For my wife Christina and I, it was a labor of love and dreams. For six years, we experienced some fantastic highs and some heartbreaking defeats. We celebrated a momentous fifth year anniversary celebration, enjoyed a booming success as a retailer at Wizard World Chicago, and hosted some of the most unforgettable parties ever. We also suffered lean times, the tragic death of an employee and friend, and the annihilating crush of the recession.

But we wouldn't have traded the experience in for anything. Our store wouldn't have been what it was without the contributions and presence of our founders and our staff. Perhaps one day we'll try again, but for now we're both content with some good jobs and the equally satisfying job of raising our baby girl. So read on to know more about the faces that have passed through our halls---our friends and employees made our original store great, and we'll never forget them.....especially the ones that keep visiting us every other weekend! :)

Screaming Monkey Comics
2002 - 2008

Let's pause for a moment to remember the greatest comic book store Crown Point ever had---the one and only SCREAMING MONKEY COMICS! Servicing Lake County from 2002 through 2008, this was John and Christina's second home for six years. As we begin this photo gallery of great pictures and memories, it's only fitting that we begin with the reason this website originally existed in the first place....to celebrate our favorite hang-out, our store!

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2007 Halloween Party!
Any excuse to throw a party at the store! Here are some photos from our spooky 2007 Halloween party, one of the many parties we threw for our friends at the store after hours!

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And now, we'd like to take a moment to shine the spotlight on the folks that made our store great....our minions! (Ahem.....I'm sorry, I mean our employees and friends!)

Kristina Chlebowski
Chlebo - All this, and brains, too!

Kris, dispaying her special powers

Kristina is an freelance artist, and she was a member of the staff all the way up to our last days. Able to consume her own weight in pizza and beer (and not show it) this automatically makes her the only member on the staff with a legitimate super power. Now if she could only rid the world of rude and inconsiderate drivers, this would be a perfect land.

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Katy McGann
The Online Goddess

Katy, on a typical Tuesday, waiting for customers to flock to the store
Katy has raised a cool kid, traveled to many locations across the globe---even had some acting experience. (Ask her...if you were a kid in the 80's, you probably saw a movie she was in.) A regular face at the store, Katydid hold the record of bagging and boarding more comics than she's had fantasies about Brad Pitt. But not by much.

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Joshua S. Benko
Master of embarrassing phone calls

Left: Josh and his wife Jeanette, shortly after their wedding
Right: Josh's CITY OF HEROES character ECLIPSE, shortly after reaching Level 50!

Josh is a hardcore Batman fan (as well as a lifetime subscriber to Barely Legal Preschool Edition)----he's the friend you want to make yourself look pure by comparison. You know that evil little voice that tells you to say terrible things at the wrong time? Josh writes for that guy. Obviously, we consider him one of our best friends.

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Jeanette Benko
Pure innocence

Here's Jeanette. Nothing but innocent thoughts. Really.

Jeanette is one of the few friends we know who's line of work is actually more interesting than ours. We won't elaborate here. Her nickname is "Hey you! Behind the bushes!" and her favorite drink is whatever got her wasted last night. Jeanette has evil little thoughts running through her head 24/7....but she has the advantage of looking like an angel. It's these qualities that make us love our lil' Jeanette!

Josh and Jeanette are currently the proud parents of two adorable little ones, Jack and Hunter.

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Ward Doepping
Bane - Legendary former member of our staff,
The original Minion
Gone, but never ever ever forgotten

Above: Ward, surrounded by his favorite fiends, heroes and bad, bad girls!
On March 21, 2006, Ward Doepping---one of our very first employees---passed away. He was our friend and brother.

Like most of our current friends, we wouldn’t have met Ward unless Christina and I had opened a store in Crown Point. He was first a customer, then a friend, and not long after he became our first employee.

Christina and I had only known him for four years, but we didn’t know a single person in Crown Point that didn’t know the big guy. Ward was a man who loved life more than any guy I had ever encountered. He was a wrestler, a horror-show personality, an artist, and a friend to everyone that he knew. And boy howdy, did he know a lot of people!

I can’t imagine that we’ll ever know another joyous soul like the legendary Ward. He was an irreplaceable personality, with a fantastic outlook on life and a mischievious sense of humor. His spirit still lingers in our hearts, and will continue to do so as long as Screaming Monkey Comics exists.