“My 20s were a bit vague – I didn’t really know what I wanted to do,” says political science major, then teacher, now businessman Ryan Kulikowski. Ryan and his wife were teaching in Russia when the opportunity to buy Chapel Hill Comics emerged. He thought, “If I don’t give it a try, I’m so gonna regret it.” The store features lots of independent and progressive comics, and Ryan likes to support people at various levels of distribution – he proudly mentions selling out of a comic book produced by a local 11 year old girl.
Ryan, who has always loved super heroes, notes: “I’m not just a comic book nerd. I consider myself an all-around nerd.” He hopes that 100 years from now, Franklin Street and Chapel Hill “still have their cool local Indie feel.” If given a one year leave of absence from his job, Ryan would “fight all that HB2 garbage – I hate it,” which seems like something a super hero would do.
