FEATURE: Retailer's touch turned comic books medium into gold

People walk into a Northridge comics store to witness a masked vigilante's war on crime, the life of a witty vampire slayer, or the genesis of a man with almost indestructible claws.

The creator of Wolverine says nonchalantly to the cashier, "So I've been nominated for an Eisner Award." A customer asks to know his identity. 

Len Wein, who during the 1970s introduced Colossus and Nightcrawler to a static X-Men series, asks, "Who am I?" 

But the mutants would not have sold as well as they did without the promotion of the store's founder, the late William "Bill" Liebowitz.

As Golden Apple Comics on Reseda Boulevard celebrates its 25th year, the store's staff and regulars reflect on a loved one, a friend, a nice guy who as a hobby utilized his retail acumen to make superhero lore sell.

Police cars and helicopters once encircled the Northridge store, his wife Sharon Liebowitz said. But The Joker was not hiding there. And the smiling faces that formed a line extending several blocks were not exposed to laughing gas.

They were waiting to meet comic book artist Jim Lee, renowned for the stylish redesign of costumed characters such as Catwoman and Jean Grey, who was as eager to meet all his fans.

"Tell them to keep circling," Sharon Leibowitz remembers Lee saying about the police, who asked her husband to cancel the event to prevent a riot. Instead, William Liebowitz promised half the crowd signed copies of Lee's comic books if they returned the next day.

"He always did things like that for the fans," Sharon Liebowtiz said. The decision made perfect business sense to Liebowitz, who organized appearances for novice or famous comics writers and artists to help promote their craft and his stores, his wife said.

In 1974, William Liebowitz was not content working as a vice president for a Canadian real estate firm, so he decided to sell comics after attending a science fiction convention - that's what comic book conventions were called then - in Brooklyn, N.Y., his wife said.

"I thought it was a bad idea because we had two sons to think about," Sharon Liebowitz said. "I'm happy to say that I was wrong."

Five years later, the Conan the Barbarian fan was selling comic books in the back of a smoke shop on 7711 Melrose Avenue, 13 blocks from its current location. Back then, comics were sold in boxes on the floor in "tiny, awful stores," Sharon Liebowitz said.

His wife said patrons took home their tobacco and comics in plastic bags labeled "Golden Apple," the name of the smoke shop, and later the name of four comic book shops, one on Melrose Avenue, a short-lived store one on Pico Boulevard and the store in Northridge.

Golden Apple Comics in Northridge was first established on Reseda Boulevard in what is currently an alleyway next to a discount store. When the lease expired, William Leibowitz moved the store across the street to a burned down beauty salon.

Comics writers such as Marv Wolfman, the creator of New Teen Titans members Starfire, Raven and Cyborg, would come to William Liebowitz's stores, and he would promote their work to customers, his wife said. Even Archie from fictional Riverdale would stop by.

Rather, writer George Gladeer thanked his friend by featuring him in Archies Comics, including his store and family, Sharon Liebowitz said. In one issue, William Liebowitz advises Archie to Xerox copies of his drawings on paper so that Golden Apple could sell them.

Wolfman, who created Blade while working on the Tomb of Dracula series, was already established as a comic book writer when he met Liebowitz. Nevertheless, the retailer set up signings, parties with different professionals and other events to publicize his work, Wolfman said.

"Bill was very outgoing and friendly ... knowledgeable about the business," Wolfman said. "He helped give a sense of professionalism to retailers. Many were only fans who decided to open a shop. He helped make it a business where they could actually have a career."

His daughter-in-law Kendra Liebowitz, who works the register three days a week at the Northridge store, said, "He could never say no to anyone who asked for help. He would treat you as an equal, and he would talk to you even if you just walked in for the first time."

This was also the case with female customers who buy Japanese manga, said Warren Jaycox, manager of the Northridge store.

"He was always trying to reach out to new demographics to improve business," Jaycox said. "He's one guy who really got that."

Sharon Liebowitz said her husband saw the comic book industry as "plastic" because it could always expand in its reach and appeal.

Pam Auditore, a customer with a background in special effects, said she once helped him toward that end by explaining to him why hobbits were considered heroes.

"He didn't get it," Auditore said. "He was about 6'4, so he liked those muscled-up take charge hero types."

He liked Conan the Barbarian so much that he commissioned paintings to give to his two sons Ryan and Damon of them standing next to the fictional warrior, his wife said.

"They now hang in his grandkids' rooms," Sharon Liebowitz said about the two gifts.

Although he did not carry a sword, William Liebowitz delighted children with yo-yos he sold in his stores and the tricks that made him a state and national champion, Jaycox said.

Though William Liebowitz was nice, he was firm as well. His daughter-in-law said she once witnessed him catch a shoplifter at the Melrose store.

"He yelled, 'What the hell are you doing?' He was a big man, and wide, with a howling voice.'" Kendra Liebowitz said. "I knew then I never wanted to get on his bad side."

Jaycox said William Liebowitz hired him five years ago, matching his past salary at a major book retailer, sans benefits and 401 (k) plan. The Northridge manager said it was worth working for a boss who gave him freedom to implement his ideas.

An idea Jaycox said he implemented was to replace the store's wooden racks that "Bill still had from the old store" with new black wire racks.

"He was a good boss," Jaycox said about Liebowitz. "Whenever I messed up, he'd tell me. But he'd also tell me if I did a good job."

Jaycox works the register as a line comprised of fans starts inside the Northridge store, extending past wall art of a smiling Wolverine bearing claws and along Reseda Boulevard on New Comics Day.

Len Wein's childhood friend Marv Wolfman walks in through the back door.

Though Wolfman's creations have been adapted into major Hollywood movies and a successful animated series, Jaycox says, "He didn't think anyone would show."

Wolfman signs copies of Raven, a five-issue series about the empath Teen Titan he created with artist George Perez to revamp the teenage superhero team one year after William Liebowitz's first Golden Apple Comics store on Melrose Avenue opened its doors.

"Bill and I weren't friends who spent a lot of time schmoozing, but we did find the time to talk," Wolfman said. "I enjoyed his company."

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FEATURE: Fanboy's Web site helps save Gotham City from the Hollywood machine

A 31-year-old Houston man left a movie theater more than 10 years ago disillusioned. The movie had not yet finished, but the injustice he witnessed was too much to bear. Batman and Robin were wearing rubber nipples.

Bill Ramey looked at the silver screen as Batman used politically correct terms, carried a credit card in his utility belt and, if that was not enough, he was smiling.

It was summer 1997. Director Joel Schumacher's "Batman & Robin" was in movie theaters.

"The whole thing just seemed off," Ramey would later post on the Web.

Much like another dispirited, albeit fictional man, Ramey set out to ensure that what happened to him would never again befall moviegoing comic book enthusiasts. 

He started a Web site, a dramatic example that would shake Batman moviemakers and fanboys alike out of apathy and into action.

Ramey, who last week saw a press screening of "The Dark Knight," the highly anticipated sequel to "Batman Begins," recalls how his creation, Batman on Film, and similar fan-created Web sites, provided a target audience a forum with which to demand a definitive Batman origin movie.

It allowed fanboys to tell Warner Bros. Pictures everything from who should be cast in the title role to the fabric from which the 

costume should be made.

Christian Bale and Kevlar, a synthetic fiber used in protective helmets and vests, were often demanded. Warner Bros. Pictures obliged to the former, but decided to go with black foam and latex for the latter.

"I think they were paying attention to what the fans thought, who they were suggesting for certain roles ... and maybe if there was any interest in a new Batman film," Ramey said.

"Batman Begins" screenwriter David S. Goyer, Special FX Supervisor Chris Corbould and Executive Producer Michael Ulsan said that they often visited the Web site during the production of the movie, the Batman on Film Home Page shows. Mark S. Reinhart, author of the Batman Filmography, said Batman on Film "had such a positive impact on Warner Bros. in terms of the direction they are now taking their Batman film series," the Home Page shows as well.

But Batman on Film was not just a bully pulpit with which to strike fear into the hearts of filmmakers who might misrepresent a nearly 70-year-old comic book legacy. Ramey and like-minded, albeit anonymous, agents of the bat with access to Warner Bros. Pictures' movers and shakers provided his Web audience with the latest news about the movie franchise, from its years in development hell to its resurgence in 2005.

"I don't reveal 'spoilers.' I don't think that's my job. My job is to say, "Hey WB, we want Batman films and we want good ones,'" said Ramey, though not everyone on the Web seems to subscribe to such a code of ethics. 

"The one thing that comes to mind is the leak of the movie's script online. For a time, I thought it would deter from the film," said Ramey, who is known to his Web audience as "Jett." Ramey said he read the script himself out of curiosity, but it almost spoiled the movie for him. This is why he chose to "stay in the dark" for the sequel in terms of looking at leaked scripts.

Rumors were posted on the Web site as well, especially in regard to who would be cast as the Joker in this summer's "The Dark Knight." Jude Law, Paul Bettany and Lacy Hulme were at one time considered to be top contenders to portray Mr. J. Ultimately, the late Heath Ledger landed the role, even though his name was never mentioned during the online scuttlebutt.

Fans of the Batman were conflicted. The movie franchise was something sacrosanct of which they were losing control, like the Dark Knight's affinity for a city he sets out to take back from criminals and corrupt public officials.

"Batman '89 basically started the whole 'superhero movie' genre. It affected everything that has come since. That's the positive. On the other hand, the other three Batman films showed everyone how not to do a comic book-based film. 'Batman & Robin' almost killed the genre," said Ramey, who in 2004 was invited to visit the U.K. set of "Batman Begins," Director Christopher Nolan's attempt to reboot the movie franchise. 

Twenty-three-year-old independent director Aaron Schoenke said he was inspired to become a filmmaker by the first two movies in the series, "Batman" and "Batman Returns," directed by Tim Burton. 

"The first and second Batman films opened my eyes to filmmaking and all the extraordinary possibilities that the film medium had to offer creatively," said Schoenke, who founded the Calabasas-based Bat in the Sun Productions to direct character-driven interpretations of The Batman and his gallery of rogues.

Schoenke's films, such a "Patient J," which portrays the manic romance and exploits of the Joker and his moll, have a loyal Web fan base. Though Schoenke said he does not strictly adhere to comic book source material in his fan films, " I think many fans get lost here ... they tend to solely focus on accuracy and not the creative filmmaking side."

"Don't get me wrong, accuracy is very important, but it's not the sole reason a film is good or bad," Schoenke said.

Edward T. Halloran, film literature professor at Cal State Northridge, said Batman became the victim of the synergistic industrial model of the late 1960s and early 1970s, when companies such as the Kinney National Company, the owners of which knew nothing about filmmaking, purchases insolvent companies such as Warner Brothers-Seven Arts.

Once the Ronald Reagan administration relaxed FCC regulations in the 1980s, they vertically integrated their assets, Halloran said. "This way when a Batman movie comes out, so will a comic book adaptation from DC Comics and a soundtrack from Warner Records, both of which are subsidiaries of one corporation," Halloran said. ""That's synergy, taking a product and exploiting it."

How fanboys saved Gotham City from the Hollywood machine involved reminding filmmakers about its psychological and visual history, which was defined by different interpretations of its heroes and rogues in comic books, television and movies. More elements from Dennis O'Neil and Neal Adams comic books from the 1960s, yes, but not so much from the Adam West TV show, with Frank Miller-esque action from his graphic novels and a dash of heart from "Batman: The Animated Series."

Ramey not only documents this history on his Web site, he provides the analysis to keep its creators honest. Four years later, Ramey said he talked to Nolan and "The Dark Knight" producer Emma Thomas at last week's press screening about how the movie, which he describes as an "intense, urban crime drama that happens to have characters in crazy costumes," is "badass."

"The Dark Knight," which will be released in movie theaters July 18, will answer what happens when Heath Ledger's interpretation of the Joker escalates crime in Gotham City. As to what will happen when Web savvy people create commercial Web sites using Ramey's fan site model, the fight for online audiences seems to be more civil.

Jim Littler, a former toy marketer who created the Web site Comicbookmovie when Hollywood started producing several superhero movies in 2000, said, "I have great relationships with lots of fan sites. They send me in lots of the news I post."

"I'd say 75 percent is reliable and the rest is rumor from the set, but we do our best to ferret out falsehoods by checking sources, even though we'll still publish 'rumor' if it comes from someone whose proven reliable in the past," said Littler, who calls himself a lifelong "comics geek" and fan of movies.

Ramey, who continues to provide like-minded comic book geeks and movie lovers news tidbits, reviews, history and analysis, never though a fanboy with a computer could help save a movie franchise, let alone The Batman. "I just hoped that a good Batman film would finally get made," Ramey said.

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