* psyched to hear I'll have something to do in Hartlepool that isn't visiting the Andy Capp statue. As always, best of luck to any new comics business owner.
* here's an article on the performance space aspects to Meltdown Comics, and how successful they've been. One thing I like about what they've done there is I don't know one person for whom this added element has changed how they describe Meltdown int terms of it being a comics shop -- this is appropriate, because it really hasn't changed a whole lot in the period of the time since this other element of their business has become successful.