Comic World

Comic World is a family-friendly comic shop at 122 E Gannon Ave in downtown Zebulon, North Carolina, with a trading card section that carries eight games alongside its comics, Dungeons & Dragons gear and collectibles. It opened in 2017 and is owned and run by a family. The shop suits parents shopping with kids, comic collectors who also play cards, and anyone who wants a neighborhood place with a weekly tournament and a lot of tabletop play.

What's on the shelves

Comics are the core of the store: new releases, back issues, graphic novels and manga from Marvel, DC, Image, Dark Horse and IDW, plus anime merchandise, figurines, action figures, posters and T-shirts. A kids' corner stocks children's comics, Sonic, Dog Man, Golden Books and small toys.

The trading card section sells booster packs, booster boxes, elite trainer boxes, starter decks and singles. Games carried:

• Pokémon
• Magic: The Gathering
• Yu-Gi-Oh!
• Disney Lorcana
• Digimon Card Game
• One Piece Card Game
• Flesh and Blood
• Star Wars: Unlimited

Tabletop role-playing has its own shelf space: Dungeons & Dragons core rulebooks, campaign books, adventure modules, starter sets, dice sets and bags, miniatures, terrain, maps and DM screens.

Weekly play

A weekly tournament runs Mondays at 4 PM. Dungeons & Dragons is where the schedule is dense, with a Dungeon Master running a table nearly every day of the week.

Several of the Dungeons & Dragons tables fill up, so a new player should expect to look for an open seat rather than walk into any table.

Events through the year

Free Comic Book Day is held every year on the first Saturday in May, with free comics for all ages. In September the shop takes part in Epic Mighty Con as an official host partner; the next one is September 19, 2026, a day of vendors, cosplay, collectibles and gaming. On Halloween the shop is turned into a family-friendly haunted house with door prizes, and on the second Saturday in December a Deadpool-costumed Santa is on hand for photos. Trading card release parties and author meet-ups round out the calendar.

Subscriptions and buying

A pull list is free to join. Held comics stay in a personal stash for up to two months, and subscribers get 5, 10 or 15 percent off depending on the number of titles, with the top discount starting at 15 titles.

The store buys comics and whole collections: single issues, full runs, key issues and first appearances, graded books from CGC and CBCS, trade paperbacks and graphic novels, and estate collections. Sellers choose cash or store credit, and store credit pays the highest value. Comics can be brought in without an appointment on weekdays after 4 PM and are looked over on the spot. A very large collection or an estate is better arranged ahead of time so the owners can set aside a dedicated appointment.

Hours and getting there

The shop is at 122 E Gannon Ave in downtown Zebulon, and the evening Dungeons & Dragons sessions on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday run on days when regular retail hours are closed.

History

Comic World opened in 2017 in downtown Zebulon. The shop is owned by a local family of longtime superhero and role-playing fans, and it draws customers from across the Triangle, including Raleigh, Knightdale, Wendell, Clayton, Rolesville and Wake Forest.

The local scene

Zebulon sits in a cluster of card and game shops. Game Connection in Wendell is the closest, about 4.6 miles away, followed by White Metal Games in Knightdale at 9.3 miles, Vintagamez in Rolesville at 10.5 miles and E & E Card Shop in Rolesville at 10.8 miles. A second Game Connection is in Knightdale. For shows, Pokémon Mini Con starts November 1 and Raleigh TCG Con starts November 20, both about 14.9 miles away, and a Raleigh/Crabtree sports card, TCG, Pokemon and hobby event begins November 1, about 20.2 miles out.