Nerd on the Road!
Quick Intro: May turned into a busy travel month for me. Anytime I am visiting another town, I like to stop in to a local comic shop and spend a couple dollars. Yelp is pretty useless when it comes to reviewing comic places and thought I would share my road diary and reviews of comic shops in case you are visiting!
Trip Date: May 15 – May 17
Destination: Nashville, TN
First Stop: Rick’s Comic City
Rick’s was a very “standard” comic book shop. It was the only store that really came up as a true comic shop. It had a pretty great selection of new books, but that was about it. Their “back issue bins” were mainly filled with DC’s New 52 DC and Marvel Now!
I brought someone who was a long time lapsed comic reader into the shop and he left empty handed. Largely because I went looking to give him a couple trades to re-spark his interest, but they were missing a lot of entry way books. I could not find any Afterlife with Archie or GI Joe and the Ed Brubaker with Sean Phillips section was a bit sparse as well.
I spent over an hour in the store and I ended up purchasing a premiere format issue of the New Mutants. I felt bad after spending so much time in there and really only wanting a free copy of Hip Hop Family Tree I missed from Free Comic Day. The most interesting thing in the store was the large bin they had of original sketches. Unfortunately, those sketches were a lot of Super Women scantily clad cheesecake. Not something I want to hang on my wall.
I was also a little disappointed that with the size of the store and the amount of time I was spending in there, the clerks made no effort to come help me or any other customer who came into the store with finding anything.
Overall, if you need your weekly fix of current books, Rick’s can provide you with a great selection.
Heroes (Pros):
Great Selection of New Books
Villains (Cons):
Mainly newer (1-2 years old) books in back issue bins
Substandard Trade Selection
Rating: Leave It
Second Stop: The Great Escape! (Charlotte Ave.)
After feeling thoroughly disappointed by Rick’s, my group of friends and I got dinner. While wondering what we should do next and feeling a little tired from the long day (and massive plates of BBQ we had just piled into ourselves), we thought maybe give a ride over to The Great Escape! on Charlotte Ave. in West Nashville. It bills itself as a pop culture store so I really had no idea what their comic section would look like.
This really is a store for everyone. Two of us went to the back for the massive amounts of comic books, graphic novels, and action figures. My wife went over to the large movie selection and our other friend went over to the vintage magazines and records.
They had plenty of back issue finds. My best score was a very reasonably priced, higher grade copy of Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen #133. (One of Jack Kirby’s first work at DC Comics) Side note: This was my first single original Jack Kirby comic. I hope to one day get some of the Fantastic Four issues, but not going down that expensive rabbit hole yet. The store also offers great discounts, and most new graphic novels were 25% off and most used ones 50% off. (Guess who got caught up on Ms. Marvel?) The crown jewel for my lapsed reader friend was the massive rows of $0.49 bins. They contained everything from 70’s Marvel to 90’s indie comics to some damaged new issues. With such a low entry point, he was able to walk out with a nice large stack of mainly classic G.I. Joe issues. My wife and other friend left happy as well with a couple purchases and I think that speaks highly to a store when there is something there for everyone.
If you are going to Nashville and into comic books, this should be the place you go.
Heroes (Pros):
Great Priced Classic Issues
Large Back Issue Bins
Huge Bargain Bin Section
Something for Everyone (Comics, Action Figures, Music, Movies, and More)
Villains (Cons):
None
Rating: BUY IT!
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Ryan Mount is the newest THN Love Slave and has the best Twitter handle.
