This article may contain excessive or inappropriate references to self-published sources .(January 2019) |
Company type | Private |
---|---|
Industry | Retail |
Founded | May 1983 |
Headquarters | 51 35th Street [1] , , United States |
Number of locations | 1 (formerly 3) |
Area served | New York City |
Products |
|
Owner | Mitch Cutler |
Website | www |
St. Mark's Comics is a New York City comic book retailer. It opened its first store at 11 St. Mark's Place in Manhattan in 1983, and eventually opened two other locations, in Lower Manhattan and one in Brooklyn Heights. In late January 2019, St. Mark's Comics announced it would be going out of business at the end of February 2019. On July 30, 2021, It re-opened at a new location in Industry City, Brooklyn. [1]
The store's St. Mark's Place location was noted for its underground sensibility and cluttered, over-stuffed decor, and for employing female staff members long before that became the norm in the comics retailing industry. [2] In addition to comics, graphic novels, and manga, St. Mark's Comics sold trading cards, action figures, toys, T-shirts, and other pop culture collectibles. [3] [4]
St. Mark's Comics was founded in 1983, [4] and acquired a year later by Mitch Cutler [5] when he was still in his teens. [6]
Cutler founded a second location at 148 Montague Street in Brooklyn Heights in 1988. That location closed in 2012. [7] [ self-published source? ] The store had another location at 150 Chambers Street in lower Manhattan that closed in 2004 in part due to the after-effects of the September 11 attacks. [8]
A fire damaged the St. Mark's location and some of its inventory in 2011, but the store was able to recover. [9]
In October 2017, St. Mark's Comics launched a GoFundMe campaign to keep the store open, but it only raised $1,201. [10]
On January 29, 2019, Cutler announced that St. Mark's Comics would be closing at the end of February. [2] Reasons cited by Cutler included 90-hour works weeks, higher rents and a changing marketplace. [5] The announcement prompted tributes from comics creators including Neil Gaiman, Brian Michael Bendis, [4] [11] and Dean Haspiel. [2]
On July 30, 2021, St. Mark's Comics re-opened at a new location in Industry City, Brooklyn. [1]
In issue 12 of Brian K. Vaughan's comics series Ex Machina #12, the main character, Mitchell Hundred, laments the closing of a beloved comic book store in Lower Manhattan following the September 11 attacks, and a friend mentions some real-life comics shops that are still open, including St. Mark's Comics, Jim Hanley's Universe, and Midtown Comics. [12]
Brooklyn is a borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelve original counties established under British rule in 1683 in the then Province of New York. As of the 2020 United States census, the population stood at 2,736,074, making it the most populous of the five boroughs of New York City, the most populous county in the State of New York, and the ninth most populous county in the United States. In 2022, the population density of Brooklyn was recorded at 37,339.9 inhabitants per square mile (14,417.0/km2), making it the second most densely populated county nationwide, behind only Manhattan. Had Brooklyn remained an independent city, it would today be the fourth most populous American city after New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago.
Crown Heights is a neighborhood in the central portion of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. Crown Heights is bounded by Washington Avenue to the west, Atlantic Avenue to the north, Ralph Avenue to the east, and Empire Boulevard/East New York Avenue to the south. It is about one mile (1.6 km) wide and two miles (3.2 km) long. Neighborhoods bordering Crown Heights include Prospect Heights to the west, Flatbush and Prospect Lefferts Gardens to the south, Brownsville to the east, and Bedford–Stuyvesant to the north.
Bensonhurst is a residential neighborhood in the southwestern section of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood is bordered on the northwest by 14th Avenue, on the northeast by 60th Street, on the southeast by Avenue P and 22nd Avenue and on the southwest by 86th Street. It is adjacent to the neighborhoods of Dyker Heights to the northwest, Borough Park and Mapleton to the northeast, Bath Beach to the southwest, and Gravesend to the southeast.
Dumbo is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. It encompasses two sections: one situated between the Manhattan and Brooklyn Bridges, which connect Brooklyn to Manhattan across the East River, and another extending eastward from the Manhattan Bridge to the Vinegar Hill area. The neighborhood is bounded by Brooklyn Bridge Park to the north, the Brooklyn Bridge to the west, Brooklyn Heights to the south, and Vinegar Hill to the east. Dumbo is part of Brooklyn Community Board 2.
Bloomingdale's Inc. is an American luxury department store chain founded in 1861 by Joseph Bloomingdale and Lyman Bloomingdale. It was acquired by Federated Department Stores in 1930, which acquired the Macy’s department store chain in 1994, when they became sister brands. Ultimately, Federated itself was renamed Macy’s, Inc. in 2007.
Tony Harris is an American comic book artist, known for his work on series such as Starman, Iron Man, and Ex Machina. He has been nominated for nineteen Eisner Awards and has won two.
Brooklyn Heights is a residential neighborhood within the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood is bounded by Old Fulton Street near the Brooklyn Bridge on the north, Cadman Plaza West on the east, Atlantic Avenue on the south, and the Brooklyn–Queens Expressway or the East River on the west. Adjacent neighborhoods are Dumbo to the north, Downtown Brooklyn to the east, and Cobble Hill and Boerum Hill to the south.
The BMT West End Line is a line of the New York City Subway, serving the Brooklyn communities of Sunset Park, Borough Park, New Utrecht, Bensonhurst, Bath Beach and Coney Island. The D train operates local on the entire line at all times. Although there is a center express track and three express stations along the line, there is no regular express service.
8th Street is a street in the New York City borough of Manhattan that runs from Sixth Avenue to Third Avenue, and also from Avenue B to Avenue D; its addresses switch from West to East as it crosses Fifth Avenue. Between Third Avenue and Avenue A, it is named St. Mark's Place, after the nearby St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery on 10th Street at Second Avenue.
The Brooklyn Eagle was an afternoon daily newspaper published in the city and later borough of Brooklyn, in New York City, for 114 years from 1841 to 1955.
Downtown Brooklyn is the third largest central business district in New York City, and is located in the northwestern section of the borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood is known for its office and residential buildings, such as the Williamsburgh Savings Bank Tower and the MetroTech Center office complex.
The R Broadway Local is a rapid transit service in the B Division of the New York City Subway. Its route emblem, or "bullet", is colored yellow since it uses the BMT Broadway Line in Manhattan.
The Borough Hall/Court Street station is an underground New York City Subway station complex in Brooklyn shared by the BMT Fourth Avenue Line, the IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line and the IRT Eastern Parkway Line. The complex comprises three stations: Borough Hall on the IRT lines and Court Street on the BMT line. The stations are located under Court, Joralemon, and Montague Streets, next to Brooklyn Borough Hall, in the Downtown Brooklyn and Brooklyn Heights neighborhoods of Brooklyn. It is served by the 2, 4, and R trains at all times; the 3 train all times except late nights; the 5 train on weekdays; the N train during late nights; and limited rush-hour W trains.
The BMT Fourth Avenue Line is a rapid transit line of the New York City Subway, mainly running under Fourth Avenue in Brooklyn. The line is served by the D, N, and R at all times; the R typically runs local, while the D and N run express during the day and local at night. During rush hours, select W trains also serve the line. Northbound D and N trains run local along the line after 6:45 p.m. during weekdays as well. The line was originally built by the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company and is now internally operated as part of the New York City Subway's B Division.
Ex Machina is an American creator-owned comic book series, created by Brian K. Vaughan and Tony Harris and published by DC Comics under the Wildstorm imprint. Ex Machina launched in 2004 as part of DC Comics' Wildstorm imprint. The series ended in August 2010 with issue fifty.
Gristedes is a New York City–based chain of supermarkets. It serves a mostly urban customer base.
Midtown Comics is a New York City comic book retailer with three shops in Manhattan and an e-commerce website. The largest comic book store in the United States, the company opened its first store in the Times Square area in 1997. Its second was opened on Lexington Avenue in 2004, and is known as the Grand Central store for its proximity to Grand Central Terminal. Its downtown store was opened on Fulton Street in the Financial District in November 2010, and its Astoria, Queens outlet store opened in March 2020. It also used to operate a boutique inside Manhattan's Times Square Toys R Us.
Fairway Market is a small American grocery chain founded in 1933 by Nathan Glickberg. It is one of the brands owned by the Wakefern Food Corporation, whose flagship supermarket cooperative network is ShopRite.
The Brooklyn Heights Promenade, also called the Esplanade, is a 1,826-foot (557 m)-long platform and pedestrian walkway cantilevered over the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway in Brooklyn Heights, Brooklyn, New York City, United States. With views of Lower Manhattan's skyline and the New York Harbor, it came about as the byproduct of competing proposals for the highway's route that were resolved in the midst of World War II. Actual construction came after the war. As a structure built over a roadway, the Promenade is owned by the NYCDOT and is not considered a park; however, NYC Parks maintains the entire Promenade.
Desert Island is a comic shop in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York. The store focuses on underground and alternative comics, as well as independent and self-published comics sold through consignment. Desert Island also hosts the annual comic book festival Comic Arts Brooklyn, and publishes Smoke Signal, an independent comics anthology that has been nominated for an Eisner Award.