Number One Tells The Story Of A Comic Book Store Owner

Number One is a new full color, one-issue comic book, which will look at 50 years of comic book history through the life of one comic book retailer. Number One can be ordered in July's Previews from Aazurn Publishing.

"Comics helped Steve through some tough times growing up and he turned his love of the medium into a comic shop business," said writer Gary Scott Beatty. "In Number One we see whether operating the business is worth the toll it takes on his family."
Returning to comic book illustration in Number One is Aaron Warner, whose

Adventures of Aaron comics became a critically acclaimed newspaper strip that ran for over 10 years, was read by over six million newspaper subscribers, and garnered a Rueben Award nomination from the National Cartoonist Society.

"Aaron understood the comic book guy in Number One like I think most of us will understand him," said Beatty. "We don't have to be comic shop owners to relate to someone who loves comic books. The adventure, the history, the hope and passion comics inspire inform our every day lives."

Small business owners will also feel for Steve, said Beatty. "I think we're all more informed about how difficult it is to operate a local business these days, since the recession of 2008."

American media offers a distorted view of comic book readers, said Beatty. "I enjoy the goofy actors on television, but few of the people I know who read comics are like that. I set out to write a story that, in a personal way, can explain to those outside our community why we love comics."

Steve's tale brings readers through decades of comic book history. Also included in Number One's 32 pages is a short Guide to Illustrated Stories. "I put comics in historical context, from Gilgamesh, to The Adventures of Mr. Obadiah Oldbuck, to Free Comic Book Day. Number One is a complete package explaining, in an entertaining way, our hobby and our passion for it."