The Comic Den in Renton

06/25/09

I’ve been collecting comics since I bought Wolverine #39 and 40 back in 1991. Before I wanted to be a photographer, I wanted to be a comic book artist. My friends would spend hours drawing comics every Friday night after the weekly trip to the comic store. Back in the early 90s everyone was into comics and the industry was growing. There used to be many comic shops in my hometown of Kent! As the 90s went by, I saw them close one by one. I found a shop in the Renton Highlands while I was going to BCC on the way to school, but they eventually closed. At UW, it wasn’t too hard to stop at one of the various shops in the U-District, but when I graduated, I was back down south and needed to find a more convenient place to buy my comics. I found the Comic Den in Renton and the guys there we very cool. I’ve been going there ever since.

Two weeks ago, the there was a huge fire that damaged the 97 year old building that the Comic Den was in. My wife called me and I turned on the TV to see water being dumped into the apartments just above the comic shop. The next day I drove by to check it out, and saw there were still fire crews and on-lookers. I looked in the shop to see a charred wet mess. Later that night I watched King 5 to see Howard talking about how it was hard to see but they would recover.

I stopped by the next week to see that there was a new location they would be moving into just around the corner. Finally today I got back down and they were open for business!! They were building displays and going through salvaging comics that had been protected by bags. I filled out a new card of the comic titles and artists that I collected and wanted in my box. The wolverine phone seemed to be ringing off the hook while I was there. I also looked through a small photo book of the old location.

I was very happy to see the recovery of the Comic Den. I hope their business will continue to improve and I look forward to many more trips to Renton for my comics.

Steve Rydgren