JOPLIN, Mo. — September 25th of each year is a special day for people who are into short, illustrated books telling stories about people with superhuman abilities.

“Obviously, we carry many different types of media, but comic books are still a huge staple for Vintage Stock in all our locations,” said Brandon Bond, Vintage Stock Store Manager.

Vintage Stock operates two stores in Joplin, but there are now 68 others across the country, and the sale of comics is one of the product lines that has allowed for that to happen.

Brandon Bond has run the mall location since its opening almost fifteen years ago.

And he can almost predict who will be his first customers two days out of every week.

“We’ve got guys that it’s a religious thing for them, it’s like church almost, they’ll come in every Tuesday, every Wednesday as the comics come out right when our doors open, there they are, I know a lot of them by name and know exactly what they want, so yeah, there’s some very serious guys out there, and gals,” said Bond.

It’s been the success of comic books like DC and Marvel that led to the movies; now, just the opposite is happening.

“It rose quite a bit since that has come, and been such a major phenomenon with all the Marvel movies that have come in, now people are getting more and more into comics every single year as it goes on,” said Bond.

And if you can get your hands on a rare book, in vintage condition, they can sell for into the hundreds of thousands of dollars.