Newbury Comics

Newbury Comics

Type	Private
Industry	Music Comics DVDs Pop Culture
Founded	Boston, Massachusetts, U.S., 1978
Founder(s)	John Brusger Mike Dreese[1]
Headquarters	Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
Number of locations	28
Area served	New England
Key people	John Brusger, Co-founder Mike Dreese, Co-founder[1]
Subsidiaries	Hootenanny
Website	NewburyComics.com

Newbury Comics' flagship store on Newbury Street in Boston, Massachusetts

Newbury Comics in North Dartmouth

Newbury Comics van outside the Newbury Comics store in Harvard Square

Newbury Comics is a New England-based music retailer. Newbury Comics began as a comic book vendor on Newbury Street in Boston. The company was founded in 1978 by Massachusetts Institute of Technology students John Brusger and Mike Dreese. Over the next few years, the focus of the company changed from comics to music, although comic books are still sold at stores in limited amounts. Dreese also published Boston Rock, a music tabloid which was active from 1980 to 1987 that focused on Punk, New Wave and Indie bands. There are now 29 stores in five New England states: four in New Hampshire, two in Rhode Island, one in Maine, one in Connecticut, and twenty-one in Massachusetts.

Since the late 1980's Newbury Comics has been a vendor of new and used CDs, LPs and DVDs, and other pop culture-related goods. Newbury Comics sells LPs, CDs, singles, and DVDs. It also offers comics, posters, T-shirts, trading cards, action figures, buttons, sports merchandise, jewelry, cosmetics, novelties and more. Some locations also sell punk-style clothing.

The chain also has a sister store called Hootenanny which mostly sells punk-style clothing, located one floor below the Newbury Comics in Harvard Square.

Notable employees

• Andy Bonner of the Boston band Piebald worked for years at both the Harvard Square and Alewife locations. The band's "King of the Road" includes the lyrics, "Andy went back to school. He got sick of Newbury Comics."
• Valerie Forgione of Mistle Thrush is the company's vice president of merchandising^[2]
• Joe Guese, guitarist of the The Click Five, worked at the flagship Newbury Comics briefly before joining the band
• Rob Hamilton and Chris Pearson of Green Magnet School worked at the Framingham store and the warehouse, respectively, when the band was signed to Sub Pop records.
• Aimee Mann worked at the original Newbury Street location before gaining prominence with her band 'Til Tuesday.^[2]
• Jon Syverson, Alexis S.F. Marshall, and Samuel Moorehouse Walker of Daughters have worked at the Providence and North Attleboro locations.
• Chris Pupecki (Doomriders, Black Tail & ex-Cast Iron Hike) works at the Natick store.
• Johnny Earle, founder of clothing line Johnny Cupcakes, worked at Newbury Comics, where he would secretly sell shirts out of his car on bathroom breaks.^{[citation needed]}
• Jon Strader, guitarist of the band No Trigger, worked at the Shrewsbury location.
• Paul DeGeorge, of Harry and the Potters, worked at various stores, including both Cambridge locations.
• Mark McKay, drummer of hardcore punk band Slapshot is the main Computer Technician of Newbury Comics.
• Ryan McKenney and Brian Izzi of of the band Trap Them, worked at the Salem, NH store.

Company logo in popular culture

In the movie Hatchet (2007), star Joel Moore spends much of the film in a blood-spattered Newbury Comics t-shirt. In reaction to this Newbury Comics started selling special Hatchet t-shirts like the one in the movie. The "Tooth Face" Logo t-shirt is featured in the second issue of The Bulletproof Coffin comics from Image Comics.

In the second opening credits for Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, Sabrina, portrayed by Melissa Joan Hart, is seen walking out of the store on Newbury Street.

References

1. ^ ^{a b} http://www.cmw.net/cmw2004/spmike_dreese.htm
2. ^ ^{a b} Dreese seriously enjoys comics biz, Michael Saunders and Jim Sullivan, Boston Globe, D4, December 5, 2000.

External links

• Newbury Comics' official website
• 2008 Interview with Mike Dreese on Well-Rounded Radio