Superhero stories are quite popular in films and television and video games, but the most popular trace their origins to comic books. To quote<\/a> the late, great Stan Lee: \u201cI used to be embarrassed because I was just a comic book writer while other people were building bridges or going on to medical careers. And then I began to realize: Entertainment is one of the most important things in people\u2019s lives. Without it, they might go off the deep end. I feel that if you\u2019re able to entertain, you\u2019re doing a good thing.\u201d<\/p>\n Comic books are an $18 billion industry, one that\u2019s expected to grow to more than $27 billion by 2034, according to Fortune Business Insights<\/a>. While the market is dominated by customers in Asia-Pacific countries, the U.S. market continues to grow, in part bolstered by comic-related conventions and other events, Fortune said.<\/p>\n In the Lehigh Valley, a handful of independent stores are catering to that market.\n<\/p>\n John Hohn, who owns JAF Comics<\/a> at the Trolley Station Outlet Mall in Lower Nazareth Township, didn\u2019t grow up as a comic book fan. He began as an online toy retailer in 2008. After a customer asked if they could sell comics, he opened retail operations for JAF Comics in 2015. It offers comics as well as manga, collectibles, board games and trading card games.<\/p>\n \u201cBasically for me, it was just about selling another product,\u201d Hohn said. \u201cAnd now over the years, I still don\u2019t read a ton but I do appreciate the comics so much more because it\u2019s a different style of reading. If you\u2019ve not read comics before \u2026 a comic just reads so different. I wish I was introduced to comics as a kid because I probably would have read more.\u201d<\/p>\n While not quite the same as American comic books, Japanese-published manga stories helped the family of Kristin Bond-Lopato, who owns Manga Lane<\/a> with her daughter Kassidy Bond and husband Mike Lopato. They operate at Bethlehem Commons and offer manga, figurines, decorations and accessories.<\/p>\n Bond-Lopato said \u00a0Kassidy had struggled with dyslexia her whole life and that \u201cthe only real thing she could read was manga because of the way it\u2019s written in the short dialogue, and it\u2019s not like reading a book exactly. So she really got into manga and then slowly started to get into watching the animes and she would watch them in Japanese so she could read the words to kind of help her with her reading, and so it was kind of inspirational to us.\u201d<\/p>\n JAF Comics founder and owner John Hohn holds two Dreamscape in-house published comics in front of the new releases section Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2026, at the store in Lower Nazareth Township. The store opened as an online retailer offers comics, manga, toys, statues, board games and tabletop materials in 2008 before opening for in-person retail in 2015 at the current location. (April Gamiz\/The Morning Call)\n<\/p>\n An inside look at JAF Comics on Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2026, in Lower Nazareth Township. The store opened as an online retailer offers comics, manga, toys, statues, board games and tabletop materials in 2008 before opening for in-person retail in 2015 at the current location. (April Gamiz\/The Morning Call)\n<\/p>\n An inside look at JAF Comics on Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2026, in Lower Nazareth Township. The store opened as an online retailer offers comics, manga, toys, statues, board games and tabletop materials in 2008 before opening for in-person retail in 2015 at the current location. (April Gamiz\/The Morning Call)\n<\/p>\n An inside look at JAF Comics on Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2026, in Lower Nazareth Township. The store opened as an online retailer offers comics, manga, toys, statues, board games and tabletop materials in 2008 before opening for in-person retail in 2015 at the current location. (April Gamiz\/The Morning Call)\n<\/p>\n An inside look at JAF Comics on Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2026, in Lower Nazareth Township. The store opened as an online retailer offers comics, manga, toys, statues, board games and tabletop materials in 2008 before opening for in-person retail in 2015 at the current location. (April Gamiz\/The Morning Call)\n<\/p>\n An inside look at JAF Comics on Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2026, in Lower Nazareth Township. The store opened as an online retailer offers comics, manga, toys, statues, board games and tabletop materials in 2008 before opening for in-person retail in 2015 at the current location. (April Gamiz\/The Morning Call)\n<\/p>\n An inside look at JAF Comics on Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2026, in Lower Nazareth Township. The store opened as an online retailer offers comics, manga, toys, statues, board games and tabletop materials in 2008 before opening for in-person retail in 2015 at the current location. (April Gamiz\/The Morning Call)\n<\/p>\n An inside look at JAF Comics on Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2026, in Lower Nazareth Township. The store opened as an online retailer offers comics, manga, toys, statues, board games and tabletop materials in 2008 before opening for in-person retail in 2015 at the current location. (April Gamiz\/The Morning Call)\n<\/p>\n An inside look at JAF Comics on Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2026, in Lower Nazareth Township. The store opened as an online retailer offers comics, manga, toys, statues, board games and tabletop materials in 2008 before opening for in-person retail in 2015 at the current location. (April Gamiz\/The Morning Call)\n<\/p>\n An inside look at JAF Comics on Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2026, in Lower Nazareth Township. The store opened as an online retailer offers comics, manga, toys, statues, board games and tabletop materials in 2008 before opening for in-person retail in 2015 at the current location. (April Gamiz\/The Morning Call)\n<\/p>\n An inside look at JAF Comics on Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2026, in Lower Nazareth Township. The store opened as an online retailer offers comics, manga, toys, statues, board games and tabletop materials in 2008 before opening for in-person retail in 2015 at the current location. (April Gamiz\/The Morning Call)\n<\/p>\n Playing areas are seen Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2026, in JAF Comics in Lower Nazareth Township. The store opened as an online retailer offers comics, manga, toys, statues, board games and tabletop materials in 2008 before opening for in-person retail in 2015 at the current location. (April Gamiz\/The Morning Call)\n<\/p>\n An inside look at JAF Comics on Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2026, in Lower Nazareth Township. The store opened as an online retailer offers comics, manga, toys, statues, board games and tabletop materials in 2008 before opening for in-person retail in 2015 at the current location. (April Gamiz\/The Morning Call)\n<\/p>\n Show Caption<\/p>\n 1 of 13<\/p>\n JAF Comics founder and owner John Hohn holds two Dreamscape in-house published comics in front of the new releases section Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2026, at the store in Lower Nazareth Township. The store opened as an online retailer offers comics, manga, toys, statues, board games and tabletop materials in 2008 before opening for in-person retail in 2015 at the current location. (April Gamiz\/The Morning Call)\n<\/p>\n Expand<\/a><\/p>\n Comics are very popular, Ty Johnson said, in part because other media such as television and YouTube videos expose potential fans. The Lehigh Valley Comic Convention has also grown in venue size over the years.<\/p>\n \u201cFor it to go from Schnecksville Fire Hall to 59,000-square-feet Agri-Plex [at the Allentown Fairgrounds], I would say that it\u2019s still gaining in popularity,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Johnson owns Beachead Comics<\/a> in Allentown, which opened in 1985 under Jeff Rabkin and Biff Crossley at 16th and Chew streets, and offers comics, toys, figurines, apparel, statues, posters, Funko collectibles, and Pokemon and Magic: The Gathering cards.<\/p>\n Johnson said he was a Beachead customer for 15 years before he became the owner after Rabkin died in 2015.<\/a> It moved to its current location on Chew Street in 2017.<\/p>\n \u201cI saw him every single week, I didn\u2019t want the store to just disappear, so I made Biff, the co-owner, an offer and here we are,\u201d Johnson said.<\/p>\n Comics still have appeal after all this time, he said, because they evolve with the times.<\/p>\n \u201cThere used to be this sort of format for comic books, but now they can be anywhere from the most simplistic, child-friendly comic book that you can think of \u2014 like a Mickey Mouse or something like that \u2014 to one of the most popular ones right now \u2026 called \u2018Absolute Batman,\u2019 \u201d he said. \u201cAnd it\u2019s a very dystopic look on the Batman world. So they\u2019ve evolved, they have something for everybody.\u201d<\/p>\n Ty Johnson, owner of Beachead Comics at 1326 W. Chew St. in Allentown, stands in the store on Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2026. It opened in 1985 under Jeff Rabkin and Biff Crossley at 16th and Chew streets before it moved to the current address in 2017. (April Gamiz\/The Morning Call)\n<\/p>\n An inside look at Beachead Comics at 1326 W. Chew St. in Allentown on Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2026. The store opened in 1985 under Jeff Rabkin and Biff Crossley at 16th and Chew streets before it moved to the current address in 2017. (April Gamiz\/The Morning Call)\n<\/p>\n An inside look at Beachead Comics at 1326 W. Chew St. in Allentown on Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2026. The store opened in 1985 under Jeff Rabkin and Biff Crossley at 16th and Chew streets before it moved to the current address in 2017. (April Gamiz\/The Morning Call)\n<\/p>\n An inside look at Beachead Comics at 1326 W. Chew St. in Allentown on Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2026. The store opened in 1985 under Jeff Rabkin and Biff Crossley at 16th and Chew streets before it moved to the current address in 2017. (April Gamiz\/The Morning Call)\n<\/p>\n An inside look at Beachead Comics at 1326 W. Chew St. in Allentown on Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2026. The store opened in 1985 under Jeff Rabkin and Biff Crossley at 16th and Chew streets before it moved to the current address in 2017. (April Gamiz\/The Morning Call)\n<\/p>\n An inside look at Beachead Comics at 1326 W. Chew St. in Allentown on Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2026. The store opened in 1985 under Jeff Rabkin and Biff Crossley at 16th and Chew streets before it moved to the current address in 2017. (April Gamiz\/The Morning Call)\n<\/p>\n Show Caption<\/p>\n 1 of 6<\/p>\n Ty Johnson, owner of Beachead Comics at 1326 W. Chew St. in Allentown, stands in the store on Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2026. It opened in 1985 under Jeff Rabkin and Biff Crossley at 16th and Chew streets before it moved to the current address in 2017. (April Gamiz\/The Morning Call)\n<\/p>\n Expand<\/a><\/p>\n Comics\u00a0 also reflect the times, according to Harry Kerch, owner of ComicMasters<\/a> at Whitehall Mall in Whitehall Township. The store opened in 1994.<\/p>\n One example is the use of Captain America comic books as propaganda during World War II, like the\u00a0\u201cthe iconic image of \u2018Captain America No. 1\u2019 where he\u2019s punching Hitler in the face.\u201d<\/p>\n Other examples include how the X-Men mirrored the civil rights movement.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a neat way of approaching history that most people don\u2019t get a chance to see,\u201d said\u00a0Michael Caffrey, who owns Tales of Adventure Comics and Games<\/a> in Coopersburg.<\/p>\n Caffrey said comic book stores offer \u201cboth the brand new things that people are making today and then also a place to find things from 20, 50, 80 years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n They can also serve as gathering places for \u201clike-minded people\u201d who can discover new things on store shelves.<\/p>\n \u201cThe face-to-face interactions are so important both between staff and customers and among customers,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Kerch believes comic books have resisted change, such as when some companies tried to push for digital comics and believed there would be a \u201cfair amount\u201d of demand for that.<\/p>\n \u201cIt didn\u2019t happen, and I think it\u2019s because \u2026 the medium of comics are and always have been one in which people want to feel the pages, they almost want to smell the comic as they\u2019re reading it,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd there is an intrinsic value built into the comic books, which allow it to be a collectible.\u201d\n<\/p>\n A retail store comes with challenges, of course.<\/p>\n In late July, Rey Perez was forced to temporarily close Evil Empire Comics & Horror Collectibles<\/a> after his space flooded at the Quakertown Farmers Market in Richland Township, destroying the majority of his inventory that he built through the years.<\/p>\n \u201cI wasn\u2019t going to reopen the store,\u201d Perez said. \u201cThat was my initial thought.\u201d<\/p>\n But the comic book community is small, he said, and people reached out to give or sell inventory to him. The store reopened Aug. 29.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople have been overwhelming me with support,\u201d Perez said.<\/p>\n Lehigh Valley comic book stores<\/p>\n Beachead Comics:\u00a01326 W. Chew St., Allentown<\/p>\n ComicMasters: 1978 Whitehall Mall, Whitehall Township<\/p>\n![\"JAF](\"https:\/\/www.mcall.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/TMC-L-JAFComics-01.jpg?w=620\")
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