Company type | Private |
---|---|
Industry | |
Genre | Retail |
Founded | April 1, 1995 in Sioux City, Iowa, United States |
Founder | Fran and Kevin McGarry |
Headquarters | , United States |
Number of locations | 1 |
Area served | Sioux City, Iowa |
Key people | Fran McGarry Kevin McGarry |
Owner | Fran and Kevin McGarry |
Number of employees | 4–5 |
Website | AcmeFirst.net |
ACME Comics & Collectibles is a comics and collectibles store in Sioux City, Iowa. [1] The store was awarded the 2004 "Spirit of Comics Retailer Award" at the Eisner Awards.
The store was first established on April 1, 1995, by Fran and Kevin McGarry and is located on Pierce Street in Sioux City. Its selection of comic books and graphic novels come from 79 different publishers, ranging from major industry names such as Marvel Comics and DC Comics to small independent publishers. The store also carries a variety of other items, including collectible statues with Star Wars , Star Trek , Dragons , Fairies , and comic book themes; toys from MacFarlane Sports, MacFarlane Dragons, DC Direct, Marvel Select, Pirates of the Caribbean , etc.; artwork and collectible plates; trading cards that range from football, baseball, and hockey to Yu-Gi-Oh! , World of Warcraft , and Magic: The Gathering ; games such as Munchkin and Dungeons & Dragons ; and a variety of fantasy and Renaissance themed T-shirts, statues, and other paraphernalia. [2]
ACME Comics & Collectibles participates in Free Comic Book Day every year. The store has also hosted several autograph signings from notable people such as Star Wars actors Peter Mayhew, who played Chewbacca, and Daniel Logan, who played Boba Fett. [3] [4] ACME Comics has also hosted an autograph-signing with best-selling author Jesse Leon McCann, author of the Krypto the Superdog comic book. [5]
In 2004, ACME Comics & Collectibles won the Will Eisner Spirit of Comics Retailer Award from Comic-Con International in San Diego, California, after being a runner-up for the Eisner Award in 2002 and 2003. [6] The award was presented by Joe Ferrara, owner of the Atlantis Fantasyworld comic book store in Santa Cruz, California. [7] [8] Named for comic book creator Will Eisner, the "Will Eisner Spirit of Comics Retailer Award" recognizes "an individual retailer who has done an outstanding job of supporting the comics art medium both in the community and within the industry at large". [9] U.S. Senators Chuck Grassley and Tom Harkin, Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack, Sioux City Mayor Dave Ferris, the Siouxland Chamber of Commerce, and House Speaker of Sioux City Christopher Rants, an ACME Comics customer, all wrote letters of support. [6]
Frank Miller is an American comic book artist, comic book writer, and screenwriter known for his comic book stories and graphic novels such as his run on Daredevil, for which he created the character Elektra, and subsequent Daredevil: Born Again, The Dark Knight Returns, Batman: Year One, Sin City, and 300.
Mark Stephen Evanier is an American comic book and television writer, known for his work on the animated TV series Garfield and Friends and on the comic book Groo the Wanderer. He is also known for his columns and blog News from ME, and for his work as a historian and biographer of the comics industry, such as his award-winning Jack Kirby biography, Kirby: King of Comics.
Image Comics is an American comic book publisher and is the third largest direct market comic book and graphic novel publisher in the industry by market share. Its best-known publications include Spawn, The Walking Dead, Kick-Ass, Invincible, Jupiter's Legacy, Witchblade, The Maxx, Savage Dragon, Bone, Saga, Radiant Black and Stray Dogs.
Gary Lee Shipman is an American artist, comic book illustrator and writer of Pakkins' Land. He is father to three children.
Kurt Busiek is an American comic book writer. His work includes the Marvels limited series, his own series titled Astro City, a four-year run on The Avengers, Thunderbolts, and Superman.
Richard Bache Ayers was an American comic book artist and cartoonist best known for his work as one of Jack Kirby's inkers during the late-1950s and 1960s period known as the Silver Age of Comics, including on some of the earliest issues of Marvel Comics' The Fantastic Four. He is the signature penciler of Marvel's World War II comic Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos, drawing it for a 10-year run, and he co-created Magazine Enterprises' 1950s Western-horror character the Ghost Rider, a version of which he would draw for Marvel in the 1960s.
That's Entertainment is a comics and collectibles store in Worcester, Massachusetts.
Paul Howley is the founder and owner of the "That's Entertainment" comics and collectibles store in Worcester MA, established in 1980, and "Entertainment Publishing". In 1997 Howley and two other comic book store owners received the "Will Eisner Spirit of Comics Retailer Award," from San Diego Comic-Con. The award is intended to honor the best comic shops in the world.
Heroes Convention, or HeroesCon, is a comic book convention that takes place in June in Charlotte, North Carolina. The convention has been held since 1982 and is one of the oldest and "the largest independently owned comic book convention in the U.S.". The convention has a history of charitable work, donating to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund and the Charlotte Firefighters Burned Children's Fund. HeroesCon is organized by Shelton Drum, owner of Heroes Aren't Hard To Find, a comic book retailer just southeast of downtown Charlotte.
Happy Harbor Comics is a comic book store located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Over the past few years, owner Jay Bardyla and his store have participated in the 24-hour comic day to promote comics in general and to raise money for the Alberta Literacy Foundation. In 2005, they raised more than $1600.
Carol Kalish was an American writer, editor, comic book retailer, and sales manager. She worked as Direct Sales Manager and Vice President of New Product Development at Marvel Comics from 1981 to 1991. She is credited with pioneering the American comics direct market when it was in its adolescence, in part through a program wherein Marvel helped pay for comic book stores to acquire cash registers.
Fan Expo Chicago, is a comic book convention held during the summer in Rosemont, Illinois, United States, at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center. It was traditionally a three-day event, but in 2006, it expanded to four days. It was founded in 1972 as Nostalgia '72, Chicago Comic Con and later as the Chicago Comic and Nostalgia Convention by a local dealer named Nancy Warner.
Dean Mullaney is an American editor, publisher, and designer whose Eclipse Enterprises, founded in 1977, was one of the earliest independent comic-book companies. Eclipse published some of the first graphic novels and was one of the first comics publishers to champion creators' rights. In the 2000s, he established the imprint The Library of American Comics of IDW Publishing to publish hardcover collections of comic strips. Mullaney and his work have received seven Eisner Awards.
The Beguiling is a comic shop in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It specializes in underground and alternative comics, classic comic strip reprints, and foreign comics. It has built an international reputation for focusing on and promoting non-superhero comics in the superhero-dominated North American comic book market.
The Motor City Comic Con is a fan convention held in Novi, Michigan, United States, at the Suburban Collection Showplace. It is traditionally a three-day event, usually held in May of each year. The Motor City Comic Con was founded in 1989 by comics retailer Michael Goldman.
All Star Comics Melbourne is an Australian comic book store co-owned by Mitchell Davies and Troy Varker. The store was first opened in February 2011 and in 2014, won the Spirit of Comics Retailer Award at the 26th annual Eisner Awards. The award was split with the Legend Comics & Coffee in Nebraska.
A comic book convention or comic con is a fan convention emphasizing comic books and comic book culture, in which comic book fans gather to meet creators, experts, and each other. Commonly, comic conventions are multi-day events hosted at convention centers, hotels, or college campuses. They feature a wide variety of activities and panels, with a larger number of attendees participating with cosplay than for most other types of fan conventions. Comic book conventions are also used as a method by which publishers, distributors, and retailers represent their comic-related releases. Comic book conventions may be considered derivatives of science-fiction conventions, which began during the late 1930s.
Dave Olbrich is an editor and executive in the American comic book industry. He was instrumental in the creation of two awards for achievement in comic books, voted on by professionals, the Kirby Awards and the Eisner Awards. He was a co-founder and publisher of Malibu Comics. While at Malibu, he helped launch Image Comics. Currently he produces and hosts a YouTube channel about comics and comic-related issues, Geekview Tavern, which began releasing episodes in 2020.
Comikaza is the first brick and mortar comic book store in Israel. In 2016 it was nominated for the Will Eisner Spirit of Comics Retailer Award.