Possible poisoning victim ID'd as Somerville comics store owner

By Danielle Dreilinger, Globe Correspondent

James Welborn, proprietor of Somerville's  "comic shop for NPR listeners," died May 23 at Massachusetts General Hospital. He was 37, store manager Jesse Farrell said.

A hospital spokesman confirmed the death.

Emergency personnel discovered Welborn in his Summit Avenue home May 16. Police have been investigating the incident, which included a note on the bathroom door warning of poisonous gas.

Hub Comics has made its presence known in Union Square with its signature neon green and orange interior and late hours. Welborn started the store in 2008 to fulfill a teenage dream while working as a software engineer for Akamai. It was "the place he loved best," Farrell said.

"When I got my first job I spent probably every dime on comics," Welborn said in a 2008 interview. He envisioned Hub as a place "where people would be exposed to comics" as an art form.

In the future, he said, "I imagined me and my son ... sitting hanging around at the comics shop."

The store ran into financial difficulties last fall and lost its account with Diamond, its primary distributor for superhero comics. Hub's fan base came through, buying comics to keep the store open.

"The comics community is a tight-knit group," said artist Maris Wicks in a phone interview. "Everybody was shocked."

After she moved to Somerville, Hub became "the first comic book shop I ever felt was 'my' shop because James was so welcoming."

Welborn's family is deciding what to do about the store, said Farrell, who has been there since the start and wants to keep it open. "We're here for the foreseeable future," he said.

In the meantime, he's running a big sale to clear out some of the backlog and the comics Welborn always meant to deal with.

A memorial service (not yet scheduled) will be held at the shop. Farrell's dad is taking care of the official Hub dog, "Bub."

"He was a nice guy, a good friend and he's going to be super missed," Wicks said.