This is an awesome shop in downtown Edmonton, and it’s super welcoming to all comic fans. There are several ladies on staff, and I’m pretty sure one of the co-owners is also a woman. Everyone is very welcoming and friendly. They offer an excellent range of books, figurines, and other assorted goodies. Check out their website too, they often run community events and special evenings at the shop.
Welcoming. There are a few women on staff and it tends to have a diverse clientele. They carry comics, toys, t-shirts and various geek chachkis and have a cafe.
Montasy is a great little comic store in midtown Manhattan (5th Ave btw 38th & 39th). Its staff is mostly PoC with the occasional woman. It’s on the second floor, but there is an elevator, although I’m not sure if the width of the hallway from the elevator is wheelchair-friendly. It has a wide range of the latest weekly comic releases and a small section of previous issues, as well as a larger community space for events in the back. It has a much larger sister store out on Long Island, which has a wider selection that they can have sent over very quickly, and they’re very good at ordering and tracking down comics for their customers. Their membership is $20 a year and lets you set up any size pull list, large or small, and comes with 20% off every comic, including special orders and trades.
The staff is super friendly, and happy to recommend comics and chat with customers. I have had long discussions with them about women, PoC and LGBT and their portrayals in comics, as well as general diversity issues with the Big Two. As for the customers in general, on the one hand, I tend to come at non-peak times, when there’s only a handful of customers, and I have frequently been the only female customer in the store. On the other, even when I’m the only female in the store, the staff and other customers have never been anything but friendly, welcoming and inclusive. I have been to many of the other comic stores in New York City and this is far and above my favorite, as the friendliest and most welcoming, despite the smaller selection on hand.
I wandered into Comics Dungeon last Saturday in the middle of a power outage and ended up spending half an hour chatting with the proprietors (a guy and a girl) in the dark. Even without electricity, there was enough light coming in through the windows to see most of the books; it’s not a very good dungeon, but a really open, well-lit space.
The organization is a little peculiar, but they were more than happy to explain it and help me find my books (it’s new digs for them, so they’re trying stuff out), and both of the shop people (Chris and I’m-so-sorry-I-didn’t-catch-her-name) were completely awesome and enthused about new comic fans, and then went on to give me some really terrific recommendations—even going so far as to suggest I check a couple of gns out of the library to see if I liked them before I commit. (It was like Miracle on 34th Street where Kris Kringle recommends the other shops to all the Macy’s customers, except it was for comic books and Santa was a bald guy named Chris—no relation.) Based on the proprietors and the other customers who came in while I was there, it’s certainly woman- and PoC-friendly, and based on the general vibe I’d infer that it’s LGBT*-friendly as well, though I don’t have empirical evidence. :-)
Anyway, this shop is definitely on my roster now, and I can see it becoming my go-to. It’s right on the 44 bus line, so if you’re going to The Dreaming or The Comic Stop in the U District from that direction, it’s on the way.
Comics Dungeon
319 NE 45th Street
Seattle, WA 98105
(206) 545-8373
Hi everyone! I’m pleased to report that our Masterlist of Recommendations has now been updated, and we have recommendations from 29 different U.S. states, 4 Canadian provinces, and cities across England, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. Please continue to contribute your recommendations, warnings, and stories, and spread the word!
April has been a chaotic month, but we do have a contest winner who I will be announcing once I’ve contacted them and discussed creating t-shirts/stickers/etc. It’s my hope to be able to attend NYCC this year and do some awareness raising in between fits of geeking out.
Has anyone been to Alliance Comics in Silver Spring, MD or Big Planet Comics in Bethesda, MD? I'm moving from Boston, MA to Kensington soon, and I've been spoiled by Million Year Picnic and Hub Comics. Help a lady out?
Anonymous
We have a recommendation for Alliance Comics here! If anyone has experience with Big Planet Comics, can you drop us an ask/submission? More input about Alliance Comics would also be great!
Here is just a sample of some of my recent photo project, CONsent, which you can read about here.
Please read and spread the word around. I got to work with some great cosplayers, photographers and fans and I really hope to continue this project if it gains enough support.
Thank you for looking!I just want to say that as a cosplayer at cons, this is a real issue. The amount of things that get said (and mostly REQUESTED) to us is ridiculous. This deserves a signal boost.
On Facebook a couple days ago BelleChere posted basically asking people to not proposition her. Throughout the comments she noted she was married and neither one of them appreciated creepy comments made toward her. A number of people proceeded to argue with her saying that because she dressed up, it was okay.
I know a ton of people who have dealt with harassment at cons and they feel like they can’t say anything because it’s a convention. WRONG. You deserve to feel safe no matter where you are. Dressing up is not giving someone permission to say something to you or do anything to you.
This is a great project and it gets a boost from me.
I think this might be of interest to this community — have any of you experienced harassment at cons or events, whether in costume or not? I don’t see any reason why we shouldn’t broaden the conversation when it comes to talking about safe spaces, since the underlying issues are much the same.
The poem accidentally posted by the mod has been moved to her blog. Sorry about the mistake!
crhodey let me know that Graham Crackers in Chicago is helping to sponsor a comics anthology written and created entirely by members of their Ladies’ Night events, and asked for HFW’s help spreading the word!
This is a really great thing and I am totally happy to help broadcast the word. Here is the Indigogo page, if people would like to put a few dollars toward the project, which sounds fantastic! They’re currently at $400 of their $1000 goal - I’m sure we can help them make it. Whether or not you make a donation, please signal boost this around!
There’s a Facebook page for Ladies’ Night here, and on tumblr at ladiesnightcomics. Let’s do this thing!
I know there’s already been a good half-dozen recs for this joint in Harvard Square, but I just gotta throw mine in for them, because they are FANTASTIC. They’re 100% accepting of all sorts unless your sort is a bigoted or thieving sort. They are even 100% accepting of my drunk ass on a Saturday night. (I mean, it helps that I’m a chatty drunk who drunk-buys books and not a violent one who starts fights.) Shout out to Adam! (Whom I might’ve called Andy because I was drunk and also not good with names. Apologies.)
Also, Junot Diaz shops here. So if you were looking for some Pulitzer power behind your choice of comic store, MYP’s the place.
Happy Evacuation Day!
So up until I saw this place while driving around with my mom, I had NO IDEA we had an honest-to-god comic book store anywhere near where I live.
This is a pretty great place! A little on the small side and no gaming, but it’s set up really well. It’s got action figures and apparel as well as a wide variety of comics.
I’ve only been there the one time and I plan on going back. The bald dude who was on duty that day was very kind. Upon entering the shop he asked if I was looking for anything in particular and when I told him I was just browsing he left me to my own devices. It was a Saturday, so the shop got a bit busy at one point. Mostly guys, but I feel like that has more to do with local interest than anything. None of them bothered me. At one point another little gal came in looking to pick up something for her boyfriend and the cashier dude was very helpful to her.
I’m so happy to have found a good comic store near me!
This recommendation is chiefly for anyone serving in the military or their families, because this comic shop is on a military base. But the atmosphere is so friendly I had to recommend it.
Big Feet Comics in the PX on the Presidio of Monterey, CA is only about 100 square feet big, and seems to only have one employee, but he’s super friendly and very respectful, and as someone who is a tiny bit leery of social interaction, he gives me plenty of space when I want it, and is equally happy to talk comics as long as I like as well. He’s also happy to order any comics you want at no extra cost and they usually get there in a day or two. I wish this place were open to civilians too, but if anyone with a military ID lives in Monterey, you’ll want to check this place out.
I love this place! It’s a pretty neat space that’s half comic-book store and half gallery. In the gallery half, they do various community events incl. a regular ‘drink & draw’. The proprietors are all incredibly friendly and helpful, and will take time to go around the store with you and make personal suggestions based on your interests. I see other women and PoC in there pretty regularly.
It’s smaller than some of the other shops in Philly, but has a good selection of titles from the Big Two as well as a bunch of neat indie picks. Plus there’s a fish tank. How can you say no to a fish tank?
We got a nice shoutout from Women Reading Comics, which I’ve added to our resources page. You can also find them on tumblr here. Check it out!
Loving Hater-Free Wednesdays? Want to keep getting the word out? Of course you do!
We’d like to offer you a logo to use when you link to us, or when you want to show your shop you love them by giving them a HATER FREE WEDNESDAYS sticker for being awesome, or when you want a cool shirt to wear to the next convention you attend. Unfortunately, we don’t have one yet…
So we’ve decided to run a graphic design contest! What we want is a clean, simple, eye-catching logo that will make people ask “Oh my god, where did you get that sticker/shirt/idea?”
We’ll be taking submissions between March 1 and April 30, and the HFW mods will select a winner. Don’t worry, though — we’ll be displaying all the logos for you to admire once the winner is selected.
Here are the rules for entering! If you have any other questions, drop a question in the ask or submission box, or tag your post with haterfreewednesdays; we track the tag.
1. One entry per person. Pick your best work! Professional and amateur artists are both welcome.
2. All entries must be in an easily readable/postable format and size. JPG is preferred for initial judging purposes. We know the eventual image that’s used will probably need to be higher-res, so hang on to your high-res versions!
3. Make sure you put a signature somewhere on the logo. Adding the Hater Free Wednesdays URL (haterfreewednesdays.tumblr.com) is optional, but if you don’t, we’ll add it below the image (without altering the design!) before it goes to press.
4. Profanity is okay, as long as one of the letters is “starred out” or otherwise blocked — for example, “F*ck the Haters”.
5. The winner agrees to allow us to use the work on publicity materials and merchandise, with the understanding that this is a not-for-profit project.
Image submissions are enabled, so you can simply send us a submission with your entry; if you prefer to submit via email, please send your submission to polarisnorth@gmail.com
The winner will receive a free t-shirt with the logo on it, plus the admiration and desire of all who see it.
All merch sold will be not-for-profit; any money we make beyond production cost will go to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund (http://cbldf.org/), which provides legal support and aid to comic book professionals.
Thank you everyone! We look forward to your gorgeous entries.
About safe spaces for comics fans
