Remembering Andromeda Publications, Canadian Comic Book Distributor

Once upon a time, 

Ron Van Leeuwen,

the founder, owner and operator, of

The Silver Snail,

comic book emporium and all around cool spot,

decided to move into the realm of comic book distribution.

Since he already had the legal rights to use 

Andromeda Publications, 

the name under which he had published several comic books, back in the Seventies:

Andromeda

&

Arik Khan

So, he simply repurposed the name and set about being a distributor.  As I recall, by about 1987, the distribution arm of his business interests, was making a "river of money" and Ron was living the high life!

Despite the ballpoint pen addition, of the business address, this was one of their giant sized cards.

In 1991 they started producing their own version, of the catalogue that Diamond Distributions, continues publishing to this day.

They called it

Comics Etc.

and it ran from March of 1991

until the collapse of the comic book distribution world, 

in early 1995...

this might be the cover to their final issue?

The inside page, listed the contents and the names of the people involved in it's production:

All of them have, of course, dispersed and moved on.

Andromeda declared bankruptcy in 1995 and while Ron continued to own and run The Silver Snail, 

even he finally retired in 2011

and sold the business to his long-time employee/manager 

George Zotti and his business partner.

These days, even George has been forced out and The Snail, is now a pretty soulless place... more's the pity!

But I still remember the GLORY days, when we all so very much younger and everything seemed so much more interesting.