Comics News
Previews Former Editor Marty Grosser Joins Bud’s Art Books As Catalog Editor
A New Era Begins
After the tumultuous year with Diamond Comic Distributors US and their Previews catalogue being cancelled, a lot of their staff have been let go. Thankfully, former Previews editor Marty Grosser, who was there for many years, have just confirmed his new role at Bud’s Art Books. Here’s what he had to say on his Facebook page…
Back in 1981, I graduated from Casa Roble High School and after the ceremony and lunch with my family, I went to visit my friends at Comics & Comix (Northern California’s largest chain of comic shops, launched in 1972 by Bud Plant and friends), who I had been working with for store credit. They offered me a paid sales position right there on the spot, which I happily accepted.
It was a dream job for a fanboy like me, getting to hang out with my friends selling cool stuff to our customers, going to movies next door for free, and playing D&D on weekends. It was a great period in my life.
In 1986, I left C&C and followed my friends to Bud Plant, Inc. in Grass Valley (a town I’d been visiting with my family for years, as we owned a small plot of land there with a comfy shack), and settled in to their customer service department.
In 1987, I got the opportunity to write Bud’s monthly Quicklist catalog, which I did until summer 1988. By then, Bud had decided to sell the wholesale distribution part of his business to Steve Geppi and Diamond Comic Distributors.
Everyone involved in the production of Bud’s Quicklist were offered positions at Diamond in Maryland to produce a new catalog for them. Only my editor Steve Bond and I decided to make the move to Maryland, so we loaded up our families and made the journey, after creating the first issue of PREVIEWS in Grass Valley before we left for the East Coast.
And 37 years and 445 issues later, it all ended not with a bang, but a whimper. PREVIEWS, my baby, my mission, my career, was taken off of life support and cancelled after Diamond’s new owners choked it out and destroyed any chance of continuing our work.
After being let go on Sep. 10th of this year along with my friends and co-workers Elena Byerly and Allyn Gibson, I found myself unemployed and wondering what the hell I was going to do. All I can say is thank goodness for eBay. With the proceeds from the sale of my beloved Godzilla toy collection (and other cool stuff), plus a very profitable Maryland Toy Expo (and a bit of windfall and serendipity here and there), I was able to keep it together.
In October, I was approached by an individual from my past (their identify to be revealed at a later date), who was coming back to the industry with plans to purchase Bud Plant Comic Art (a.k.a. Bud’s Art Books), and they wanted me aboard to help them keep the business going, and to expand its product mix and reach, looking to fandom’s next generation.
So here I am, back at Bud Plant doing what I love, and working with folks I’ve known for years. I’ll be stepping into Bud’s shoes as the voice and chief fanboy for Bud’s Art Books, along with some other projects that are still in development – more to follow on that!
My hearfelt thanks to my friends who lended a helping hand and picked up the tab at lunch… I love you all and couldn’t ask for better people to be in my corner!
