Tuesday, May 12, 2009

"My Mother Threw Mine Away"

Yesterday was such a gorgeous day -- sunny, cool -- that I decided to take a ride that I had been thinking about for the last week, since I discovered (from a comment left on this blog) that the comic book store that Kevin Eastman and I used to frequent in Torrington, CT -- the one with the great name, "My Mother Threw Mine Away" -- hadn't actually gone out of business, but just moved to another town... in this case, from Torrington to Bantam, CT, which looked on the map to be no more than twenty miles to the southwest of Torrington. So I jumped on the Gold Wing and headed off.

Aprroximately 110 miles later, I was cruising through some beautiful countryside looking for 103 Bantam Lake Road. I missed the turn once, but only wasted a few minutes correcting my mistake, and soon found myself parked in front of the unassuming facade of "My Mother Threw Mine Away". Upon entering the store, which was full of stuff (very much like its original incarnation), I wandered to the back where a guy was working with some boxes of comics. "Is your name Jack?" I asked him. It was, and he recognized me from all those years ago. (Actually, come to find out during our subsequent conversation that we had met again at a show in Philadelphia several years back -- something I had forgotten completely. Not an unusual experience for me at busy shows.)

Jack and I chatted for a while, catching up on what we'd been doing. I learned that "My Mother Threw Mine Away" had actually moved twice before, to different locations in Torrington.

He showed me his two Saint Bernards -- I think he said their names were "Little" and "Trouble". Here they are posing with Jack in front of his store.



I took some photos inside in the front half of the store and put them together in this panoramic view.



I didn't realize until I got home and looked at the photos that the panorama is bracketed by some TMNT products. Can you pick them out? There's another whole sizable room in the back, packed with boxes of comics... a lot of stuff to look through.

Jack and I discussed a possible signing at his store sometime this year, probably in the summer. I mentioned that I might be able to get a few of the Mirage dudes to come with me, and he was into the idea. -- PL

15 comments:

~ tOkKa said...

☻ ☺

-->> HOLY CRAP .. NOW THAT's WHAT I LIKE TO SEE !! (( And two big ol, cute, fat Saint Bernards getting drool and slobber all over the place !! !! ))The Panorama is kinda small .. but i see some of the ol' Playmates Turtle plushes hanging buy Elvira ..

what else , people am i missing - - ?!

Splinter's Iroonna said...

I'm missing it to at the moment, Dave-- I definitely see the plushies. But I'm in a hurry at school-- I'll have to give it closer inspection later.

Looks like a COOL place to go shopping!

PUPPIES!

Cynthia

Anonymous said...

haha nice shot, i see the plushes too! I cant really see anything else. But i always wish there were more places like this near me. i only have midtown comics in the city and forbidden planet i usually go to. but never had a spot where i was a regular.. i love comic book stores. nice pic!

Unknown said...

What a great store--lots of stuff, but with aisles you can walk through. It also looks very well lighted.

cheers,
Stan

Tristan Jones said...

The miniatures, Dave!

Graeme MacKenzie said...

There's a couple boxes of Topps cards but they're hard to make out. I know this from frequenting there.

Graeme

Summer said...

Little? What a cute name for a St. Bernard. :)

That store looks like an awesome place just to get lost in for a couple hours.

~ tOkKa said...

-->> .. Gee ..

in the panorama .. ALL THAT STUFF IS - MINI!! !!

;p

Newton Gimmick said...

Great stuff. I have one of those Mikey TMNT plushes. Sounds like a great story Peter. Hope you do end up doing a signing there. Nice to know places like that still exist.

Lord Nightwalker said...

Man! That's very cool...
The local comic shop loyalist are going to love that vist from you and the guys. Awesome way to promote those little shops...

Poppy Robbie said...

That's so cool that you found the place! I always love hearing stories like this...

-r

Bookgal said...

Road Trip!

I am so going to check this place out!

Craigs0r said...

Am I ever glad to see that this guy is still in business. He has been the last beacon of comic book hope in the Torrington area after Smokey Joe's closed.

I can't believe that he's managed to keep the place open, despite moving 4 times in less than 10 years.

This place is probably the nicest looking of his locations, but the last one was much bigger.

Unknown said...

"My Mother Threw Mine Away" now has a new website. It's kind of small but still growing. Actually, I was in his store and we started talking about Peter's visit, and this blog, and how he didn't have a website, so it's kind of due to this blog post that the website now exists. It's funny how things turn out.

http://www.mmtma.net

~ tOkKa said...

-->> BAD ASS , W ~! !! !! :D