Mission Las Vegas

Here I am again, with another episode of Comics Hunter, a small guide to comic shops for addicted people like me, who like to buy comics when visiting other countries.

Talking about addictions.... Viva Las Vegas ! This city, also known as The Sin City, is well-known around the world as the gambling capital. Everywhere you go there are slot machines, and the kind of sins you can fall into do not stop at the gambling tables, if you know what I mean. Heck, that's just the beginning. But that's a story for another time, and Comics is what I'm here to talk about. Even if in doing so I risk going against the "What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas" rule. :)

Actually, it's hard to find comic shops at the Strip, the famous avenue in Las Vegas, where most of the well-known Hotels and Casinos are, and every night's full of spectacles of light, color and sound. But a few blocks from the Strip, near Las Vegas University, I found one, Alternate Reality Comics.


When I visited this shop (July 23rd '05), incidentally there was a signing session with Jim Lee, who was promoting his new DC title All Stars Batman & Robin: The Boy Wonder. That was luck! To think that the week before I'd been in San Diego Comic-Con, where I waited for an hour to get some of my favorite Jim Lee comics signed by him. In Vegas, I just had to wait for 5 minutes! :)

There were also some other artists at the shop. One of them I've just found out it was Ale Garza (Ninja Boy, YJ/Titans: Graduation Day). Damn, there should be some law forcing people to have stand-ups with names so that we know who's who during events like this :) . I'd be happy to have a Garza's sketch in my collection.

But I digress... Let's talk about the store. It's a cool one, not very big, but the comics are well displayed. It's very easy to find what's new. As far as I'm concerned they sure win several "brownie points" just for the initiative of having a signing session with someone as big as Jim Lee. I bet it's far from easy to get this kind of superstar to go and do some signing at your store, specially during conventions season. Or, it could be easier exactly because of that, to catch him between SDCC and Wizard World Chicago. I don't know. Anyway, there must be lots of stores trying to get him so, the effort is very appreciated.

As usual, here is this shop's address and a map, to help future visitors of this wonderful city finding it.

Alternate Reality Comics
4800 S Maryland Pkwy Ste D
Las Vegas, NV 89119-6316

Mission Stockholm

One of the things I like to do when I'm outside the country - I live in Portugal, by the way - is to look for Comic Book shops. In some countries, they're easy to find, whereas in others it´s almost impossible. Sometimes this helps to make the hunt even more interesting.

Today I bring you two suggestions, two shops I found in Stockholm, Sweden. As it happens in Portugal, it's easy to find comics edited internally, in any newspaper stand. In december, when I was there, I found the "Riot at Xavier's" storyline, as well as J M Straczinsky's Spider-Man pencilled by John Romita Jr, in swedish. But what about the traditional 32 pages comic book, imported from USA ? Well, that was a lot more difficult to find, and I had to go to specialized shops to get them.

Of those where I've been, I'd like to point out these two :

SCIENCE FICTION BOKHANDELN
Vasterlanggatan 48

This is a huge store, dedicated to Science Fiction (go figure). It has a lot about everything, from DVDs to books, games and RPGs. Where sequential art is concerned, most of its goods are japanese Manga. American comics, only in Trade Paperback format. And also, there is a nice section with european albuns, specially from France and Belgium. They have a big selection of DVDs, from every kind. Lots and lots of Anime titles, some of them imported from USA, and at a good price too, specially comparing them to the prices we have in Portugal. They also have a good selection of TV Series DVD packs, like Mutant X, Babylon V, and so on. Where games are concerned, you can find a lot of Lord of the Rings and Warhammer stuff.
Actually, it's very common to find Warhammer on every games and toys shops, in Stockholm. I tried to find Heroclix or Mage Knight too, but was out of luck.

COMICS HEAVEN
St. Nygatan 23

The name of this shop kind of fouls you around. Why ? Because just like every other comic shop I've been in Stockholm (this was the 3rd one), it's hard to find recent comics coming from the United States. First thing you see when you enter these stores is that they are kind of messy. There are boxes everywhere, with old editions of swedish comics, some imported ones, and action figures all around. They have lots of stuff, but it takes a lot of patience to find anything in it. Or, you need to know what you're looking for and ask directly the guys in charge.

Both shops are located on Gamla Stan, which means Old Town, Stockholm's historic central neighbourhood. Red dots on the map indicates the shops location. The bigger one is SFB, which is the best place to find recent stuff from USA, but only as Trade Paperbacks. And also, right across the street there is a great Coffee Shop , where you can hide from the cold outside and read your recently bought books. :-)