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

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

. The chain's offerings included

comic book A comic book, comic-magazine, or simply comic is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panel (comics), panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are often accompanied by descriptive prose and wri ...

action figure An action figure is a poseable character model figure made most commonly of plastic, and often based upon characters from a film, comic book, military, video game, television program, or sport; fictional or historical. These figures are usually ...

gaming Gaming may refer to: Games and sports The act of playing games, as in: * Legalized gambling, playing games of chance for money, often referred to in law as "gaming" * Playing a role-playing game, in which players assume fictional roles * Playing ...

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 an order by telephone call ...

company in

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by area

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

brick-and-mortar Brick and mortar (or B&M) is an organization or business with a physical presence in a building or other structure. The term ''brick-and-mortar business'' is often used to refer to a company that possesses or leases retail shops, factory produc ...

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 has expanded into a clearinghouse for sellers and buyers, 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 a successor to the Kirby Awards, which wer ...

, the first industry award voted on entirely by comics professionals. Lone Star employees tabulated the ballots for the first Harvey Awards, 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 ...

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

Dallas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

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

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, Hurst, 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 Fort Worth is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Tarrant County, Texas, Tarrant County, covering nearly into Denton County, Texas, Denton, Johnson County, Texas, Johnson, Parker County, Texas, Parker, and Wise County, Te ...

) 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) * Hurst (sold July 2013; now Multiverse Games, Comics & Collectibles) *

(sold September 2013; now Wild West Comics) * Plano (sold July 2013; now Collected Plano) *

Wichita Falls Wichita Falls ( ) is a city in and the county seat 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 to ...

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

References

External links

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