H eadlines
New Niche Career Spawned by Former Client
L O CAL
JED WEISBERGER | JE STAFF
BROOKLYN-BORN Levi
Brennan was working for a
Wall Street credit card pro-
cessing firm about a decade
ago when one of the clients he
was assigned was Manhattan’s
legendary Midtown Comics.

This was no ordinary store
and Brennan, while waiting
for some needed receipts and
papers, began reading some
of the stock, including The
Amazing Spiderman.

“The three locations are
still massive — Times Square,
Grand Central Station and
Downtown,” Brennan said.

“They gave me comic books
to read while I was waiting
for what I needed, all day and
every day. The numbers of
books they sold was amazing.”
Brennan’s job was elimi-
nated by the Great Recession.

So he packed up what he had
and came to Philadelphia,
making his growing avoca-
tion with comic books his
profession as he set up shop
in 2010 in his residence, from
where he still operates.

“I opened an online store and
figured out the business, what’s
worth money and what’s not,”
Brennan said. “The niche items
[rare covers, statues, signed items]
are really exclusive. I decided I
would sell those online.”
Then came his break and a
famous partner.

“I started going to shows,
where I met and began working
with Stan Lee, who would sign
some of these items,” Brennan
said. “It all grew from there.”
Born Stanley Martin Lieber
to Romanian-immigrant Jewish
parents, Lee died at 95 on Nov.

12. He was a key figure in
the transformation of Marvel
Comics from a small publishing
house to a media conglomerate.

He revolutionized the comic
book industry. Spiderman, Hulk,
Daredevil, Fantastic Four and
others had emotions, drew the
reader in more and changed the
level of stories told. Lee retired
from Marvel in the 1990s, but
continued to work creatively and
at shows until his death.

Brennan and Lee struck up
a friendship over the course of
dozens of shows each year.

“Stan didn’t talk much
about his childhood, but he
wouldn’t work on Shabbat,”
Brennan said. “Say we’d get to
a show on a Friday, Stan would
disappear late Friday afternoon
and we wouldn’t see him until
Saturday evening. It was that
way at every weekend show.”
Brennan got involved in
acquiring and selling a line of
Stan Lee Funko Pop, which are
figures created by the artist.

They are still sold, with some
fetching $25 or $30. But some
offerings signed by Lee have
price tags of $5,000 or more.

A set of two bobblehead-like
Funko figures was recently
advertised online for $60,000.

“The prices vary by market
as well,” Brennan said. “Stan
had his own line of comics
and figures. My market with
them is on eBay, as there wasn’t
enough traffic online with a
website. … Many are unique,
and collectors will often pay
top dollar for them. I deal in a
lot of Stan’s niche items.”
There are comics signed
by Lee that sell for affordable
prices, but ones that are rare,
what Brennan aims to sell, can
reach six or even seven fig-
ures. For instance, the original
Amazing Fantasy issue intro-
ducing Spiderman in 1962 sold
for $1.1 million. The Incredible
Hulk No. 1 from 1962, which
cost 12 cents at the time, sold
for $320,000.

Collectors seem to enjoy
getting their hands on all the
renditions of Spiderman, which
runs from 1963 to the present.

“Every time Marvel brought
it out as another series, it was
another entire set for collectors,”
Brennan said. “Stan continued
to sign a lot of those each time
there was a reissue. It’s a series
that has lasted over 50 years.”
Comic books and covers
have a rating system.

“Mint is 9.9-10, with 9.8 and
9.6 ratings what collectors like
to see,” Brennan explained.

While Marvel, DC and
others offer digital comics,
print comics of old held their
own before slumping in 2017,
according to Comichron, which
tracks such sales. In 2017, digi-
tal and print comics accounted
for $1.015 million in sales.

“You can still find a lot of
familiar titles like Superman
Stan Lee
Photo provided 
and Batman in bookstores or
comic shops,” Brennan said.

“There are about 30-40 titles
on a weekly basis. Orders are
placed in advance and new
comics are shipped to vendors
each Wednesday.”
While Lee and many of the
other artists and illustrators
were Jewish, Brennan says the
business itself and the collec-
tors are not.

“It’s funny how it is, but I
would not call this a business that
caters heavily to Jews,” Brennan
said. “I don’t know why that is.” l
jweisberger@jewishexponent.com; 215-832-0737
Junior Maccabi Games Back at Kaiserman JCC
L O CAL
JED WEISBERGER |JE STAFF
KAISERMAN JCC CEO Amy
Krulik is walking around all
smiles these days, thinking of
a warm May Sunday.

For the first time since 2015
the Wynnewood facility will host
the Mid-Atlantic Junior Maccabi
Games, scheduled for May 5. The
event features competition for
Jewish athletes ages 9-12.

“We’re thrilled,” Krulik said.

“We hosted the first-ever of
these games in 1998; it was then
the Tri-State Junior Maccabi
Games, and it’s good to have
the competition back. Since the
beginning, these games have
really expanded. There will be
8 JANUARY 17, 2019
A past Junior Maccabi Games delegation
delegations from 18 JCCs, from
upstate New York to Virginia.

In all, we figure 850 to 1,000
athletes will be attending.”
Scheduled to attend are
JCCs from Pennsylvania, New
Photo provided
York, New Jersey, Maryland,
Virginia and Delaware.

The athletes will compete in
seven sports at various venues
in the Wynnewood area, with
basketball, soccer, baseball,
JEWISH EXPONENT
swimming, tennis and track
and field — holdovers from
other years — and coed flag
football making its debut.

No athlete will compete until
after the opening ceremony.

“The goal of these games is
to give young Jewish athletes
the feel of what an Olympics-
style competition is really like,”
Krulik said. “So we have an
opening ceremony. All 18 del-
egations will march in, there
will be some short speeches
and then we’ll start.

“This is not just about win-
ning a gold medal, but also
about sportsmanship and shar-
ing our Jewish values. It’s really
a nice experience for Jewish
athletes of this age group. We
are really all together as a com-
munity; tzedakah and mitzvot
are a major part of this.”
Krulik referenced one of
Kaiserman’s soccer teams at a
past game in Richmond, Va.

“As it turned out, one of
our teams was short a player,”
Krulik said. “All the other
teams agreed to play short a
player. We do some special
things as part of these games.”
The general community is
helping out, including nearby
Friends Central School.

“Friends Central will be our
venue for the swimming, soccer,
tennis, track and field and some
basketball,” Krulik said. “Their
track teams use our indoor track
during the winter, and they are
See Maccabi, Page 22
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