How We Go Columbia: Superheroes in Cayce: The Silver City story

Hey, kid. You want comics?

Or adults, for that matter.

You got ’em. Go to Silver City Comics, 538 Knox Abbott Drive in Cayce.

Silver City is known as one of the oldest comic shops in the Southeast. It has survived for decades in the shadow of the far larger Heroes & Dragons comics shop (based for what seemed like eons at Boozer Shopping Center in St. Andrews and now located at 510 Bush River Road) and has withstood competition from other comics shops that pop up in the Midlands.

“We try to be very, very nice to our customers,” laughs Silver City owner Ann Hart.

Silver City scored an advantage recently when H&D stopped selling new comics to focus, the store said, on collectibles. In November 2013, Silver City announced on its Facebook page: “If you don’t have a subscription folder already, now is a great time to start one. Sadly, Heroes & Dragons is no longer carrying new comic books so our sales have been increasing. That means the series you read may be sold out when you stop by the store. If you start a folder, we will hold a copy for you.”

At Silver City, you can find a YouTube video offering a walk-through of the store narrated by Hart; she explains that the comics shop was once, in ages past, a Hardee’s, which accounts for its distinctive wraparound glass fronting. (Born a Hardee’s, reborn a comics shop: “Mmmmm,” Homer Simpson would say.) Old comics stand upright in open-top boxes; new comics are on shelves. Customers debate things like whether Captain Marvel’s new costume shows too little or whether Ms. Marvel’s old costume showed too much.

Brace yourself if you haven’t gone comics-shopping in a while: The big guns, Marvel and DC, typically charge $4 an issue now for their new comics. Why, I used to be able to get EIGHT for a dollar — EIGHT, I tell you! Hart believes the $4-a-pop comics can’t be doing much good for the publishers. She said she’s always tried to keep a section of the store reserved for comics she can offer for $1 each.

BTW, Silver City also has some swords, because you never know when you might get a role as an extra on “Game of Thrones.” You also never know when you might have to fight a dragon. Things were never this exciting when the place was a Hardee’s.

This story was originally published July 23, 2015 at 11:45 AM with the headline "How We Go Columbia: Superheroes in Cayce: The Silver City story."