Gay comic store relocates to Inwood
YOU BE THE X-MEN AS ASTONISHED | This year, longtime gay superhero Northstar married his same-sex partner (an interracial marriage, too — just to piss off all the bigots), but to get the latest issue from Richard Neal’s Zeus Comics, you’ll have to drive to Inwood Road — the Lemmon Avenue store has moved.
Everyone knows the Design District is an up-and-coming area for galleries, furniture stores and lately restaurants … but comic book shops? Well, it is now.
About two weeks ago, gay-owned Zeus Comics — long located along Oak Lawn, then later moved to Lemmon Avenue across from Whole Foods — picked up and headed over to Inwood Road near the intersection of Irving Boulevard, just on the outskirts of the Design District. And owner Richard Neal is already happy about the move.
“Our customers have followed up,” he says. “We are already getting more foot-traffic, and we haven’t even moved our sign yet.”
Neal — who sells all kinds of comics, but is especially proud to feature many that appeal to the gay community, including DC’s new Earth 2 imprint with a gay Green Lantern and specialty compendia like No Straight Lines: Four Decades of Queer Comics — says the move also doubled the public floorspace, meaning he’ll have more room for T-shirts, toys, graphic novels, maybe even a little chocolate counter for folks to nosh on. He hopes to make Zeus not just a place where comic book nerds gather for the weekly Wednesday releases, but a place where people can hang out and browse.
If you want to see it though, you have to go in — Neal’s web series, The Variants (set in the comic book store) finished filming before they packed up and moved.)
There’s still some work to do — inventory is still being shelved, and the glass display cases need to be assembled — but it’s not too soon to stop in. But how exactly do you find it with
Zeus Comics and Toys
1334 Inwood Road. Open Tuesdays–Sundays. 214-219-TOYS.
ZeusComics.com.
The Variants uploads new webisodes every Wednesday at TheVariants.com.
This article appeared in the Dallas Voice print edition October 12, 2012.