Lone Star Comics was a chain of comic book stores located in the Dallas-Fort Worth area in north central

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

. The chain's offerings included

comic book A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...

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supplies, videos, and many other pop culture items. Originally established as a quaint

mail order Mail order is the buying of goods or services by mail delivery. The buyer places an order for the desired products with the merchant through some remote methods such as: * Sending an order form in the mail * Placing a telephone call * Placing ...

company in

1961 Events January * January 3 ** United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces that the United States has severed diplomatic and consular relations with Cuba (Cuba–United States relations are restored in 2015). ** Aero Flight 311 (K ...

by area fanzine publisher and entrepreneur Jake "Buddy" Saunders, Lone Star opened its first

brick-and-mortar Brick and mortar (also bricks and mortar or B&M) refers to a physical presence of an organization or business in a building or other structure. The term ''brick-and-mortar business'' is often used to refer to a company that possesses or leases r ...

store in 1977, eventually operating a chain of nine retail outlets in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. While still maintaining business locally, the company returned to its mail order roots in the early 2000s, this time as an online subscription and back-issue service. With the contraction of the overall economy beginning in 2008, the store sold off their various locations, closing the final one in the fall of 2013. The online store is called mycomicshop.com.

History

Saunders opened the first store in Arlington in 1977. Lone Star was involved in the 1988 founding of the

Harvey Awards The Harvey Awards are given for achievement in comic books. Named for writer-artist Harvey Kurtzman, the Harvey Awards were founded by Gary Groth in 1988, president of the publisher Fantagraphics, to be the successor to the Kirby Awards that we ...

, the first industry award voted on entirely by comics professionals. Lone Star employees tabulated the ballots for the first Harvey Awards,C. M. "Behind the Harveys," The Comics Journal #122 (June 1988), p. 19. presented at the

Chicago Comicon Fan Expo Chicago (formerly Wizard World Chicago Comic Con, and commonly known as the Chicago Comicon), is a comic book convention held during the summer in Rosemont, Illinois, United States, at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center. It was t ...

in July 1988. Saunders closed the Irving location in 2008, the South Arlington location in 2011, and the

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

store in October 2012. In July 2013, Lone Star Comics sold off three of their five remaining stores, in

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, and Plano.Melrose, Kevin
"Lone Star Comics owners sell three locations,"
''Comic Book Resources'' (July 12, 2013). In September 2013 Lone Star Comics sold off their remaining brick and mortar stores (the original Arlington location and the store in Fort Worth) to become solely an e-commerce business website.

Former store locations

* Town East A location in the sublevel of Town East Mall below the central food court in the 1980s (unknown when this location closed.) The mall has been heavily renovated and this sublevel no longer exists. * Central Arlington (sold September 2013; now Wild West Comics) *

(closed October 2012) *

(sold July 2013; now Urban Legends) *

(sold July 2013; now Multiverse Games, Comics & Collectibles) * Fort Worth (sold September 2013; now Wild West Comics) * Plano (sold July 2013; now Collected Plano) *

Wichita Falls Wichita Falls ( ) is a city in and the seat of government of Wichita County, Texas, United States. It is the principal city of the Wichita Falls Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Archer, Clay, and Wichita counties. According ...

(closed some time before July 1998) * Irving (closed February 24, 2008) * South Arlington (closed June 2011)

References

External links

* Comics retailers Retail companies established in 1977 Companies based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex 1977 establishments in Texas {{US-retail-company-stub