MARCH 6, 2025 | ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT | By Orlando Monroy (Guest Writer)
Walk into the Escape Velocity Comics & Graphic Novels store on Bijou Street in downtown Colorado Springs, where you’ll find walls of comics and graphic novels. There is a potent new book smell as posters and action figures of famous superheroes like Wonder Woman and Captain America watch over customers.
In operation under its current name since 2004, the shop is a downtown hub for those who appreciate art and stories of extraordinary characters and events.
In recent years, franchises including Marvel and DC, which have long dominated the market, have made their comics available online through cell phone apps.
Other recent disruptions have roiled the industry; Just weeks ago, the nation’s top comics distributor, Diamond Comics, filed for bankruptcy.
“We’re still kind of anticipating how this will shake up the industry,” said C.J. Hackett, the manager of Escape Velocity. “It’s going to make certain things a little bit more difficult for the average comic store owner.”
Hackett, who has run the downtown Colorado Springs store for about a decade, said he started out as an average customer before taking a job behind the counter.
Comics, he said, “are a great way for people to make themselves heard and to demonstrate their own visions. It doesn’t necessarily cost the billion dollar budget of a film.”
The owner of the store, Doug Scott, has his own ideas for why comics have such a narrative draw to readers.
“I think it’s the care for the stories,” he said. “It’s serialized storytelling, just like a soap opera.”
Scott highlighted not just the storytelling but also the importance of art and visuals of graphic novel books. He said, “It’s a different experience than watching a TV show or a movie. It’s like another part of your brain is getting activated.”
Escape Velocity has a deep connection with the community of downtown Colorado Springs. For Hackett, the community is one of the most important parts of why he works at Escape Velocity.
“I love that it’s downtown. I love the culture of downtown. I love that we are a part of our city. I personally have been at work there so long that I’ve met so many awesome customers and made a lot of friends,” Hackett said. “It’s a staple and I feel like the comics have touched a lot of people. We can still connect because we know about Escape Velocity. We’ve all been downtown and just wandered in like I did when I was a customer.”
Like Hackett, Scott was also a store customer for 15 years prior, when it was still named Bargain Comics under the previous ownership.
Scott joked, “The longest relationship in [my] life is with this store.”
Even the name of Escape Velocity Comics & Graphic Novels is connected to the community. Scott said that when coming up with a new name under his ownership of the store, he held a naming contest and Escape Velocity was submitted several times by customers and employees.
Marvel has launched Marvel Unlimited, where readers can pay $9.99 a month or up to $99 a year annually to access all Marvel’s comics.
DC Comics has a similar plan, offering $7.99 a month or an annual bill of up to $119.99 for full access to DC titles.
While initially quite a steep paywall, avid comic readers may find the plans more appealing.
But how do small comic stores react to these major companies moving to digital and seemingly away from their longtime allies, the local comic book shops?
Scott had a surprising response to the new digital climate. “We were expecting digital comics to just eat up a huge amount of the marketplace.”
Initially, Scott planned for comic sales to decline ten percent annually.
“That hasn’t happened. It’s flat or improving, and this last year it was actually growing,” Scott said. “So what we’ve now come around to is that I think it’s additive that people sample a character, whether it’s Spider-Man or better yet, sometimes a small press book. Then they want to have the artifact, to actually have the hard cover.”
When asking customers in the shop, they agreed that the real book was important for them to own.
Deric Grant, a comic fan who was enjoying a recent Sunday downtown with his friends, stopped into Escape Velocity.
“Being able to feel, smell the book, hold it, get the real feeling of a comic book, it’s nice to have that. It’s history,” said Grant.
Another friend in the group, Jaeln, had another reason.
“The style is going to be way different than it is online, and the style is really important to comic book people,” she said.
While the apps coming into the scene are not an immediate threat or even perhaps good for a local comic store, Scott identified a different aspect of the online world that is in fact a detriment to local shops.
Scott explained that when people “want the hard cover, everyone’s first instinct is to get it from Amazon now. So I think that’s the bigger problem for us.”
Scott has to adapt to not only the retail side, but also the disruption of distribution. Diamond Comics, the biggest distributor of comics, has filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy.
“I wish them well,” Scott said on Diamond Comics. “We have been pretty vigilant about enemy statues or some of the other statues and figures that previously we would get through Diamond. The fear is some of the smaller publishers might suffer or even go under.”
Despite the ever-changing climate and disruptions of the comic industry, Escape Velocity remains adaptive and resilient.
Superheroes have been in the spotlight because of the recent success of related movies and TV. According to IMDb, Marvel’s “Avengers Endgame” holds the second spot for the highest-grossing movie ever. But that doesn’t guarantee success for Escape Velocity.
“I think a lot of people assume that because the movies are good that it means the comics must be doing great but that’s not true,” Hackett said,
Instead, Escape Velocity has an active role when navigating major superhero movies.
“We’ll start looking ahead several months for books that might relate to it before they launch,” Hackett said. “Proving that there’s an awareness to the mainstream that is crucial to be aware of when owning a local comic shop.”
An important part of the connection between comics and the community is the inclusivity of comics.
Scott takes pride in his store, “that someone can walk in and we can probably find a book that reflects you. If you’re a young girl, we’ll show you a dozen different titles that will interest you. If you’re an older guy… if you’re still into Captain America, yeah, that’s there too. That’s something we definitely strive for.”
Even someone who doesn’t initially think a comic book store is for them but is interested in a topic like cooking might find books that catch their eye. Scott showed off a section with graphic cookbooks.
The books exemplified the diversity of genres the store has while still holding to the essence of comics and graphic novels. A family or a friend group of all ages, with lovers of fantasy, superheroes or even cooking can find a place in the store just for them.
Escape Velocity Comics & Graphic Novels has built a connection to its community with time and resilience. A resilience that is still ultimately tested to this day.