I used to go visit my friends who lived in a town called Hobart. When I was like 17, I took a Greyhound bus from Newark, NJ to Gary, Indiana. That experience should be a post…lol
Bro... Hobart, are you fucking kidding me? I'm originally from Hobart! We moved when I was six, but I still have family in the area and get up to visit every year around Thanksgiving. The FLCS there back in the day was on Main Street, called "Friendly Frank's Comics". You can see 'em in this 1985 ad from ComicBookAdsBlog:
Robert DeJesus, who lived in Gary, was a frequent shopper there in the 80s and 90s. He did quite a bit of work for Antarctic Press back in the early and mid-90s.
Sadly they closed down a number of years ago. So did another store called Excalibur Comics out in Portage that I used to frequent. There was a used bookstore in Friendly Frank's old shop space for a few years, called "Green Door Books", but they moved down the road to a larger storefront a couple of years back, and I'm not sure what's in there now. I have a lot of great memories tied up in visiting that shop as a kid. Bought my first Ninja High School TPB from them in 1993 when I first was getting into manga.
Now the only comic book shop I'm aware of in the area is Galactic Greg's in Valparaiso, but I haven't been out there to visit yet. They have really weird hours (they don't open until like 3pm), and I've never been able to make it work.
And yes, that experience should definitely be a post.
I remember a number of people who lived there back when I did. They would have graduated high school anywhere between 1994 and 1997. They were kids who lived in my grandparents' neighborhood (I moved away from Hobart when I was six, so I didn't go to school with anyone there), but we hung out for birthday parties and such.
No girls, alas, but it sounds like you had a great crew there!
Sounds about right.
I used to go visit my friends who lived in a town called Hobart. When I was like 17, I took a Greyhound bus from Newark, NJ to Gary, Indiana. That experience should be a post…lol
Bro... Hobart, are you fucking kidding me? I'm originally from Hobart! We moved when I was six, but I still have family in the area and get up to visit every year around Thanksgiving. The FLCS there back in the day was on Main Street, called "Friendly Frank's Comics". You can see 'em in this 1985 ad from ComicBookAdsBlog:
Robert DeJesus, who lived in Gary, was a frequent shopper there in the 80s and 90s. He did quite a bit of work for Antarctic Press back in the early and mid-90s.
Sadly they closed down a number of years ago. So did another store called Excalibur Comics out in Portage that I used to frequent. There was a used bookstore in Friendly Frank's old shop space for a few years, called "Green Door Books", but they moved down the road to a larger storefront a couple of years back, and I'm not sure what's in there now. I have a lot of great memories tied up in visiting that shop as a kid. Bought my first Ninja High School TPB from them in 1993 when I first was getting into manga.
Now the only comic book shop I'm aware of in the area is Galactic Greg's in Valparaiso, but I haven't been out there to visit yet. They have really weird hours (they don't open until like 3pm), and I've never been able to make it work.
And yes, that experience should definitely be a post.
Omg. Seriously?!? Do you still remember anyone from there? My friends are 3 girls (Sarah, aprille, & Raven) that I believe graduated in 99.
I remember a number of people who lived there back when I did. They would have graduated high school anywhere between 1994 and 1997. They were kids who lived in my grandparents' neighborhood (I moved away from Hobart when I was six, so I didn't go to school with anyone there), but we hung out for birthday parties and such.
No girls, alas, but it sounds like you had a great crew there!
Ah. Gotcha. I remember them taking me to the Dunes. That was fun. Other than that, I don’t really reminder the area. Small world though.