Dave Hennen, proprietor of East Bay Comics at 437 Hope St., traces his passion for comic books to a Marvel Spider Man that he picked up in a barber shop when he was about 8 years old. That comic sparked a passion that still burns bright after several decades and a successful career as a network engineer.

The longtime area resident (he was in Bristol for about 20 years before moving to Warren 10 years ago) has collected off and on his whole life. He had amassed a substantial collection by the time he went to college, though he sold off most of that to pay bills.

“After I got out and got a decent job, I got back into it,” he said.
That’s a bit of an understatement — his collection includes about 250,000 individual comic books, many rare, vintage, and unique. About a third of them are available in his shop, with more on his website. They range in price from $5 to about $900, so there is truly something here for every fan or collector.

Hennen continues to add to his collection, finding things at yard and estate sales and flea markets. “I have a pretty good network of friends who know what I do,” he said. “People do house clean outs — that's a big source. A lot of stuff walks through the door; it's a lot of word of mouth.”

“There's always new stuff coming in — that's part of the fun.”

Comic book aficionados will know this is not East Bay Comics’ first location — Hennen has long had a small storefront on Metacom Avenue in Warren. But the visibility of his new downtown Bristol location is making a big difference in the walk-in traffic he’s seeing. “This is a wonderful location,” he said. In fact, he’s already expanding into the unit next door. There’s much work to be done, but he hopes his new, expanded store will be complete by April.

Hennan doesn’t just deal in comic books — he also has a fantastic collection of vintage toys and collectibles including Legos, Star Wars figurines, G.I Joes, and more, many still in their original packaging, many not. “We get a lot of hardcore collectors who would be horrified at opening the package, but I encourage people if you're going to buy it for your kid, yeah, open it,” he said. “There's plenty more of this stuff out there.”

As with the comics, Hennen gravitated towards Marvel superheroes with his toy collection: characters like Spider-Man, Avengers, and Fantastic Four. “That's what brought me into it, but Star Wars caught on pretty early. I saw it when it first came out and and it was one thing that I remember vividly doing with my Dad,” he said.

“I hear that a lot from people. It made a big impression.”

Some of the more unique items in his collection include a poster of all the characters from the first 14 seasons of The Simpsons, an incredibly rate poster from a 1970s cartoon series called Shogun Warriors, and Clint Eastwood poster that came from the late great Bristol Cinema.

East Bay Comics also sells vintage albums and DVDs. Hours are Wednesday through Sunday, open 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. and until 3 p.m. on Sundays. Hennen adjusts his hours for holidays and its also happy to open the store by appointment. For more information, visit ebcomix.com.