It Came From The Book Store Part IV

It’s been a minute hasn’t it? Sorry, I didn’t mean to go almost an entire year without updating. Things got busy, interests and priorities shifted and yeah, here we are. But today is January 7, 2024, which marks 17 years since RVGFanatic launched. I figured it’s a good time as any to dust off the cobwebs and begin, hopefully, a chain of (somewhat) semi-regular updates. If you’re reading this, thanks for still checking in even though I went MIA for nearly a year. I’m doing well, my wife is good, and our son is now a healthy and adorable 19 month old toddler. I’m still playing games whenever I can, I still want to add more gaming reviews to RVG for sure, and I’m still heavily into books. Although now mostly comic books and graphic novels. This post will highlight my trip to Philly last February. Hope y’all are doing well yourselves. On with the show!

We drove by the Eagles’ home just one week after they lost to the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LVII by a score of 38-35. I did notice that some people took the devastating loss hard, as there was a sort of sad heaviness on many faces.

Of course, the first thing my wife and I had to do was dig into some Philly cheesesteaks. We made a beeline for the two highly touted cheesesteak joints: Pat’s and Geno’s.

I didn’t realize, not being a Philly native or ever visited before, that Pat’s and Geno’s are practically right next to each other. So we didn’t have any time whatsoever to recover from eating at one place to the next. But hey, vacation right? Calories don’t count! Sure…

I lost count of how many cheesesteaks we tried. They were all delicious. I particularly liked the gumbo there.

We heard a ton of praise for the pork roast sandwich from Tommy DiNic’s, so we had to sample that. Maybe it was an off day for them but my wife and I both thought it was rather lacking and didn’t live up to the hype. That bad boy next to it, however, was the best sandwich I ate on the entire trip. Better than Pat’s or Geno’s. I can’t remember the name of the restaurant but it’s aptly named the Train Wreck. Damn right. And damn good.

Walls upon walls stacked with manga, graphic novels and comics! From Marvel to DC to indies, everything was well represented. That group came in shortly after me and they were blown away by the selection. They started geeking out seeing all the Tezuka manga. Pretty cool, haha.

It was almost a religious experience for me. I loved seeing all the manga stacked to the high heavens. The classic Lone Wolf & Cub series as well as Inuyasha. Maison Ikkoku too! I already own all of them but it never gets old to see their beautiful spines in the wild.

One of the best things about exploring these comic book stores is discovering all the cool shit you never knew existed before. I had no idea there was a Mask comic. I always thought the 1994 Jim Carrey Mask movie was an original. But no, before that summer blockbuster there was a Mask comic. So cool! Personally, I have very fond memories of the Jim Carrey film. I shared those memories in my Mask Super Nintendo game review. Can’t wait to read the comic!

But my favorite find from Astro City Comics was this. The Ballad of Yaya. Never knew it existed before, but upon first sight I knew it was right up my alley. There is a serious Studio Ghibli/Hayao Miyazaki feel to it. Printed in cute pocket edition size, this 9 volume series takes place in 1937 and follows two plucky children as they navigate the dangers of war breaking out all around them.

Each volume is only 96 pages, so it definitely leaves you wanting more. I’ve read the first entry so far, and really enjoyed it. It’s a bit sparse but that art is amazing. Definitely the kind of comic to revisit time and time again!

Shortly after coming home, I looked up Atomic City Comics for fun and was pleasantly surprised to see someone wrote up a feature on it just a few days prior. I was like, “HEY!  I was literally just there!”

I was very happy to support small business. I bought more than I should have, but I’m glad to do my small part in showing some love and appreciation. It’ll be a sad day if comic book stores like this ever die out completely. You just can’t beat that brick and mortar feel, ya know?

CLOSING THOUGHTS

Cheesesteaks, iconic statues, historic sites and some cool comic book stores, Philly was a fun visit. I’m excited to take my son on all future trips, now that he is old enough to travel with us. We just came back from Japan and I told my wife that’s the last time we’re traveling without the little goober. Our next trip is to Los Angeles next month, which I know has a ton of good eats and comic book stores galore. Looking forward to checking out a few of those and eating some delicious L.A. food! Happy New Year everyone