The mention of a comic store for many brings to mind a small and dimly lit space with a funny smell. Although this is true for many shops, especially in the past, it’s not always the case. There is a new wave of more modern comic book stores that have really broken that mold. Those are great, but there are still a lot of worthwhile traditional shops that fulfill all the comic store needs. Living Dead Comics is an example of a small, versatile shop that exceeds expectations.

The store is located on Curry Ford Road in Orlando about 30 minutes from the attractions. It’s in an older shopping center and although I didn’t immediately spot the sign from the road, there was a vehicle wrapped with the store’s name on it in the lot. There are multiple entrances to the parking lot and plenty of parking. We went on a Sunday and there was a lot of activity at the store. Their Sunday hours are 12-8pm, which is good for a comic shop.

The large spooky lettering of the name on the storefront makes the shop seem a little intimidating. Once inside though, it is really just a regular comic store. The shop looks fairly small from the outside and in fact, is not very wide inside. The first thing I noticed when I stepped inside was that the store felt very full. There are fixtures on either side of you immediately when you step in and there’s comics, toys and statues from the floor to the ceiling.

Right inside the door, there is a glass case with statues. The collection of a few rare Silver Surfer pieces here was very impressive. There were also Marvel and Star Wars Movie Realization figures(Feudal Japan styling) out of the box on display, which is unusual and nice to actually see. To the left upon entering is the large front counter. The impressive Sideshow Premium Format Yoda and Clone Trooper statue behind the counter right by the door stood out amongst some rare and out of box Funko Pops. The counter had tabletop gaming cards inside it and a combo of everything else behind it. Above from the ceiling along the counter, there were large hanging Star Wars ships for sale. On the counter, there were assorted mystery mini boxes. The wall behind the counter had rows of key and graded comics displayed.

In the fixtures, in the middle of the store, there are Funko Pops and trade paperbacks. The Funko’s were individually priced but averaged about $12. There seemed to be a good variety, although not a very large amount. The pops were grouped together which made searching easier, but still required effort as they are all the way around the fixture. The trade paperbacks go all the way around their square bookshelf type fixtures from the floor up. There is a large selection here and they seemed somewhat organized. I found the Skull Island Birth of Kong trade I was looking for without much trouble. The trades are regular cover price so check by the barcode. Key issue comics are also placed around the fixtures for sale. An example of pricing here was an ungraded Wolverine #1(1988) for a whopping $75.

On the other wall opposite the front counter are the new comics. This area was impressive for a small store. The new and recent comics were 6 rows high and took more than 3 seconds to walk from end to end. There were a lot of options here, especially from independent publishers. We didn’t find any of the recent Marvel books we were looking for, but we did discover two new indy books just by browsing that we decided to pick up. The new comics aren’t bagged and boarded yet and are sold at cover price. Above the recent comics, there are a couple of rows of Key Issues for sale on the wall. There is a small kids section with comics and books at the end of these new comics.

There is another large bookshelf type fixture that has tabletop games and hardcovers on one side and figures on the other. There looked to be a good variety of games for a small store although the selection was small. Most of these games were attached to popular major franchises such as Rick and Morty Clue or the Doctor Who Time of the Daleks game. Above this fixture is the real beginning of the impressive statue collection for sale. These are all basically Sideshow Premium Format size or larger. Many of these are no longer being made and or are hard to find. There are more of these statues facing the other side of the bookshelf including a $1,300 XM Studios Doctor Strange. The statues continue on a shelf about the same height along the rest of the store all the way to the back. One of the standouts in the back on this shelf is the long out of production, Legend Lord of Darkness Premium format figure.

Underneath this shelf, there are about four tables for gaming. There isn’t a lot of space in the store, so it is impressive to see an adequate gaming areaset up. There wasn’t anyone playing while we were there, but some of the seating was being used. I’m sure this space could also be used for drawing events or guest signings.

There is a diverse variety and large selection of figures here. They are located on both sides of the store from about the middle of the space to the back. These are all in the box and appeared to be in pretty good condition. The figures available ranged from 3.75 inches to 12inches. They are organized in sections and are stacked deep on their wall pegs. There is a section for Marvel with plenty of recent Marvel legends. There are new and old DC figures including some hard to find ones. Some of the other sections included were Game of Thrones, Spawn, Walking Dead, and Neca figures from various franchises. Star Wars had the most impressive collection here though. A nice mixture of new and old figures with plenty of The Black Series in stock. The prices in the figure section seem to vary. While some of the prices of the nicer or more recent figures were right on target, some more obscure figures were a bit overpriced.

Underneath the figures on the right wall along the back is the back issue section. Here there are 3 rows with about 12 boxes across each. These are organized in alphabetical order and the comics are properly bagged and boarded. The comics here are varied, but some of the sections are lacking depth. The prices seemed about average on the couple of comics I checked.

Throughout the store, there are multiple full-sized figures from Spider-Man to a dragon head. These large pieces are the perfect example of why this store stands out. Although the space is small, I couldn’t think of one thing that was missing. Anyone from a comic reader to someone off the street could walk in and appreciate this store. There is an effort to make sure that all the bases of a comic shop experience are covered. Although they may not have that one thing you were looking for, you can probably find something else like I did; as long as you’re willing to pay for it. I give the store 3 out of 5 stars.