‘Nightmare’ over: Clint’s Comics moves out of dangerous building in midtown KC
Clint’s Comics can actually sell comics again.
The nationally-known comic shop — which was located in midtown Kansas City for decades and owned by local business icon Jim Cavanaugh up until his death in 2017 — needed to uproot and move across town after its historic home became untenable.
Between the COVID pandemic and worsening water concerns, customers’ shopping experience had been impaired for years.
Clint’s dates back in some form to the 1960s, and from the mid-1970s Cavanaugh ran the shop, which was tied to pioneering direct distribution for comic books while shaping a loyal customer base locally and beyond. Clint’s has been featured in media coverage over the years, and Cavanaugh was known for his colorful character and vivid stories.
He died in May 2017 during a robbery incident, which police investigated as a homicide, and the community built around the shop mourned. His wife, Sharon Farris, took over the store.
Just a few months after Jim’s death, Farris told The Star, water issues began to emerge inside the shop in the historic Southwell Building off Main Street in Westport. She returned from Kansas City Comic Con to discover leaking water had damaged book racks, soaking and ruining rows of merchandise.
“That was 2017,” Farris said. “It has gotten steadily worse since then.”
The Star viewed photos and videos showing major damage and leaking water issues going back years and, including one video from 2022 that showed water dripping and trickling through a light fixture hanging from the ceiling.
If water got into the space on the second floor, it would soak through anything attached to the Clint’s ceiling, Farris said: duct supports, fluorescent lights, electric fixtures, the furnace and air conditioner and so on.
At some point in 2023, she said, snow was quickly followed by above-freezing temperatures that caused the snow to melt. Water came through into the front part of the store, she said, and pieces of the ceiling fell.
“It finally got to where you could see through up into Harling’s,” Farris said, adding that a piece of ceiling dented a large metal popcorn tub. Harling’s Upstairs was a dive bar on the second floor of the building that closed around 2016.
“Luckily, no one ever got hurt,” she said. “Luckily, it never hit me.”
Protecting the shop’s merchandise from leaks meant sump pumping whenever it rained and setting up large buckets to catch water. Friends would help out into the night, until two or three in the morning, to keep the water away.
“It was a nightmare,” Farris said. “I had no time to actually sell books. I was protecting and keeping safe the books that we had. That was my time.”
The shop eventually became less accessible for customers hoping to browse, as merchandise was draped in tarps to protect the comic books from water damage.
But now, Farris’s nightmare is over. She and a group of volunteers have moved boxes, books and racks out of Kansas City and into Independence at 815 N. Noland Rd. When reporters visited last week, a customer was rifling through the selection like normal, and group chit chat resumed like it used to.
Various vintage and new comic books were on display, without the tarps, in a bright new space.
“It’s a wonderful place,” Farris said. “It’s dry. No gunk in the air. My health has improved so much. I have so much time (now) to actually sell the books.”
But not everything made the move: Up to half of the shop’s merchandise was ruined, alongside one-of-a-kind art in Cavanaugh’s collection and other materials.
The shop’s former location, in the historic Southwell Building at 3935 Main St., has been declared dangerous by the city.
And the city required Clint’s to vacate the building due to life and safety concerns.
City inspection records and photos, alongside striking photos and videos from inside the building obtained by The Star, detail the extent of the damage, including heavy mold growth, buckets filled with murky liquid, mounds of ruined merchandise and massive chunks of the ceiling just missing.
A Nov. 25 city inspection documented heavy water covering the entire inside a commercial area, with walls full of black and white mold. The ceiling partially collapsed, and water had damaged everything on the inside. Water had also damaged the flooring and leaked into the basement, causing more damage.
Fire department drone footage found further ceiling collapse and holes in the roof, which appeared to sink inward. The chimney partially collapsed, with brick falling on the inside.
Another inspection report found wood rot and a partially collapsed staircase alongside mold and roof damage.
“The water has destroyed most of the structure,” a city inspector wrote.
The building’s owner, Southwell Building, LLC, and Clint’s Comics are currently in court. The LLC filed a complaint in August over an alleged lapsed lease and unpaid rent. The case is currently scheduled for trial in February.
Jerry Wyatt of Southwell Building LLC told The Star in December that the building will not be demolished and said that it could be sold this year and redeveloped.
The Southwell Building is part of a district listed on the National Register of Historic Places, which could unlock funds for rehabilitation. The building, which is near a new streetcar stop, is known for its unique Art Deco terracotta facade.
Meanwhile, unpacking and sorting everything at the new Clint’s Comics location is still a work in progress, but customers can go browse right now.
“My customers are my family,” Farris said. “Clint’s Kids, and Clint’s Grandkids now.”
She knows most of her customers by name.
“It gives me purpose in life. I had someone ask me once why I was still doing this,” Farris said. “It gives me purpose and satisfaction, in a strange way, satisfaction to be able to provide entertainment and enjoyment for people.”
Farris is more of a hardcover book fan and has her own collection of rare novels. But she was compelled to protect what she had, she said, and couldn’t just leave it behind.
This story was originally published January 14, 2026 at 5:33 AM.