Obama Saves Comic Store?

President Obama is the man.  Not only did has he become the forty-fourth President of the United States, he also managed to save a comic store in Hoboken, New Jersey.  How exactly did he manage this?  It actually took very little effort on his part.  Because of the sales to Amazing Spider-Man #583 and it's multiple printings (a fourth is on its way), the comic store in question has seen their sales increase.

 "Obama saved our sales," said SteveKilnisan, owner of Traders of Babylon. "Otherwise we would have been down, but we're doing better than we were last year at this time, and the year before."

It's not just comic books. Traders of Babylon has also sold more than 2,000 Obama T-shirts. They still have a few Obama trading cards, which are now out of print.

"I don't think he's so much of a cult figure; he's a cool figure," Kilnisan said. "People see him as a ray of hope. America is seen as cool again because of his election."

I would hope that all the excitement of this issue will result in return shoppers to comic stores everywhere.  Comic stores have been facing hard times with the increase in cover price, the decrease of costumers and the number of people that are buying tradepaperbacks in the mass retail book stores.  If comic stores disappear, we won't be seeing as many new comics or characters as we have.  Let's hope the sales continue.