Comic and record exchange connects people

Will Thompson hosted a record and comic book exchange on Saturday, May 13 at Main Street Comics in Lewiston. The event stretched from 1 to 4 p.m., and was a successful exchange of pasttimes. All ages were urged to come to said event, being able to buy, sell, or trade their comic books and records with fellow connoisseurs of the pieces of art. Sellers or traders were able to rent a 6×3 ft. table for $10 to market their “oldies.”
  “Ultimately, the swap was about connecting with people,” said Thompson, who arranged the event and teaches English at Jenifer Junior High. “Hobbies are better when you can share with other people.”
The got the idea from a similar event in Moscow.
  “A friend of mine hosted casual record swap in Moscow last fall and I wanted to do something similar here,” Thompson said. “I felt more people would come if we had more than just vinyl and I happened to have a pile of comics lying around that I wanted to find a new home for,”
  The Lewiston swap drew around 50 people, including Lane Vanhorn, an LHS sophomore.  
   “It was cool to see so many people there, like teachers and their students,” said Vanhorn.
   Records had come to Vanhorn›s attention a little over three years ago. He said he prefers them over any other type of music source. But accessibility of these records does make it difficult to listen to them whenever he wants.
   “You can’t just pop a record into your car and drive, ” Vanhorn said.
   Everything is becoming easier, instead of taking time and effort to add chords and strums to an artist’s songs, one can do it with a simple click of a button.
   In an age of technology, for Vanhorn, vinyl and comics have the different appeal.
   “The authenticity, that’s what it’s about. The feeling of holding music, or records, in your hands, rather than an iPhone,” Vanhorn said. “You feel the recording studio it was crafted in, which goes along with comics too.”
   Comics might have sat on more young boys or girls shelves in the 20th century, but these beloved comics are still alive and wandering the streets today.
   “Early in elementary school, probably around second grade was when I started reading them,” Thompson said. “Comics were experiencing a cultural resurgence with titles like Spawn. My parents felt these were too dark and violent for me and, as a parent now, I’d largely agree.”
   Many claim that comic books are essential to childhood — a way for children to see that not everything is protected by their parents. They provide a world where villains roam the streets, and men in spandex save the day.
  Thompson used to sneak the comics his parents didn’t approve of in order to have a wider experience of the fiction world.
   “Anything is possible with comics,” Thompson said. “Artists and writers are constrained only by their imaginations and can produce work without any kind of editorial or executive influence, if they’re independent. It’s wide open. You can think it, you can draw it.”