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Escape Pod Comics (Huntington) – best for graphic novels
Escape Pod comics has by far the most diverse and expansive graphic novel collection of all the shops on this list.
Menachem Luchins said since there is so much content to be found in print, he is not interested in contending with action figures or apparel boasting popular series or characters.
“There’s just so much material out there, so many comics being made,” he explained. “I just put out 20 new titles today, on a Tuesday. Tomorrow I’m gonna put out another eight or nine new books plus a dozen new #1 titles. How is there room in a store for anything other than comics?”
The only thing for sale besides the print formats in Escape Pod Comics is the artwork on the walls, much of which is from local artists.
“We wanna remind people that what they’re looking at is an art form,” Luchins said. “Rather than remind them that the things that have become popular in comics have lots of toys and t-shirts.”
From front to back, side to side, the store is dominated by graphic novels of all types. In addition to the major publisher repressings of superhero comics into novel form seen in most shops, Escape Pod carries a large selection of manga, science fiction and horror. Among classics like “Watchmen” and “Scott Pilgrim” are newer titles like “Orwell,” a graphic biography of author George Orwell, and an adaptation of Octavia E. Butler’s 1993 science fiction novel “Parable of the Sower.”
Like the other stores on this list, Luchins has to satisfy a wide array of people of all ages and tastes.
“Everyone shops at Escape Pod,” he said. “The whole point is to carry a range of different material, all comics, that appeals to many different kinds of people, of course. Be it kids’ graphic novels or non-fiction comic memoir there is a readership for it.”
At the back of the shop, Luchins has a section devoted entirely to children’s’ comics and novels, a safe space away from any blood or guts they could find in more mature reads and features some artwork colored by kids.
Long before he opened the shop in 2013, Luchins said his life has been intertwined with comic books. While he said a healthy work-life balance can be a struggle, he certainly does not regret his lifelong attachment to the art form.
“My relationship with comics has always been a growth one,” he said. “At various moments in my life some new exceptional comic has opened my eyes to the vast power contained in their medium.”
