Monarch Comics set to reopen in September after devastating fire last year

TOLEDO, Ohio — The Monarch Comics book store in south Toledo faced a villainous challenge of its own when a fire damaged it and several other businesses at a strip mall last December.

The fire at the Colonial Village shopping plaza came right up to the doorstep of the store.

Owner Ed Katschke said the fire never engulfed the business, but efforts to extinguish smoldering debris next door caused serious damage to the front of the building.

“Unfortunately, it cracked our roof and that’s what really destroyed the unit. All the water that came cascading in after that,” Katschke said.

The results were devastating. He estimates 70% of the store’s inventory was destroyed by water.

“It’s very difficult to describe the sensation of walking into a store that’s been your life’s work and seeing it all completely destroyed,” Katschke said.

Now, Monarch Comics is preparing to reopen at the original location after operating nearby in a temporary location just a third of the size of the original store while repairs were made.

But now, it’s on to the next chapter — and it’s looking bigger and brighter. With repairs finished and even a new sticker on the door, the move is nearly complete.

“We have to hang slat wall, we have to build bookshelves, we have to mark out where we want everything to go,” Katschke explained. “Once that’s done, it’ll be a very quick process of simply moving all this stuff that’s left over there and just reopening.”

Monarch Comics is planning a soft reopening by the end of September — proof that comeback stories don’t just live in the pages of comics. They happen in the places that sell them, too.

“Building a store from the ground up, kind of like a rising phoenix from the ashes. It’s a new thing and I’m just kind of taking it one step at a time,” Katschke added.

He also has his sights set on a major event: a grand reopening on Free Comic Book Day next May.

But for now, the goal is to be fully operating out of the original location by next month.