By 
Nerds will find it like sea turtles find the beaches of their birth. Crash! Comics has existed in some form or another in the same first block of Broadway spot for the past 21 years.Lorne Childress owns the store now, with Brent Thurston as the head honcho. Thurston had always bought his comics there. About seven years ago, the previous owner asked him if he wanted a job. Thurston is a shining example of taking something you love and finding a way to get paid to do it.
“I'm still a big reader,” Thurston says. “I read probably seven or eight books a week, mostly DC and Marvel. My all time favorite is still Spider-Man.”
That's right, still Spidey, even after the whole “selling his soul to the devil” Brand New Day storyline.
Thurston hesitates. “Yeah, still Spider-Man. I love the books. I didn't so much care for the way they did that, hitting the big reset button, but hey, you know.”
Crash! is an interesting place. At first glance it seems a little crowded and can come across as a bit chaotic. But a closer look reveals an order to the chaos. The back wall is covered by a rack with newer comic books and recent back issues. There are graphic novels along a lower shelf to the left and in a spinning rack to the right.
The majority of the floor is given over to box upon box of older comics already bagged and boarded. Hanging all around are collectible action figures and busts. Some of the figures come directly to the shop. Those are only found in specialty shops. Others come in and out through trades.“A lot of people are selling right now,” Thurston says. “It's largely because of gas prices, I would say. I get at least one or two calls a day from people looking to sell collections. I've bought everything from single books to, you know, thousands.”
Along the top of the wall behind the counter there are some rarities, including Spider-Man Annual #1, which is worth $550.
Most of the shop's sales are comics, as could be expected. Most of the customers are regulars who pop in once a week to pick up their favorite titles. They tend to show up on Wednesday afternoons, the day that new comics ship from the distributors.
Sometimes Crash! gets walk-ins. During the Quilt Convention, some people you wouldn't expect to see have been known to show up. They are mostly quilters looking to pick something up for a grandkid.
Once every couple of years, Crash! gets comics done by local artists and writers. Not long ago Thurston stocked a series made by some of his regulars. A few years before that, he had a comic put together by a teacher from Murray.
In his time at Crash!, Thurston has noticed an increasing trend toward darker comics. From heroes mind-wiping villains to heroes fighting heroes in the streets, things are a far cry from the happy-go-lucky days of heroes running around in spandex saving the day.
“Most of the people reading comics have been reading them for 15 years or more,” Thurston explains. “It's like going back and looking at, say, the 1962 Batman TV show and seeing a guy running around in a purple suit with greasepaint, then looking at, say, the upcoming Batman movie with, you know, Heath Ledger running around killing people. People want that, you know? It's the same sort of thing with the books. As the audience has grown up and their tastes have evolved the comics have had to evolve or whither and die.”
Crash! carries more than comics. Another big source of sales are games. Crash! offers a ton of games and gaming gear, along with books for Dungeons & Dragons and other assorted table-top role-playing games. The store has cards for Magic the Gathering. And more dice than you can shake a stick at.You might be surprised to see the display of swords and assorted other weapons behind the counter and in a glass case directly to the left of the door. Thurston says he doesn't move a ton of them, but sells enough to keep them in stock. The swords behind the counter are 30 percent off, a sign behind the counter proudly proclaims.
Whether you're after comics or collectibles, Crash! is definitely worth a visit. Drop on by and you might be the store's next regular.
