Downtown Warren, Ohio, has been experiencing a resurgence in recent years. New restaurants and bars. Dave Grohl Alley, a tribute to the musician who was born here. Beautiful Courthouse Square Park, and the summer concerts and events held there. And in the center of it all, All American Cards and Comics—a staple of downtown since 1993.

When you enter All American, you are immediately struck by just how much stuff they have. Roleplaying and board games. Trading Card Games like Magic: the Gathering, Pokémon, and Yu-Gi-Oh. Toys and collectibles. And of course, comic books. So many comic books. Toward the back left are the week's new releases. On the wall to the right are recent issues going back the last several months. Not just the Big Two publishers, either. There's indie books galore, too. Lined along tables in the center of the store are back issue boxes, sorted by publisher and then alphabetically. Next to that, a display case with graded key issues. Beside the cashier's area, stairs that take you down to the game space in the basement, where many a TCG has been played. You could lose an entire afternoon here, and not even scratch the surface of everything they have.

At the center of it all is Greg Bartholomew.

"I wasn't really impressed with the people that had shops around here--at least for the stuff that I was looking for."

Greg Bartholomew never set out to become a "businessman."

Like so many of us, Greg started collecting comics at a young age. In the mid-'80s he went to college, and with all of his money going to that, comics had to end. After college, he was working as a substitute teacher when he and his brother decided that they wanted to open a comic shop together—the kind of store that they wanted to shop at. Taking advances on credit cards, they brought their dream to life. It wasn't easy—Greg would still substitute teach during the day, then come and work at the shop, and his brother would come in whenever he finished at his own job.

The store expanded from just comics to include roleplaying games, then added on Trading Card Games. The products All American offered continued to expand. The brothers opened a second location in Austintown, then five years later, in 1997, an existing store space in Boardman came up for sale. That was when Greg stopped teaching and devoted himself to the stores full-time. By 2003, the Austintown store was gone, leaving just Boardman and the flagship Warren locations.

"The amount of things that we had to sell was a lot narrower than what we do now."

When All American first opened, they had nothing but comic books. As time passed, the market expanded, and the store expanded along with it. They were able to carry Dungeons & Dragons products, which was (and still is) the biggest roleplaying game in the world, but that was really all there was. The massive variety of RPGs that we have now just wasn't there back then. In the mid-'90s, the Trading Card Game craze started to hit. Magic: the Gathering was huge (and still is to this day). Pokémon became a global phenomenon. The store embraced these new products and expanded their focus.

The issue with comics at that time was that the industry was pretty insular. If you weren't already reading them, there wasn't a lot of exposure that gave you a reason to want to start. The only movies and television shows based on comic book characters at the time were either not very good, or commercial failures. As funny as it sounds, Marvel Comics filing for bankruptcy ultimately became a blessing for the industry--by being forced to sell off the rights to some of their largest characters, like Spider-Man and the X-Men, those properties ended up in the hands of filmmakers who were able to turn them into hits. Now people were talking about comics in everyday conversations.

"It's more acceptable now."

"Nerds rule the world."

Although there were still ups and downs, the comics industry has had a pretty good run of adaptations since those early Spider-Man and X-Men films. There were definitely some bombs in there, don't get me wrong, but even those still got somebody somewhere interested in a character or a book that they hadn't been before. And smart retailers like Greg were there to capitalize on that new exposure.

These days, comics and games have become such a part of our culture that the kinds of people who made fun of the comic book collectors in school are now coming in to learn how to play Pokémon with their kids. The first decade of Marvel Studios movies made characters like Iron Man, Thor, and Captain America household names. Initiatives like DC Finest and DC Compact Comics have made classic characters and storylines more accessible than ever. On Free Comic Book Day, a young man in his late teens or early twenties purchased copies of Watchmen and The Dark Knight Returns. Greg could only applaud the lad and tell him he's on the right path.

"The best part is knowing that I started a business and it lasted thirty-three years."

"I never thought I would be a businessman, but that's what I think of myself now, not a comic book and Roleplaying guy."

He may not have set out to be a businessman, but that's exactly what Greg became. And a good one. Whenever he's asked when he plans to retire, Greg responds that he doesn't see a need to anytime soon. Between the stores, setting up as a dealer at eight or nine different shows every year, and purchasing collections or key issues, he's still having a good time. And now he's confident enough in his abilities to not second-guess every decision, so he's able to pivot with the trends more readily.

Here's a little secret about Greg: he hasn't actually read a comic book in probably twenty-five years. And when he does pull one out, it's for a reread of an old favorite. He lets his staff keep up on the current books and advise on ordering. He does watch every new movie and show that's out there, though. That's part of the job, he says. He thinks of the store as a social hangout as much as a shop, like "a bar without the alcohol." Besides, downtown Warren has plenty of bars already.

You don't get to make it thirty-three years in business, with five of your best years being in the post-COVID era where many employers are struggling, without doing something right.

Greg has taken All American Cards and Comics from something that was very singularly focused—the kind of comic shop he wanted to shop at—and has made it a fixture of the community. A place where people can gather and talk about the characters and stories they all love. Where kids who picked up a random comic years ago became collectors, and now are bringing their own children in to get them their first comic book. That's why Greg Bartholomew is one of our Local Heroes—not just because of what his business has become, but what he's been able to make it mean to Warren, Ohio and the areas around it. Here's to many years more.