Santa Rosa's Batcave Comics & Toys a ‘special' hub for fans and newbies

Similar to Batman’s lair in its “natural grotto,” Batcave Comics & Toys sits underground on an everyday street in Santa Rosa’s Railroad Square.

A trove of vintage toys and comic books, the store attracts locals, regulars, and even foreign collectors.

“We’re one of the largest vintage toy and comic stores in Northern California. We focus on the collectibles, the hard to come by, the rare, the unique. Stuff that’ll bring you back to your childhood,” said Mike Holbrook, Batcave owner.

Batcave Comics & Toys is a hub for comic and toy collectors in the Bay Area, and it has a unique, growing collection that attracts comic fans young and old.

One display Holbrook is most proud of are six action figures of characters from the 1984 sci-fi cult classic film “The Last Starfighter.” The rare toys are Galoob prototypes made the same year the film was released, and never ended up going into production after the company was bought out by Hasbro.

“The Last Starfighter” prototypes were thought to be lost forever. Holbrook spent eight years trying to track them down, and the action figures are featured in the book “Toys that Time Forgot, Volume II” by Blake Wright.

“This is the only place in the world that people can see them,” Holbrook said.

The store has a Disney section, toys tailored especially for girls, D.C. comics toys, about 70 feet of vintage comics, G.I. Joes, original Star Wars toys and Transformers. The store also sells metal bookmarks and boasts original artwork and prints from four local artists.

There’s even a life-sized R2-D2 near the registers that lights up and beeps.

Toy photography has gotten more popular, and some customers come in looking for unique toys to photograph. Recently, a customer bought a bunch of Lord of the Rings toys to decorate their garden.

“We try to have a little bit of everything for the collecting community,” said Holbrook, who has a couple of Batman symbols tattooed on his arm.

The store features a comic book that with Batcave schematics, promising to expose 1,000 secrets of the Batcave and showing the natural grotto under an old disguised barn on the cover. It’s displayed in a glass case. The price tag reads $450.

Holbrook initially became interested in comic books as a latchkey kid who grew up poor.

“I didn’t have a lot of stuff and then when I got older and was able to start purchasing it, I kind of wanted everything that I couldn’t have,” he said. “So I ended up with so much stuff I ended up opening the store.”

On the first Saturday of every month, Batcave hosts “Free Comix Day.” Customers can pick four free comics to take home out of large $1 bins near the stair entrance. There’s also a raffle and prizes. The store’s monthly giveaway is separate from the national free comic book day.

“We definitely like taking care of our locals,” Holbrook said. For adults and kids alike, comics “help promote literacy and imagination.”

“In this day of tablets and everything, kids don’t have that anymore. Comic books are one of the few ways that adults connect with their kids in a relatable way,” Holbrook said.

Amanda Barlow, a good friend of Holbrook’s, has managed the store since it opened three years ago. Previously, they acted as organizers of the Santa Rosa Toy and Comic Con.

She said she enjoys the atmosphere in the store, especially when new customers walk in.

“I like people’s expressions when they come down. They always say, ‘Oh, it’s so much bigger than I thought it would be!’ or ‘I used to have this, I used to have that,’?” Barlow said.

Barlow and Holbrook said they like the historic appeal of being located in the red brick 1906 Lee Bros. building, near the Cast Away Yarn Shop.

Customer Dan Mola, 42, of Rohnert Park, visits the store several times a week. He said he’s drawn to the new vintage items stocked by Holbrook and Barlow, who both have a keen eye for books, comics and toys they pick up at conventions.

“There’s no place like it in the North Bay,” said Mola, a firefighter who is a fan of Batman, Spiderman and The Punisher.

Mola had a personal collection of about 200 to 300 comic books before he lost his Coffey Park home in the 2017 Tubbs fire. Shopping at Batcave Comics has helped him rebuild his collections.

“He’s just a good dude,” Mola said of Holbrook. “He knows some of the books that I’m missing in my collection and so he’ll just grab them when he’s out at a con and save them for me.”

Comic collectors say the writing and drawings in some comics are top notch. Some favorites of Mola’s include Garth Ennis, author of “The Preacher”; Frank Millier, author of “Sin City”; and Neil Gaiman. “For me, it’s the nostalgia that brings me in,” Mola said.

Eric L., a San Francisco collector visiting the store last weekend, has a collection of 3,000 comics he keeps in a temperature-controlled subroom in his house. He asked that his last name not be printed for security reasons. “It’s a good investment,” he said about his vintage comic book collection.

A longtime San Francisco resident, he couldn’t recall a comic shop there with as much variety as Batcave Comics.

“It’s not just comics - you just don’t find places like these any more,” he said. “It’s special that Santa Rosa has this and not San Francisco.”