Comments on: Matt Fraction on "The Great Comic Book Store"

By: Mike

Mike — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 15:38:22 +0000

I'll second the recommendation of Hero's Haven in Roseburg, Oregon. The owner's are great, and I stop by every time I head home, or pass through on I-5. It's exactly what a Comic Book shop should be - inviting, friendly, and geeky fun. It never sold out to the gaming crowd, and remains fixed on comics. You can tell when the owner is passionate about something, and Brett is. Mike Allred is a local fan, and occasionally stops in, and painted the first sign for the store, back when he was just getting started.

By: Jar-El

Jar-El — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 02:59:38 +0000

By far, best shop ever is Old Town Comics in Fredericksburg, VA.

"http://www.oldtowncomics.com/index.html"

If you are in the area, its the only real comicbook shop in existence in Fredericksburg and Stafford. The owner is probably the coolest comic book shop owner there is, period.

Bizarro Wuxtry in Athens, GA is also a very cool place. It is worth the trip if you are in the area. Devlin is a cool dude.

By: Thor1976

Thor1976 — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 18:30:43 +0000

The Comic Vault in Chicago has a "Ladies Night" and they have stand up Comedy every other month. They may not be the biggest store but they have a big heart. They are the Rudy of comic book stores in Chicago. Check out their commercials on their website and you will see the personality.

By: Suz

Suz — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 18:41:16 +0000

As far as in Maryland, Fudd's Rabbit Hole of Comics is the store to visit. It has a huge inventory of back issues and statues, and if they don't have what you're looking for, they'll do what they can to get it.
As a bonus, you get Fudd(the owner), a very colorful and knowledgable character.

By: Dave

Dave — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 07:58:25 +0000

I have to second what TBird says: Destination Venus in Harrogate, UK is one of the best comic shops I've been to. Friendly, helpful and un-intimidating staff with a great, well-laid-out selection at good prices.

By: Matt Sargeson

Matt Sargeson — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 15:10:41 +0000

'Absract Sprocket' on St. Benedict's street, Norwich, England. It's pretty small so can't stock huge amounts of back-issues but it's got a really nice atmosphere and super-friendly staff! And it kind of wins here because it's the only comic shop in town... Oh, and 'House on the Borderland' in Peterborough, England, which also sells tie-dye clothing, stacks of old vinyl and, if you get chummy with the owner, the best Hydroponic loco-weed in the Midlands.

By: Gail

Gail — Mon, 14 May 2007 18:44:57 +0000

I gotta plug my shop, Metropolis Comics Bellflower, in Bellflower, CA. We're a mid-size shop, but we can get any and everything the bigger boys have; we also have the best staff around. We're friendly, welcome kids, have a great back issue selection and sub service - like some other retailers, I'm and old-time fan of comics and couldn't find a shop that offered me what I wanted, so I opened Metropolis almost 9 years ago, and we're still going strong. We're open every day, close to freeways and just about 10 miles out of downtown Los Angeles, so it's not in the thick of the traffic crush but it's close enough to be... well... metropolitan! Come in and see us, chat with us - we all love to talk comics!

By: drugmonkey

drugmonkey — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 02:29:55 +0000

near Baltimore, MD in Ellicott City is Cosmic Comix. Great Place!!

By: Ginsu Victim

Ginsu Victim — Fri, 23 Feb 2007 21:35:41 +0000

Gotta agree with the person who listed Carolina Comics in Lawton, OK. Great store! I'm saddened that it took me this long to finally start visiting, but now I'll make the drive once a month to get my comics from a good store. Great vibe and cool people who know their stuff.

By: Ken Brown

Ken Brown — Tue, 06 Feb 2007 09:58:36 +0000

Yes, Arizona is on the upswing. I too am one of the proud local Comic Book Store Owners in the valley of the sun. I always belived comic stores should be a place you should be excited to go too each week, a place where we can all share our common intrests and most of all feel welcome. That is the environment we provide to all of our customers that shop with us. It is not about Drawn To Comics it is about all of the the fans who keep us all going week in and week out. Without them there are no comic book stores just big box stores treating us as numbers and not as the fans we truely all are! Thank you to all that have and continue to support us in Downtown Glendale.

Ken
Drawn To Comics
http://www.DrawnToComics.com

By: Greg Burgas

Greg Burgas — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 19:01:39 +0000

Mike - Samurai is too far away for me to visit (like I'm driving all the way into Phoenix from Mesa every week!), but I've been to the store on Central a couple of times, and you do a great job. It's a nice place.

By: Mike Banks

Mike Banks — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 18:54:29 +0000

Arizona has some great stores these days! Of course I'm biased, I own two of them-- Samurai Comics.

I worked for a store for years where the owner had grown to hate comics. Too often that is the problem with stores. Sure you have to be in it to make some money, but, where's the love, you know?

The coolest part about finally owning my own stores is being able to push a diverse selection. We carry a ton of mini comics (both local and national-- if you self publish let us know we'd be happy to look at your books). And we've had some kick ass creators in over the years-- Jim Mahfood, Michael Turner, Craig Thompson, James Kolchaka, Kurt Busiek, & Greg Rucka to name just a few.

Mike
Samurai Comics

By: Dan Merritt

Dan Merritt — Wed, 13 Dec 2006 12:49:20 +0000

It probably looks tacky for me to post here, but I haven't seen anyone mention my store Green Brain Comics yet. So here it is.

What makes my store a "great comic book store"?

Great selection? Well we just got voted "Best Comic Book Selection" by the Metro Times (local arts/culture paper).

Service? Well, thats not something I can say much about. But we do aim to please. Hopefully our customers recognize that.

Maybe it's hard work, my wife Katie and I work at it 7 days a week. We think about it 24/7. We stake our livelihood on it. Our staff puts many hours of hard work into making this a pleasant, well organized and friendly place to browse.

I think one of our more unique assets is our upstairs neighbors STORMY RECORDS. We love the combination of comics and music. And we love our pals Windy & Carl that run the joint.

Maybe it's modesty...nah! I'll tell it to you straight. We love what we do, and I'm too proud to keep it to myself.

Now Michigan just needs to stop hemorraging jobs so we have customers that can afford to support us.

By: mark

mark — Sun, 10 Dec 2006 19:52:22 +0000

Forbidden Planet NYC.

Great graphic novel selection; well lit, atmospheric and friendly; a few staff members have been there forever and with their encyclopedic knowledge are a joy to talk to week in and week out; been going there since I was a kid and you never know what celebrity you might bump into on any given day; always changing, always evolving.

By: rebelchelle

rebelchelle — Wed, 06 Dec 2006 05:11:59 +0000

Montgomery, Alabama

Comics and Cards... It's a wonderful store! The service can only be described as awewsome. They work really hard and it shows that customer service is their #1 priority. I know I'm a patron there, but walking into the store I feel more like I am their friend.

By: Calvin

Calvin — Tue, 05 Dec 2006 13:25:52 +0000

TBS Comics in Fort Walton Beach, Florida - Definitely a great place and great people!

I live 6 hours away, and have my books shipped (and visit when I can) because I couldn't find a decent store near my new location.

By: Nessa

Nessa — Mon, 04 Dec 2006 20:21:43 +0000

Carolina Comics in Lawton, Oklahoma. It's small but well-formed. Also they're way better than the grody place on Gore that stacks their comics haphazardly one atop the other. and the Mom & Pop groove is sincere. They're lovely people.

My old shop was Legendary in Stillwater. I remember struggling not to skip class to be there at open on Wednesdays. Darren's a great guy.

By: Robert

Robert — Sun, 03 Dec 2006 05:16:59 +0000

Austin Books.

Yadah, yadah... been to shops all over the country...

Austin Books has it all.

By: miraclemet

miraclemet — Sat, 02 Dec 2006 16:51:05 +0000

I grew up in an area (Winter Haven, FL circa 1980s) where the only "Comic Shop" was a guy who only dealt in back issues. Most new releases came from the local gas stations that carried comics. I got out of comics durring the advent of the foil and limited edition covers (not for that reason, just moved on to baseball cards and then college). Recently Ive gotten back into comics after a 15 year hiatus, and two comic shops in my area, The Vault of Midnight (Ann Arbor, MI) and Fun 4 All (Ypsiliant, MI) have been great. Fun 4 All is my wednesday destination to pick up the latest and greatest. The staff always has interesting recommendations, and watching one of the staff members work with this 9-10 year old kid to try and find him some "subject appropriate" issues of Daredevil (which the kid was dead set on getting, despite redirection to the "all age" rack, the kid kept moving back to the long boxes of back issues, gotta love the determination). It just showed that they take a real civil responsibility in selling comics. In my travels I love every trip I make to Erlanger, Kentucky because my work there is just down the road from Comic Book World in Erlanger (just across the river from Cincy). Tons of comics both new and old, Graphic novels are a big part of the shop(which they painstakingly shrink wrap including old out of print ones, just wish I could crack one open before I buy it)> But what makes it stand out (and Ive only been there 3 times and this has been the constant) is that a) this is a family shop so there are a few kids (one is the son of the owner who has posted little mini-comics about himself around the shop) around talking comics just like the 30 somethings talking comics. Nothing makes me love a shop more than as sense of community, and this place has it.

By: KB

KB — Sat, 02 Dec 2006 01:40:22 +0000

Love to see all of these responses. Great thread. I'm another San Franciscan and while I can't deny that the Isotope is the coolest store in the city (heck, maybe the country) I want to give a shout out to Jeffrey's Toys, which is downtown on Market between Montgomery and Kearney. They are a small operation (and mostly a toy store) but for the serious comic book fan they do one thing that can't be beat: They offer a 20% discount so long as your pull list is more than 15 or so books a month. That's 20% off of everything, even if you didn't pre-order it. And they have a steadily growing selection of trades and a decent selection of very recent back issues. On top of that, you get free bags and boards and free Previews (you buy the first one and you can exchange them for free after that). Hard to not love that. Comic Relief in Berkeley is awesome for sure and is the Midtown Comics of the Bay Area. But really nothing compares to the two Midtown locations which have an awe-inspiring collection of trades. I mean, they have just about EVERYTHING (though they didn't have all of the Judge Dredd case files I was looking for, they did have some of them). If you are in New York you HAVE TO see these places to believe them. You could be in there for hours.