ComicsDC: Today I said, "It's not you, it's me" to Big Planet Comics Bethesda

by Mike Rhode

Today, I closed out my account at Big Planet Comics in Bethesda, which I have had since 1986. That's 38 years, and one of the longest relationships I've had. I started it when my girlfriend at the time pointed out this store opening close to her house. Frank Miller's Batman The Dark Knight Returns reignited my interest when it was waning due to college and I wanted to buy them as they come out - this was before trade collections. I was the original subscriber #45. I stayed with the store through 4 locations and god knows how many comics.

But I barely read floppies anymore and looking at their Comics Hub software today, I realized I hadn't picked up my books in four months. And my pull list has really shrunk. I had 30 pieces waiting for that 3 months including an Overstreet PG and 2 copies of the latest Prince Valiant collection (my neighbor's late b-day present). Before COVID that would have been 1 weeks haul.

Other factors in my decision are:

1. The store physically closed during COVID. You couldn't browse, and they would bring your books out to the sidewalk. Understandable due to their health concerns, but a routine breaker;

2. Also during COVID, the store moved to a 2nd floor space around the corner, which eventually re-opened to browsing, but didn't feel like home to me;

3. As you might have noticed, many of my interviewers complain about DC's traffic as their 'least favorite thing.' It's gotten harder to drive around the beltway for 25-50 minutes to go to a comics store;

4. Tom King and other DC-area cartoonists don't really need my money or support as they've become successful. I used to get all local books for a ComicsDC collection, but gave up on the idea of that after the basement flood of a few years ago;

5. Joel Pollack (founder) and Greg Bennett (long-time partner), sold the store last year. This was really the final defining reason. The current owner Nick is a perfectly nice guy who took care of me just fine and has a fantastic stock - see the pictures. You can literally spend hours looking around if you're not a regular reader of comics who's been buying them for 45 years. I would also recommend the Big Planet Comics DC and Vienna branches. All three are excellent stores. But the long-term camaraderie I had with Joel, Greg, and other long-term customers is gone;

6. As I've grown older, I've really gotten bored with repetitive superhero comics I'm afraid. There's plenty of graphic novels and other comics to read. Too many! A good problem to have, I guess. But I'm no longer the weekly Wednesday (formerly Friday!) warrior who went to get my new serialized comic books religiously, and kept up with reading them;

I'm not giving up on comics stores completely. I started going to Fantom Comics in Dupont Circle when they stayed open during COVID, and they have events I go to every other week or so, so I'm often there. Plus it takes me only 20 minutes to get there. I'll be moving the little I still subscribe to there.

Still it's the end of a personal era, and I'm sad about it.