It started out being run from the dining room of his parents’ home.
Next Wednesday, Jared Myland will celebrate the 10th birthday of his comic book business, OK Comics.
He has invited friends and customers to a party in his shop in the Thornton’s Arcade, Leeds.
His business began online but Jared, 37, from Cross Gates, moved to a shop to reach a wider audience. It is now an Aladdin’s Cave for comics.
Jared said: “I’ve been into comics since I was a lad – The Beano, The Dandy – and sort of graduated on to Marvel superheroes.
“I remember getting a Marvel Tales reprinted issue number two of The Amazing Spiderman.
“It’s regarded as a classic, but I didn’t know that at the time. I just thought it was a good story of Spiderman fighting a bad guy.”
His hobby spiralled into an obsession as Jared filled boxes with comics.
The Jacob Kramer Art College graduate was also working as the manager of Space Odyssey in Eastgate (now Forbidden Planet) selling comics.
But he left and started to sell his own private collection.
He said: “I was working on the computer set up on my mum and dad’s dining room table.
“Because that wasn’t bringing in enough money I started working part-time in a comics back issue warehouse.
“The guy who runs that place, Richard Makinson, and I decided to set up a shop together.”
They took a unit in the old Market Street Arcade then moved to Thornton’s Arcade.
The comic-buying community is tight-knit, as Jared found out when the business nearly folded a few years ago.
He said: “There were some unexpected repair works in the arcade which killed trade. I wrote a little note on our website basically saying ‘use it or lose it’.
“Loads of people tweeted this, Jonathan Ross (a big comic fan) even retweeted it, and the phone didn’t stop ringing for three days. It saved us.”
* The party is open to the public on September 12 from 6 to 8pm.
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