Atomic Comics Emporium — Local services in Hampton

Used to spend my summers here when I was a kid. I would hoof it from Willow Oaks/Fox Hill with 50lb in gaming books on my back every morning and camp at ACE until dark. It was my gateway to the gaming community(both the pros AND cons) and played a huge role in my life.

Visited the area recently and virtually nothing has changed. It's the same smells, the same racks, the same tightly packed sales floor. I love it. It was like homecoming. ACE is by far the best gaming store I've ever been a patron of. Took my wife and kids, they were amazed by the selection and the vintage titles available for sale. Frankly it's a little hard to describe the experience; it is definitely your typical gaming store with the Magic tables everywhere and the gaming room in the back, but it's also so much more. Could be nostalgia.

Ended up spending coin while I was there, got some Magic boosters, manga for my daughter and a 2nd edition Dark Sun boxed set that I doubt you could find ANYWHERE else. The customer service was phenomenal(which honestly is a huge change from when I was a kid. It's not shade, I swear. Just something I noticed.)

If I had any gripe, it was the price of out of print gaming titles. Some of them were pretty damn steep. I've seen bins at other gaming stores where they were practically giving the stuff away. May be worth it to pay 50 bucks or more to a collector for something that's been out of print since the 80s or 90s, but for someone who just wants an older rules set? C'mon... not like they're flying off the shelves. There's a reason the pages are yellow and they're beat up from the years of customer handling while they wither away on the shelf. My advice: if it has a TSR logo on the back it shouldn't be 50+ bucks unless it's a good to mint condition core rulebook or something. Turn your inventory and make way for all the new stuff that's out there. The gaming industry's in a boom right now, amirite?

In today's age, even before the pandemic, I shied away from gaming stores(all those cons I mentioned earlier.) But I always make it a point to stop at ACE when I can and give them my money. It's a great shop And I'm thrilled to see it's still around....

On the surface, ACE is your average dusty comic and gaming cave. That's not a complaint or a knock on them, though. That's what makes a real fan love places like this. If you belong to a geekdom, this is where you can serve your liege.

For the uninitiated, don't expect bright retail lighting, pop music, or people in matching uniforms running state-of-the-art cash registers. This is where you find people who do it for the love.

For the most part, you can find everything easily. I didn't feel overwhelmed by the large collection/selection bc it was organized well (which isn't always the case in these places). As someone from outside the area, I'd like some clearer signage that can be seen from other parts of the store, but that's not a real complaint.

We found some great new and vintage D&D, customizable card games (MTG, Pokemon, etc), action figures (star wars, DC, Marvel, Spawn, even the Tick), various other collectibles, and of course, comics new , old, and rare.

This place has some pretty hard to find D&D stuff, which impressed me. My teen left with the Stranger Things D&D starter set. So thanks, ACE, for helping me bring in another generation. 😂👍

Anyway folks, whether you're local or visiting, I definitely recommend that you stop in. It's important that we support these Haven's of imagination. lf you're an elder dragon geek like me, you'll love the nostalgia. If you're younger, they'll...

Was there this past Sunday November 3rd around 1130AM and bought a few $3 to $6 comics and 47 plastic sleeves with the board for .25 cents each from the black cardboard display by checkout counter...spent $58.30 on bank card. Well, no real problem but my son and I did the math and added 7% sales tax just to be sure, and it looks like we were charged over by about $12 bucks or so. Again, no real problem, but curious. Maybe the .25 cents I saw, which was hand written, wasn't actual or whatever. Didn't see an email on website. The fella there was nice and we talked about how comic valuation can go up if a movie comes out and he made a mention about an Archie book I (the Dad) found. It's all good but wondering if we were all talking and maybe a register typo happened during checkout. Me, an OCD math nerd, just had to mention this is all. We were out of towners from Raleigh, there for the Busch Gardens Halloween deal. All that said, thee best, most authentic, comic book store I've ever seen and recommend and if we're in the area, will visit again. It's on me for not checking things out more at checkout. Matter of fact, if we were accidentally charged a bit more, it was worth the intel he shared about comic book valuation. Five star rating. Thank you...