Cloak & Dagger Comics — Attraction in Ormond Beach

3.5/5 Stars. I don't go to Ormond Beach that much, but I heard about this Local Comic Book Store (LCS) when reviewing the area for them. Store have heavy focus on comic books and card games, which the back room have multiple tables for the card games.

Store was jammed packed with boxes and boxes of comics, over 100+ boxes at least. With that being said, I had issues on how they organize the boxes (at least to me). Boxes are not separated by DC/Marvel/Indies. Instead, they are split by price points that are A-Z, various priced as marked boxes, consignment boxes, and more. I know one section have an A-Z of comics priced I think up to $10 and another section of pricer comics like $10+ and up. Issue could be that one series or character you like are in both of these sections and you have to go into them to see it, on top of them also in the various priced as marked boxes and the green tag boxes. Worse is the shelfs that hold these boxes below the top shelf are in heavy long comic book cardboard boxes (the ones that can hold up to 300 comics in a box) that you must pull them out to really review what's in the boxes (some look like they were about to fall apart). To be fair, the employee at the store did offer to help pull the boxes out on the table and did offer to help me find where certain comics might be. With that being said, it didn't give me incentive to keep digging when it felt disjointed in trying to find comics due to the layout, it was hurting my head just trying to make sense of the layout. Most of the comics were bagged/boarded at least. From the prices that I was seeing on them, I thought they were on market. When I was buying stuff, they did discount it so they can make room for more things for sale. The store employee did admit that they are trying to make room for more stuff. Did see cheap dollar boxes.

Another issue I have with the LCS is they charge 4% fee on all card payments. I wasn't 100% sure if I saw this sign in the store or not, but 4% fee for all card payments is steep (considering debit card fees are less than credit card fees). Either the LCS Point of Sale provider is either ripping them off or they are getting an extra percent on top of the processing fee. Thankfully I had enough cash on me to cover my purchases, but I wasn't a fan of this practice since it is a turn-off for me. Then again, as a banker I know these the Point of Sale providers can be super greedy on their fees. Maybe only charge the 4% fee on less than $10 transactions and eat the cost if they are doing a major purchase on a debit/credit card. I do shop in different LCS in NE Florida that don't charge the 4% fee at all.

With my issues above, Clock & Dagger is still a solid LCS. They also do new issues so you could do a pulllist with them and the employee who were there was super friendly.

If you have hours to spend with a back that isn't hurting on you and you have cash, it would be worth it to come to Cloak & Dagger and just dig their boxes of stuff for hours. If you can overlook the layout and be a warrior dealing with box after box of stuff, there should be items that they have for sale that you are...

Pretty good place for comic supplies, and that will be all I ever use them for again. If you are a comic collector avoid this place at all costs. The comics are usually priced over industry standards. Today (8/31/2018) they offered a Holiday Weekend sale of 1000's of comics at a dollar apiece, when I arrived the guy "working" there, (he was sitting and chatting with some gamers, and this is a guy I actually like) , told me that every thing on the back table was a dollar. After 10 minutes sorting through the boxes, (many of the issues were only worth a buck, some were worth 3 dollars max, my entire purchase may have been 60.00 dollars, basically), he finally rose up and said, "Don't get excited, those boxes aren't included, I'm sorry, only these are a dollar", and directed me to another table of 20 boxes of 90's garbage. The ad also says there are huge sales for the holiday weekend, but nothing I could see was...

I've been a long time customer of cloak and dagger comics and I've seen it's ups and downs and have been loyal to the store as I believed it was a fantastic place for friends to gather and enjoy what they loved whether it was Games, Comics, collectibles, etc. But lately my experiences have shown that the owners don't care to present a friendly environment for their clientele, loyal or not and it upsets me greatly as places like cloak and dagger are needed in the community. The shop itself is fair, with affordable prices for what you're looking for and a decent community of players who I'm sure will keep the shop alive with tournaments and play, but sadly this store is no longer for me and I believe there are others who share the same sentiment. Thank you for the fond memories Cloak and Dagger Comics, I wish you the best and hope you attract the clientele...