St Marks Comics

2 girls 2 tiny shirts… their go to answer was «i don’t know» to every question i asked. … You’re better off going to mid town comics

St. Mark’s Comics is great. The staff are friendly and know their stuff. If you’re looking for recommendations, I’ve always found them happy to share what comics they think are worth reading. If you’re a toy or statue collector, this store seems especially designed for you. The toy selection is exhaustive — lots of vintage toys (G1 Transformers, GI Joe, Super Powers, He-​Man) alongside new toys and imports from overseas. The statue selection is equally large.
Pro-​Tip: If you’re looking for deal on back issues, they seem to regularly run 50% off sales on major holiday weekends like Memorial Day, Labor Day, etc. The back issue selection is extensive.

St. Marks Comics has been around since ’84, and this tiny comic book store offers prints, rare comics in sleeves, action figures, other graphic novels, toys, and gifts. The hubs and I stopped by here to have a little looksy, and I really liked seeing the retro action figures and the old-​school comic books. The prices are more at the higher end, but if you’re an avid collector and money isn’t an object, this place could be your thing. They have another location out in Brooklyn as well.
+retro action figures
+off of St. Marks

Fun comic store located on St marks. Came here by chance with my boyfriend by chance and am happy I did. The staff was very informative and friendly. The store was clean and had a very large assortment of toys, figures, and comics. There was also oddly Fox 5 news trying to interview everyone in there but they didn’t make anyone feel pressured or awkward. Walked in expecting to get nothing and left with something thanks to the very helpful girl working there!

I’m surprised this store is still around. They mistreat their new comics by bending them sliding them to the shelves with a board in the middle decreasing their value. The rest of the store is so cluttered with random merchandise and has no elbow room. Also one of the workers there who’s fat and has glasses is rude as fuck. I’m there looking at comics and starts coughing all over where I am and I stormed out cursing up a storm. Get other people sick, why don’t he? Never coming back there again.

Simply put, there are many better options for comic books and collectibles in Manhattan. Don’t waste your time here. The owner is suspicious of everyone and most things are overpriced.
Additionally, I always see the same stuff when I go in with the exception of new items that can be bought anywhere. I honestly don’t know how he stays in business, he must be in debt. And there is no real justification for him to be located on St. Marks and pay that kind of rent unless he owns the building.

THE WORST COMIC BOOK SHOP IN ALL OF MANHATTAN!!! The buyer at this place is the worst place to go and sell your books. I brought two stacks of rare mint condition. The owner (who’s a big asshole) only offered me $ 15 DOLLARS. I even had an autographed copy in there. Wouldn’t recommend anyone to go in there

OK, this place is not as big as Forbidden Planet. In fact, it’s a bit cramped.
That being said, it still has a pretty good selection of comics, and a number of toys/​collectibles. Recently, I saw a model kit for a Romulan Bird of Prey from the original series, which I had built when I was a kid.
The staff are generally friendly and knowledgeable. They are more than willing to answer your questions, and are very likely to know the answers.
All-​in-​all, it’s a pretty good place to visit and browse.

Have been a customer here for years. The staff has always been super friendly and very helpful. I love their wide selection of vintage toys. The owner has always made me feel welcome and has great recommendations.

It’s hard to recommend this place to a comics fan when there’s a superior comic books store a few blocks away (Forbidden Planet). This place is not organized very well and charges too much for damaged books. And then there’s the owner that everyone keeps complaining about in their reviews! Well, it’s totally justified. The owner makes shopping here a pretty uncomfortable experience, he’s not very friendly or helpful and treats potential customers as potential thieves. This place is definitely not the worst, but why go here when you can have a better shopping experience not too far away.

I wouldn’t go to St. Marks Comics again if you paid me! The energy in this place is toxic. Anytime I’ve been in there the owner or one of his employees follows me all around the store, making me feel extremely uncomfortable. A few times I’ve dared to go in the back room and one of the employees will just stand in the doorway the entire time, not even pretending like they’re doing any work, they just stand there like a creep. Maybe they’ve had trouble with theft in the past, but I don’t think making your customers feel uncomfortable is the best way to prevent shoplifting. Walk a few extra blocks uptown to Forbidden Planet where the staff is always friendly and helpful, and won’t make you feel like a common criminal.

The store is dirty, the back issues are in crummy condition not to mention they’re way overpriced, on top of that, some of the staff is unfriendly.

I’ve been stopping by St. Marks Comics once every couple of months since I moved to the city two years ago. I like the place, but there are a few downs to shopping here.
I like that they have a fairly large selection of back issue comics in the back of the store, but if you ever want to check them out they’ll have an employee follow and watch you the entire time. That may not bother some people, but I’m not really feelin that. Also, If you enter the store with a bag, they’ll make you check it, which is a little annoying. Maybe they’ve had bad theft issues in the past to justify this?
Their back issue comics can be on the expensive side (this is my main complaint). You can definitely get cheaper deals at Midtown Comics.
There’s a $ 10 minimum when it comes to credit/​debit cards, so beware of that.
On the positive side, the staff is generally helpful and knowledgable if you have any questions. The store is clean and organized for the most part.
And check out Boka next door. Their BonChon is amazing!

Waste of time. Overpriced. Undervalued. Tiny cramped store. Unfriendly clerks. DO NOT go here to sell anything. If you DO go to St. Marks Comics expect to be offered the worst price even if the box and packaging your item comes in is perfect. Also «the people he sells to don’t want anything less than perfect.» Why do I seem so upset? Doesn’t this seem like common knowledge? It is but when I called and explained I didn’t want to waste his time or mine and could I send photos to show the poor condition my packaging was in but the good condition my 30 year old toy was in the buyer said, «what am I gonna learn from the photos?» I should have realized I was dealing with an opportunist. He wanted me to come to the store so he make a purchase and then make a customer out of me. Go to Midtown Comics or Forbidden Planet or any other place than this stink hole. His crap isn’t worth anything now nor will it be in the future. ZERO STARS!

Great place to buy overpriced, damaged comics. The owner rubbed me the wrong way when I stopped to observe the black series figures they had on a wall, talked to me like I was having an insane moment in the store. I was asked too many times if I needed help by every employee, it’s nice when they ask a couple maybe even a few times but after that it is rather burdensome. I payed way too much for a comic that Was bent out if shape way too many times there. Not to mention the only thing that really drew me to coming back (the one dollar bins which were once fifty cent bins) were nowhere to be found. After shopping here for years I’m finally gonna stop shopping there. I’m only giving it to stats because they do have a pretty good amount of (overpriced and damaged) single issues.

Alright selection of back issues. I visited during a 50% off sale. Even with the sale back issues were pretty over priced. I purchased 2. One was ok the other though was damaged. When I went home after taking it out of the bag I noticed that the front of the issue which was visible from the bag was fine but the back was damaged. It had dents and water damage.
I don’t recommend buying back issues here in bags unless you open them up and inspect them. I’m not sure if they will let you as I did not ask. That’s my mistake. They have a decent discounted section in the front of the store which had a few jems. That’s probably the only section I would frequent. Overall an ok place but I have been to better shops.

I’ve been in here a few times over the years when I’ve been in the neighborhood, and while I was a little off-​put by the sloppy organization and whatnot I always bought a trade or two because I like to support local comics shops. Now that I recently moved to the neighborhood, I decided to stop in while I was walking my dog tonight to see if they had the fourth volume of Batman: No Man’s Land, which a friend borrowed and promptly lost, and volume five of Manhattan Projects (yeah, I’m a lackadaisical trade-​waiter, so what?), and maybe an action figure or two if they had anything cool. Truth be told, despite the unkempt dinginess and lack of any discounts ever I was kinda stoked to have a local shop to frequent so I could stop feeding the Amazon beast from time to time. So yeah, I came in ready to spend money.
So I go out for the longish walk from my apartment two avenues and eight streets away with my 25 lb. dog Harley on a Friday evening around 7 p.m. St. Mark’s is the usual madhouse, but I get to the place, check the front door and windows for a «no pets» sign, and don’t see one. So I pick up the dog, because I try to not be an entitled dog owner like you tend to see around Manhattan these days, flaunting the «no pets» signs at bodegas and letting their Pomeranians yip around the Container Store or whatever. I get three feet in the door and the bag check girl tells me they don’t allow pets.
So I had to leave. I’m not leaving my dog tied up outside for the drunk assholes on St. Mark’s to fuck with. I even checked the Unilocal page and their website before I left to see if there was a no pets policy. I know this all makes me sound exactly like the entitled dog owner that I said I try to avoid being just one short ‘graf ago, but let me explain. You’re a dying business model selling a product that’s also struggling. Your store makes it hard to find anything specific. Your Brooklyn Heights shop already had to close. Online retailers like Amazon offer a standard 30%-or-so discount off cover price while you charge the full amount. You offer no discounts or even rewards programs. You’re in a neighborhood where stores are shuttering left and right due to skyrocketing rents. The only reason I wanted to spend money with you is because of my dumb idealistic «I WANNA HAVE COMICS SHOPS» mentality. Shit, when I went to Brooklyn College I went into Bulletproof Comics every week and spent money because at least they offered a paid member card for 15% off books. I still spent more than I would on Amazon, but I liked supporting them.
But telling me to leave because of my dumb little dog (that I was gonna carry the whole time I was there!) is asinine. I could understand if I walked in with a damn Mastiff or something. Sure, you’re a cramped little shop. That’s just practical. But I left feeling like I was turned away pretty capriciously. Like, there really, honestly, was no good reason I couldn’t go in and get the books I wanted and pay you money for them without there being a problem caused my little-​ass dog. The one thing your shop had going for it was that it felt like more of a friendly, neighborhoody joint than Midtown Comics or Forbidden Planet, and it seems like you guys oughta be a little more laid-​back than the more corporate-​feeling places. So yeah, despite all the things your shop has going against it, I was all set to be a slightly-​begrudging regular now that I’m in the neighborhood, but if you insist on piling on to the reasons for people to NOT shop there, whatever, I’ll just accept that you don’t really want business. Good luck with that.

Meh, don’t like how they have bag holders (How the fuck is anyone going to steal in a cramped, musty store? jesus christ) and the owner was persistent like CHILL?

While the selection of comic books is nice, it’s just not worth having to deal with the incredibly unpleasant owner, who’s constantly there bothering the customers.
Plus, Forbidden Planet is like 10 minutes away, and offers everything this place does.

Don’t go to this comic book store. The boss has glasses and he’s always asking if you need any help. This guy is a horrible person. I overheard him discussing with a new employee how to make damaged books seem more desirable. And his staff is less than friendly as well (with a few exceptions). What’s worse is that these people will board and bag damaged comic books, so it is not noticeable that they are damaged at all, and they mark up the price. No exchanges or refunds. A $ 4 comic is worth $ 10 at St. Mark’s Comics and there 1 bins are filled with ripped and damaged comics (some with the covers missing, and others just the cover). If you shop here you are either paying top dollar or getting ripped off. I’m a new yorker. I gave this place the benefit of the doubt for a while and didn’t believe what I read here. After a recent incident I am done with them. There are a lot of affordable places to buy comics in nyc with friendly staff; St. Marks comics is not one of those places.

Don’t patronize this place! You’ll pay more than you would elsewhere, and if you have any dealings with the owner your day will be ruined. I wish I could write in support of my local comic book store, but I don’t think this specific «local comic book store» deserves any support whatsoever. They have a great selection of back issues and current comics. And they have a semi-​decent selection of trades. (I’ve probably bought close to 50 trades from them in the past five years alone.) And the employees are universally knowledgeable and helpful. BUT. The owner of this place has been unfailingly rude to me and to many others time and time again.
I’ve been warned away from St. Mark’s Comics by any number of people and, until today, ignored both the warnings and the owner’s rudeness. One would think that after a customer has purchased close to 50 trades from a store (plus comic books) the store’s owner, who is virtually always there, would treat said customer as… uh, well, as a valued customer. (One would think ANY customer would be treated as such.) Sadly, this is very much NOT the case at St. Mark’s Comics.
That being said… if you’re in the neighborhood, and if don’t know the neighborhood, Forbidden Planet is a five minute walk from St. Mark’s. They do not mistreat customers, and they do not jack up the prices, as St. Mark’s sees fit to do. I would strongly encourage you to take your business there. Or anywhere. Anywhere that’s not St. Mark’s Comics.

I preferred the figures to the comics here, and they were undergoing a sale which skewed the inventory a bit, but just for the friendly smile I received was more than I can say for many other comic shops nearby where business attire is treated as a scarlet letter.

Labor Day Sale going on right now — half price back issues, a few $ 1 boxes of comics, and 30% off non-​Classic Star Wars toys.
The place is a bit cramped and has a lot of the older toys and issues; not so much role-​playing or Magic cards, if you’re looking for that. But the staff was friendly and they didn’t mind the browsing. Looking through the old toys brings back the childhood memories, all right.

This place had a pretty extensive selection of comics. It’s a cute store with a creaky floor and a couple of rooms winding off the main area. I’ve been in some other comic stores in NYC that were a lot nicer in both their layout and selection. I can’t really speak to price because I didn’t buy anything.
At any rate if your in this area it’s worth popping in to check out. St. Marks has a lot of cool stores in general so the area alone makes gives this place at least a couple of stars.

Unlike some other reviewers, I thought this place was cozy and welcoming. I kind of like basement shops where it feels like the merchandise is closing in on you — it definitely felt like a «St. Mark’s» experience. The selection definitely isn’t as big as some other shops in Manhattan (pretty much all comics and super hero collectibles — no real collection of art books or independent graphic novels), but its a fine place to stop and browse if you’re seeing the sights on St. Marks Street.

The hub had a great time browsing all the goodies here. I’m not sure where all the bad reviews are coming from because we experienced great service. He was browsing mostly in the back of the store where more of the collectibles are and the guy that was working back there was very helpful. Didn’t get his name, but he was either the manager or maybe even the owner?
This store has a huge collection of comics and toys. I mean, HUGE! Don’t let the small size of the store fool you, it was PACKED full of goodies. Everything from new comics to old and collectible. There were also toys and other little knick knacks to fill the already full shelves.
I’m glad we didn’t have much time for the hub to continue looking around because he would’ve walked out with an even bigger hole in his pockets.