This morning I woke to the sad new that my childhood comic shop is coming to an end. Tomorrow Is Yesterday, named after the first episode of Star Trek, was the first comic shop I ever went to. Opening in 1981 and located in Rockford, Illinois I would get to go buy comics there every month or whenever we filled a bucket of crushed cans that we’d cash in and have for an allowance.

When I was young the place seemed so large and packed head to toe with comics. I remember picking up the “Death of Robin” and a Frank Miller issue of Daredevil (I just thought the cover was cool).

Once I got in high school and was able to drive, I frequented the place more often and found myself getting exposed to more indie comics and master’s of the medium. It was here that I started getting a better appreciation for Jack Kirby through some cheap reprints. I also started picking up everything by this guy named Mike Allred, who was creating this really off beat comic called Madman.

After I moved up to Minneapolis I was exposed to so many more stores. We really have a great selection of comic shops in the Twin Cities. You really can find anything you’d ever want up here. When I’d come home I’d head back to TIY and while I still loved it, I realized they could only do so much with the store being located in Rockford, which has a small but respectable comic following. As the years moved along I could slowly see a shift in direction from the comics to the gaming. It was still a good store, it just wasn’t the same store I knew growing up. In November I went home for Thanksgiving and hit the store one last time. I had noticed almost all the new comics were gone. They told me it was due to a huge sale, but I had my suspicions a change was coming.

As of January 1st, under new ownership, the store will now be called Top Cut Comics. It seems the focuse will be more on playing cards games, and hold tournaments at the shop. This has been the case for a while and I wish the new store owners nothing but the best. I just hope they try to keep some of the comic product available to give new people a chance to discover the comic medium.

My favorite TIY memory ever was having a in store signing at the shop in October 2006. A true dream come true.

With the economy the way it is, and the print medium’s future not very bright, I’m sure this is happening to many comic fans all over. It’s a bummer but I really think with the success of digital comics on the IPhone, and the upcoming Apple Tablet are really going to revolutionize the medium.

It would still be nice to have that local hole in the wall store to escape to once in a while. Hopefully we can have it both ways.

Brent