So now that you know what you’re looking for, how the hell do you get it?
Hands down, the best place to get physical comics, especially single issues, is your local comic shop, or LCS, which you can find using Comixology’s LCS Locator or with a good old fashioned Google search. If you live in or near a major city, you’ll probably have a few shops to choose from. When I do a search, for instance, it turns up 18 results for the greater Minneapolis area, which is a lot to sift through.
Finding an LCS is a lot like finding a new salon or tattoo parlor. There’s a ton of them, they’re not all the same, and unless you’ve got recommendations from friends, it’s hard to know where to start. There are a lot of things to think about when you’re looking, but I’d suggest that the two most important things are location and vibe.
If you’re planning to pick up issues once a week, you probably don’t want to be driving to the other side of everywhere. Transportation is expensive, so finding a place that’s convenient to where you live/work/go to school/etc. is a priority. Thinking about location will help you narrow your search, but convenience alone might not determine the right shop for you, especially if you’re a lady-type gendered person, which is why the vibe of the shop is also important.
While you’re certainly not married to whatever shop you pick, it’s a good idea to remember that you’ll probably be there on a fairly regular basis, so you want a place where you’re gonna be comfortable. You love your comics, after all, and you don’t want buying them to be a stressful experience. Walking into a comics shop for the first time can be overwhelming and awkward, especially for anyone who’s not a straight white dude, so I recommend giving shops a few visits before deciding on one. That said, if you immediately get a super negative vibe or anyone there makes you feel unwelcome, get the hell out as fast as your purple Chucks can carry you. This space is a part of your community, and you have a right to feel comfortable and safe.
For a guide on shops to check out or avoid, try http://haterfreewednesdays.tumblr.com/. I can’t speak to other people’s experiences, but I’m proud to say that my LCS, Big Brain Comics in Minneapolis, made the list of recommendations. If you’re in the Twin Cities area and happen to stop by, tell the guys I said hi.
But I don’t live near/can’t get to a comics shop!
No worries! We live in the future, and there’s plenty of ways to get the stories you crave into your geeky little hands. Most chain booksellers and some grocery stores will carry a small selection of single issues, so it’s worth checking there, as well as local bookstores. (I used to get Uncanny X-Men twice a month at the Kroger’s in my college town. True story.)
For Marvel and DC, you can generally get single issues from megasellers like Amazon, but if online is your prefered or only option, you’re better off waiting for trades or going with digital. Comixology is pretty much the one-stop-shop for digital comics, and Marvel has its own digital comics app. There are plenty of other platform-specific apps and readers, as well, and it’s just a matter of what works best with your device.
Can’t you get torrents of digital comics?
To quote one correctly-opinioned Tumblr user, “There’s a special place in hell for people who torrent low-selling comics.” Normally, I’m all for sticking it to the man with digital piracy, but comics are an industry where every single voice really does count. Now, a series like, say, The Walking Dead is probably gonna be fine, but things like the recently-cancelled She-Hulk are gonna miss you if you don’t buy them. Seriously, friends. Torrents are the reason we can’t have nice things.
Okay, okay! I’ll go to the shop, but how do I know when my comics are out?
To be honest, keeping up with comics is kind of a pain, especially if you can’t just, y’know, pop down to the shop every week and see what’s out. This is why the good lord invented the “Pull List.”
A pull list is exactly what it sounds like: a list of the comics you want “pulled” for you every week. Your list can include both single items (one specific issue or a collection of something) and “subscriptions” (series that you’re following and of which you buy every issue). Most LCS will let you set up a list and will then physically pull out issues and set them aside for you. Some places even offer a discount to customers with pull lists. This way, you can just roll up to the register, grab your stack for the week, and take off, without so much as glancing at a calendar or digging through the shelves.
Another glorious and wonderful thing is the digital pull list feature on Comixology. You need a site account to use it, but sign-up takes all of five minutes and is totally worth it. To add things to your pull list, search for the title you want and find its info pages. If you only want to add one issue, go to the info page for that issue and click the green “Pull” button. If you want to follow the whole series, click the orange “Subscribe” button.
If you’re a little over-organized, like me, this feature is a convenient way to keep track of what you want to read and to see what’s coming out when, and you can select to have your list for the week emailed to you every Wednesday. To set up my physical pull list, I just printed my digital list for the upcoming month, highlighted the things I wanted to subscribe to, and handed it to the guy at my LCS. It’s FANTASTIC.
That seems complicated, and I really just want an easy way to browse new stuff.
You’re in luck! Comic List is a beautifully streamlined website that does exactly what it says on the tin, and you can check out the various lists to see what’s coming out. [Ed. note: We here at the Mary Sue also publish a weekly feature called Pull It Together, with great recommendations!] Another resource, of course, is asking real live people for suggestions, and I highly recommend making friends with the folks at your LCS, as well as sounding out your internet peeps.
Got it? Good. Now go buy some comics!
Jordan West is an obsessive writer, dedicated cosplayer, and fake geek girl living in Minneapolis. Specialties include ultra angsty fan fiction, feminist commentary, and co-captaining the WTF Comics Club. Follow Jo on Facebook for ongoing hijinks.
(images by Andy Ihnatko, Erica Minton, Martin Irwin, Alan Alfaro, Michael May, Comixology, and The Conmunity)
