Comical alter egos abound at Fantasy Shop
There's a good chance that Darrell Grimes' next
customer identifies with a great lumbering green
skinned behemoth who battles the entire U.S. Army
out of sincere moral conviction.
Enough Eugeneans do, according to the prop
rietor of the Fantasy Shop at 667 E. 13th, to make the
Hulk one of the more popular figures in a constella
tion of superheroes, supervillains, and super Aver
age Joes whose adventures line his shelves.
"Comics make you feel you're on the scene
watching the battle or you're one of the heroes,” says
Grimes. "People will relate to all kinds of different
heroes."
Even those who can relate only to a iamppost in
real life could probably find an alter ego among the
hundreds of titles and thousands of epics here, de
By SAM RAINEY
Of the Emerald
picted with vigorous style and unrestrained imagina
tion between action-packed cover scenes.
Peter Parker, the college student with frequent
girl and cop trouble who becomes Spider-Mar. in less
guarded moments, and the Silver Surfer, who hangs
ten among the stars when he isn't having a misun
derstanding with Earthlings, are two personalities
with particular appeal, Grimes says.
"Typical readers want to escape from their
studies into a fantasy world for an hour or so, and
they'll come in here. I think everybody believes com
ics are a form of escape."
Just as important a part of Grimes' clientele is
the serious comic collector, who will scan select
rarities behind the counter — the ones with the
three-figure prices — before looking for unusual
items such as "Bizarre Sex," an underground comic
drawn by a commercial artist.
"There's an amazing amount of hard-core col
lectors in this town,” Grimes says. "If I got in Fantas
tic Four no 1 at least twenty people would want it.”
Comics have been of primary interest to Grimes,
a Eugene native, since he started collecting Batman
nine years ago. His collection numbered 12,000 be
fore he opened his store, at its present location since
Aug 1.
An active soccer player and long-jump
specialist, Grimes is also a vocalist in a folk-rock duo.
He would like to progress further in a musical direc
tion, but not, he says, while his comic business is
doing well enough for him to entertain notions of
eventual expansion. He's satisfied with the way
things stand.
"You wouldn’t expect comics to be a business
you can live on," he says, "but that's what I’m doing.
It's amazing."
Photo by Kim Smith
Darrell Grimes
Opposition arises
to Boyd’s reshuffling
of minority program
By LORI PETERSON
Of the Emerald
Editor's Note: This is the final
story in a three-part series dealing
with the current minority program
on campus. It will focus on people
who were involved in the search
for an adequate mmohty prog
ram, how they viewed the
changes that formed the interim
program, and their feelings on
current services for minority stu
dents
Many have not welcomed the
changes implemented in minority
programs on campus; specifically
the current interim Academics
Opportunity Program (AOP).
A former program. Educational
Opportunities Services (EOS)
served minority students through
cultural centers, social outlets for
Back, Chicano and Native Ameri
can students. The current prog
ram emphasizes the academic
need, and serves these students
through limited enrollment clas
ses, through the liberal arts col
lege
Some supporters of the interim
program feel the criticism directed
at the current program is not rep
resentative of the minority stu
dents themselves. Even so, harsh
words still reverberate throughout
the campus.
University Pres. William Boyd
says the lingering verbal attacks
of these people do not mean they
are necessarily right."
‘‘The antagonism has been
quite vocal from those individuals
who had an economic stake in the
old program,” says John Baldwin,
dean of the liberal arts college.
Directors of the four cultural
centers, eliminated in the reor
ganizational process, were of
fered other positions at the Uni
versity, but they refused them,
due to disagreements with the de
cisions made by Boyd.
But Gary Kim, ASUO vice
president for academic and uni
versity affairs, says there was "a
legitimate and dear difference in
views. ” Kim says only a couple of
people out of the many criticizing
the plan were effected by the
changes, economically.
Students and former emp
loyes were not the only ones that
directed criticism toward Boyd's
reshuffling. Herb Cawthorne,
former director of the Center For
Self Development, called the
reorganization by Boyd “a fraud”
in a Eugene Register Guard arti
de in a September, 1975 issue.
Cawthorne believed the cultural
centers Boyd eliminated were
“tremendous in giving minority
students a place of identity. ” He
said the centers fulfilled student's
tutorial and sodal needs.
During a Demo Forum lun
cheon in Eugene Cawthorne told
an audience, "I don't think he
(Boyd) made appropriate deci
sions.” “I think he is mistaken, and
(Continued on Page 5A)
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