Local Comics Store Spotlight: Another Dimension

The foundation of ComicBook.Com is comics. While we love to cover all aspects of pop and geek culture, our roots lie in the comics community and the plethora of characters and stories that have sprung from it. If you speak with anyone in the comics community about what has made the medium successful in North America, you'll quickly discover one answer that stands far above the rest: local comics stores. They are the bedrock of comics in the United States and Canada, supporting fans, communities, and conventions with open doors and a dedicated staff.

This year on ComicBook.Com we are highlighting this important aspect of comics and culture by taking a look at one local comic store each week. These are stores that embody what it means to support culture and community. We hope you can visit some of them throughout 2017.

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We often hear the phrase "dip your toe in" and think of the shallow end of the pool. It's just a little bit of contact with water that allows you to adjust to the temperature and learn how to handle more of it. The vision of just dipping your toe in only alludes to a fraction of the overall pool though, and anyone who has learned to swim can tell you that the goal is to make it to the deep end, even when you only have one toe in. Another Dimension, a comic book store in Alberta, Canada, can be compared to a pool in this way. While it excels at helping customers dip their toes into comics, it has always been sure to show off the entire pool so they have an incentive to keep swimming.

Another Dimension is one of the oldest comic book stores in Canada or North America having opened 34 years ago. Throughout that time owner John Tinkess has seen a lot of changes, but his goals and mentality towards running the shop have remained consistent. He's a lover of comics and believes the strength of the medium can carry a store a long way when properly shared.

That faith in comics is apparent in the appearance of Another Dimension. "We were stocking every graphic novel and trade paperback we could get our hands on in the 1980's, long before the format was widely accepted" says Tinkess. Looking at photos of the shop (just two slides ahead) you can see that their stock has remained daunting. Entire bookshelves are dedicated to a single creator, providing an aesthetic that is as much like a library as anything else. The variety of comics on display cover a wide array of regions, creators, and genres, meaning the comics in Another Dimension really are for everyone.

This diversity of selection and massive stock of comics, popular and unpopular, is a feature, not a bug. While the audience has shifted over the decades, the goal of luring in anyone interested in trying comics has remained consistent. For a long time this meant tempting adults and non-traditional buyers to check out a medium with an undeservedly bad reputation, but that challenge has diminished, especially over the past ten years. "The growing acceptance of comics as a legitimate art form and the diversity of new comics being published now has only made our job easier" says Tinkess.

Click ahead to learn more about what Another Dimension has done to remain successful over 34 years and what comes next.