Sharing the Love of Comics

With two comic figures outside of its doors, on Jericho Turnpike already sets the attitude of the store before you even enter.

This is the fifth comics store for Tom Best, owner of the store, which will be open seven years this upcoming February. 

"The store isn't just comics and t-shirts," Best says. "There's also prop replicas, signed memorabilia and trading cards."

Besides selling comics, the store also buys them and offers the trading of comics too. Half the store's sales coming from online and the other half are from customers who still enjoy picking up the comics and memorabilia, Best says.

"They take care of me," says customer Kip Papas. "The people are great." Papas has collected comics for over 30 years, starting when he was 10-years-old, adding that this is a hobby that has grown with him.

Best got into the comics business after working in the car business. He loved comics as a child and remembers getting his first comic, Moby Dick, from his Aunt Grace in 1966.

"The stories have cliffhangers and I always wanted more," Best said of why he loves comics. He added that he also enjoys the artwork.

The love of comics permeates the store; Best notes that most of the staff has been a customer of the store first, such as assistant manager Zachary Davino.

"Comics are word and picture operating in a way that doesn't exist in any other medium," Davino says. It's not like animation or live action, he adds.

Comics are the way that some people started to read, Davino notes. The store has comics aimed toward children, such as the Disney Pixar comics.

"If you want to get kids reading, try comics," Davino says.