It was only months ago that the news broke that Arizona’s world famous comic shop, Atomic Comics, was closing its doors for good. The news came after a damaging fire exacerbated the already piling financial problems of the shop.
Between now and January 10th, the remaining inventory of the Atomic Comics goes up for auction. We spoke with Catherine Humphrey at Sierra Auctions, the company handling the sell-off. According to Catherine, Sierra will be sorting the comic shop’s inventory and posting the goods in lots to their site between now and the auction date. As these lots go live, you can bid on them in person, online or via phone. Any lots not purchased or meeting reserve before they expire, will be rolled into the next lot until last sale wraps on January 10th. Maybe it’ll be a good idea for Samurai Comics, which opened up right next door after Atomic closed up shop, to beef up its stock on the cheap.
These pictures show some of the stock that’ll be on the block. And there are a lot more images and details on the auction site. I just couldn’t bring myself to post more photos though. These images of the empty comic shop, complete with the employee picks shelf still stocked, is one of the most depressing things I’ve ever had to post to the net.
Here’s hoping that the immense sales of DC Comics’ New 52 really is a sign of comic shops still being a viable business or we may be seeing more like this in the coming few years.