By day, Greg Bartholomew was a mild-mannered schoolteacher. But at night, he ran with the super

By day, Greg Bartholomew was a mild-mannered schoolteacher. But at night, he ran with the super heroes.
Today, he has completely assumed the role of his alter ego, giving up teaching to become the full-time owner-operator of All-American Comics & amp; Cards.
In 1990, the Youngstown State University graduate began working as a substitute teacher and teaching adult education courses.
In 1993, Bartholomew opened a store in Warren with a man who sold sports cards. He worked in the store when he wasn't teaching, selling his own comic book collection, which he had been amassing since he was 6.
Bartholomew sold his comics in one half of the store and his partner sold sports cards in the other half. When his partner quit the business, Bartholomew took over the entire store, and also opened a store in Austintown. After opening a Boardman store in 1997, Bartholomew gave up his teaching job to work in his stores full time.
Bartholomew has since sold the Austintown store.
After 10 years, Bartholomew said he's doing well in the business, but he can always go back to teaching if he needs to.
Long-term approach
"When I opened in '93, there might have been 12 to 15 stores in the area that sold comics, cards or a combination, and now there are three stores, and they sell mostly sports cards. Back then everyone opened a store hoping to make a quick buck, but I looked long term. I didn't push one thing on people; I let them buy what they wanted, and then did my ordering according to that. That's why I think we've survived so far," he said.
When Bartholomew first opened, all he sold were comic books and sports cards, but he now carries toy figurines, gaming items, dice, collectible card games, sports cards, Warhammer supplies (tabletop miniatures games), model paint, collectors supplies, trade paperbacks and role-playing items for Dungeons and Dragons, Star Wars and Star Trek.
Bartholomew also holds Yu-Gi-Oh tournaments, Magic the Gathering leagues and Warhammer pickup games at the store.
"Business right now is not like it was 15 years ago when you had everyone hoping to get rich by buying a box of cards," he said. "A lot of the speculators are gone and the people who are left are the collectors, and that's mostly who we cater to, the collectors."