The Comic Store

The Comic Store is a comic specialty shop at 28 E McGovern Ave in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, in Station Square, open seven days a week. It opened in 1977 and has grown from a two-day-a-week operation into one of the oldest comic specialty stores in America. Comics are the core of the business, but the shelves also hold collectible card games, role-playing games, miniatures, board games and T-shirts, so it suits a Magic or Yu-Gi-Oh! player who also reads comics, or a comics regular who wants to start collecting cards.

What's on the shelves

New comics arrive every Wednesday morning, and the store opens at 9 AM that day so the week's issues are ready when the doors open. Alongside the Marvel and DC superhero titles sits a large wall of graphic novels and trade paperbacks, with new titles and restocks arriving weekly. The range runs from Marvel, DC and Image lines to European collections such as Judge Dredd and Asterix, newspaper strip collections like Dick Tracy and Steve Canyon, and independent work like American Splendor.

Back issues are a real strength. The store holds thousands of hard-to-find and collectible comics, including a near-mint collection of 1980s and 1990s titles built largely from three large collections bought over several years. The largest of them is the Elmer Horst Collection, and each comic from it is sold with a certificate of authenticity. A separate stock of one-of-a-kind comics dating back to the 60s is sold online.

On the card side, the store carries Magic: The Gathering and Yu-Gi-Oh!, along with VS (Marvel and DC), Vanguard and Pokémon. New releases are usually on display a day after the nationwide street date. Non-sports trading card packs are a separate draw: Star Wars, Game of Thrones, Avengers, Superman and Walking Dead packs are sold, usually with complete sets available, plus a range of older, out-of-stock and hard-to-find sets.

Beyond cards, the store sells role-playing games including Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, Cthulu and Star Wars, and board games such as Axis & Allies, Risk and Diplomacy. Collectibles arrive weekly, including limited-edition pieces, and the miniatures shelves hold Wiz Kids games and the Star Wars and Star Trek ship miniature games from Wiz Kids and Fantasy Flight.

Orders and play

Special orders are available for any game in production. An order placed by Tuesday usually arrives Thursday. Wiz Kids tournament play is usually held on Saturdays.

Events and signings

The store hosts occasional guest events. A limited signing with comics artist Jim Steranko was held on Saturday, December 7, 2024, from 3 PM to 6 PM, with the CGC facilitator Critical Mass Comics on hand for signature series and other submissions, and original unpublished Steranko artwork for sale. The store also has a history of Free Comic Book Day events and holiday sale days.

Hours and getting there

Wednesdays are the exception to the Monday to Saturday pattern, with an early 9 AM opening for new comics.

History

The Comic Store opened in 1977, the same year Star Wars was released, with the aim of bringing every new comic book to readers in Lancaster County and the surrounding region. Over the decades it grew from a small two-day-a-week shop into a seven-day business.

The local scene

Lancaster has several other collectible shops within a few miles. Decade Toys And Collectibles Llc is 0.8 miles away, The Card Kid is 1.7 miles, 4th Wall Comics is 2 miles, R and I Computer and Sports Cards is 2.3 miles, and Vem Sports Card Outlet is 2.6 miles. For a show, the Chester County Card Show is about 38 miles away with its next date on November 1, 2026, The Big Show Card Show is 51 miles out and starts November 7, and Susquehanna Valley Mall, about 59 miles away, hosts a show starting November 29.