By Patrick Hedlund
DNAinfo News Editor
EAST VILLAGE — The force was with this comic book shop.
St Mark's Comics managed to reopen just hours after a fire ripped through it Thursday afternoon, though the blaze left a gaping hole in the wall and damaged valuable collectors items, including $180 "Star Wars" lightsabers.
"I don't know that we're spectacularly busy," said owner Mitch Cutler, who's operated the store for 27 years, "but we're open, goddammit."
Firefighters responded to the blaze at 11 St. Mark's Place just after 1:30 p.m. and had the fire under control in roughly half an hour, officials said. The fire originated in the basement and then spread to a shared wall between the comic shop and a Japanese restaurant next door, the FDNY said.
Cutler has not yet been able to calculate how much he lost because of the blaze, but a series of valuable DC Comics figurines located near where the fire spread "got it the worst," he said.
Other items — including countless comic books and stacks of prepackaged action figures — are heaped in a pile in the rear of the store and waiting for him to assess the damage.
"Some of the customers said, 'Wow, I can't believe you're open," Cutler said of patrons' reactions to the reopening, as the smell of smoke still permeated the shop. "We had some people say thank you. We are the place they know they can depend on. That was very meaningful to me."
Now, the store is preparing for the arduous task of inspecting the marred merchandise — piece by piece, page by page — to weigh the full extent of the damage.
"Of all the places in the universe, we are the most susceptible to water, fire and smoke damage," Cutler said, noting that the smoke could have also affected the thousands of comics that line his walls. He explained that he hasn't even had time to check whether items in the shop's basement were also ruined.
The store has insurance and should be able to recoup the cost of the damaged merchandise, Cutler added, but he also has to account for construction expenses needed to repair his front wall.
This after the shop bought a collection of 11,000 comic books last week and is constantly trying to balance a flow of new merchandise coming into the store.
"Sell one comic, and two more will take its place," Cutler said, playing off a slogan from the fictional comic-book terrorist organization HYDRA, whose motto is "cut off a limb, and two more shall take its place."
Cutler has lived through other catastrophes in the past, including a flooded basement at one of his former shops on Chambers Street that "wiped out everything."
"Stuff happens, and we keep going," he said, adding that the St. Mark's store still managed to gets its weekly shipment of comics the day after 9/11. "We've been here through blizzards, we've been here through riots."
Since the fire, frequent customers have been stopping by to check in on things, even bringing employees a batch of cupcakes to help them cope.
"It reminds us of the generosity of people," said Cutler, who was convinced to buy the shop in 1984 after initially taking a job there as manager. "It humbles me."
While noting that it may take a while to get back to normal, the store will stay open.
"If there's a Spider-Man lunchbox, we got it," Cutler said. "If there's a Superman action figure, we got it. If there's a vintage Wonder Woman drinking straw — we have that."
