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.