You might know Pyrogy Cat, the creation of comic-book artist Gareth Gaudin. The cat starred in Gaudin鈥檚 Magic Teeth Dailies, a comic he drew every day for 10 years.
Those comics continue, and you have to wonder how the artist finds time to do this and run a legendary comic-book store on lower Johnson Street. Gaudin鈥檚 shop, Legends Books and Comics, has just celebrated its 25th anniversary and, on the occasion, I asked him about the history of comics in Victoria.
Gaudin was born in 1973, but to begin our tale, he took me back to 1952 and the corner store at the junction of Oak Bay and Foul Bay Roads, which was known for years as Freddy the Freeloader鈥檚. The store sold comics.
鈥淚n the early days, comics were an industry run by gangsters,鈥� Gaudin explained. During Prohibition, newspaper deliveries were used as a front for alcohol. 鈥淭he comics would arrive every week, damaged, bent and folded. They came in random bundles, and nobody cared if anyone got to read consecutive issues.鈥�
To return the unsold titles, shopkeepers were supposed to tear the cover off and send it back for credit. But the man who owned the store decided, in 1952, not to send the comics back.
鈥淗e just stored them,鈥� Gaudin told me. Then, in 1970, the first price guide to comics came out. People started collecting them, and what was stored was sold from the store鈥檚 basement in bundles.
John Newberry, child of the original Victoria antiques store family, bought some of those bundles and in 1973 opened Victoria鈥檚 first official comic-book store. John鈥檚 Astonishing Books and Comics occupied the building next to Idar鈥檚 on Fort Street. By 1978, Dick de Ryk had moved to town, bought the store, and renamed it Island Fantasy. This store later moved to the centre of Market Square, where it became world famous and survived until January 1994.
Some time during those years, little Gareth Gaudin discovered comics.
鈥淚 bought my first comic at Turner鈥檚 in October 1978,鈥� he fondly recalled. 鈥淢y mom worked as a hairdresser at Ladybird Coiffure across the street. When I was about five years old, I begged her to take me to Turner鈥檚, and that鈥檚 where I bought Godzilla No. 17 鈥� because it had a giant monster on the cover.鈥� These comics were another dimension to the weekly Monster Matin茅e, old movies aired on local television on Sunday afternoon for two hours.
Having his own comic book was compelling.
鈥淚 learned to read by that book,鈥� Gaudin admitted, his elementary school training stumbling over words he had never seen, such as 鈥減uny鈥� and 鈥渂ehemoth.鈥�
Soon, Gaudin began making his own comics, featuring his original cartoon character Cosmic Kitty. And, as soon as the Oak Bay library got the neighbourhood鈥檚 first public photocopier, he began copying and selling comics to his father鈥檚 pals at the rugby club. Did he sell them to his peers?
鈥淣ever to a kid,鈥� he assured me. 鈥淵ou wouldn鈥檛 even let the other kids know you read comics, let alone drew them. I鈥檇 have to get off the bus one stop early so nobody saw me going to the comic store.鈥� Comics were the epitome of nerd.
With the money he made from his stapled and photocopied books, he鈥檇 go to the store and buy 鈥渞eal鈥� comics. When he was eight years old, he discovered Island Fantasy. There he stood and gazed at the racks.
鈥淚 never had any money to buy them, so the covers were all that mattered.鈥� Ultimately, he collected all 24 issues of Godzilla.
鈥淒own there, I could see what comics were in demand,鈥� Gaudin realized, 鈥渁nd then, when those titles showed up on the stands at the convenience store, I would buy up all the popular titles and take them downtown.鈥� He could resell the $1 comic for $5 at Island Fantasy.
鈥淚 realized there was a business in this.鈥�
As he got older, Gaudin began to create little skateboarding magazines, with maps showing how to get to the cool skating spots (tip: the parking lot behind the Rock Hound Shop on Cloverdale). At their peak of popularity, he might make 25 copies.
Then, at the age of 19, Gaudin was hired by Island Fantasy, a dream job for a teenager. While working there, he met Grant Wilson, who had volunteered to work at Island Fantasy when he was just nine years old, and he took it all very seriously. Over the years, Wilson 鈥減anned the comic industry to get the gold,鈥� according to Gaudin.
Later, Phil Robbie, who owned Griffon Books in Market Square, sponsored Wilson, at age 26, to open his own store: Legends Books and Comics.
鈥淥n Nov. 7, 1992, Legends opened, and I was their first customer,鈥� Gaudin noted with pride. 鈥淕rant knew I was really good at my job 鈥� I could sell comic books like crazy. So he offered me a job.
鈥淚t was a big deal for me to leave the big powerhouse comic book store. After all, every Marvel comic in the 1990s had an ad for Island Fantasy in it. We were fielding orders from all over the world. It was huge.鈥�
Gaudin hesitated, but he eventually took the job.
鈥淭hank God I did,鈥� he sighed, 鈥渇or otherwise I would have been out of comic books 鈥� Island Fantasy closed a few months later.鈥�
To be continued. 鈥�
Legends Comics and Books, 633聽Johnson St., 250-388-3696
