By Kevin Czap

When I took a trip to New York City at the end of last year, one of the strongest impressions I came away with was about the comic shops. I wasn’t able to go to every single one, but that’s beside the point. This is a city that loves comics in the universal sense. Sure you’ve got Desert Island covering the fringes and Bergen Street which is a handsome, diverse boutique, but even Midtown and Forbidden Planet, the more mainstream-y stores, had a selection that made me weep from euphoria. Who needs the internet in such a place?

Of course, the separation anxiety began to seep in as I returned home to Cleveland. New York is probably an unhealthy comparison for any city, but sometimes you can’t keep those kind of thoughts out. Since then I’ve heard other people talk about the less-than-diverse offerings in their own cities, further establishing that week in the big city as a special case. Still, it got me thinking. If you’ve been checking out my posts here on the Cube, you’ll know that I’ve been all about local scenes lately, so it makes sense that my thoughts have been centering on the make-up of Cleveland’s comics scene. Comics shops, being the physical locations of input, are a large part of any scene’s ecosystem, naturally. Continue reading →