Alien Worlds

Love this place. Always friendly staff and they sell their figurines at a fairer price then most places.
I have always enjoyed going here.
Typically I do t have to go anywhere else for my graphic novels. They have a good variety and I always end up leaving with some kind of merchandise.
I actually bought a captain America figurine here and it was a great price!

This place has earned my loyalty.
I moved here months ago from DFW, and I was using the online mailing service of the Lone Star Comics and I hated the idea of giving them more money knowing the types of people who own that company.
I started branching out and trying to find that special place where I would willing to drop by once a week for my fix.
My first place I tried was Dragon’s Lair, after one Wednesday afternoon spent trying to get out of that parking lot I decided that the time fighting traffic was well spent. The uniforms and bland recommendations on what was new and worth while didn’t work for me.
I then checked out the other Alien Worlds location and it was just too out of the way from me.
While at my local Half Price Books searching through the comics for rarities they didn’t realize the value of another customer and I struck up a conversation about comic shops in the area and he recommended the 410 location.
The 410 location is exactly what I was looking for. Somewhere that has excellent customer service, makes it a point to know you, and doesn’t feel like a McDonalds of comics. I was a patron of this store for about a month when my favorite writer released a new series I didn’t know about, I called in a panic the next day expecting them to be out and they absolutely were, but they had actually pulled a copy for me and put it in my pull box. This completely won me over. When I couldn’t pick up my comics for a month, not a problem, «I know you’re good for it» is what they said. I wound up dropping $ 80 on a fat stack that I’m still working to get through. They keep me up to date now on who’s making what. They know what kind of comics I like and that I have a deep hatred for Rob Liefeld.
Most of all they’re up front about their opinions on comics but are able to look objectively and recommend stuff that I might like that they wouldn’t particularly care for. And not about moving as much product rather than keeping the customer happy and coming back to spend more. They take the time out of their day to converse with me and tell me about all the things that I might give a damn about.
This Little Store has a Big Heart and that’s worth more than uniforms and the retail BS to me.

The Good:
This is a very convenient place to satisfy my nerd cravings a bit when I don’t want to venture further into town. You have to put it into perspective that it is meant to be a sort of sideshow to your movie experience and maybe a bit more if you become a returning fan like me but it was never meant to be a full fledged large comic store which they do have further into town if that’s what you want. With that said they do a great job for what they are. There is a nice variety of basic nerd hobby needs from acrylic paints and x-​acto knives to games and collectibles. They will let you borrow gaming mats and tryout a lot of games before you buy them if they have a store copy which is fantastic because who likes dropping $ 40 on a game only to find out it’s bad?
The employees are reasonably knowledgeable and very helpful. They don’t tend to bug you unless you ask for help which is probably because most of the people passing through here are just curious movie goers that don’t want to be bugged. On the other hand if you do ask for help they do a good job at trying to stick with you until you are happy. They even helped me carry my stuff. I asked them for information that wasn’t even exactly store related like where and when I can find certain tabletop groups and they helped me out for which I owe them a big thank you.
It’s nice that you can setup a tabletop game there and there is a bar right across the hall to help you relax when your opponent is nerd raging lol, but they are also easygoing about outside drinks which I mention because if you take one step out of the comic store while holding a tea you bought from the gamer’s lounge and simply hadn’t finished yet you will get yelled down by power tripping drafthouse employees so just leave it in the comic store when you go to get your beer.
The Bad:
It’s iffy to call this «bad» exactly but the prices are all exactly retail, not even 1 dollar off, ever. For instance a Star Wars Armada Core Set’s retail value is exactly $ 99.99 and so that’s what the store charges for it even though you can get it on Amazon new for $ 59.65 with free shipping and similar prices virtually anywhere. I realize that a real store has a lot of overhead and they are offering a lot of customer service and free services like gaming tables where you can come and play with your friends for free and for these reasons I personally choose to buy a LOT of my stuff from them. It’s just part of my value system to help support places like this so they don’t go away, but ya for what it’s worth the prices are not «good.»
It is not very wheelchair convenient if that matters to you but they don’t have a lot of space to work with so I imagine they are between a rock and a hard place on that one. I think they do the best they can with what they have though.
Overall:
A fun and friendly place to go for a basic collection of a good variety of nerd hobby needs and for somewhat limited tabletop gaming. They have themed nights like board games where you can go to meet people with shared interests so that’s great if you want to make new friends and pick up some cool merchandise while you’re there. It’s in a good location around other entertainment like the theater, gamer’s lounge and bars so if you are looking for some fun it can’t hurt to at least try it then browse the area before you go home.

Go catch a movie at the ALAMO, and just mossie in afterwards to check out the huge, Yes HUGE selection of comics and games. Something for every age. The comics come in a bag already. I figure its cause they know your kids greasy little hand is going to be all over it after the movie. Smart. Staff was helpful and knew their stuff. Close to Marbach and 410.

Coming in here expecting a five-​star service experience is like going to McDonald’s and expecting them to pull out the chair for you. It’s not going to happen. But if you’re just a person who wants to skim through some comics, maybe buy a nerdy t-​shirt or check out the collectibles, Alien Worlds is for you. I agree with the previous Unilocaler about Heroes & Fantasies being THE place to get all your comic book needs but Alien Worlds has a decent selection to flip through. The thing that I love about Alien Worlds is the art by local artists for sale inside. Pretty reasonable and always cool.

First, the positive part:
1) The shopkeeper was nice and tried to be helpful (which is the only reason they have 2 stars instead of just 1).
Unfortunately, the bad:
1) The selection sucks.
2) The shopkeeper, while he made an effort, didn’t really have any good answers and didn’t seem to know his products that well.
The ugly (but neutral):
1) He offered to call their other location to see if they had any of the things I was looking for to save me a drive. I gladly accepted… the other location told him they were too busy to help and hung up. I can’t actually hold that against this location, and I’m not writing a review of the other location to mention it since I never went there, but it’s worth listing to give you an idea of how the business is run.
I won’t return.

In the city of San Antonio you have very few options in comic store. While Heroes and Fantasies has always been the Kingpin of this town, I had always viewed Alien Worlds as a good competitor.
Those days are over.
I walked in to what I can only describe as a small closet of a comic store, attached like some kind of growth on it’s neighbor The Alamo Drafthouse. Aside from the gaming that was attempting to take place in the already cramped quarters, not a single person (in which I couldn’t tell the employees from the gamers) could be disturbed to look up from their fantasy role play to even greet me. Perhaps if I had wandered in with a pointy had and long staff I would have gotten more attention.
Disregarding the total lack of reception, I set about looking for a single trade issue of House of Mystery. The best way I can think to describe the ease of finding anything at all in the store is this. Imagine you decide to open a comic store, and you hire your sweet little 4 year old niece as the shelf stocker. It takes her a week to finish, and when you inspect her work you can’t be sure if she tried to arrange comics by color, by size, or by which ones were the prettiest. It was anything but alphabetic or by publisher.
I think I saw the new comics on a fold out picnic table, but I’m not too sure as it was on the other side of the gamers. The best part about the store is that you can walk in to the Alamo Drafthouse from inside Alien Worlds, see a movie, and forget that you were ever there.