Art Baltazar and Franco have been producing comics as well as selling them through the Aw Yeah Comics shops in Skokie Illinois and Muncie Indiana. Now they are ready to open up another store, this time in Harrison, New York.

We asked the two some questions about opening up another shop and what it means for the other stores and the comics they're putting out.

COMIC VINE: A new Aw Yeah Comics in New York makes it the third store for you guys. Is this the beginning of your empire?

FRANCO: Ha! I like to think of it as more awesomenesss for comic book fans! This will be our third comic store, we also opened Aw Yeah Games in Skokie, making it four stores, but yeah, it’s something we always wanted to do.

ART BALTAZAR: Yes True! It may look like we’re in the empire business but it’s all about the comics! It’s all part of the same industry.

CV: What made you choose New York?

FRANCO: I was getting pretty jealous of everyone else having all the fun! Each of those other stores is close by to the other guys and I just wanted to have one near me!

ART: Yeah, Franco needed one by him!

FRANCO: Actually it was always the plan to have one here in NY as well and it seemed like the right time to do it.

CV: Was it a long process to find the "right" location?

FRANCO: Actually we thought it was going to be. Brother Bear (Marc Hammond) came out to NY on this secret mission and literally within days, our first venture out to look at locations and we found it! It was literally the first place we looked at! My wife found it online and said you should go take a look. When we saw it, it immediately gave us the feeling of what we wanted in a physical location and the community that surrounds it.

CV: Will there be any sort of focus or theme to the store other than just selling comics? Other merchandise? Events with creators?

FRANCO: If you have been to any of our other stores you know that we are very kid friendly. We boast about having the biggest kids section in our shops and this is going to be no different.

We’re going to do events like no other store does them and we have spoken to quite a few creators that were excited to hear we were going to be opening a location not even 30 miles from NYC. We know creators and we want creators to connect with fans and we try to bring that to our shops.

ART: We want it to be our mission for kids to buy their first comic in our stores! That kind of excitement you just can’t put a price on!

CV: What's the hardest thing about owning multiple comic shops?

FRANCO: Co-ordination. Luckily we have been lucky to find talented people that are willing to work with us and be a part of the ownership. We have Christy in Muncie, a super talented professor and writer and Kurt Wood, who is an awesome cartoonist in his own right, running day to day in Skokie and now, the always loveable Marc Hammond, as well as being a talented writer, will here in Harrison.

ART: It’s true! The toughest thing is waiting to do more. Having the patience to wait to do things is probably the toughest thing.

CV: I'm assuming you guys are involved with the new store. Is Mark Waid, also involved?

FRANCO: Yes! We are unique in that each of our shops has a creator element to it! All of us in this industry are true fans of comics and when we talk to people they wanted to be involved. We have Both Mark Waid and Christy involved with us in Harrison as well as Mike Negin who is the super awesome man behind artist alley in NY and Chicago.

ART: Yeah man! That’s all true!

CV: When will it open?

FRANCO: Our initial soft opening will be July 25^th, which is right around the corner and we plan to build momentum and stock and awesomeness until we hit our Grand opening In October right before New York Comic Con.

ART: True story!

CV: Is this going to affect the work you guys put out?

FRANCO: NEVER! As I said before, we have awesome people in place at the stores and you will see us there but creating comics is never far from our minds!

ART: No! Hopefully this will affect it positively in that we’ll get more Action Cat! Anyway I can make comics I will. I will be making comics for the rest of my life!

CV: What do you guys have in the works? Any new announcements or something you can tease?

FRANCO: There’s always stuff happening! We just told you about the store, we can’t tell you everything!

ART: Yeah! We have another 4 issues of ITTY BITTY HELLBOY coming and certainly more Aw Yeah Comics, which is the book that you can find in our stores celebrating the adventures of our mascots Action Cat and Adventure Bug!

FRANCO: Those are the big faces you will see painted on the walls of the stores!

ART: Yeah man! We’re working on more creator owned stuff with Dark Horse Comics so keep your eyes out for it.

Be sure to check out any of their stores if you happen to be in the area. Aw yeah!

Wow, Mike Negin is going to be involved with this store? I'm expecting them to have some awesome in-store signings then, thanks to his industry connections.

Awh yeah!

Wow, I didn't know there were Aw Yeah-branded shops. So it's still a bit unclear what they're actually doing with these shops? Only selling Aw Yeah stuff including merchandise you can't get anywhere else such as action figs, plushies and posters, or do they sell other comics, too, like any other LCS except for the Aw Yeah-branding?

@donfelipe: They're regular comic shops. They do like to make things kid friendly but that doesn't mean they only sell things to kids. They don't just sell Aw Yeah stuff but you know you can find it there for sure.

Check out their website for everything they do and more info.

http://awyeahcomics.com/

@g_man: For a short moment, I wanted to believe they could run an Aw Yeah shop without selling the regular stuff as well. The branding looks great and it's certainly nice to show kids they're welcome. If not in an Aw Yeah Comic Shop, then where? :D

Thanks for the link... aw yeah, daily comic strips!