Comic Store Heroes

---

title: "Comic Store Heroes" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["2012-television-films", "national-geographic-(american-tv-channel)-original-programming", "television-shows-set-in-new-york-city", "american-english-language-television-shows", "television-shows-about-comics"] description: "American reality television program" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comic_Store_Heroes" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary American reality television program ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox television"]

Field	Value
image	ComicStoreHeroesLogo.jpg
genre	Reality, Unscripted
country	United States
language	English
num_seasons	1
num_episodes	1
starring	Gerry Gladston
Thor Parker
Alex Rae
runtime	1 hour
company	Parthenon Entertainment
channel	National Geographic Channel
released
::

| image = ComicStoreHeroesLogo.jpg | genre = Reality, Unscripted | developer = | country = United States | language = English | num_seasons = 1 | num_episodes = 1 | starring = Gerry Gladston Thor Parker Alex Rae | executive_producer = | camera = | runtime = 1 hour | company = Parthenon Entertainment | channel = National Geographic Channel | released = Comic Store Heroes is a reality television program set inside Manhattan's Midtown Comics, the largest comic bookstore in the United States. Described as a one-hour documentary about comic book subculture, it is British production company Parthenon Entertainment's first American-based factual entertainment production and premiered on the National Geographic Channel on July 13, 2012, at 8pm Eastern Standard Time. As with Comic Book Men, a similar series airing on AMC starring Kevin Smith, the program focuses on the interactions among the store's staff, and with its customers.

Production history

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b8/3.9.10MidtownComicsByLuigiNovi.jpg" caption="The store's [[Times Square]] branch"] ::

Comic Store Heroes is set in Midtown Comics in Manhattan, the largest comic book store in the United States. Described as a one-hour documentary about comic book subculture, the program focuses on the interactions between the devoted and sometimes obsessive comics aficionados that form the store's customer base, and the store's staff, specifically Gerry Gladston, one of the store's five co-founders, and two of his employees, marketing manager Thor Parker, and pricing expert Alex Rae. Parker and Rae's competition for Gladston's attention will constitute some of the conflict in the narratives. Other plot points will include Gladston assigning Rae the task of tracking down a difficult-to-find copy of the comic book that began his childhood love of comics, Hot Stuff: The Little Devil #1, and the store's preparation of their booth at the New York Comic Con. Customers spotlighted include comics blogger/journalist Jill Pantozzi, who was diagnosed at age 2 with spinal muscular atrophy, and interacts with others through her love of the comics medium. Another customer is Chris Notarile, a 20-something aspiring comic book creator who lives on food stamps in order to devote his money to developing his character, The Protector.

The program is British production company Parthenon Entertainment's first American-based factual entertainment production. Parthenon Director of Production Danny Tipping comments on the subject matter's appeal, "The world of comic book super fans is both fascinating and surprising. You don’t have to be a fan of comic books to appreciate what some of the most devoted fans will do to make their dreams come true, and some collections are bought and sold for millions of dollars."

Regarding comparisons to Kevin Smith reality series Comic Book Men, Midtown's Parker comments, "We're fans of Kevin’s show and what it brings to the table, but we wanted to take things in a different direction. We wanted to try and work [past] the typical stereotypes about comic book fans and show that comics and the comic community have the ability to help people find acceptance, become part of an extremely welcoming family, and really make a difference in people’s lives."

Cast

• Gerry Gladston - One of the store's five founders, and the boss in the series. His interest in comics was sparked by the 1957 comic Hot Stuff: The Little Devil #1, which he obtained at a candy shop in his native Queens when he was five years old. He assigns Alex the difficult task of tracking down a copy of that book.
• Thor Parker - The store's Social Marketing Manager and Events Director,
• Alex Rae - The store's pricing expert, who acquires rare books for the store. He and Thor later appeared in Episode 6 of the VH1 reality series For What It's Worth, in which they appraised Tony Moore's original artwork for Page 7 of The Walking Dead #1.
• Zoë Gulliksen - Thor's "right-hand woman", who first acquired her job at Midtown Comics after winning second place in a Midtown costume contest. She assists Thor in matters pertaining to marketing, such as conducting recorded interviews of featured comics creators during book signings.

Plot

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c9/10.12.12JillPantozziByLuigiNovi2.jpg" caption="Comics journalist/blogger [[Jill Pantozzi]] is among those profiled in the program."] ::

Gerry assigns Alex the task of tracking down a mint condition copy of the 1957 comic book that sparked his interest in the medium. With the 2011 New York Comic Con just six weeks away, Thor works to secure an appearance at the Midtown booth by writer/artist Frank Miller, while his "right hand woman", Zoë, reacts to receiving flowers from an anonymous fan. Featured fans include aspiring comics creator Chris Notarile, who struggles to complete and market a 32-page superhero comic featuring his character, the Protector, in order to acquire a place on Midtown's racks, and Jill Pantozzi, who was diagnosed at age 2 with spinal muscular atrophy, but interacts with other comics fans on her blog and at conventions. Comics creators Frank Miller, Rebekah Isaacs and Amy Reeder have cameos.

References

References

1. Kaplan, Don (June 25, 2012). [http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/manhattan/it_geek_drama_VSvMRuLqz71hwJ1emgDMxI "It’s a geek drama"]. ''[[New York Post]]''.
2. Ritchie, Kevin (June 28, 2012). [http://realscreen.com/2012/06/28/nat-geo-acquires-comic-store-heroes/ "Nat Geo acquires 'Comic Store Heroes'"]. Real Screen.
3. [https://web.archive.org/web/20120616203204/http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/national-geographic-channel/all-videos/ngc-the-challenge/ Videos: "The Challenge"]. [[National Geographic Channel]]. Retrieved June 29, 2012.
4. [http://www.icv2.com/articles/news/23169.html "Comic Shop Featured in Reality Show"]. ICv2. June 19, 2012.
5. Pantozzi, Jill (February 7, 2009). [http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=19923 "The Nerdy Bird flies around NYCC, Day 1"]. [[Comic Book Resources]]
6. Fama, Russell (June 2, 2012). [http://www.supersidekick.com/Home/Entries/2012/6/27_An_Interview_with_Thor_of_Comic_Store_Heroes.html "An Interview with Thor of Comic Store Heroes"]. Super Sidekick.
7. [[Ron Marz. Marz, Ron]] (August 9, 2010). [http://ronmarz.com/tag/midtown-comics/ "Media at Midtown"]. ronmarz.com.

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::