page_title: Midtown Comics
section_title: Signings and appearances
hierarchical_section_title: Midtown Comics / Signings and appearances
caption_attribution_description: English: Comics creators Frank Miller and Greg Capullo sigining a toy Batmobile during an appearance at Midtown Comics Downtown September 17, 2016, the third annual Batman Day, when DC Comics celebrates the creation of the character Batman. This photo was created by Luigi Novi. It is not in the public domain, and use of this file outside of the licensing terms is a copyright violation. If you would like to use this image outside of the Wikimedia projects, you may do so, only if I am properly credited, either by linking the photograph to this page, or with an easily visible credit placed near the photo in each instance in which it is used. Please credit authorship as follows: &#160;© Luigi Novi / Wikimedia Commons. Please maintain the original file name in all uses. You can see a gallery of some of my other photos here. If you have any questions, you can contact me by sending me an email or leaving a note at the bottom of my Wikipedia talk page.
context_page_description: Midtown Comics is a New York City comic book retailer with three shops in Manhattan and an e-commerce website. The largest comic book store in the United States, the company opened its first store in the Times Square area in 1997. Its second was opened on Lexington Avenue in 2004, and is known as the Grand Central store for its proximity to Grand Central Terminal. Its downtown store was opened on Fulton Street in the Financial District in November 2010, and its Astoria, Queens outlet store opened in March 2020. It also used to operate a boutique inside Manhattan's Times Square Toys R Us.
  The store is noted for appearances by celebrities known outside the comic book industry, for its friendly and energetic staff, and for being the most media-friendly comic store in the United States. It was named by The Village Voice in 2012 as the Best Comic Book Store in New York, and has been hailed by CBR.com as "the industry’s leading retailer of comic books, graphic novels and manga." On July 13, 2012, the National Geographic Channel premiered Comic Store Heroes, a reality television program set at Midtown Comics.
context_section_description: Midtown Comics has hosted signings by comic book creators such as Rob Liefeld, Dave Gibbons, Mark Millar and Simone Bianchi, as well as celebrities known outside the comic book industry, such as Amber Benson, Tim Gunn, Fall Out Boy, Olivia Munn, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, filmmaker Kevin Smith actor Zachary Quinto, and civil rights leader and U.S. Congressman John Lewis.
  Although the store normally closes in the evening, it will sometimes hold special midnight releases in order to begin selling certain high-profile books during the first minutes of the Wednesday shipping day, before other stores are able to. These events usually feature store appearances by creators, such as a September 2008 appearance by Peter David and Mike Perkins to promote The Dark Tower: Treachery and The Stand: Captain Trips, and an August 2011 appearance by Jim Lee and Geoff Johns to promote titles related to DC Comics' "Flashpoint" and The New 52 events.
  
  Notable customers who visited the shop have included actress Cate Blanchett and Star Wars creator George Lucas, who visited the shop in March 2015 to browse for Marvel's new Star Wars comics (following the 2012 acquisition of Lucasfilm by Marvel's parent company, Disney, and the resumption of Marvel's license of Star Wars comics for the first time since 1987).
caption: Creators Frank Miller and Greg Capullo signing a toy Batmobile at the store's third annual Batman Day celebration in 2016
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