In Memoriam: Another Dimension

I was very disappointed to learn that one of my local comic shops - Another Dimension - is closing its doors at the end of April. Although I haven't been a regular shopper there in a decade I always felt it was the best comic book store in the city.

Before I even lived in Calgary, Another Dimension was the shop I most enjoyed visiting when my family would come to Calgary. In the early 1990s there were a lot of comic shops in Calgary (Another Dimension had more than one store in that day) but a number of elements at Another Dimension made a big impression-- they carried virtually every new comic book being published, they carried a library of trade paperbacks and they had a vast well-organized selection of back issues.

When I moved to the city Another Dimension wasn't the nearest shop (there were two other stores geographically much closer to my home) but it became the one I visited most often, thanks in part to it being nearby SAIT, where I attended college. I have happy memories of traipsing to Another Dimension in between classes so that I could delve into back issues. I also recall reading some comics on campus after a visit there, particularly an issue of the mini-series Blaze of Glory that I read in the SAIT library during my practicum.

In time, I moved to other parts of the city and Another Dimension became the nearer shop. I opened up a file at the store and was pleasantly surprised that unlike other shops in the city where I'd previously had files, I didn't have to pay a fee to open the file and I didn't get pushback if someone put the wrong book into my file. If they made a mistake, they apologized (there are other shops in the city that seem to think the customer is always wrong).

Eventually my relationship with the shop changed, in part because of my own career at Marvel Comics, especially writing for the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe. I now needed access to all kinds of back issues that I would normally never have sought out. I vividly recall buying a stack of issues for research that included an issue of Nighstalkers. At the till, my friend Riley held up that comic at me then slowly shook his head in disbelief.

Riley Rossmo was another part of what changed; he was a clerk at Another Dimension, but he was also a rising comic book artist. Because I knew him personally, I started following his career as of his Image series Proof. Although our careers in comics were very different, he and I always supported and boosted each other. One of my fondest memories is from the year when the Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo declined to grant me a table in their artist's alley; instead, Another Dimension offered to have me sign at their booth, next to Riley. That one just one of many conventions where I encountered Riley and they were always fun.

Since quitting my job at Marvel and buying my own home (thus moving far from any comic shops) I haven't had the need or time to visit Another Dimension. I'm very sad to see the shop go - it was the best.