I Love Comic Shops

Team Dragonsteel is spending the week in the UK, and it has already been a whirlwind. Brandon gave his speech at Oxford, the Dragonsteel Pop-Up Shop opened and closed its doors at the Forbidden Planet Megastore, and we’re set up for three awesome days at MCM. Between our preparation for London, days spent at the Dragonsteel Pop-Up shop, and my adventures in London this week, I’ve had comic shops on my mind for a few weeks.

My first “comic shops” were public libraries. My brothers, my friends, and I always had graphic novels on reserve at school or at the nearby public library. Volumes of Bone and collected editions of Spider-Man or Green Arrow rarely stayed on the shelves for long. Before long, our circle of comic readers had grown into a tiny black market of kids passing books and hobbies back and forth at lunch tables and recess. Copies of Marvel Zombies changed hands alongside manga adaptations of The Legend of Zelda. Our first RPG manuals sat next to Pokémon cards in backpacks that condemned each sheet of crumpled homework, but transported precious books between school and home.

At the time, those hobbies still felt niche. Superheroes were popular, but the MCU had yet to make them truly mainstream. Dungeons & Dragons was years away from Critical Role or appearances on Stranger Things. Trading cards were valuable to us not because of their price tags, but because we never knew when we’d find more Pokémon to add to our rubber-band bound piles. With all the interest we had in these games, books, and new worlds, we eventually outgrew backpacks and library shelves and went looking for more.

Bookstores helped satisfy our curiosities until we discovered something better: comic shops and game stores. These were a paradise in hiding, tucked into shopping centers, malls, and the back corners of town. Shelves packed with comics, RPG books, board games, dice, paints, miniatures, and trading cards opened up entirely new worlds to us. Tables covered in hobby terrain and painted armies showed off games we had never seen. Older fans and store clerks became guides, introducing us to classic comics and more games we would fall in love with.

Long before algorithms recommended books to me, comic shop employees handed me graphic novels they knew I’d love. Long before I would have searched for painting tutorials online, I saw Warhammer armies smashing into each other across crowded tabletops in local stores.  These places created community when fandom wasn't yet mainstream.

Comic shops evolved alongside comic culture. Once upon a time, readers picked up superhero issues from newsstands for a few cents apiece. In time, dedicated comic shops emerged to support fans who wanted more, from specificity to the latest releases. Over decades, those stores became more than retail spaces. They became gathering places for people who loved fantasy, science fiction, games, and art.

Now comic shops are rarely just comic shops, and nerd interests are practically part of the mainstream. Most of these stores are hybrid hobby shops packed with RPG manuals, trading card games, manga, painting supplies, and shelves full of board games. Many host Friday Night Magic, D&Dragons adventurers’ league campaigns, painting nights, or Warhammer tournaments. The rise of the MCU, anime streaming, actual play TTRPG shows, and gaming culture turned what used to be niche interests into a massive shared phenomenon.

These days, I’m fully entrenched in that culture myself. I write for Dragonsteel, run Dungeons & Dragons games, collect comics, and maintain a healthy army of (mostly painted) Chaos Space Marines for Warhammer 40,000. My bookshelves hold comics like Ultimate Spider-Man and Absolute Batman alongside thousand-page fantasy novels.

Everywhere I travel, I find myself searching for local comic shops and games stores. That’s become a personal tradition; and I’ve built a Magic: The Gathering Commander deck almost entirely from cards I’ve picked up while traveling. Some came from shops one town over. Others came from entirely different continents. In every city, I try to find a card to add, warping the strategy as I find more souvenirs to add to my pile, reliving my travels with every game I play.

I’ve had conversations with comic shop employees who dug through their personal collections to help me find the perfect card. I’ve talked comics with strangers halfway across the world. I’ve discovered new books, games, and creators because someone was enough of a fan to share something they loved. Those interactions are part of why I still care so deeply about these hobbies. Everything is better when shared.

Visiting these same shops in London this week has been so much fun. I’ve stopped into Gosh! Comics and Orc's Nest, but the standout experience has been Forbidden Planet. Forbidden Planet a legendary comic shop in its earliest days. For more than fifty years, it has connected readers with comics, graphic novels, science fiction, fantasy, and every corner of nerd culture imaginable. Long before geekdom became mainstream, Forbidden Planet helped give it a home. The store hosted appearances from icons like Douglas Adams and Terry Pratchett, and over the years it became a pop culture landmark in London.

The tidy comic shop has become a nerd megastore. Mazelike shelves are packed with comics, omnibuses, manga, collectibles, RPG books, and merchandise from nearly every fandom imaginable, with a floor for books and comics and another floor for the merch and goodies that accompany them. I’ve spent plenty of time this week browsing the shelves between appearances at our pop-up shop.

At the pop-up shop, I’ve met a legion of dedicated fans excited to celebrate the stories that tie us together. From fantastic tattoos commemorating your love of the Cosmere to excitement over books you are only just discovering, it has been a pleasure to meet up with you in London.

Comic shops helped make me the happy nerd I am today. They introduced me to stories, hobbies, and communities that still shape my life years later. They helped guide me into the career I love today, with the many people I’ve met just this week finding us deep in the maze of a comic shop. They helped my friends and me find more to enjoy about the experiences that we love sharing.

So, to comic shops everywhere: thank you for keeping me nerdy.