Comic Force - Springfield — Local services in Springfield

This is easily the best comic and gaming store around! The owner is polite, friendly, helpful, and she knows the comic & gaming business top to bottom. Comic Force in Branson was my go-to spot for gaming stuff (mostly miniatures and paints) until their location in Springfield, MO opened which is much closer to where I live, and the experience just got better. This is a family owned & operated business which gives it that "everyone knows your name" vibe. :-) I'm giving them 5 stars because Google won't let me give them six. And yep, they have a stamp card program to earn free minis or a free comic, and a monthly drawing for gift cards. (Is it weird that I usually feel guilty about taking advantage of that, given how much I appreciate the owners?) There are holiday sales, occasional special events, and often hard-to-find collectibles. ABSOLUTELY recommended!

Regarding an older review I saw here where the reviewer only gave 1 star and complained about being asked not to take photographs, I call B.S. on that. Small businesses have all kinds of reasons to ask patrons to refrain from taking photos. Does this person not grasp how intrusive and rude this is, just so you can build a "look-at-me-go photo album" on social media? Maybe she doesn't want photos of her under-age kids who help out around the store ending up online, for God's sake. Maybe other customers don't want to be in your non-consensual photographs. Maybe the business owner has legitimate copyright concerns or doesn't want their store setting being copied by competitors. Maybe running around with your phone out taking random photos all the time is a Gen Z act of narcissistic buffoonery, made all the more ridiculous when you do so in someone's private business and then try to defend it online as a harmless and natural act. How wonderfully self-righteous of you.

Comic Force (both locations) is the only place in southern Missouri that I know of where you can readily find Reaper Bones' excellent variety of gaming miniatures, and the owner goes out of her way to keep what you want in stock and will happily make special orders for you if what you need isn't available. I've used that service countless times for minis and they ALWAYS come through if what you need is available at all, and they do it with a friendly smile and a sincere thank-you. :-) My comics pull-list is small, but very important to me, and there's never, ever been any mistakes. But what strikes me the most about them is the sheer friendliness, welcoming, sincerity that I've rarely seen elsewhere. Oh and one more thing: I have the appalling habit of accidentally leaving my debit card stuck in their card reader at the register every time I visit, and there's been a couple of times where they've either had to run out to the parking lot in cold weather to catch me before I leave to return it, or lock it in a drawer until it dawns on me that it's missing from my wallet... so add "honesty and protects your financial security" to the list of accolades they deserve. :-) I CANNOT SAY ENOUGH GOOD THINGS ABOUT THIS STORE and I don't shop anywhere else for minis or comics. Comic Force is definitely my "happy...

I felt it was a good time to share my thoughts after frequenting this shop for a little over two months since relocating from Kansas City. There are definitely positives worth mentioning: the staff is friendly, the selection of both new releases and back issues is solid, and pricing typically aligns with or stays close to fair market value.

That said, I’m giving a three-star rating due to concerns around business practices. As one of the few—if not the only—comic shops of this scale within a 50-mile radius, they understandably hold a strong position in the local market. Today marked the highly anticipated release of Battle Beast #1, and as part of the celebration, Blind Bag editions were available at cover price.

While I can understand missing the hype surrounding a new Invincible universe title from the original creators, I was disappointed to see what appeared to be opened Blind Bags being sold as individual rare variants priced between $15–$25. This came after being told the store hadn’t ordered enough copies. It raises questions about how many of those rare editions could have reached genuine fans at cover price.

To close, I’ll reference Robert Kirkman’s own words on the Blind Bag initiative:

“I just want to do things that excite people, and I want to make going into the comic shop a revelatory experience,” Kirkman told Comic Book Club about the inspiration behind the blind bag program. “I want you to be getting things that are unexpected and getting things that excite you. And I want you to have a new experience when you go into the comic shop.”

Purchasing a comic after it’s already been opened doesn't quite align with the spirit of that vision—and for me, that was a...

Wish I could give a positive review about this shop, it was one of the worst shop experiences I've encountered. Stopped here with my wife, and found the asthetic so cool, as it was clean and bright, with a nifty upstairs loft area. And as an out-of-towner, I wanted to capture that so my buddies could see it (in case we wanted to stop by while on our annual trip to GenCon). We try to visit comic shops in every new city we find ourselves in, and we support independent stores whenever possible. However, when I took out my phone to snap a pic of the place, as I often do when we come across creative and well decorated spaces, the manager/owner immediately berated me, harshly interrogating me as to why I would do such a thing. It was embarrassing and uncalled for, and I was left speechless. I couldn't for the life of me wrap my head around why she would be so aggressive about it. Needless to say, I left without purchasing anything, and neither myself nor my friends will be visiting this establishment again after all. Just an unfortunate...