The 21-year-old store—formerly called Mike's Coliseum—joined other comic book shops throughout North America for Free Comic Day on May 3. The promotion was organized by several comic book publishers to attract new customers. The nationwide event was also created to celebrate comics as a uniquely American art form. Shahin says it's mutated from being pulpy kids' stuff to a diverse industry that caters to just about every demographic.

One Willow Glen resident, Bob Fasano, dropped by the store on Free Comic Day with his three children, Joseph, 12, Justin, 5, and Amanda, 10. Joseph took home a free copy of X-Men, while Amanda opted for a free Archie and Justin a free Batman. Joseph said he and his siblings don't normally collect comics, but he does come to the store for figurines of comic book icons called HeroClix. He acquired a miniature of The Incredible Hulk.

Their father didn't leave with any comics. He's just not a collector anymore, he said. However, he was unusual in the legion of customers that day, many of whom are mild-mannered citizens with secret identities as avid comics readers.

Two readers braving the rain and long lines were Hijinx regulars Greg and Joe Pisacane. Their introduction to comics was their father's old Daredevil comics.

"We come here about three or four times a week," said 10-year-old Joe.

Greg, 12, said they spend between $15 and $30 a week on comics. However, the store has more than comics, trading cards and other merchandise going for it—it's a place to hang out after school and banter with store staff or other customers about what's going on with just about anything. Of course, topics usually are about sports, comics or new movies based on comics.

It was no coincidence that last year's Free Comics Day was scheduled the day after the Spider-Man movie was released. This year's was the day after X-Men 2 opened.

Shahin hadn't seen the movie yet and occasionally a wiseguy sarcastically threatened to drop some spoiler. Shahin countered that if anybody ruined the movie for him, it would be clobberin' time.

Fortunately, no one got clobbered and around 5 p.m. the crowd dwindled and the shop was almost as quiet as the Fortress of Solitude.

Shahin, who had a few comics left over, was surprised that some titles went quicker than others. He had only ordered 20 copies each of Archie and Disney's Donald Duck, figuring customers would be looking for more mature or adventurous material like Batman or Transformers.

"I really underestimated how popular they would be," Shahin said after the rush. "There were lots of parents who had very young kids. They took the Disneys for their kids but took the Archie comics for themselves because, I guess, it's what they grew up with."

Shahin, a longtime employee, bought the store from J.K. McGill a little over a year ago. McGill bought the store in 1988 from Mike Gamble, who wanted to move onto other ventures. Over the years Gamble has seen comics morph into a whole new entity with a new generation of customers in mind.

"People don't seem to realize that comics aren't aimed just at kids anymore," said McGill, who was also at the event for the day. "Most are written for the college-age crowd."

The 18 titles to choose from reflected a mix of age groups and reading levels. Archie, Donald Duck and the cartoonish Batman were for children or nostalgic older readers. Mature readers could choose from X-Men, RoboCop or some comics produced by independent publishers such as Slave Labor Graphics of San Jose.

While the comics were free to customers, Shahin did have to pay for them, though at a reduced price. But the expense was worth it, he said.

"The short-term benefits are that I got a lot more customers today than I normally would on a Saturday," he said. "Some people were new and could eventually become regular customers. There's something for everyone now. More comics today are being made for every conceivable reader."

Shahin remembers being introduced to comics as a boy. His friends let him read their comics, which they bought at Mike's Coliseum. Shahin became a regular customer and then an employee, working for $2 an hour, mainly sorting baseball cards and spending most of his wages on comics.

He worked there though high school, graduated from college and became a computer engineer. But the occupation was about as appealing as Kryptonite is to Superman, so Shahin offered to buy the store and renamed it Hijinx Comics.

"I wanted a name that suggested the store was a friendly place while also hinting at a mature, underground feel," he said.

Another major change Shahin made was placing less emphasis on sports trading cards.

"I hate 'em!" he said. "All those years of sorting baseball cards really turned me off trading cards."

Hijinx Comics is located at 2050 Lincoln Ave., at Malone Avenue. For more information, call 408.266.1103 or visit www.wackyhijinks.com.