Published 2026-09-05
tag(s): #books #failures
When I board the subway heading uptown on the back of the train, I use the 40th street exit,
and walk by the Midtown Comics entrance. That's how I found out the store is there.
And on Friday, as I was getting to the station, a train just arrived. I got on right on time,
on the last door.
Earlier than usual, already at the back...I took these as omens that it was time to visit the
store!
The 40th street exit lands you on this depressing hallway...I haven't played much Resident
Evil, yet I am sure this location wouldn't look out of place in the game.
At the end of the hallway there was a store. I never looked at it long enough to confirm if it
was a smoke shop or it sold other stuff. Probably because, you know, I wouldn't buy food or
drinks at the store located in the zombie hall.
It's been said a lot of times that bad publicity is still publicity. Yet I cannot think
of anything anyone would buy on such a horrible location, even if you walk by
it every single day.
It's not like you cannot buy a drink or a bag of chips or Kleenex or whatever if you
just go up the stairs, the Times Square area isn't exactly hurting for stores.
Well, the store closed in the last couple weeks, which 1. increases the creepiness of the place 2. means there's now a homeless woman living there 3. answers the question of the digression, which is, how viable is it to have a store in such a place? Not much!
It is certainly a bold move to put a long flight of stairs on the entrance to your comic
book store.
"I guess this shows how much they trust their inventory", I thought.
What's that I hear, in the back? Comic
Book Guy jokes are too 90s?
Maybe. But they are still funny to me... >_> maybe it is because I am old and hold onto
outdated stereotypes, or I am old and insensitive, or old and...well, you get the idea.
By the way, this is how I felt when I thought I was almost done, and looking up I realized I
was barely halfway:
(Except that I didn't turn back, because I saw I sign stating the store had cameras, and felt a bit embarrassed to turn around and check how many steps I completed while on CCTV...)
I got to the place and immediately found it overwhelming. I think it is because of my general
lack of knowledge about comics.
But there's also a catalog problem. I think?
I browsed the store for a while and then remembered that post I shared a while ago about Japanese vs American comics.
But contrary to what the post says, I didn't find number 1 of anything in the manga section
either.
Actually, I found 1 of Magic Knight Rayearth, but not 2 nor 3 to complete the series. And
nothing much else that captured my interest.
Actually-actually: I've had a more pleasant experience roaming the manga section of the Barnes
and Nobles 10 minutes from our place, than in this store. It is a bit less mmmmm compressed?
So there's more room so if you want to take a look at a few titles. You aren't always in the
way of other people that are also trying to find something.
Then I figured maybe they had an European comic section, or independent. The stuff that I see
in these posts.
But I didn't find anything like that.
While browsing for non-superhero-non-japanese, I found a hardcover edition of Watchmen. I read
it, many many years ago, from an edition a friend ordered to my house so I would bring it to
Argentina for him.
I figured it was a good enough bounty for my adventure, and left the place.
I rate my adventure as "meh". And the store as "meh".
Maybe my mood wasn't in the right place 🤷