Tribute to Comics Mart

I was mentioning how Comics Mart ran into some problems in my recent posts and how I was hoping they would be sorted out quickly so that normal life would resume. An 18 May Straits Times article seemed to have sounded the death knell of Comics Mart. That's it... it has ceased to be, crushed beneath the heels of fate, sliced by the Sword of Damocles... you get the idea.



So I've been experiencing the 5 stages of grief according to Kubler-Ross.

1. Denial – "No! This can't be happening, not to me."
2. Anger – "Fuck all you cheapskates who download comics or go to the library!"
3. Bargaining – "Just let Comics Mart resume business again...I'd give up my precious collection of Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issues."
4. Depression – "I'm so sad, why bother with anything? What's the point?; I miss my beloved Comics Mart, why go on?"
5. Acceptance – I'm not there yet.

Most people around me would not understand what Comics Mart meant to me. In a lifelong love affair with comics, Comics Mart was the fan that stoke the flames of love. I never missed a single issue of my orders and they always came through for me, even during the 6-month period I was away from Singapore on an exchange programme. They were the first to bring my literary hero Neil Gaiman to Singapore back in 2005 (in partnership with the British Council). I've flirted with other comic shops once in awhile but have always returned to Comics Mart... the ever reliable, ever patient partner.

I'll miss my home away from home at Serene Centre and the other members of the family - Carol, Ming, Squirrel, Stephen, Sudesh, Adrian and the rest of the gang.

Nothing to do but to grieve with other fans on the Facebook group "Comicsmart Singapore: The end of an era".

Someone mentioned a line from the Theme Song from "Cheers"... a most apt and fitting eulogy which I reproduce here:

Making your way in the world today
Takes everything you've got;
Taking a break from all your worries
Sure would help a lot.
Wouldn't you like to get away?

All those night when you've got no lights,
The check is in the mail;
And your little angel
Hung the cat up by it's tail;
And your third fiance didn't show;

Sometimes you want to go
Where everybody knows your name,
And they're always glad you came;
You want to be where you can see,
Our troubles are all the same;
You want to be where everybody knows your name.

Roll out of bed, Mr. Coffee's dead;
The morning's looking bright;
And your shrink ran off to Europe,
And didn't even write;
And your husband wants to be a girl;

Be glad there's one place in the world
Where everybody knows your name,
And they're always glad you came;
You want to go where people know,
People are all the same;
You want to go where everybody knows your name.

Where everybody knows your name,
And they're always glad you came;
Where everybody knows your name,
And they're always glad you came...