Phil and Brendan Boyle run a parallel universe where gamers, artists, writers and those who just like large statues of Wonder Woman can all commune.
It’s a feat worthy of Superman. But the Boyle brothers come across more like Clark Kent times two – mild-mannered and middle-aged, with kids and schedules. As the CEO and general manager of Florida’s Coliseum of Comics, they are out to bust the geek stereotype that plagues comics fans.
ZAP! POW! BOOM!
“The average comic reader doesn’t wear a Starfleet uniform, doesn’t live in Mom’s basement and has actually been on a date,” Phil, 42, chided in an e-mail.
The Orlando boys who used to ride their bikes to the dime store to buy comics now run the largest comics chain in the Southeast.
“Behind the scenes,” said Brendan, 40, “it is a serious business.”
So serious, the brothers go all Wolverine at the notion they should appear as anything but darn-normal businessmen.
Still, when your entire life’s work has been devoted to comic books, sometimes your secret identity will peek through.
Like when Brendan, the general manager, is called upon to offer advice to the staff.
“Some customer will want to know what happened in issue 38 of some Marvel comic,” said Sea Oh, who works in the Orlando store. “Brendan will know it.”
And hey, Phil, do you remember the home worlds for the Legion of Superheroes?
“All more than 20 of them,” he said with pride.
Coliseum of Comics’ headquarters is in a strip center between a beauty salon and a vacuum-repair shop. It’s the kind of neighborhood where you lock your car doors by instinct. But the Boyle brothers remember a gentler time when they were free to roam.
“My dad managed the Sambo’s (restaurant) across the street,” said Brendan, pointing outside.
“We would come to work with him and make the circuit, buying comic books at the Magik Market, Eckerd’s, 7-Eleven, Handy Way, Pantry Pride. This,” he said, pointing at the floor, “was Ellis Drug Store. We would buy comic books here.”
Back then, you could get a comic for 35 cents. Brendan was into Marvel Comics, home of Spider-Man and the X-Men. Phil was partial to DC Comics, where Batman and Superman were born.
Then their mom’s friend gave them an old box of comics that had belonged to her son. Soon they were buying more and more comics.
At some point, all that buying turned into selling. Some folks were worried when Phil, at age 20, dropped out of the University of Central Florida to launch his comic-book empire.
“I said, `Well, you’ll be closed in six months,'” said Mike Kott, owner of Intergalactic Trading Co., which at the time sold sci-fi collectibles via mail order and now does business online.
“Phil worked part time for me, and I told him I just thought it was a dumb idea to open a comic-book shop. It (the business) was all mail-order and conventions.”
But “it was just something Phil really wanted to do,” said his mother Mary Boyle, who still lives in Orlando. “He had our blessings and our encouragement, and we helped him out. … My father, Phil’s grandfather, oh, he hated comic books. … He just thought it was a waste of time.”
Phil opened his first 800-square-foot Orlando store in February 1983. Several moves later, and with Brendan joining him in the business, the Orlando store now boasts 4,500 square feet.
There is also a Coliseum of Comics in Kissimmee, Fla., owned by the Boyles, and five “affiliate” stores. These stores are owned by others who lease the Coliseum name and business systems.
Phil has become the Captain Marvel of Central Florida comics.
“He’s been calling me every year for 22 years to tell me I guessed wrong,” Kott said.
Sometimes the shop holds autograph sessions with comic artists and writers. This weekend it sponsors Megacon, an annual comics and collectibles expo at the Orange County (Fla.) Convention Center.
The Coliseum is also a resource for budding talent, with titles such as Drawing Dynamic Hands and a Writer’s Block section featuring the work of graphic novelists who use comics to express serious adult themes.
“There’s still stuff for kids,” Brendan said. “But there’s now stuff for adults. I read more comics now than I did when I was a kid. There are a lot of very poetic, intelligent people who are putting together new comics.”
The oldies also are covered. Protected in plastic and sorted alphabetically are many of the titles your brother stole from you in third grade.
Phil still dreams of world comic domination.
“Would we like to be a national chain? Of course we would,” he said. “It’s one of those things, though, that’s one step at a time.”
c 2005, The Orlando Sentinel (Fla.).
Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services.

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