Rubber Mallet Comics, West Pittston, Pennsylvania

This weekend was a double whammy, my eldest Maja's actual birthday, coupled with Mother's Day. My Saturday morning into the afternoon was going to be running errands, picking up flowers, and storage totes, and stuff for a clothesline (my wife's Mothers Day demand). With the little one slightly ill, I left her home with my wife and took Maja out on a rainy day drive, with an ulterior motive.

In the community section of the newspaper, they had a few pictures from Free Comic Book Day last Saturday at the comic book in West Pittston.  Except something was different.  I knew something was amiss when they called it Rubber Mallet Comics.  I knew something else was amiss when the pictures had women in them. 

As I had mentioned a few times previously, when I relocated into Wilkes-Barre, the only decent shop was Essential Comics in Exeter.  Nice mixture of comics/gaming/miscellany, bad parking, but the owner and his cronies were always pleasant.  Plus I got free tickets there for a preview screening of Accepted, which while it isn't a fantastic movie, it is wholly underrated.

When the owner of Essential decided to get out of the business and his store was essentially cannibalized the the store who purchased its assets, there was a new store about two miles down the road called FanMax.  It was was dark with a flea market feel that was augmented by the used video game section and a separate "gamer" room with a questionable couch.  Essential was barely worth the 45-minute drive, FanMax wasn't worth my first trip.
With a small dose of hope, and the high expectation of bringing my little girl into shop, we entered the shop.

I was pleased.

My first two impressions?   The new guy shrank the place, closed off a wall or two and now every inch of space is effectively utilized to display stock without it turning into an episode of Hoarders.  This is no hole in the wall. 

Second, there was light!  I swear it had twice as many light when it was the old store, and after talking to the owner, Chuck, he admitted he wanted more!  Clean, extremely well-lit, and organized just earned him a return trip.

Maja found the small section of kid's comics and I kibitzed with Chuck and his friend.  Having taken over less than a year ago, he displayed the keen sense of knowing what to do to make a success shop AND knowing what NOT to do.  He even threw in information about the comic reserve service mid-conversation, and I didn't realize it until two sentences later. 

Maja found a nice stack of books, albeit dated, for herself and her sister.  The prize was a copy of Betty and Veronica from '85.  Maja got a comic on her birthday that came out when her mother was four years old! 

And know I shall get killed for revealing how old my wife is.

I was a bit pickier.  As we all know, I don't fit the traditional fanboy demographics and I won't just grab a random comic off the shelf and buy it (not for $3.99 at least).  A copy of the latest Walking Dead and I was a happy kid.  Chuck throwing in a remaining copy of FCBD Walking Dead made the afternoon even better.

On the very scientific Gaming with the Gnomies rating scale, I'd give Rubber Mallet Comics four out of five gnomes.

The store has everything I need as a parent to take my child there, although if I start making monthly trips with Maja, he may need to restock his kid's section.

I would love it if the store itself were physically bigger, as four or five other customers were making it a tight fit, but I also understand that it's a practical business move.   

Of course, the biggest judge is Maja, and she was very content with her books.  She would like to visit again, and if she's willing to bring her Daddy, he may want a copy of Previews, even if it's a month old.  If he does gaming out of the back of said Previews (I didn't ask), I'd be even more pleased to tag along.

Rubber Mallet Comics
802 Wyoming Ave
West Pittston, Pennsylvania 

The website (www.rmcomics.com) is not set up yet and will direct you to their Facebook page.

Maja with her vintage score