Future Dreams Books & Comics

Holy moley, an old school comics shop if there ever was one. Located in the basement beneath a dance/​exercise studio, Future Dreams is packed to the roof with comics and books. It’s overwhelming. Heck, it kind of looks like the warehouse at the end of the first Indiana Jones movie. They’ve obviously been there for decades and take great pride in that fact. An archaeology degree might come in handy to help you unearth the rare items from the past in this jam-​packed store.

I happened to be in the neighborhood and thought, «Oh, a comic shop, might as well check it out!» I’m sure glad I braved the weird, vaguely creepy entrance to the building (it feels a bit like a place where Mulder and Scully might have a final showdown with a monster in The X-​Files). The store itself is seemingly chaotic in its layout, with stacks of boxes crammed everywhere, but they had a great selection, and the gentleman working there (I believe his name was Dan?) was extremely eager to help me find things, and gave me great recommendations for new series to check out. Plus, he found me a copy of Bitch Planet #4, which I haven’t been able to find anywhere and had all but given up on buying from a brick-​and-​mortar shop.
This place definitely has a «hidden gem» feel to it, and if you love comics, it’s definitely worth checking out. The selection and the level of customer service are above and beyond, and I plan on making this my go-​to comic shop.

The shop owner was super helpful. I asked for some Marvel Graphic Novels from the 80’s and he spent the whole time looking around the store looking for them. I ended up getting what I want. I couldn’t ask for more. Will definitely come back next time I visit.

This place was alright. It was an interesting building and there were tons of comics, but nothing was really organized. I found some back issues of stuff that I was missing, but they had run out of some of the newer items. Might go back if I was looking to fill in some gaps in my collections.

Future Dreams is awesome. Like a colorful minor venture into an episode of the yet created T.V. show «Comic Book Hoarders». Expect stacks of product that is on top of product in boxes. Comics, trades, collectables, cards, posters, T-​shirts all in a basement of a building that houses Jazzercise. You couldn’t ask for a better force fed blast of nostalgia. There are some great deals housed here and because I am a quasi regular the owner even gives me some retail credit when I bring in even recent comics that I don’t want to hang onto. I would have to reach to say anything in the negative, and I wouldn’t want to, so I won’t. Just go there.

Future Dreams is one of My Go-​To Comic Shops. I like to spread the Love around, and it pays off for Me. They set aside an X-​Men Comic that I needed, but My primary shop couldn’t get.
Even though they are in the basement of a mixed use building, I still get excellent service in this Full-​Service Comic Shop.
I’m a Major Lifelong Comic Book Geek, and I try My Best to be Loyal to My Home Shop, but sometimes You need additional help to Put a Comic Story run Together.

Having never really read many comic books or graphic novels, I was a bit overwhelmed by the huge amount of both in this store. I went up to the man behind in the counter and told him «This place is amazing! I just wish I knew something about comics so I would know what to get.» He asked me what I had read before (Vasquez, Gaiman), and what I liked about them. Then he recommended different books based on that. He clearly knew everything about all the books in his store and spent a good amount of time helping me.
I had a really good experience here. It was really cool that he was so willing to help me find stuff that I might like, especially since I really had no idea where to look.
I was also pretty psyched to find tons of Lion King cards (the kind you collected at Burger King), Duck Tales piggy banks, and Genie (from Aladdin) mugs.

In’s in a basement type place, but who cares?! Lots of old comics to pour through and round out you collection. Plenty of collectables still in the original boxes and even mini posters. A lot of great stuff I don’t see often in other shops. Great shop!

I got out of comics at the exact same time I got out of pro wrasslin’. Strange. They both just became too… improbable for me, even as a young teenager. Besides, if you want to interact w/​girls your age, chances are excellent that you won’t be lucky enough to find a babe who’s into that stuff and strong enough mentally to handle the inevitable peer pressure of fraterninzing w/​boys who were openly into comic books and/​or wrestling…
But let’s face it, the nose-​diving quality of wrestling and comics of the 80s made it easy to forsake them. If there was still a goodish entertainment factor going at the time with both genres, that’d be another thing. But by the late 80s/​early 90s, is there anyone alive who will disagree that both comics and professional wrestling were played O-​U-​T???
I am delighted and more than a little amazed Future Dreams is still in business. How did they hang in there? I haven’t a clue. It certainly hasn’t hurt that the creative works of talents like Frank Miller (loved his work w/​Dare Devil, back in the day!), and the graphic novels that produced the Walking Dead and, again, Frank Miller, (300, anyone?) undoubtedly breathed new life into the genre for a new generation.
Shame on me, for seeing so little Future, in Future Dreams. They and of course locally-​born Dark Horse are full-​fledged power houses in the overarching genre of comics. Good for them. I personally still get a little ooooked out by some of the characters into this scene— you know the ones. WAAAAAY too friggin’ into it. No comic cons for this cowboy! But thanks nevertheless, to Future Dreams, for a thoroughly enjoyable ride…

I’m not a comic person, per se, but my 9 year old daughter is and I couldn’t be more pleased with Future Dreams. The selection is always abundant, and the owner is always kind enough to help her find items. He is also wonderful to let me know what is age appropriate for her. It’s her favorite comic book store in town due to the selection.

Being a comic book starved nerd originally from Chicago, your great comic shops were hard to find and your OK comic shops were even harder to find and they never really stuck around. So moving here to Portland, you have your pick of comic shops that are great, OK, fantastic, couldn’t live without and all that lay in between. Future Dreams Books & Comics is located on Burnside and half the fun of this shop was how to find it. It’s the retail equivalent of searching through a long box to find that one comic book you were looking for. It’s tucked away but offers a lot of gems including your mainstream titles, graphic novels, a few zines and independent press, posters and statues. The owner was very pleasant and helpful and though the atmosphere is very much like Your Moms Basement, it’s a feeling that true comic book lovers appreciate and adore. We will definitely tell all of our friends to check them out.

My husband found an out of print graphic novel from the 70’s here for around $ 30, which he could only find online for around a $ 100. I would never have known this place existed if it hadn’t been for free comic book day. It’s kind of haphazardly organized, with piles of stuff and things posters and such spilling over boxes. Still the guy who runs this shop is happy to help you locate anything you may be looking for. You go through a side door and walk down a tiny stair well (kind of like going to a Rave or bomb shelter) and it’s in this fairly well lit cement block basement area of this building. This would be a great building to hide bunker down in if there was a zombie attack. Impressive selection of comics, sci-​fi books and more. Worth a look if you like comics.