Ground Zero Hobby
4601 South 50th St, Suite 103
Omaha, NE 68117
(402)733-7212

Besides getting to cook my own deer meat, I also got to visit an old childhood friend: my welsh corgi Ein! She was my tightest homie throughout my high school, and it was nice to see how fat she had gotten living in Nebraska. Then I went to Ground Zero Hobby. This store is one of those all-encompassing stores. It’s a comics, cards, and gaming store, with enough of everything for a general fan to be satisfied with. I visited in the evening and was told that there were a few comics published by the likes of Avatar Press written or illustrated by people who shopped at the store. A lot of the gamer nerds in the store who looked like high schoolers also welcomed me, brushing cheese and french fries off their hands before waving hello.

The store had plenty of comics. The new arrivals for the week were placed a the very front rack with recent issues of continuing series placed on the wall. Older series were then housed in boxes in the center of the room, which is common for most stores to do.

I was pointed to check out the art that made this store unique. There was a mural along one side of the walls, that spanned across the length of the room. On the opposite wall was a shelf of action figures, from all sorts of decades.

It didn’t have a great graphic novel selection or indie books, so I ended up leaving with Dark Horse’s The Goon one-shot. Will I be visiting again? It wasn’t a special store, but it is for the locals. Not every comic book store has to be a nominee for a Will Eisner Spirit of Retailing Award. Some are there for the community, bringing school kids in afterschool and holding Magic tournaments. A store like Ground Zero is there for escapism, bringing in fantasy to a town that lacks immediate entertainment. For me, there wasn’t a great selection, but the beauty of comics nowadays is that there are a range of readers, and one store isn’t going to cater to all audiences. Ground Zero Hobby provides for the common comic book fan who get their weekly fix of Marvel or DC’s latest, and doesn’t need to crowd shelves with anything more than superhero comic book fantasy.

Coast City Comics
656 Congress St.; (207) 776-1719
www.coastcitycomics.net

Coast City Comics was a surprise because usually I’d be satisfied with a store like Casablanca in my town. I am not sure if it is quite necessary to have two comics stores within a few blocks of each other in a small city like Portland, but one thing for sure is that Coast City Comics is bringing the competition.

Only in its third month since opening, Coast City Comics had me at “hello”. It has a good natured-friendly vibe to artists, not just comic readers. I felt welcome on a whole other level. Yes, there were comics, but there were also illustrations visible in the store window, t-shirts designed by local artists, and mini-comics from the burgeoning scene of creators in Portland. This store felt more like a hub where artists could share their work and be discovered by the regular Joe.

I already covered Casablanca in a previous post, and if I were to compare the two, I’d say Casablanca is that really cool older guy who has sold comics to you your whole life. Coast City Comics is your best friend from college opening a comic store with all your favorite stuff you used to love (and still love!). And the metaphor isn’t too far from reality! Coast City Comics was opened by Gerald von Stoddard, who also happened to be behind the counter during my visit. He spoke about the new opening and we traded a few words about the Disney/Marvel news. It was like catching up with an old friend where the comics talk always somehow made its way into the conversation. He also pointed out that some of his closest friends were also the artists behind the T-shirts I was perusing through (and bought!).

I enjoyed both stores. I enjoyed the mini-comics, graphic novel, and the T-shirt I settled on. I was stressed out all morning just trying to find a place to have lobster rolls and crab chowder, but I relaxed when I walked into these stores. In the end, I’m just happy I don’t live in Portland. I’d find it really tough who I’d give my loyalty to.

PS. Gerald showed me a Mighty Mugg character he designed of his business partner! I was really sad when I got back to my car and realized I should have taken a picture of my Munny Me with his Mighty Mugg. Gerald, send me a photo or post one up here in the comments section… and maybe our toys will meet again!

It has been a while since I walked into a store with a great vibe. A place that was friendly, professional, and most of all immaculate. Casablanca Comics is listed first on Google when you search for comic shops in Portland. It has served a long 30 years in the heart of downtown and continues to bring the widest selection of floppies, trades, and superhero related memorabilia.

I ducked into a Starbucks to try my luck at getting some internet. When that venture failed, I stepped outside and looked down the street. Casablanca was right in front of me! They were fortunate to have their bright yellow and blue sign prominently in front of all the other hanging signs. I went inside the building, rounded the corner, and walked through the shiny yellow door.

It was a small room that felt bigger than it was. There were plenty of books I wanted to pick up, especially the books that seemed to be brand new releases like Kazu Kibuishi’s Amulet. I also hadn’t ever seen a Perry Bible Fellowship Almanack anywhere in my local shops. This place had walls of new releases, and flaunted their DC Wednesday Comics. The customers were what you’d expect to see. A lot of comic book junkies getting their fixes and looking for back issues of famous runs. It was a better version of your run-of-the-mill comics shops, with updated technology and a friendly environment that males, females, and children would all enjoy visiting

I should also mention that Casablanca is also present in the community. They’ve held a mini-festival and regularly schedule artist’s signings. I always adore a store that does its part to promote the visibility of comics. Casablanca, you guys rock!

Next Week! I stopped into an intriguing underground vinyl store simply called “Strange”. They had some minis and I found vinyl starring the original cast of Saturday Night Live. I poked around and eventually asked about the local comics scene and was pointed in the direction of not Casablanca Comics, but a brand new store that opened up in June called Coast City Comics.

I was recently in Los Angeles visiting, so I GPSed some comics shops in Fountain Valley where I was staying. I wasn’t looking for any of the big names of comics retailing, just some small local shops that want to distribute comics. JNJ sounded like the perfect comic shop to pick up some wednesday comics. It was pretty weird. I walked in to a guy saving energy with the lights off. He was eating something from subway with lots of jalapenos, and let me know it vocally. Plus he was giving me his commentary on an episode of Cops that he was watching. Turns out this guy was the owner! So I went out to look for some books.

He flipped the lights back on so I can actually do some perusing. There were tables of long boxes filled with older books and back issues. And ofcourse like most comic stores, there were walls of shelves with new releases. There wasn’t much of anything to unexpect out of the store. It was your pretty average store where you could quickly pick up the titles you want and take them home to read. And while I was looking for some treasures, that’s exactly what other people came in to do. But the service was good! The owner looked out for me, making sure that I even got a stool to slide around and look through the boxes on the ground without having to crouch down uncomfortably. But as normal as this store was, it became a little weirder.

The dude releases doves! WHAT??? When he found out I was taking pictures for the blog, he busted out a bird and released it. I took a picture with it before it took off flying around the room. I grabbed my comics and got the hell out of there! It was pretty wild. I managed to snap a few of the dove flying around, which you can view below!