12/11/2004 Archived Entry: "Beguiling, One Million"
Two comic shops really stand out so far in my time in Toronto. First is The Beguiling. I was interested in checking this place out because the director of Immortel did a signing there in October so I decided it was probably a pretty nice place. I discovered a few weeks later that it was actually a very reknown comic book shop, even outside of Canada. When I got there, I could definately see why.
The Beguiling is in a gutted 2 floor house. Upstairs is the "mainstream" floor. Tons of DC, Marvel and all the small publishers, and a wall of trade paperbacks. A whole wall! And on the opposite wall was manga. Tons and tons of manga. The selection was pretty dazzling, but not anything I couldn't get through MileHigh at super low prices.
Vastly more interesting than the mainstream room was the downstairs. It was filled with really obscure indy titles, art books, comic related literature, a crime section, and most amazingly of all, European comics. I have never been to a shop that stocks European comics, Beguiling has thousands of them. European, especially French, comics are something that I've been wanting to get into for a long time. French "albums" (think of those TinTin or Asterix books you can get at the library) are these beautiful giant hardcovers with thick, glossy paper; American and Japanese comics are ghetto productions in comparison. Not to mention that the French also happen to tell non-superhero stories. If they were less expensive and I could get entire stories in a single album, I think I would have spent hundreds there no problem.
Something else I really appreaciated about the place is that it didn't do the AD&D/Warhammer thing that always attracts tons of running, screaming children. This was almost strictly a comicbook/manga affair.
The store really felt "high brow", sorta like the Generation X of comics; it establishes comics as a valid, aristic subculture instead of a rampant, fanboy-infested medium. Though you can go there to just buy X-Men comics, you probably would feel a little guilty not picking up something like the latest issue of My Monkey's Name is Jennifer.
The other shop that's made an impression on me is 1 000 000 Comics on Yonge Street. Though it has tons of space and a huge selection of mainstream books, the store has insanely inflated prices and is totally feeding the speculator mentality that nearly destroyed the Comcis scene in the 90s. All their comics are marked with drivel like "First Printing!!", "Complete Set!!!", "Turner Cover!!!!", "OMG!! Wolverine!!!!", "THIS BOOK WILL PUT YOUR GREAT GRANDCHILDREN THROUGH COLLEGE!!!!!".
Anyways, I really don't think that's how a comic shop should operate. Gauging consumers and pandering to speculators only leads to trouble.
Replies: 2 comments
I personally found the 2nd floor to be way better :P I guess comics are the one thing where i'm not an elitest..
Posted by Zamir @ 12/13/2004 03:42 PM EST
Music's one of the things I'm not picky about.
Posted by Rayne @ 12/16/2004 03:40 PM EST