COMICS
COURIER LIFE, MARCH 12-18, 2021 25
OUR ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO THE BOROUGH OF KINGS
BY KEVIN DUGGAN
Holy business recovery Batman,
it’s a new comic book store!
Cape-crusading collectors and
Brooklyn comic book buffs can now
mask up and swoop over to Greenpoint,
where the borough’s newest outpost for
graphic novels and superhero souvenirs
opened on March 1, promising to
house a unique blend of the industry’s
latest-and-greatest while maintaining
the charm that made comic shops a
staple of yesteryear.
“You can buy a comic online, but
there’s nothing like seeing it on the
rack, have the cover appeal to you,
picking through the pages, and loving
it so much that you have to have it in
your collection,” said Eric LaGaccia,
the owner of Action City Comics on
Manhattan Avenue.
The cartoon purveyor opened for
business between Driggs and Nassau
avenues on Monday, hawking new
and old comics from big brands like
Marvel and DC, along with indie publications,
and a sprawling library of
graphic novels.
LaGaccia’s new lair also sells a
range of toys, posters, and fan-favorite
games — including classics like Dungeons
and Dragons, as well as popular
trading cards such as Magic: The
Gathering, Yu-Gi-Oh, and Pokémon.
The store has attracted local fanboys,
but also pent-up Brooklynites
who rediscovered their passion for
the fantastic tales amid the pandemic,
LaGaccia said.
“A lot of people said they got back
into the hobby during the pandemic,”
he said. “You’re sitting at home all day
and there’s only so much TV you can
watch before you take your eyes off the
screen.”
The magic of comic book stores is
being able to meet other fans and talk
about your favorite hero’s latest exploits,
gushed the lifelong devotee,
who hailed the spot as a potential social
hub, even as the world battles the
COVID villain.
“Comic shops have always been
about community,” he said. “They’re
about hanging out, talking comics.”
And the community has already
come out in droves to the new store —
fueled in part by the popular television
adaptation of the Marvel Comics’ WandaVision,
according to LaGaccia.
“I’ve got these books fl ying off the
shelves,” he said. “It’s exceeded my expectations.”
An accountant for the hotel industry
by trade, LaGaccia grew up immersed
in the superhero tales with his
late father owning a comic book shop
in Delaware, and he has long wanted to
move away from crunching numbers
to selling comics.
“The hotel industry was a good job
but it wasn’t my dream job — it paid
the bills,” he said. “Owning a comic
shop was always my end goal.”
When LaGaccia’s job furloughed
him at the beginning of the pandemic
and threw his once-professional career
into a state of fl ux, he started looking
unsuccessfully for remote work, a jobs
search he described as “soul-draining.”
During the fall, the local who lives
nearby in Williamsburg noticed a
lot of vacated storefronts around the
neighborhood — largely induced by
COVID-19 fi nancial hardship — and,
on his girlfriend’s suggestion, decided
to fi nally make a move.
“I had this lightbulb moment, I
thought, ‘You know what, now is the
right time,'” so LaGaccia.
The neighbors have given him and
his comic book store warm welcome,
with several locals saying they were
excited about his new venture, especially
the dedicated kids section.
“The reception has been incredible,
the neighborhood has been so supportive,”
he said.
One customer said she’d never been
into comics before but bought several
magazines because the splashy covers
appealed to her, according to the vendor,
who noted that there’s more to the
graphic medium than classic superheroes.
“Comic books are not just super heroes
anymore, there’s comic books for
all interests now,” he said.
Actionpacked!
New comic book
store opens in
Greenpoint
Action City Comics 570 Manhattan
Ave., between Driggs and Nassau avenues
in Greenpoint, (646) 784—4139, on
Instagram @actioncitycomicsnyc. Open
daily, 11 am-8 pm. Mask required.
POW!: Eric LaGaccia outside Action City Comics, which opened on March 1 on Manhattan
Avenue in Greenpoint. Photo by Kevin Duggan