Comic Book Hideout

Comic Book Hideout is a comic shop at 215 W Commonwealth Ave in Fullerton, California, with a back-issue inventory of more than 100,000 comics and a shelf of trading card games alongside it. It is a comics-first store that also carries Pokémon and Magic: The Gathering, so it suits a collector who wants cards and comics from one stop, or a family where the readers and the card players don't always overlap. The shop has a resident dog, a music studio on the premises, and a weekday schedule that stretches late on Wednesdays.

What's on the shelves

New comics arrive every week from publishers including Marvel, DC, Image, Dark Horse, Boom, IDW, Scout and AfterShock, with variant covers, special editions and one-shots in the mix. Beyond the weekly books, the store stocks thousands of new and classic comics, trade paperbacks, graphic novels, magazines and complete comic book sets.

Tabletop card games are a smaller part of the floor: Pokémon and Magic: The Gathering are the two carried. Role-playing and board games fill out the rest of the gaming side, including Dungeons and Dragons, Pathfinder and Star Wars titles. The store also sells vintage and current toys and POP figures, plus handmade goods on consignment such as plushies, enamel pins, jewelry and art.

The back-issue room is the store's deepest draw. A $1 section holds bargain back issues, and customers hunting for older titles can send a want list and the staff will search the stock on their behalf. If something isn't in, the store keeps the list and watches for it as new collections come in.

Services and policies

The store runs a pull list, which holds each week's issues for a customer the way a library holds a book. There is no membership fee, no minimum number of titles, and no charge for special orders, and bags and boards are included on every pull item. Pull customers are considered first for their books, ahead of walk-in customers. Referring a friend who starts a pull earns $5.00 in store credit.

Special orders for comics, board games and merchandise carry no extra cost. For anyone selling, comic buying and appraisals are done by appointment with the owner, who has more than 25 years in the business.

Games and events

Weekly game nights, ranging from dice games to card games, are part of the store's identity. No fixed schedule is confirmed, so it is worth asking in the store which nights currently run.

The music studio

An unusual feature for a card and comic shop: the store houses a music studio offering lessons in piano, voice, guitar, bass, drums and ukulele, plus songwriting. Jam sessions are free, with age-based groups from a Junior Jammers program for ages 4 to 6 up through adults 18 and older. Workshops run $40 per person, and audio and video recording sessions are $80 per session.

Hours and getting there

The store sits at 215 W Commonwealth Ave, Fullerton, CA 92832.

History

The shop opened in 2012, founded by an owner who grew up selling comics at Southern California conventions and at Frank & Son's Collectibles. It was conceived as a welcoming space for comic fans of all kinds. The store won the Orange County comic book store award from OC Weekly two years in a row, and an artist once drew a large piece of original art across the shop's front window. The music studio was added around 2017.

The local scene

War Battle Games sits about 0.1 miles away in Fullerton, and Comic Hero University is about 0.7 miles off. Cornerstorecomics and Do-We Collectibles, both in Anaheim, are roughly 1.3 and 1.4 miles away, and a Games Workshop is about 2.1 miles away in Fullerton. For shows, the Wolfpack Collectibles TCG Show, about 3.6 miles away, has dates on November 3, 10 and 17, and The Regional SoCal Cards & Collectibles Show, about 5.7 miles away, follows on November 14. A Yu-Gi-Oh! Regional Qualifier is set for Los Angeles on December 5.