media induced insomnia, I came across the tweet to the left.

Nothing remarkable about it, except I recognized the guy on the left as an old friend I lost tracked of: Dimitrios. One day he just ‘disappeared’, and no one would tell me anything.

Now wide awake, I went on a slight psycho stalker cyber bender trying to figure out where he ended up. My late-night sleuthing yielded fruit (Batman would have been proud). Dimitrios, who I’ve known for close to over ten years, and who I met at his previous employer (where he started off as a clerk on the comic book floor and ended up a few years later managing the place, followed by a continuing stint as a comic book writer with his own creator series), took it to the next level and is now the comic book store proprietor at Anyone Comics.

Following through on my psycho cyber stalking, I found the store’s Facebook page and came across an event for the following day: a signing for Forward Comix’s ‘NoWhere Man’ by Jerome Walford. I now had a reason to go visit.

Google Maps had the tripped pegged at about one and half hours. The next day, and a three-hour drive pass construction delays on the Merritt and Van Wyck, and bumper to bumper traffic down the Jackie Robinson and Eastern Parkways, I made it to Crown Heights, Brooklyn. After managing to miraculous squeeze my truck into a below average size parking space it had no business fitting into, I finally was able to walk into the storefront around 7:30 PM.

As soon as I saw Dimitrio’s smile all that driving stress melted away. We immediately got to talking, and he caught me up on all the latest events.  Listening to him detail how he came up with a business plan, and lined up investors to front the opening of his store (back in March of 2017), was short of amazing and living proof that if you put your mind to something, one can accomplish anything. As to his ‘disappearance’, it had something to do with a non-compete clause in effect, but I probably should not talk about that much.

He then proceeded to give me the grand tour of the place, with idea after idea spilling out of his head, as he went over what was now obviously a two-floor comic book store plus, complete with Game of Thrones Screenings, Drink and Draws, Sequential Art Classes, and Freelancer Rental Spaces (check out his Facebook Page for more details).  He even pulled down the storefront gate to show off the Spidey Mural painted by Damion Scott.

The signing was great too, with Jerome Walford and N. Steve Harris on hand signing and displaying their wares.  I picked up a few goodies (all six issues of ‘NoWhere Man’ and the ‘Gwan Anthology’) to keep me up later that night; and I got the latest issue of ‘Millennials’ signed by Dimitrios himself!

Yes, I am Hulk green with envy, but Dimitrios is such an affable gregarious guy, you just can’t but be happy for him and wish him the best of luck–it’s impossible to be a hater around him. His knowledge of the comic book world is endless, and one can spend hours in the store just listening him narrate tale after tale.  If you are ever in the Brooklyn, Crown Heights area, stop by Anyone Comics and purchase something; and make sure Dimitrios tells you the comic book story on How Dr. Doom came to owe Luke Cage $200.00.  Funny as hell!