Chelsea Kadovitz first visited Galaxy of Comics about 10 years ago with her boyfriend at the time and didn’t know much about comic books. But each time Kadovitz went, she talked for hours with the shop’s owner, Warren Jaycox, and eventually grew a love for the genre.
While other comic books stores felt isolating to newcomers, Jaycox created a welcoming atmosphere at Galaxy of Comics. Friendly and supportive, he never wanted to “gatekeep” nerd culture as others often did, Kadovitz said.
“He always greeted folks with an open heart and an excitement that they were there,” she recalled. “Kind of a trust in that he could help you find something you were looking for or that you didn’t even know that you were looking for.”
The owner of the beloved Van Nuys comic book store died Saturday, Dec. 28, after he got trapped under an SUV that was leaving the Westfield Topanga mall.
Jaycox, 54, was riding an e-scooter when the crash occurred around 11:30 a.m. in the 6800 block of North Owensmouth Avenue in Canoga Park, LAPD Sgt. Scott Vostad told a Key News Network videographer at the scene.
As an SUV exiting the mall parking lot turned right, Jaycox hit the ground and slid under the vehicle before it drove over him, Vostad said. The driver of the SUV, who was around 17 years old, stayed at the scene and cooperated with investigators, police said.
Jaycox was wearing a helmet. He died at the scene.
‘He didn’t just care about what you liked to read.’
Growing up, Jaycox would walk with his grandmother on weekends to garage sales and 7-Eleven, so she could stock up on cigarettes. During one of their trips to the convenience store, he looked through the comic books, and his grandmother promised to buy him one if he agreed to read it, rather than just stare at the pictures.
“That’s what started it,” Jaycox said in a 2019 video posted to Galaxy of Comics’ YouTube.
He opened the comic book store in 2009 and expanded in 2021 to a 2,500-square-foot space.
Jaycox introduced Kadovitz to graphic memoirs and the #OwnVoices movement, which promoted books about underrepresented communities written by authors of the same identities. When Kadovitz worked as a nanny, he also helped her find comic books and graphic novels that would foster a love of reading in young kids.
Kadovitz visited the store for hours at a time and became close friends with Jaycox. After a few years, she took a part-time job helping him with inventory and other tasks at Galaxy of Comics.
If someone in the community needed help, Jaycox stepped up without waiting to be asked, she said. He posted fliers for missing people in the area and promoted fundraisers for community members in need.
At one point, he noticed that a woman in the area was living in her car. He brought her groceries at least once a week and tried to help her find information on social services and programs that could help her, Kadovitz said.
Because of his kindness, Kadovitz said, many customers like her became Jaycox’s friends.
“He didn’t just care about what you liked to read,” she said. “He cared about your holistic well-being, and he wanted to help anybody in whatever way he could.”
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