Comic Odyssey / CoreTCG

They were great I sold a bunch of my Yu-​Gi-​Oh cards. Everyone there was super helpful and everyone was also super friendly and a great environment and great place!

Review for Core TCG. The place is great. Customer service is pretty dang good, there’s a fair card selection to choose from, and the place is packed whenever I go there. It’s nice to hang out and watch people battle with the decks they have, especially since I’m relatively inexperienced with MTG. However, the prices on some of their stuff is a bit high.

Review for Core TCG. Had a wide variety of cards and supplies. Workers weren’t very helpful. Cluttered everywhere and glass counters were filthy on the top. I wasn’t asked if I needed help or anything, workers just mind their own business while doing whatever they are doing. there is like 10 workers and one guy was searching for the cards I need and it took like 30min. The owner or w. e brings two dogs in, dogs seemed chill tho but still why is there a dog roaming around the place. Manager /​owner/​somebody who was in charge, was yelling at the workers for being lazy and claimed that he is tired of them being unorganized which was kind of weird when a customer is in the store. I’d rather take the drive to Frank and Sons on a wednesday or a Saturday than going to this place. If this place had more helpful employees and were more friendlier I would come here. Came here because it was next to pcc and thought I would give this place a try. Probably last time going here to buy cards. I wouldnt recommend this place to yu gi oh players or vanguard players unless you want to feel unwelcomed by the employees. Better off going somewhere else.

This place split in to two stores. One is a comics store that I have not spent much time in and the other is a trading card store that has the best selection of cards of any brick and mortar that I have been in. The prices on the magic singles are a little expensive but only by a few cents. The employes are not very helpful and some of them are down right rude. But if you are in the area you can get just about any card you want for a decent price.

The card shop portion tried to give me $ 20 for a handful of old and rare Magic cards. I went to a good store afterwards and was given $ 150. I walked in, said hello and was ignored for about 15 minutes while the employees chatted with other customers, when I was finally helped one of the gentlemen grabbed the cards from me, sifted through them much more vigorously than he should have, and finally gave me a cold «20 dollars» and stared at me like I should have been excited to hear that number. I thanked him for his time and walked out, all the while I could hear them laughing as I left. I know Magic players have a stigma of elitism but from the last thing I need from a card shop employee is to feel like he thinks he’s better than me.

Big store, friendly workers.

I would like to say that this place no longer exists!
Instead, they split it into two stores. Owned by separate people of course.
Core TCG is owned by Kenny So, former owner of Comic Odyssey.
As for Collector’s Paradise, the comic book store, no clue. I do know that it’s associated to the Collector’s Paradise in Winnetka.
I opted to not review this place since I was associated with this place for so long in the past. Not so much anymore, but I do keep in touch. So without further ado.

This is a review for the card shop, CoreTCG.
I am a regular at this place but I’ve been going less and less to this place lately and that’s because I’m fed up with the rudeness of the owner and staff. Most of the time, instead of being helpful, they always find some way to over-​complicate things. Last time I was here, I was interested in buying some Yu-​Gi-​Oh product. I inquired about it and was given a quick snobby response. Then, I was completely ignored by Hugo, one of their workers. Everytime I go, I do this and buy things whenever they seem to be in a good mood but that is pretty much never.
They also over-​react when it comes to players buying cards because they are fully-​aware of how overpriced they are. Seriously, buy your stuff on Ebay! My friend simply wanted change for a twenty and the owner started interrogating him and making false accusations and they kicked my friend out. Really? Just give him his damn change and shut your mouth. Don’t want to? Cool, THEN SAY SO and we’ll get change elsewhere.
After the top 8, they kick everyone out of the store and explicitly state that only the top 8 is allowed inside. Then, they turn a blind eye when their non-​employee buddies stay inside.
At this point, I only go because my friends go and because the alternative, legacy, is just as bad. This place is over priced, unfriendly and a disaster.

This review is for the adjoining gaming store.
My room mate and I visited this evening for the first time. We have very little experience with YuGiOh, but my room mate came in to pick up a precon deck for an upcoming game night. The staff is nice and attentive; answered our questions instantly and professionally. Can’t say that for all of the staff, one of them openly dropped f-​bombs and cursing it up like a thug around the children in the store because the golden retriever mix they have in the store wouldn’t stay behind the counter. You aint no thug yo! /​irony
All in all they have fair prices and an excellent selection of TCG cards. I’ll definitely come back.

This is for the card shop next door. (It is not closed down, the store has been seperated into comics and cards.)
Comic Odyssey is THE best place to get your yugioh or mtg cards ever. Everyone there is knowledgeable and friendly. There isn’t a thing that they don’t know. They are well organized and there are a lot of cards to choose from. Especially yugioh. They have a ton of booster packs and singles ready to be bought. Their prices are great, they have a lot of mint first edition cards there that are reasonably priced. If you want a lower priced card, then you can ask for a common one or a slightly played one. That’s giving you options and helps you save money. They also buy cards. Either in singles or in bulk. This is the best place to go to play yugioh or magic as well. There are several tables there that you can just sit down and play on.
If you ever swing by Pasadena, this is THE place to stop by and get good cards.

This is just for the (mtg) Magic the gathering side of the shop, the door is just to the right of the comic odyssey sign.
I came up to la for other things and stopped by here to get some singles. The prices are fair some cheaper then online other a bit more. But no outrageous prices, like one one next to my house. examples are Tooth and nail was $ 10 and booster box for new phyrexia was 95. Tax is not included its (%9.75). Guys behind the desk are friendly/​knowledgeable/​organized/​and most of all fast! i got in there at 7:45 and was out of there, with chatting time added in, at 8:05
Pet the dogs for me!

For the life of me I don’t know how this place stays open. I shopped at this store back when they were at the old Pasadena mall. I popped my head in there when they were next door to the Hooters in old town. Now they split into two stores and it is still kinda sad and desperate in there. I’m not calling anybody racist but I noticed if you’re not a young Asian boy these clerks won’t give you the time of day.

I am a HUGE fan of this shop. Been with Kenny and his crew since they were at the old Pasadena Mall. Followed them through their various locations for one reason only.
Service, service, and service.
I don’t play the card games they host, but whatever merchandise I ask for, they get. Without fail.
The staff knows me and greets me like an old friend, even when I take a couple of months off between visits.
As far as the mascots, Cody always comes around and licks my fingers, while Miki always growls at me.
Miki is a hater.
Comics fans, this is the place to buy your comics, and if you are into gaming, you already know about this place.

Occasionally, you’ll see comic book shops at shopping malls. They’re usually bigger than the ones in other places and have more merchandise but you don’t get the sense that the owners and workers care as much. That’s what Comic Odyssey reminded me of.
The store has a lot of varied merchandise related to comic books, manga, gaming, and animé and the employees were friendly enough but there were many little nuisances that didn’t create a great experience. For example, the aisles were smallish and quite a few of the shelves with the trades and graphic novels were so packed with the books, that I had great difficulty getting the books out. Not bad of a place but if I was looking for something in particular, this would be a back-​up rather than the first place I’d check out.

My friend and I were in Pasadena to go to an event at the convention center and we decided to stop at a few comic book stores in the area.
I think that this place had potential to be a decent store but when we stopped by it was not very satisfactory. There wasn’t a great deal of new comics but there was enough. There was decent amount of back issues and they were organized enough for me to find one recent issue that I decided to buy but it did feel like the boxes were all shoved off to one side to make room for a yugio tournament that was going on. Perhaps it would have been a lot more accessible if I came on another day; maybe the whole store would have been a little bit neater. I didn’t really get a chance to talk to anyone who worked there.
Over-​all the place was so-​so.

(I will say this as a side note… Never have I been so aware that I am a female in a boys world until I walked into this this store. O_​o)
I kinda went on a bad day since there was a tournament just underway. The place was crowded and it was a little loud for me. The place did have a lot of cool posters and figurines on display though! Not to mention the ADORABLE puppies that were so sweet and relaxed even with all the craziness going on around them.
They have a large wall dedicated to graphic novels and new comics. It didn’t seem like there was much else though. I guess this is one of the Magic The Gathering stores. (It’s not a bad thing. It’s just not MY thing.)
The selection of back issues… *sigh* leaves much to be desired. Plus the prices are surprisingly high! In their defense I wasn’t able to get to a large portion of their back issues because it was blocked by the games going on so maybe I will try again on a slower day and be able to update my review. I won’t be going out of my way though.

My son Sasha who is totally into Magic The Gathering gave this place two thumbs up.
Although a bit pricey, service and selection make this a Must Visit place.
Lots of kids there — tons of GeekSpirit :-)

Since even before the recession, comic books stores were disappearing left and right. However, Comic Odyssey has been holding strong being one of the few shops still life around my house.
They sell a lot of new and back issue comics, graphic novels, toys, and Magic trading cards. Overall, the store caters to geeks from all walks of life. Also, it is one of the few comic shops that actually have Asian staffers who are comic lovers.
On Saturdays, they have a lot of Magic players there. If you don’t mind the smell or their geeky aura, then you will be fine coming to a wonderfully arrange store filled with very nice and courteous help from the staff, who aren’t the typical comic book store snobs.

This place was a lot closer than the comic factory. I’m glad to say these guys actually took a look at my comic book collection but didn’t find anything of interest which is OK at least they humored me. Prices on their figures/​figurines and resin statues were a bit high though. I was glad to see lots of new issues and back issues. They had sale sections which are always a plus but didn’t find anything good. Pretty dusty overall. They have a big dog, magic the gathering tables and someone packing stuff into priority boxes to send out in the middle of their store. :/​Oh and when you walk out, you get hit in the face with the smell of steak from houstons LOL.

I remember the old days when the folks at comic odyssey would under order the weekly new books and then go to Comic Galaxy down Atlantic to pick up more.
That alone describes what’s wrong with Comic Odyssey. They don’t seem to really focus on comics. The place should be called «Play Magic: tg here!» They do have a lot of room for the card games. So if you’re into that, by all means, this will be your mecca.
But when it comes to comics they lack completely. The back issues aren’t very helpful and the prices seem to be a bit outrageous.
Parking isn’t very easy even if it’s in a plaza. Mainly because it’s right between a flower shop that seems to always have large trucks or trash bins in the way.
If you’re in the area, you’re better off going to Comic Factory just a few miles down on Colorado Blvd than here. Better selection there as well as more indie comics and the customer service is top notch.