Introduction

My name is Julia Riffle and I’m a senior at Rowan University studying communication with two minors in new media and journalism. I have a passion for pop culture merchandise collecting, gaming, anime, and cosplay! You may think, why someone who isn’t an actual comic buff making a blog about comic stores? Well, I have a strong desire to share this geeky culture with others and learn more about it myself. Ever since the COVID-19 pandemic I found things to keep me busy being at home. I realized that my childhood geek was still inside of me and started a Funko Pop collection! I also spent most of my time thinking of conventions to attend when this was all over. My mission and content for this blog is to showcase what the South Jersey and Philadelphia area comic book stores exclusively hold and have to offer for customers. For example, comics, pop culture merchandise, games, etc… Customers and owners will also be photographed (along with the merchandise), interviewed, and asked about the store and what they find appealing about it/ why it is important to them. My desire for this blog overall would be to give the comic book stores themselves and the communities a newfound appreciation through sharing their stories. Today with the COVID-19 pandemic “geeks” don’t have much of a place to join together in their love for pop culture like they once did at Comic Cons and anime conventions. Comic book stores are the one place still around after all of these years that give a place for fandom communities to come together like conventions did before the pandemic. Despite comic book stores not being as popular as they once were my goal is to highlight niche items and communities in order to change that.