Thank you to The Outer Limits

Dear editor of The Waltham Times,

My name is Kevin Keaney. I was once a resident of Waltham, growing up on the South side in the 1980’s & 90’s. I’ve been teaching Graphic Design & Illustration classes at Waltham High School for 20 years. I am writing to mark the upcoming retirement and closing of my favorite store on Moody Street, The Outer Limits. A cultural hub for myself and many others – Steve Higgins first opened the store in 1983. With the current proliferation of comic book movies and culture, it’s hard to imagine this popular art form was once on the fringe of entertainment and artistic endeavors – sold primarily at supermarkets and gas stations. Creating comics was relegated to the lowest of art forms, and barely considered as “Art”.

To my friends and me, The Outer Limits was our museum. The store opened my eyes to the world of illustration and graphic design. The Outer Limits showed me a multitude of stories in every genre – from superheroes, and science fiction, to tales of everyday life experiences. Steve introduced me to Art Spiegelman’s “Maus” long before it entered high school curriculums. I’ve read Mary Shelly’s “Frankenstein” many times thanks to being introduced to Berni Wrightson’s artistic masterwork, and I got hooked on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles when they were printed in black & white – long before Nickelodeon got a hold of them. Steve encouraged me to read about comics as a field of study with Scott McClouds “Understanding Comics” and Will Eisner’s “Comic & Sequential Storytelling”. Books I continue to share with students to this day. 

Steve Higgins was kind and receptive to my pack of teenage friends. He would constantly be moving around the store – tucking comics in plastic sheets, running the register, all while joking with his customers. The rows of comic books were a visual delight – some familiar, but many unknown to me. The Outer Limits also sold models of giant robots and spaceships from Japan – heralding the Anime/Manga artform so popular today. For more than forty years, Steve Higgins and The Outer Limits offered items focused on pop culture artifacts. Comics, graphic novels, books, out of print magazines, plastic model kits, newspapers, buttons, action figures, and so much more. Congratulations to Steve Higgins on a well deserved retirement – and a sincere thank you for transporting myself and so many others to The Outer Limits.

Thank you,
Kevin Keaney