Coliseum of Comics, Orlando FL

So it's been a while since I've posted. That's mostly because I didn't have a camera to take the few pictures I do actually like to take, and because my vehicle situation was a little unstable. Now that those two issues are resolved, more posts! So I'm starting my return post, along with a promise to do so more often, with a review of a pretty sweet shop! This is the Coliseum of Comics in the Fashion Square Mall in Orlando Florida. I've been visiting this shop for a while now, and it's one of my favorites to browse. If there's one thing these stores get, it's atmosphere. As soon as you walk in you're entrenched the comic book sub-culture. There are posters all over the walls, and some amazingly sculpted statues on display throughout the store. You could spend a lot of time just browsing through these things, especially considering they change them up moderately frequently. They also have a few televisions throughout the store playing whatever random nerdy movie they decided to play that day. I've seen anything from comic book movies, to cartoons, to Japanese flicks, to sci-fi films!

Their selection of comics is pretty good. I never have too hard a time finding what I'm looking for, with the exception of a few smaller indie books, and sometimes they even have stuff I haven't heard of, which is really nice. They have the books shelved and separated by their publishing company. I like this better than the books being all jumbled together, and probably the only way I prefer is them being sorted by author. They also have a pretty sweet selection of board games and toys and other things. More so on the board games, but I'll give them points regardless. There's a sizable t-shirt selection too, which is cool if that's your thing...

The one thing that probably stops this store from being my favorite near me is the customer service. Not saying that it's bad, it's just really mediocre. The employees never really look particularly excited to be there, and they'll rarely engage you in conversation. Now if you're the kind of person who can walk up to people and strike up a conversation, then you might have less trouble, but that's not exactly my strong suit. I guess I kind of expect them to be more engaging... Again, it's not bad, if you have a question they're always cool about answering, but I've had little to no random conversations being struck up due to common interests...

So I guess the final verdict is that you should definitely check out this shop! If you're at the fashion square mall, stop by and browse for a bit, and spend some money, because these guys deserve it, but it's not my first choice to make your home store. You know though, second place isn't so bad...

View Larger Map

Acme Comics - Longwood, FL

My son and I, yes that's him in the photo, just started visiting this store recently. It is definitely the farthest i drive to visit a comic shop regularly, but it's well worth it. Acme is an awesome comic shop with super friendly staff. Every time I've been they always greet me, and i usually get some pretty sweet conversation too. As you walk in there's one long counter on your right with all kind of cool shit underneath and hanging on the back wall. In the back right corner there's all the new comics and trades, with older collectibles hanging on the walls. In the middle of the store is a large collection of long boxes that houses the bulk of their back issues that are alphabetically ordered. Then the back left half of the store is a huge toy section. Throughout the store there are life size statues of characters including, Silver Surfer, Batman, and Spider-man, which is not only really awesome, it totally adds atmosphere to the shop. Then throughout if you happen to look up, certain ceiling tiles are replaced with full size drawings that are cool to go around and look at, but could honestly probably be placed in a slightly better location so as not to break one's neck every time you'd like to appreciate the art. A for effort though.

Their selection on comics is really good, I've never not found what i was looking for, and i have been pleasantly surprised at the selection of indie books that i either love and don't see often enough, or haven't read and would like to give a chance. and their collection of back issues is impressive to say the least. I've been several times with friends looking for obscure issues of popular, and not so much, series and found pretty much what they were looking for, if not spot on. My only gripe here is that the back issues are separated into two groups, popular and not... and I don't really see why. Because if you wanted to separate them by company that'd be one thing, but there are certain books that i don't know where to look for and have to ask. Is Savage dragon an indie book? Spawn? What about books like Walking dead that have more fans than they know what to do with? Or how about smaller Marvel titles like Captain Britain and the MI13, is that an indie book since no one bought it? That kind of organization style has never made sense to me. Why do small books instantly not become indie just because they have a Marvel or DC logo, and "indie" books remain so even when they have ridiculous amounts of readers...? Probably not the shops fault, but still.

Now i would be remiss if i didn't mention that, Acme,hands down, has the best collection of Statues, Busts, Toys, and Action figures I've ever seen. Now whether that interests you or not it's at least something you should check out once. There are several aisles on one side of the store dedicated to just toys, and they're separated by saying one aisle is star wars toys, the next is Marvel toys, etc. It's so cool, and i dare anyone to browse for more than a couple minutes and play "You Nostalgia, you lose!" Then there are walk in cases in the back, kind of like a humidor or something, for the more rare and expensive busts, statues and toys. It's so cool, being someone who's always been, and always will be, a huge toy nerd seeing shit i grew up on, and would spend quite a bit of cash if/when i get the chance.

The staff is super cool and laid back. Every time I've gone I've enjoyed their company, and wished i could stay longer. There's nothing like meeting someone who you've never had a conversation with before, and realizing that not only do they have all the same interests, but they are dying to sit and chat you up about them. I will say that the last time i went they didn't have as much time to hang out, but it was a Saturday and there were quite few people there and they are a business. I have seen shops handle a bigger crowd better, but not many. The first time i went i was browsing in the toy section with my almost two year old son. One of the guys asks me how I'm doing and i say, with a grin, something along the lines of "not too bad, trying to stop my son from fucking up all you guys stuff". He says that he'd appreciate it with a laugh. He asks if it's our first time to their shop, and when i say so he welcome me and asks where I'm from. I mention that it's a smaller town about an hour or so away and he mentions that that's kind of a far ways to drive. He then says "you know what that means don't you? Since you've got to drive all the way here, you should just open up a shop of your own." i say "yeah, but then i wouldn't buy comics from you charming people anymore" and you know what he says? "it would be worth it. One more comic shop in the world, and I'd take that as a trade. Hell i might even come and visit." I feel bad for not catching this guy's name, but how awesome is that? That's the kind of shit that will keep people coming back to your store and wanting to hang out. Acme is definitely in my top five favorite shops I've ever been to, and i don't see that changing any time soon.

If you want to check this shop out for yourself, which you totally should, you here's a handy map to get you there:


View Larger Map

Thanks for reading
James

Family Comics and Cards, Winter Park FL

So It's been a minute since I've reviewed a store so I thought I'd go with a "Gem". So Some friends of mine and I make trips about twice a month to some comic shops because there are none in our area. A lot of times we head through Orlando and hit a couple of the same spots, our favorites. Just yesterday we decided we'd try out some new places. Some of them I'll hold off till later to tell you about so that I can get a better feel of them, but for this one I think I've got a good enough idea for now. So as we're cruisin', we know which places we're going to, but I hit up some reviews on the good old iphone. So out of Google, Yahoo, and Yelp all of the reviews seemed pretty positive, except one. There was one on google, a three of five star review, that was still reassuring that this was a good shop, but mentioned that it was a bit messy. My buddy reassured me "Dude, that guy probably just got them on a wrong day or something. It'll be fine."

So this place is in a great neighborhood. I mean the location is great! There are all kinds of antique shops, clothing stores, small privately owned diners. I was starting to get my hopes up. There's no sign from the road where this place is, but thanks to the GPS on my phone we eventually found it. It's upstairs almost right above a nice little deli. As we walk up there is no hours sign in the window and absolutely no advertisements that'd tell you this was a comic shop other than an old timey sign above the door displaying the name. Through the front windows you can see boxes strewn about and books just stacked up. As we walked in the door there's a small couch on the right that maybe two, three max, people could sit on, and a small hallway leading in from the doorway. Now when I say "hallway" I want you to understand that it's not a literal hallway, it's just that there is so much stuff on the right and left sides of this opening that it created a hallway. I mean there was just so much stuff... and not really in a good way. My friends were looking for specific back issues, one of Wolverine, and the other was looking for The Walking Dead. He took the two of them into a back room off to the right. One of my friends pretty much had to shimmy down between stuff to get to that room it's so cluttered. The back room was apparently organized much nicer, I stayed in the front room, but there was still a total lack of room. One friend had to lean against boxes of stuff, while the other two practically climbed over him to get to the rest of the selection. While I was in the front room I could have taken any damn thing I pleased. I obviously didn't, and I know a lot of people wouldn't, but who's to say that not everyone will. I feel bad for this guy and his store, because what happens the one day he gets a pair of assholes who take him in the back room and while the other takes as much shit as he can carry... I just think it's a little ridiculous when clutter actually affects how you do business. While I was in the front room I did have a look around, and he does have a really nice selection. There were a lot of Trades, Graphic Novels, and Hardbacks that I don't see at a lot of other stores, and my friends did find what they were looking for, but it just doesn't seem worth it to me if you can't get to anything yourself. It's one thing to kind of not be able to find something in a store, once you've looked, and asking someone to help, and an entirely different thing that you would be unable to browse at all and had to ask him to go get it for you. I just don't understand what all the clutter was... As he was cashing them out he checked in a price guide, because he didn't have them marked, and he actually gave them a pretty good deal on their books.

So I guess in summary, my associates told me that if you're a "Collector" then it was a pretty sweet store, because they did have a lot of stuff at a good price. Since I'm not a "Collector", and I usually just buy the TPBs, or a few Hardbacks if I really like the Series, I guess that having a large stock isn't that impressive to me. I mean yeah if you've got a few issues that're worth a lot of money, that's one thing, but to have so much that isn't really worth more than a couple of bucks apiece... it just seems a little silly. I guess what I'm saying is that presentation and customer service is a big thing to sacrifice for having a wide selection. The actual space itself was really nice and could be cleaned up to be a nice store. I mean if you have to rent a storage space and store all your other shit in there for an online store or something. Just get it out of the way so people can hang out and shop... Please don't take this as me tearing down the store and talking shit, because I'm not. If the owner ever cleans up his store and sends me an invitation back, then I'd be more than happy to go there and spend my money, but until then, there are just to many stores with a better experience... If you want to check this store out for yourself, you can visit them here:

View Larger Map

And As always, Thanks!
James

Sci-Fi City, Orlando FL

This is actually the first shop I started buying comics from regularly. I had been buying them from whatever bookstore i could here and there, but not on a monthly basis or anything. But i used to go to Sci-Fi to buy Dungeons & Dragons books when i was younger, and it had never occurred to me to check out the comics there for whatever reason. This store is pretty cool. When you walk in there's a middle section with all kinds of sword and medieval weaponry hanging up. Off to the right there are aisles with a bunch of different table top games and such. If you go off to the left from the entrance there's a big open area where people can come on the weekends to rent a table and play D&D, Magic the Gathering, Warhammer 40K or the dozens of other tabletop games they've got there. And against the far left wall there's a bunch of TV screens where you can pay to play Xbox 360 games and there's also a long row of computers to do the same with PC Games. There are racks with t-shirts, and against the back wall from the entrance is where all the comics are at. This is a pretty open store, so i will say that while there is a lot to do and look at while you're there, but the open space tends to make the place look pretty empty no matter how many people are in there. Other than that everything looks pretty nice, very clean and orderly. The arrangement of the comics is fine enough, i've never had a problem with it, they put the new ones on the shelf that's right across from the entrance, and then a few back issues of each series off to the left, and all the older back issues off to the right. Every issue comes with bags and boards, so if that's your thing you don't need to purchase any. Also if you come in on wednesdays, then all comics are like 40% off. Which is a pretty sweet deal, especially if you include the bags and boards. Hell i'm not even sure how they make money off of that deal.

So i started buying comics from this store and i liked it a lot at first because i didn't really have anything to compare it to, but over time i can say i've developed a few gripes. So after i started reading regularly i set up a pull list here and i'd get my comics before they put them on the shelf. But there were a few times that when i'd get home and be reading my comics and i'd be in the middle of a book, and the center page would just pop out. I don't know how common this is in comics, but i can honestly say i've never had it happen to new comics, or used for that matter, at any other store. This wouldn't have been that big a deal, until it happened for the third time and i took them back and they treated me like i had done it myself, or bought them somewhere else or something. I had a pull list at the store and they told me i needed a receipt to exchange comics that had been damaged before i read them… Even though they had the list saying which comics i was getting there. Needless to say i was a bit aggravated about that, and since then my tastes of this store have been lessened. The choice in the store of more indie or underground books is a bit slim. Also, the last few times i've been in there my friends and i were trying to get a head start on the day and went early so we could hit a few different shops, and when we stopped in there they didn't even have the new comics on the shelf yet. I feel like that's something that you should either do the night before, or come in early that morning to take care of. Then a friend of mine asked if they had any copies of an indie book and the gentleman working there said he had no idea how many they received, and that they needed to distribute the comics through the pull lists first. So not only were the books not on the shelf, they weren't even dealt out to people's pull list boxes. I get that you didn't order a lot of an indie book, and not having it is one thing, but telling me you don't know, because you haven't yet set everything up for the day, half an hour into the store being open? that's something else all together. Customer service is another big issue. I don't think i've ever met the owner, or even seen him there for that matter, but most of the people i do see there look bored as shit. There's one guy who has been there the past few Wednesdays and he's pretty cool, but all of the other employees i've seen just kind of hang out there more so than try and lend a hand to the customers. The one guy is chill, he'll chat with you, and try and hook you up with whatever you're looking for, and he seems to know his stuff too. My problem isn't with this guy, he's pretty cool, it's with most of the other employees i've seen working there over the years i've gone. they kind of just do their own thing, and when you ask them a question they either don't know the answer, or kind of don't care. You'd think in a niche store such as this it wouldn't be hard to find some nerdy ass people who are excited to chat with everyone they can about this stuff, but the problem is when your store is so buckshot about it's product (i.e. video games, table top games, figurine games, comics, anime, manga, medieval weaponry, busts and statues, action figures ) these people may not actually know about everything there. It's practically a department store, so on some days you might be able to find a guy to chat you up about comics, but fall to the wayside on the D&D stuff, or vice versa.

Don't get me wrong, i think this is a fine store. I think what i'm trying to get at is that it could be really great, because the product and the selection is there. They have something that sells, all they'd need to do to be a great store in my opinion is to pump up their staff a bit. Whether that means motivating them more, or just not hiring people who don't want to work there, i'm not sure. I do know that when i go into a comic shop i want people to be friendly and kind of chat me up a bit. Maybe tell me what's good, what they're liking a lot right now, instead of just cut and dry answering my questions and going back to staring into space and listening to your ipod...

You can check out the store's website here, or if you'd like to visit them and see for yourself you could probably find them here:

View Larger Map

James

Mission Statement.

Alright, so the idea here is to take all of the comic shops that I go to, or have even ever been to, and pit them against each other. I've been reading comics for a little over four years now, and in that time i've been a "regular" at many shops, some that i've liked and some i did not. It's always hard to go into a store that you've never been in before and take their word at face value, and i would be remiss if i said i had always been pleasantly surprised about these shops and their services. My experience as a whole has been awesome, and that's part of the reason I read, is because of the Subculture that is involved with it. So most of the time you learn where to go and where not to, but there are so many variables...

My ultimate goal is to visit every comic book store in the country! It's not an immediate goal or anything, but i mean why not add it to a bucket list? There are so many great places to be seen, and people to meet, i'd just like to take a glimpse at all of them! So i'm starting here. I'm going to start in my hometown of Orlando Florida, and work my way out. I'll try to do the reviews as often as possible, and eventually i'd like to be able to rank them in an ongoing matter. Meaning that as i go to a shop, it would get placed somewhere in the countdown, but we'll see. This is something i've wanted to work on for quite some time, so i suppose there's no time like the present!

Also, if you don't agree with something I say here, don't worry, the world will go on. My word is by no means absolute. There are all kinds of variables that I can't account for. You may be the kind of person who goes to shops like these to hang out with the owners and other patrons, and shopping is a close second, or maybe you want to go and browse as long as you want, while the employees wait patiently to answer your questions and don't interrupt your shopping experience... Most of the time I'm a little of both. But I could totally dislike a store for one reason, and you could absolutely love it for the exact same one! That's the beauty of the thing. I'm going to try to be objective, but obviously my opinions come into play. Hell, if you don't like what I, or even if you do, let me know in the comments, maybe you'll bring to light something I forgot! Wish me Luck?!