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The Comic Book Store


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FCBD 2019 FCBD 2019 FCBD 2019
Free Comic Book Day 2019

FCBD CE 2018
Free Comic Book Day 2018
Pop Up On The Hill 2014
Pop Up on the Hill 2014 Halloween2008
Halloween on Park Hill 2008
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From Arkansas to the Dutch West Indies 2007
All images © Copyright 2008, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2018 Michael Tierney

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CE 40th Anniversary logo

COLLECTOR'S EDITION

Celebrating 40 YEARS IN BUSINESS--Collector's Edition is now an online eBay store.
So, if you're still interested in buying comic books from us, either click the eBay link, or the image below:

Collector's Edition

Below is an explanation as to why the store moved to online sales,
and a historical look at the first 38 years as a brick-and-mortor retail store.

CE 38th Anniversary logo
Collector's Edition


Established in 1982 at the dawn of the Direct Market for the comics industry, Collector's Edition represented what is known as a First Generation Store, and was located in the building that housed the very first McDonalds restaurant opened in the state.


Important Annoucement!

One of the reasons that I've enjoyed such a successful run with my pair of
comic book stores over the last 38 years has been the recognition of market trends, and always
shifting with them. I've often referred to retailing as a job that requites constantly wearing a pair
of roller skates to roll with the changes.

After June 27th I'll be adapting to change once again when Collector's Edition in
North Little Rock and The Comic Book Store in Little Roc
k transition from retail storefronts
to mail orders and online sales.

I'm not closing down--I'm just changing the way I do business.

I've already been handling mail order accounts for most of my 38 years, so this is not a new
endeavor. And recently my online sales through my (ID: rockark) Ebay Store have actually been
better than my storefront sales, and that's been with very little effort, so it was time to make a change.
With the pandemic, so many comic fans started letting their fingers do the walking online.

For all of my existing mail order customers, there will be no changes. You're good to go.

For my walk in customers, if you participate in my reserves service then you're already
halfway set up to convert to a mail order account. Please contact me as soon as possible if you'd
like to make the change. Everything about your account will remains the same--the only
difference is that you'll no longer need to make trips into the stores--your books will arrive at
your home.


I've had some customers cry when I started breaking the news yesterday. You and I have
been a part of each other's lives for so long, these letters look to me like a welt raised by a
whip. The only reason I didn't tell anyone sooner was because this decision hinged on the sale
of my JFK property. That agreement was struck today. So now it's official.

Four decades ago, after being International Graphics' youngest ever division manager at the
age of 22, people thought I was crazy when a few years later I quit the largest printing
conglomeration in the state. Since I'd opened my first store six months prior, it only took a
twenty minute drive before beginning my new career as a full time comics retailer. Not long after
that, technological changes began crashing the printing industry and International Graphics went out of business.

The comics industry has also changed shape many times since then. Comic collectors who
were once embarrassed to admit that they read comics are now the cool person who knows all
the pop culture. When I started, comics were still printed on letterpresses in Sparta, Illinois. Now
they are made everywhere, both on demand and digitally. The recent Covid-19 pandemic has
created challenges like the industry has never seen before, and it's time once again to adapt.

Over the last couple of years, I've also had an explosion of fiction and non-fiction books
published as a writer
. The reviews have been incredible, and
right now I have contracts to produce 6 new books in the next 12 months.
That's on top of scripting, coloring, and lettering the weekly online comics that's been
running for the last two years. Other deals are waiting until I have the time.

So, the good news is that, just like when I left International Graphics, when I
walk for that last time out the door as a storefront retailer, I'll drive twenty minutes and
transition into several new careers that I've already begun--as an online retailer and mail order
service, as a elected public servant, and as a professional writer and colorist.

So, this is not goodbye!
Even should you elect not to continue doing business with me as a mail order account,
depending on which books you read, we may still be staying in touch.

When you're doing what you enjoy, it's not work, it's a labor of love.

That's what the last 38 years have been--and hopefully what the next 38 will be
!



Wild Stars Omnibus
Wild Stars display Michael Tierney signing Wild Stars

Wild Stars 4 and the 35th Anniversary set of Wild Stars are in stock now!
The dust jacket art for the 726 page Omnibus hardcovers that contains all four volumes is shown above.

Wild Stars 4

Available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Target, and around the world.


Shane Plays Interview -- October 4th, 2019

Shane Plays host Shane Stacks stopped by Collector's Edition the day before the
worldwide release of the 35th Anniversary editions of Wild Stars Books One through Four.







JFK gutted JFK renovated
Owner Michael Tierney jokes that; "I'm probably the only guy in America who's ever bought a McDonalds, then gutted it and turned it into a book store. But if I'd named it McComics, I'd bet that I'd had a lawsuit on my hands."
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proto-graphic novels

Owner Michael Tierney is an Overstreet Price Guide Advisor and also a Trendwatcher for The Comic Buyer's Guide, was a finalist for the 1987 Star*Reach Retailer of the Year Award, and the 1999 Will Eisner's Spirit of the Comics Retailer of the Year Award, and also contributed to the birth of the graphic novel by offering proto-type graphic novels for sale at Collector's Edition before the publishers would even consider doing so. For more details on the history of all this, see the Bonus section.


Printing Wild Stars




Destination Comics

In 2001 the Arkansas-Democrat featured Michael and his line of Wild Stars comics (see the Wild Stars History) on the front page of the Style section.

To read the article click this link or the image to the left.

Along with Michael's second store, The Comic Book Store in Little Rock, Collector's Edition was a Destination Comics! feature location in issue #1664 (April 2010) of the Comics Buyer's Guide magazine. Collector's Edition first opened in North Little Rock, Arkansas, in September of 1982, moving to the current JFK address in January of 1992.Click on this link, or the image on the right to read the article.

CBG issue #1604, May 2005
Michael was also featured in a 2005 Comics Buyer's Guide article about comics retailing,(Click this link, or the image on the left to read this article) high profile

and again in 2009 the High Profile section of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette newspaper, in an article that focussed as much on his publishing as it did on the stores. (Click this link, or the image on the right to read the article).
Unique Neigborhoods of Central Arkansas 2012



Collector's Edition was also featured with a full page photo in the Arkansas Time's April 2012 release of "Unique Neighborhoods of Central Arkansas" hardcover book (Shown left).





Nate Powell Signing April  2012 Nate Powell Signing April  2012

Eisner Award Winner Nate Powell (shown left during his April 2012 signing at The Comic Book Store) relates his autobiographical experience of first encountering Collector's Edition through a phonebook ad in his 2011 Graphic Novel "Any Empire" (shown right). Click on the image to view a larger resolution file.



Edgar Rice Burroughs 100 Year Art Chronology

On June 19th, 2018, a great article ran on the front page of the Style section of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette newspaper.

It was great was timing, running only one week after Michael's 4-volume, 1200 page Edgar Rice Burroughs 100 Year Art Chronology was released.

To read the article, either click the image to the lower left or or this link!

To learn more about the Chronlogy, click either this link or the image to the lower right.
Michael Style photo 6-19-18 ERB Art Chronology in slipcase

Collector's Edition carries 3200 square feet of new comics, featuring DC and Marvel, plus a special emphasis on independent publishers, graphic novels, and what's been described by out of state customers as; "One of the largest selections of back issue comics in the country."

For information on what's being released new each week, sales, signings, and other events, check out the what's new page.



Halloween on the Hill 2012 Halloween on the Hill 2012

Halloween on the Hill 2012

After many years as an annual event, the final Halloween on the Hill, sponsored by Historic Park Hill retailers like Collector's Edition on J.F.K. Blvd. in North Little Rock, once again drew record crowds. The store was surrounded by blue police lights as local and state police provided security for trick'or'treater crowds in excess of Six Thousand, all of them amped up on sugar! Unfortunately, HotH was a victim of its own success, and grew too large for many of the other Park Hill businesses to continue to support. Should have known the event was in trouble when the kid in the death mask showed up in so many pictures, looking right at the camera. We will miss giving comic books and candy to all the wonderful trick'or'treaters who visited us over the years!
Halloween on the Hill 2012 Halloween on the Hill 2012 sunset Halloween on the Hill 2012 sunset Halloween on the Hill 2012 sunset
As they were every year, the comics were a HUGE HIT!

Halloween on the Hill - 2010
After all; COMICS ARE BRAIN CANDY!


Batgirl at 2014 FCBD 501st Stormtroopers at 2014 FCBD Thanks to everyone who make Free Comic Book Day such a great event! Special thanks go to the 501st, whom everyone had a great time meeting every year they've appeared here. Their presence has certainly curtailed any problems with rebel agitators!
501st Stormtroopers

Free Comic Book Day 2015
FREE COMIC BOOK DAY 2015! Free Comic Book Day 2015 Free Comic Book Day 2015
Free Comic Book Day 2015

Free Comic Book Day 2019
Costume contest winners!

FCBD 2019
Shown here is store owner Michael Tierney with the winners of this year's costume contest.
From left to right: Crowd favorite, Judge's favorite, youth winner, and best handcrafted costume!
Photo-bombing in the background is Superman Red Son, who lost the Crowd Favorite award on a third tie-breaker vote coin-toss.


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