It rests in the middle of traffic on Main Street as if it owns downtown Mesa, as if the wind had not pushed the gray, dull trash receptacle into the middle of west bound traffic, as if it had rolled into the street with the sole intention of causing chaos — a simple object, but an ominous force for a car traveling at 30 miles per hour.
But Miguel Vega III is on the scene, scrawny but determined in a royal blue T-shirt and jeans. Bald, with gawky brown eyes, he brandishes a smile that tears down all awkwardness as he declares, “I’m a real-life superhero.”
Of course, halfway to trash can retrieval, someone recovered the traffic hazard and he returns to his not-so-secret lair — Gotham City Comics.
Vega has co-owned Gotham City Comics since January with the sole goal of putting smiles on people’s faces.
And the gears of this local business never stop spinning; from charity events to the Xbox room in the back to free Wi-Fi to coffee drinks like Thor’s Hammer (four shots of espresso over ice with caramel) Gotham City fills a gap in the community for anything and everyone, Vega says.
“Everybody has a geek inside them,” Vega says. “Everybody has something they like about pop culture.”
And Vega says that the store encourages people to bring in their own comics and read them. He encourages not only a comic community, but also a community for all geek-dom.
As he reclines in a red leather couch in the back of the store and recounts the many activities that Gotham City hosts, (Techno Night/Bad Movie Tuesdays, yo-yo lessons on Saturday and Anime Thursdays) a group plays Magic, The Gathering at a corral of tables nearby and the mounted TV blasts a new episode of Dr. Who.
“It’s like everything in one awesome store,” says Mesa Community College sophomore Keelan Howell.
Vega says that all aspects of business have picked up since the closing of Atomic Comics and people have responded to the services that Gotham City offers that other Valley comic book shops don’t.
“We’re not just a comic shop,” Vega says. “People can come in and just have coffee, [or] go on to their computer. People can come in get a drink and play on our X-boxes, or just come to one of our movie nights.”
In addition, sales have picked up this week because of the reset of the DC Universe, where 52 issues of Action Comics are being reset to Issue 01. With the rebirth of DC, Vega says new comic book readers will have a chance to start from scratch.
“There are a lot of people that get afraid of jumping into new books or a whole new universe because they don’t know [the] previous history,” Vega says. “The whole re-launch will allow people to start fresh and new and not have to worry about all the past stuff that happened.”
On the last Saturday in August, Gotham City Comics hosted a charity event for Kid’s Need to Read, a local program that advocates literacy and provides free books to underfunded schools and libraries across the country.
Several local artists and writers attended the fundraiser, including DC, Marvel and Dark Horse Comics writer Brian Augustyn.
A reader of comics since age 7, Augustyn says that his love of reading originates from the visual aspect that comics provided and that comics can promote good moral and educational values.
“One of the things I always try to do is not write the hero as God, but write the hero as human striving to be God,” he says.
Augustyn has authored numerous Flash and Batman comics since the 1980s and was an editor at DC Comics for 10 years, he says.
He says he likes to shop and network at Gotham City Comics (despite the 20-minute drive from his residence in Ahwatukee) because of the excellent service.
“[Since] the minute I walked in here, Miguel has been beyond friendly and helpful,” Augustyn says.
Vega has worked in the comic book store industry for 13 years, starting at the now closed Chronic Comics in downtown Scottsdale, then at the recently closed Atomic Comics until the old owner of Gotham Comics asked him to run Gotham City.
While many comic book shops may worry only about making sales, comic store connoisseur Ryan Cleveland, a video editor and comic chop coordinator for comic conventions, says that Gotham City Comics values and vends to a customers’ interests.
“I probably go to 80 comic book stores a year,” Cleveland says. “Good service is so hard to find and they have it in spades here.”
But Vega says he wants to get along and be friendly with other local Valley comic book shops. He does not want any rivalry and bickering, because “we’re all into the same thing and there’s enough space around the Valley where everyone can be happy.”
Reach the reporter at hhuskins@asu.edu
