The resurgence of high-flying superheroes as box office stars over the past several years has ignited renewed interest in the heroes' comic book origins.
This spells solid business for Mike Kalohn, owner of Prime Time Comics & Cards Incorporated, 4 N. Broadway in Lake Orion.
"With the new movies that have come out and with Disney (which owns comic brand Marvel) really promoting it and pushing it, we've definitely seen a resurgence in comics," Kalohn said.
Kalohn opened Prime Time in 1990 as a baseball card shop and gradually expanded his store's expertise to also include comic books and card games.
"We kind of evolved over the years to whatever is popular and whatever people want," Kalohn said.
These trends, he said, have changed in the 23 years since he opened his doors, with profit-minded collectors investing heavily in sports cards in the 1990s, hoping to monetize on the rarity of coveted cards before promptly pulling out of the industry. Nowadays, Kalohn said, the industry has come back to those who simply enjoy it as a hobby.
Kalohn said last week's release of the Superman film Man of Steel has boosted the popularity of Superman books, while the consistent popularity of the AMC TV series The Walking Dead has drawn first-time readers into the books that spawned the series.
It's a mix of both the sports and superheroes, though, that keeps customers coming through Kalohn's doors.
"They work well together," he said. "I don't know if one can carry the other or vice versa."
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