Comic Shop Stop: Golden Apple Comics

I was out in Los Angeles on a business trip back in January and I took the time to visit the famous Golden Apple Comics in West Hollywood. I’ve heard great things about the store for a long time: Most notably that it’s huge, has a fantastic selection of both mainstream and indie comics and graphic novels as well as action figures, toys, statues, props and other great stuff. The other cool thing is that Golden Apple is known as the place that Hollywood stars go to buy their comics and the store also tends to attract a lot of comic writers and artists that live in the greater Los Angeles area.

I almost didn’t make it to Golden Apple because I underestimated the amount of traffic on the relatively short distance between my hotel and the store at 7018 Melrose Avenue in order to get there before their 7:00 PM closing time. (Yes, that seems to be a recurring problem for me). Fortunately, I phoned ahead and they were kind enough to keep the store open for a few minutes after closing for me. Golden Apple certainly didn’t disappoint and while I didn’t bump into any Hollywood stars – the store was closed, after all – I did pick up a bunch of comics and graphic novels to read on my long flight home.

Among my pickups at Golden Apple were the Secret Wars Omnibus, an issue of the Kirby Collector, Y: The Last Man Deluxe Hardcover Edition Vol. 1, and a cool misprint of X-Men/Spider-Man #3, which was wrapped in the cover to X-Men: Manifest Destiny #5. In retrospect, I probably didn’t need an extra 10 pounds to load into my carry on luggage, but it was nice to have some quality reading on the flight back. Although I whipped through Golden Apple pretty quickly, I have to say that I was very impressed with the store and I can definitely see why it is so popular for fans in the Los Angeles area.

Another fun vignette from my trip to Los Angeles was seeing the construction on the air traffic control tower at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). The tower has always been a cool attraction because looks distinctly like a UFO. But with the scaffolding that’s been put up for the maintenance and repair project, it looks a bit like they are trying to turn it into the Legion of Doom headquarters or a Star Wars Death Star. I’m personally rooting for the Legion of Doom headquarters, so I’ll be interested to see how it turns out when I’m back in Los Angeles this Spring.