How long have you been here? And, how has the neighborhood changed since then? We all have our stories about the undulating Greenpoint streetscape—people moving in, people moving out, condos and developments covering up the sky, and coffee shops springing up faster than organic dry cleaners. Is it good? Is it bad? Tony Wolf chimes into the discussion with his autobio-comic: Greenpoint of View: The Secret Origin of Midtown Comics.
A lifelong comic book fan and 19 year resident of Greenpoint, Tony used to go to a DVD rental store called Ultra Video on Manhattan Avenue between Nassau and Norman (right across the street from what is now the bar Beloved, on the same block as Calexico and The Manhattan Inn). The demise of both the video rental industry in general—remember when all the Blockbusters went out of business in the late 90s?—and one Greepoint video store in particular led to the birth of the largest and most successful comic book store in New York. Take a look back in history:
(Click each comic page to enlarge for full view)
Tony Wolf is an an actor, voice-over guy, and illustrator living in New York City. Follow him on Twitter @tonywolfness.
Sir Gryphon writes and illustrates comics for the comics collective Gryphon Knights. Follow him on Twitter @SirGryphon.
I used to rent videos from Ultra Video(now Midtown Comics 1) and as a 11 yr old kid got into trouble there for goofing off. Had to sweep floors there for two weeks. My friends and I were so happy when they started selling comics
I remember you and your friend removed all the tags so no one had any idea what movies were rented or not lol