Al’s: A Comic Book Store as Vintage as its Merchandise

By Xander Piper

A senseless act of vandalism, a brick thrown through Al Kizziah’s storefront window one early morning, threatened his business, the popular Al’s Comics on Market Street.

Undaunted he turned to his regulars to get help. He has dubbed them his “sweetheart brigade” and back in 2006 when his first store was under threat of eviction, this group came together and threw him a fundraiser to save their beloved comic shop. They raised the money and with the few weeks Al had, he was able to relocate to his current Upper Market address. Now, three years later he turned to Facebook and threw a benefit at Cellspace to raise money for the damage.

“It wasn’t as much as I would hope. But it was a real help,” he said.

A quick look at Internet reviews of his store shows opinion of the forty-something comic book owner so divided that it could lead a prospective customer to believe that the store were run by Jekyll and Hyde. However, if someone stops to chat longer than five minutes with Kizziah, it becomes clear that his dry personality and sometimes-brusque demeanor of speech holds nothing but best intentions. He is passionate about comics and loves to share them with people.

“You can see the people stop in the window and remember that comic book moment. It’s visual storytelling and even the cavemen knew about it,” he said.

Kizziah started his store 20 years ago in the Mission. Driving a cab at the time, he decided to give his dream of opening his own store a chance. He timed the opening to coincide with the opening of the 1989 Tim Burton directed Batman film, which fortunately was about the time a whole new wave of interest in comic books surged.

“I thought to myself, if I make it through just six months and close down, at least I will get this comic book thing out of my system,” Kizziah said.

Having to count on all sorts of factors it can be difficult for any comic store to manage its inventory. When the economy is up, Kizziah explained, the graphic novels (collections of the monthly magazines or longer form stories bound as half inch to two inch thick paperbacks) are the highest demand item. When the economy takes a down turn, his customers turn to the lower priced monthly magazines to get their fix. With new titles coming out all the time it can be difficult to gauge what will sell and what won’t.

“It’s a very expensive business,” Kizziah explained. “Especially when you have to order two months out.”

Kizziah’s store weaves quite a bit of quirky takes on the traditional store. In addition to the toys, comics, and t-shirts, the shelves are randomly crammed with vintage trade magazines, photographs and books such as Father Coughlin’s Radio Sermons Complete 1930-1939. Kizziah stocks these so when a friend or relative comes in with a comic fan, they can find something that interests them.
“It helps to create a community of readers, which is what I am going for.”

However, the most surprising thing about Kizziah’s shop is something vanishing from the specialty shops all over: large collections of the rare past issues. A decade ago this was the focus of any serious comic shop. With long rows of boxes, like albums at a record shop, each vintage issue of Amazing Fantasy and Superman is lovingly protected in a plastic bag and reinforced with a cardboard back. The huge floor-space requirement for the slow-moving, low-priced stock has led to stores closing down or turning to the more profitable graphic novels.

But Kizziah remains optimistic. “No matter what the future holds it’s been a great time; I wouldn’t have done it any differently. I just hope people stop and smell the comics.”

Copyright 2009 Castro Courier