Settle in for bagels and a schmear with comics retailer Joel Pollack as we discuss what the pandemic has done to the comics shop business, the comic his mother bought him which changed his life, the card game which led to him getting his first piece of original art, how his run-in with a young Howard Chaykin convinced him he wasn't cut out to be a professional comics artist, what opening day was like at the first of his Big Planet comic book stores, the biggest sales event he's seen during his 35-year retailing career, what inspired Bernie Wrightson to draw a freaky issue of <em>Swamp Thing</em>, how he fights back against the Comic Book Guy cliche to makes his shops welcoming places, our joint distaste of slabbing, why he doesn't like doing appraisals, and much more.