Barbarian Comics

Barbarian Comics is a comic shop at 11242 Triangle Ln in Silver Spring, Maryland, one block from the Wheaton Metro Station. Its core is comics, new and vintage, with a card game shelf for Pokémon, Magic: The Gathering and Yu-Gi-Oh! alongside it. It suits comic readers and collectors first, and card players who want a stop that also carries Heroclix.

What's on the shelves

New comics, silver age comics, golden age comics, manga and trade paperbacks make up the bulk of the stock, with a large selection of graphic novels and trade paperbacks. The vintage shelves include DC Collectors' Editions, Marvel Treasuries, Creepy, Famous Monsters, Vampirella, EC horror and Classics Illustrated.

On the card side, the store carries Pokémon, Magic: The Gathering and Yu-Gi-Oh!, plus Heroclix. Toys, posters, statues and comic supplies fill out the rest of the floor. Novels and prose books are no longer stocked, and neither are board games or role-playing games: the store carries only card games and Heroclix in the games category.

New comics and pull lists

New comics arrive every Wednesday and are priced at 10% off cover price. Customers who want a standing order can fill out a subscription list and drop it off to start a pull list. Gift certificates are available.

Buying and selling

The store buys comics, but narrowly. It is currently purchasing only early silver age and golden age books, meaning comics from the 1960s and earlier with an original cover price of 10 or 12 cents. Anyone with a collection to sell can send a description covering how many comics there are, what period they come from and their general condition.

A few things the store does not do: it does not take items on consignment, because display room is limited and the space goes to product it has already bought. It also does not appraise whole collections. Staff will help value one or two comics using the Official Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide.

Hours and getting there

The Metro stop one block away makes the shop easy to reach without a car.

The local scene

Dice City Games is the closest neighbor, about 0.2 miles away in Silver Spring. Collectibles Unlimited Trains Guns Civil War Militeria and Fun & Games are both in Kensington, at about 1.2 and 1.4 miles. Perpetual Comics MS in Silver Spring is about 2.6 miles away, and Barry's Magic Shop is about 2.9 miles away.