KEENSPOT ENTERTAINMENT OPENS OFFLINE RETAIL STORE
Popular webcomics publisher's 2,700 square foot Temple City, CA store offers wide variety of comics and pop culture-related products

TEMPLE CITY, CA - August 10, 2002 - Keenspot Entertainment, the most popular publisher of original web-based comic strips and a print comic-book publisher, further expands their entertainment empire today with the opening of their first retail store.  The 2,700 square foot store, located at 9604 Las Tunas Drive in Temple City, California, carries a wide variety of comic books, toys, and other fun pop culture items.

"The store's right near a school and is on the busiest street in the city," said Keenspot Co-CEO Chris Crosby.  "It's what jumps out at you the most when you're going down the street." The front sign features a large Keenspot logo surrounded by dozens of Keenspot's webcomics characters, and below the banner in the window stand life-size cardboard cut-outs of pop culture icons like Homer Simpson, Spider-Man, Scooby-Doo, and Austin Powers.  Keenspot hopes to attract a wide range of customers to the store.  "We want to see children and their parents in here looking for 'Spongebob Squarepants' toys, hardcore comic-book geeks stopping in for their weekly fix of four-color fun, casual comics readers that devour graphic novels, keenspot.com fans that want to check out our headquarters and buy Keenspot merchandise in the easiest way possible... there'll be something for everyone at the Keenspot store."

With their comic-book store, Keenspot hopes to ride the wave of renewed popularity the comic book industry is experiencing.  Comic-book sales are growing for the first time in years, as blockbuster movies based on comics like Spider-Man, Men in Black II, and Road To Perdition are showing the general public that comics are cool and can tell any sort of story.

"I'm really proud of [Chief Financial Officer] Teri Crosby and the rest of the Keenspot staff for getting the new Keenspot store together," said Nate Stone, Keenspot Chief Technical Officer.  "Opening a physical store, if it's successful, will be a great way for Keenspot to market our great comic book lines and make some money for our artists.  It will also give us a great location to run our business from, fulfill web orders from keenswag.com, print t-shirts, create books, design toys and expand all of our product lines. I think the future of Keenspot will hold a number of stores in profitable locations showcasing the Keenspot product lines and books.  The opening of this store is just a stepping stone on the way to creating the business we would like to run on behalf and for the benefit of our artists.  I can't wait for the future."

Based in Temple City, CA, Keenspot Entertainment (http://www.keenspot.com) is a multimedia entertainment company that publishes the work of thousands of cartoonists.  Keenspot.com, the company's central website tying together 40+ exclusive free webcomics, generates over 50 million pageviews and attracts more than 2 million unique visitors each month.  Over 600 members have signed on to Keenspot PREMIUM, a $4.95-a-month subscription service that removes all ads from Keenspot sites and offers exclusive features.  Keenspot's print comic-book publishing division has published 26 titles (including 2 paperback book collections) since launching in July 2001. Keenspace.com, Keenspot's free webhosting service for aspiring cartoonists, hosts over 6,000 independent webcomics.

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