As you make your way down Emancipation Avenue in Houston, Texas, you’d be forgiven for not noticing what has gradually become a staple location for comic book lovers and general appreciators of pop culture. What from the outside might look like a simple unit constructed by the nearby Project Row Houses is, in reality, but a shell, housing myriad characters and worlds, ready for readers new and old to dive in. So much content is contained within the walls, one could even say that Third Ward is home to…a cosmos’ worth of knowledge.
Gulf Coast Cosmos Comics, is, according to owner Byron Canady, the first and only black-owned brick and mortar comic book shop in Houston, not to mention the state of Texas1. As such, since the opening of the shop in April 2020, the shop has seen a sizable influx of fans of all shapes and sizes, though with an obvious draw for people of color in particular.
Unsurprisingly, this year’s Free Comic Book Day was no different, as I was able to see all manner of people, younger and older, melanated and pale, man and woman and other, making their way in and out of the shop. They freely mingled, asked questions, talked to local creators, and, of course, read comics in a building not much larger than a studio apartment, yet bursting with a sense of belonging for all who entered. As for why that is? Many visitors cite a sense of belonging that is missing from their experiences in other local haunts.
L to R: Crimson Jordan (volunteer), Byron Canady (owner of Gulf Coast Cosmos Comics), and David Kirkman (writer and director) at a local screening for Underneath: Children of the Sun
“Community collectiveness…I have a community I can come to…I don’t have to prove myself or do the craziness that you would do in other comic book stores…” said Danny Asberry El, a new reader who was experiencing his first Free Comic Book Day.
He’d snagged the FCBD copies of Shadowman from Valiant and The Sacrificers from Image Comics, saying that he loved the art on display, even though he didn’t normally get animal-oriented books like the latter title.
“I could appreciate it. And as an art teacher, it’s very telling,” said Asberry El. “I can see the detail of work that’s been put into it, and I love it. I love the visuals, at least, I’ll get into the story later today.”
The love of comics was shown by regulars, too, as indicated by my conversation with Crimson Jordan, a fan who often volunteers around the shop and had kept himself busy by distributing the FCBD floppies to interested newcomers, having seen many a Free Comic Book Day himself. When asked what his favorite aspect of the day was, he said it was “…finding something that I didn’t know was going to be coming out and having something new to put on my radar.” In addition to the aforementioned Shadowman, Jordan had picked up a Star Trek comic as well as Animal Castle volume two, both of which are stories adapted from other media into comic book form.
That there was such a variety of work on display was not surprising, but to a first-time visitor who only has familiarity with the characters of the Big Two publishers, I imagine that it can be a bit disorienting, for better and/or worse.
On the one hand, seeing that there’s more to comics than just superheroes and villains in colorful outfits can be an exciting discovery, as the nature of comics as a medium lends itself to being adaptable to a variety of content. In fact, one of the free comics available to read was an independently produced book about the real life struggle of Houstonians in a housing community being affected by a concrete factory’s air contamination. On the other hand, while comic book reading continues to become more and more mainstream, there is still plenty of content that remains on the fringe of the spotlight, begging the question as to why the casual fan or layperson should care about having a local comic shop.
Ron Lacewell, a longtime reader but first-time visitor to the store, had this to say in response: “There’s lots and lots of different characters, personalities, all walks of life represented in comic books…from science and technology, obviously, to civil rights movements…there’s a little bit of everything…”
A young fan blows bubbles near the interview area.
Varied as the content is, Canady is more than happy to make the space available to any and all readers, whether they’re lifelong collectors or even film, television, and video game fans that are looking to expand their knowledge of characters they’ve grown to love through a new medium.
“[FCBD] is more about community and enjoying that space where community is held…depending on the shop, you’ll get a different type of experience with Free Comic Book Day,” he said, referring to the likes of other Houston-area comic shops like Nan’s and Bedrock City. Though both are reputable establishments, and serve their respective portions of Houston’s comic book consuming population well, it’s telling that the novice, contemporary, and old-head readers alike at GCCC remarked on feeling more comfortable there than they had at other comic book shops.
The mix of ages on display is another indicator of why spaces like GCCC are important: new fans of color deserve to have community they can engage with in all the typical discussions. New releases and recommendations, favorite runs or stories, and, of course, the eventual “who would win?” debate(s), among others. And as comfort and community is fostered and allowed to grow, these discussions can give way to deeper conversations.
Ken Goings, a new reader, remarked that GCCC is “…a safe space for people to kinda (sic) sit down and actually talk about the politics behind comic books…,” referring to a bit of the aforementioned shop talk with Lacewell and others.
From over a stack of books, some free and some encased, Lacewell spoke with Devin Richard, a local comic book creator, and other fans on the lack of compelling original black characters in Big Two comics, remarking that a large portion of black characters are tied to the legacy of their white counterparts (i.e. Steel and Superman, War Machine and Iron Man, Nubia and Wonder Woman, Falcon and Captain America, etc.), and when a black character is written to be wholly original and distinct (i.e. Blue Marvel), their subsequent appearances are often few and far between.
Fans of all ages flock to Gulf Coast Cosmos Comics.
Conversations like these may read as trivial to some, but their importance cannot be overstated as material to mull over between issues. In the same way that we (humans) congregate in various places for equally various discussions (hair salons, bars, sacred/religious spaces, etc), it’s important that spaces are available to discuss these and other concerns in the media that we love, and that we show these spaces the appropriate attention.
As my time at the shop came to an end, long before the “mini-conventions” worth of festivities were over (I had to leave in the middle of an interview between Canady and Rodney Anderson, Jr., another local comic book creator), I saw praise levied toward the people involved in this medium at two different extremes. In speaking with Xavier Moore, a father of two and self-proclaimed anime and manga guru, despite being a novice in the realm of reading comics, he was still able to recognize that, due to the varying creative teams that work on a book, “it’s like everybody gets a free shot to express themselves…so, it is truly a time to be able to appreciate people’s creativity.
Similarly but distinctly, Jessie Richard made a point to say that her favorite aspect of the day was “not the books themselves, but the other people that you can tell are fans…how that passion sort of comes through when they talk…everything just screams ‘I’m a fan’.”
This appreciation of expression, if for no other reason, is what makes this LCS so important, both on Free Comic Book Day and far beyond. There are no arbitrary rules, unspoken or otherwise. There are no contemptuous stares over innocuous questions. Those who enter are free to be as lively or subdued about their fandom as they please. They do this effortlessly, as they understand that here, they are welcome. For in the vast, vibrant, and ever-expanding ‘Cosmos’, there is room for all.
- According to Canady, visitors to the shop from places like Dallas, Texas had told him that their local, black-owned LCSs had closed during the COVID-19 pandemic and never reopened, though he has been unable to factually confirm this information.
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