A new weekly feature here at Thepullbox will geekdom’s own Ana Aesthetic giving her take on the world from a fangirl’s point of view. She recently did a review of The Dark Knight of Thepullbox that was greatly appreciated and well-received by our readers.

She would love to field your questions and get feed back, you can either contact here through ThePullbox here or at her myspace.

You could call me a Florida native. From 1999 up until January of this year, I lived in Orlando, and before that, grew up down in South Florida. Earlier this year, the boy and I decided to take our career paths to a new level and took jobs in Mobile, Alabama. I had never really lived outside of Florida (with the exception of being born in the artic tundra known as Minnesota, but was transplanted to the state of endless sun early on in my life) and the thought of leaving my comfort zone was terrifying and exhilarating at the time same. What would my new co-workers be like? What tasty local cuisine would I get to experience? Where would I buy my comics? I mean, do they even sell comics in Alabama? Maybe they’re banned, like sex toys.

Well, the first two I had no chance of finding out until I got there, but I figured I could start my hunt for the local comic shops before I sealed my final box and hit the proverbial road. A little google maps to the rescue:

www.google.com – Mobile, AL comic shop

Ground Zero

KC Comics

Gold Dragon Comics

Sincere Comics

Alright, not a shabby list to choose from! I was well on my way to starting my new pull box.

Fast forward a few weeks, that is, day two after hauling all of my junk up to Mobile. Let’s go on an adventure, I said. Let’s go get some comics!

Off we went down the road to Ground Zero. No sign of it being in the strip mall, maybe we got the address wrong. Nope, correct address. A Vietnamese nail salon had taken over.

Ok, well, let’s check out KC Comics, that’s right around the corner.

Hmm… another nail salon. What alarming trend is this?

Off to Gold Dragon! They sounded promising on the phone, the only story I actually called before starting out on my trek. Only thing is I didn’t bother to check if they sold comics. They just sell role playing games. At least now I know where to get my 100-sided die.

Ok, last but not least! Sincere… was simply not there.

What is this treachery! Not a single comic shop? I mean, now I know where to go get my nails, but unless they’re serving up the latest issue of Detective Comics with that pedicure, I’m not interested.

We eventually found one shop, about 45 minutes away in the southern most region of the county across the Bay. They repaired computers, and in a small office off the main room, sold a limited selection of comics. As wonderful as it was they were trying to fill an empty void, it was too far a drive and not that great of a selection to warrant my weekly outings.

There were also several shops across the state line in Pensacola, Florida. Amazing shops. Big shops, Huge selection of title shops. But again, I’m not driving an hour and a half to get my weeklies. The guys at TBS were kind and said they could start a pull box for me, ship out my books when I need them, and even offered a discount. I thought about taking up their proposition, but I never turned the paper back in.

Now, I know what you’re probably thinking – why even go to a comic store when there are endless shops online for me to get my favorite titles and read up on all the great new books that could slip from my fingers. Most online stores even offer a 10 to 20 percent discounts (the same most brick and mortar shops give if you have a pull box with them); it’s an incentive to cut away from the shipping costs, I guess (and have you ever had to ship a month worth of titles to someone? It ain’t cheap!).

I just can’t do it! There’s something about going into a store, thumbing through the new titles, catching up on back issues and glancing through trades of series I may have over looked before that you just don’t get by ordering online. The whole experience of going to your neighborhood comic book store is not something the online world could ever replace.

We eventually found Mobile’s only comic shop. A tiny little space tucked away in the back at the local flea market. The guys who run the place are great, real fans, surprisingly big selection and they never looked at me twice because I was a girl buying comics that didn’t contain the words “Liberty” or “Meadows” in it. The comic shop is only open on the weekends (and briefly during Wednesday’s deliveries) though, the same hours the flea market keeps.

Too bad it’s the same hours the boy and I work.