Columbus shop tops for comics retailers
Laughing Ogre wins prestigious Eisner award, which goes to one book store in world every year
Clintonville comic book store The Laughing Ogre is this year’s recipient of one of the most coveted prizes in the comics industry.
Comic-con International, the parent company for San Diego Comic Con, bestowed the Will Eisner Spirit of Comics Retailer Award on the shop at 4258 N. High St. earlier this month, making it the third Columbus institution to be so honored.
Stores are judged on a multitude of categories, said Comic Con International spokesperson David Glanzer.
"I think there are a variety of things they look for," he said. "Is it a good store in terms of diversity and selection, and community involvement? We make sure they are somehow engaged in helping to promote what it is they (sell) there."
"I actually was fairly giddy" when I found out, store manager and former owner Gib Bickel said.
The competition, he said, is fierce, with stores all over the planet receiving nominations.
"There are stores all across the world, and some are like museums to comics, so I was really blown away," Bickel said.
The Laughing Ogre sits in a storefront front just
off North High Street. Seemingly endless racks of comic books and graphic novels line the walls and sit in rows throughout the shop, interrupted only by a handful of special displays.
The Laughing Ogre was in the running for the award prior to this year, but never quite made it over the finish line.
"Getting nominated is fairly common for us," Bickel said. "A customer or somebody nominates us almost every year, and we've been finalists quite a few times."
Following its 2021 nomination, the Laughing Ogre put together a five-minute video tour of the store to make its case. The video spotlighted a section for local creators and took viewers through racks highlighting a variety of titles, emphasizing that comics are about more than just superheroes. A rotating display for Pride Month, for example, singled out books about LGBTQ+ characters.
Pack Rat Comics on Lattimer Street in Hilliard won the Eisner Award six years ago, and co-owner Teresa Colegrove acted as a judge in later competitions. The prize goes to stores that serve their community, which makes it difficult to judge, she said, as not every store has the same customer base.
"I think every store serves a unique purpose and unique clientele," Colegrove said. "For example, we're in the suburbs, so we are going to focus on the family, whereas you might have a store in a campus area that's going to focus more on the college-age kids."
Laughing Ogre supports and promotes local artists and provides advice to customers, said Matthew Erman, who lives in North Linden and co-wrote the 2017 horror graphic novel “Long Lost” with his wife.
"They were really supportive of us when we were getting into an industry that we didn't know," he said. "They told us how certain things work in the independent comic book shop market, like the specific details of how you get your book to be seen by comic book shops and comic book store owners."
The general public is largely unaware of the diversity in comic book titles, Bickel said. Superhero comics are only one part of it.
"A lot of people don't realize how many great nonfiction comics are coming out," he said.
By way of an example, Bickel cited a graphic novel entitled “Kent State,” an exhaustively researched account of the four students shot and killed by National Guard troops in 1970 on Kent State University's campus.
Laughing Ogre sports a small section dedicated to non-fiction books.
"One of the great things about the Spirit award, it lets people know there are these amazing stores that are not just accessible, but are champions of the various art forms," Glanzer said.
The store helps customers find titles they'll enjoy and offers advice to other comic book store owners, Erman said.
"I think one of the biggest things I love about the Laughing Ogre is how inclusive it is," Erman said. "They do a really good job of catering to every type of reader."
The Eisner Award is named after cartoonist Will Eisner, who illustrated the comic book series “The Spirit,” which followed a masked crimefighter and was popular in the 1940s and 50s.
The now-shuttered Central City Comics in Reynoldsburg won in 1997. pcooley@dispatch.com @Patrickacooley