Santa Rosa comic store making a go of it with game sales

You won’t find Dan Radovic complaining in the middle of a pandemic. The owner of Outer Planes Comics and Games remains optimistic about his store’s future, even amid months-long closures this year and significantly reduced sales.

“I always prepare for the worst, and this is more than you can really prepare for, but I was pretty proactive about it,” said Radovic, who opened the downtown Santa Rosa store 15 years ago. “We can hang on as long as it takes.”

Outer Planes is a community hub for graphic and comic book collectors, Dungeons & Dragons players, board game enthusiasts and role playing games. It’s open daily now after it closed from March to June during Sonoma County’s first shelter-in-place health order, and it’s especially busy on Wednesdays for free comic day.

Online and curbside pickup orders were offered during the closure, but the store only made 10% of its normal sales during that period, Radovic said.

Half of the store is a seating area dedicated to gaming, tournaments, comic book signings and other events, and during the pandemic it remains off-limits. “That's a big part of our business, so that hurts,” he said. “But it's definitely better to be open than not.”

Radovic’s landlord has reduced the rent at his Mendocino Avenue building and he’s applied to a few government programs for small businesses affected by the coronavirus pandemic.

Albert Perez, general manager at Outer Planes for about three years, said one of the weird things about the pandemic is not seeing customers who came in weekly to play D&D or board games.

“They all looked forward to coming out and seeing the people that they play games with every week, so I know that's been hard for a lot of our customers,” said Perez, a board game enthusiast.

Board games sales have been steady as customers look for entertaining activities they can do at home, outside of the excessive screen time people have with Zoom calls and work-from-home schedules.

Currently Perez enjoys playing Carcassonne, a tile-laying game inspired by a medieval fortress in southern France, and a game called Patchwork. Both are easy to learn but involved enough strategy to be fun and interesting.

“Patchwork is a two-player game so it’s great right now with the pandemic,” he said.

During the closure this spring, Radovic took the time to remodel the store, reorganizing sections like the board games at the front of the store and the miniatures by the back counter.

The walls inside Outer Planes are painted purple and green as a tribute to the Hulk, Radovic’s favorite comic character. Original art of the Hulk by local and visiting artists is displayed around the shop.

“He's got the brute side, but then he's got this brilliant scientist brain kind of arguing with him all the time,” Radovic said of the Hulk, a Marvel character who debuted in 1962. “Even when he's fighting other superheroes, he's always the one that tries to protect the general public from collateral damage.”

Lively discussions of comic book characters are commonplace among the staff at Outer Planes, and it’s that zest and knowledge that regulars say keep them coming back.

Devrin Sonmez, a stay-at-home dad from Windsor who’s a regular at the store, stopped by the shop Wednesday to purchase a couple of X-Men comic books.

“I like it here because the people are very friendly and nice,” he said.

Roland Ralston of Santa Rosa bought two comic books this week from Outer Planes: “Murder Falcon” and “The Umbrella Academy,” which was adapted into a popular Netflix TV series. He hadn’t expected to leave the shop with “Murder Falcon,” but purchased it after a rave recommendation by Tom Beland, an Eisndser Award-winning cartoonist who works at the store.

“It’s clean, open, and the staff is informative and helpful,” Ralston said about the store.

“And they have a great dog,” he added.

Half husky and half pit bull, Radovic’s dog, Valhos, is a friendly, gentle young dog who quietly wanders or lies around the store.

Outer Planes opened on March 15, 2005, about a block away from its current Mendocino Avenue location, where it’s now been for nine years.

Recent online sales of comic books and other items are done through a variety of platforms, including Facebook Marketplace and eBay. “We’re trying all different avenues,” Radovic said.

Now that the store is open again — with social distancing, hand sanitizer and masks required — people are slowly streaming back in again and employees continue to share their enthusiasm for comics.

Tom Beland has worked at Outer Planes for five years and is a freelance cartoonist for Marvel, D.C. and other publications.

Stroll through Outer Planes, and it’s hard to miss Beland’s art. There’s the Hulk drawing he gave to Radovic, Marvel’s “Fantastic Four” series and his latest graphic novel, “Chicacabra,” which was inspired by his decades of living in Puerto Rico and optioned for a movie by famed pop star Selena Gomez.

“I always like to include Puerto Rico in my work,” said Beland, who won his Eisner Award, the highest honor in American cartooning, for a story called “Puerto Rico Strong.”

Beland usually draws in coffee shops near the store, which he said he misses during the pandemic. But he’s glad to be surrounded by fellow comic book lovers at Outer Planes.

“I love comic shops. Comic books excite me. That paper smell is like new baby smell. It’s so ingrained in me,” he said.

With creative artists around the shop, and community and government support, Radovic said he believes the store will survive the pandemic and stick around for years to come.

“Everyone's being really accommodating and as long as that keeps up, I think we can ride this out,” Radovic said.