| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Retail |
| Founded | 1978 (mail order), 1979 (store) |
| Founder | John Biernat |
| Defunct | February 1, 2012 |
| Fate | Out of business |
| Successor | Comic Book Lounge and Gallery |
| Headquarters | Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
Area served | Toronto, Ontario, Canada (also mail order) |
| Services | Comics, Magazines |
| Subsidiaries | Dragon Lady Press |
Dragon Lady Comics was a comic book shop in Toronto, Canada, owned by John Biernat. Founded in 1978 as a mail order company, Dragon Lady Comics was opened as a store the following year. Dragon Lady closed on 3 February 2012. The comics business reopened nearby on 8 February 2012 as the Comic Book Lounge and Gallery.
Dragon Lady Comics is named after the Dragon Lady character that appeared in Milton Caniff's Terry and the Pirates comic strip. The store opened in 1978 as a mail order memorabilia business. [1] However, in 1979, a retail outlet was opened at 200 Queen Street West, tapping into the new direct market aimed at comic collectors. In 1979, owner John Biernat was interviewed by local CBC Television station CBLT for a news segment on "the comics craze" (airdate 23 June 1979). [2]
From 1985–1988, Dragon Lady Comics operated a publishing wing, Dragon Lady Press, devoted to reprints of class newspaper comic strips.
In 1996, as Queen Street was being transformed into a more upscale retail district and rents increased, Dragon Lady Comics moved to larger premises at 609 College Street. Merchandise expanded to include movie memorabilia and magazines, and a small selection of secondhand books. This change was reflected in the new (albeit rarely used) name for the store, "Dragon Lady Comics and Paper Nostalgia".
Shifts in the comics market and the lingering effects of the 2008 recession negatively affected the store's profitability, and a rent increase forced its closure early in 2012. [3]
The store itself was split in two, the new comics and graphic novel business was relocated a few doors east under a new business name and new owner Kevin Boyd - The Comic Book Lounge and Gallery, located at 587A College Street, while the back issues and paper nostalgia went with Biernat back to his home in Kitchener, ON. [4]
Dragon Lady Comics is mentioned in Margaret Atwood's 1993 novel, The Robber Bride .
The Dragon Lady Comics storefront is shown in the background of the 2011 film Take This Waltz at minute 107.
Joseph Shuster, was a Canadian-American comic book artist best known for co-creating the DC Comics character Superman, with Jerry Siegel, in Action Comics #1.
Jerome Siegel was an American comic book writer. He is the co-creator of Superman, in collaboration with his friend Joe Shuster, published by DC Comics. They also created Doctor Occult, who was later featured in The Books of Magic. Siegel and Shuster were inducted into the comic book industry's Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 1992 and the Jack Kirby Hall of Fame in 1993. With Bernard Baily, Siegel also co-created the long-running DC character The Spectre. Siegel created ten of the earliest members of the Legion of Super-Heroes, one of DC's most popular team books, which is set in the 30th Century. Siegel also used pseudonyms including Joe Carter and Jerry Ess.
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The Joe Shuster Canadian Comic Book Creator Awards are given out annually for outstanding achievements in the creation of comic books, graphic novels, webcomics, and comics retailers and publishers by Canadians. The awards, first handed out in April 2005, are named in honour of Joe Shuster (1914–1992), the Canadian-born co-creator of Superman.
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Faith Erin Hicks is a Canadian cartoonist and animator living in Vancouver, British Columbia.
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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.
Galerie Lambiek is a Dutch comic book store and art gallery in Amsterdam, founded on November 8, 1968 by Kees Kousemaker. His son Boris Kousemaker has been the owner since 2007. From 1968 to 2015, it was located in the Kerkstraat, but in November 2015, the store moved to Koningsstraat 27. As of 2018, Lambiek is the oldest comics store in Europe, and the oldest worldwide still in existence.
Midtown Comics is a New York City comic book retailer with three shops in Manhattan and an e-commerce website. The largest comic book store in the United States, the company opened its first store in the Times Square area in 1997. Its second was opened on Lexington Avenue in 2004, and is known as the Grand Central store for its proximity to Grand Central Terminal. Its downtown store was opened on Fulton Street in the Financial District in November 2010, and its Astoria, Queens outlet store opened in March 2020. It also used to operate a boutique inside Manhattan's Times Square Toys R Us.
Michael Cho is a Canadian illustrator and cartoonist. He has been nominated for a number of awards and his work has been positively reviewed.
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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.
Canadian comics refers to comics and cartooning by citizens of Canada or permanent residents of Canada regardless of residence. Canada has two official languages, and distinct comics cultures have developed in English and French Canada. The English tends to follow American trends, and the French, Franco-Belgian ones, with little crossover between the two cultures. Canadian comics run the gamut of comics forms, including editorial cartooning, comic strips, comic books, graphic novels, and webcomics, and are published in newspapers, magazines, books, and online. They have received attention in international comics communities and have received support from the federal and provincial governments, including grants from the Canada Council for the Arts. There are comics publishers throughout the country, as well as large small press, self-publishing, and minicomics communities.
Now & Then Books was a comic shop in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada. Founded by Harry Kremer and Bill Johnson, it was one of the earliest comic shops to operate in North America, and employed Dave Sim before he began his comic book series Cerebus. The Harry Kremer Retailer Award at the Joe Shuster Awards was named in honour of co-founder Harry Kremer, who died in 2002.
Heroes Comics is a comic book store operating in London, Ontario, Canada. The store won a Harry Kremer comics retailer award at the 2013 Joe Shuster Awards ceremony.
Awkward is a 2015 children's graphic novel written by Svetlana Chmakova. The book tells the story of Penelope "Peppi" Torres, a new student at Berrybrook Middle School, whose first encounter with a boy from the science club leads to much awkwardness between them, and their sparring clubs.
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