Outer Planes Comics & Games

I have been going to OP for years, before they even had MTG lifestyle as a partner of the MTG department. Shawn, a part owner, is the only reason me or any of my play group go back. He is the most knowledgeable MTG player I have ever met. But the choice of new hires has been awful, if you dont talk to an owner or Shawn, you will get shafted. Trade ins--dont bother, rather sell on the side and not get 8 dollars for a 50 dollar card. I'm sad to say yesterday was my last day going to OP, i told my play group what happened and they want nothing to do with the store anymore either. Went in with a 15 card list that i wanted to pick up, 2 people in front of me, took 40 mins. They continued to help other customers over me for 40 mins, till another staff member came out and asked why i wasn't helped yet. The prices he dared tried to give me after all of this were outrageous. He then said if all that time spent looking for these cards were waisted if i didnt buy them. Mentioning how mad he would be if i didnt buy them. Total was more then double what online stores were going to be, including shipping, this is why i was hesitant to buy the cards. i ended up buying them and leaving. Theres another shop 10 minutes away with a very friendly staff charging market prices, and who cares about the returning customers. I asked what they would have charged for the cards and it was a few dollars over market price, with some cards being under. The owners son was in is car when he left on a phone call, he got out of the car and put his phone down to tell to have a good day. My girlfriend said that she felt stared at when we went to OP and was uncomfortable. But at the place down the road, she felt respected and not a piece of meet to the staff and customers. The son went out of his way to say that, this is what OP use to be. Im very sad times have changed, but i would rather support the LGS owned by a family who cares. OP has dominated over this other store since the beginning, and i hope that this may help the other LGS shine bright again.

I really enjoy this comic shop! They have really great books, and other items to buy and the staff are totally down to earth, and will chat and get to know you.

First of all, let me say this is a review for the board game portion of the store – I’m not into comics. The store is primarily a comic book store, but there’s a decent selection of board games and if they don’t have it in stock, they are happy to order it for you.
The owner of the store, Dan, is a great guy who lets us play board games every Weds in their large section of tables in the back free. The store also has a selection of snacks and drinks available for purchase at reasonable price which are handy when playing games for hours.

This is the story of experience. No accusations of guilt on any party will be made in this review. My wife and nine-​year-​old son went to the store on January 2, 2016. My son bought $ 29.94 in merchandise. He had $ 55 cash, he handed the guy at the register all of us cash since he is still learning how to use money. My wife and son then left to go get dinner, in the car my wife asked where is your change. He then handed her six cents. She asked him where the rest was, he said that’s all he gave me mom. He then realize that he was missing money. He cried uncontrollably for two hours after realizing his money was missing. The manager was not very helpful after the situation. I did talk to the owner who is also not very helpful, at first. He finally offered that my son could come in and pick out up to $ 25 of merchandise. My son is too scared to return to the store.

Great local place to game — Magic, D&D, Pathfinder, you name it – they sell, play and provide tournaments, news, community events, etc.
OP has a great inventory of cards, a HUGE selection of comics and stacks of board games, miniatures, paints, accessories and everything the tabletop adventurer needs to get their hobby on. They’ll order anything they don’t have and even offer a discount day for board games… Pretty cool!
Sadly, a popular local hangout attraction like this is bound to attract a malcontent or two, with the inevitable social media online smear campaign.
I’ve also found the people working here to be very friendly, willing to make an extra effort to be helpful and courteous; not at all rude or genre-​ignorant as some people have posted here. Many of these negative reviews sound a lot like a loosely organized effort to hurt the shop by emotionally challenged nerdrage types (you always get at least one or two in a big gaming group). Couple that with a locally owned and employed mom & pop small business that doesn’t pay for Unilocal ‘adjustments’ and only 30-​odd reviews, it doesn’t take much to hurt their rating.
Such is the problem with Unilocal,and a side effect of providing a community service and hangout — no good deed goes unpunished, as they say… Docking stars for not having an Amazon warehouse selection or cutthroat online prices is unreasonable of a retail shop. Support your local retailers.

After trying to shop at this store multiple times I have given up. It is less expensive and often easier to find and purchase games online. Dearest Outer Planes, if you are going to succeed as a physical store then you need to realize that you must provide something that can not be bought online. Friendly staff who are knowledgeable about the product and industry should be MINIMAL requirements.
I love games. I buy games regularly and I really WANT to support a local business but the employees at Outer Planes are seriously inept. Perhaps they are knowledgeable when it comes to comics, but when it comes to games they have no clue. If you only want mainstream Warhammer, Magic, Pathfinder or D&D then you MIGHT be able to find it here. But don’t count on it. The store is filthy, disorganized and you might be able to find what you’re looking for. If not, then don’t bother asking an employee because they are rude.
Shortly after the Ennie Awards, I asked if they had Monte Cooks «The Strange». The first thing I had to do was explain to the Outer Planes «GAME EXPERT» who Monte Cook is. Then I had to explain what the ENNIE’s were, and then he told me that if it was a popular game then they’d get it eventually… Gosh… thanks!
Once I asked about a game from Green Ronin (Fantasy Age) and the guy told me that it is not in the system so it doesn’t exist. … ok… thanks. I’ve tried to get a Arkham Horror expansion but couldn’t find it at Outer Planes so I drove to San Rafael to get it at GameScape!
Recently I called Outer Planes to ask about The One Ring by Crucible 7 games. Again, I had to explain what the book title was several times. At one point the guy on the phone said in a frustrated tone «I’m going to put you on hold because I have a customer». I thought I was a customer?! Hello? Eventually he came back on phone, asked again what the title of the game was. Finally he asked me «Is that like … one of those Pathfinder games?» It’s called THE ONE RING. Hello? Have you heard of Tolkien? You work at a game store!
I’m done with this Outer Planes. I’m not going to waste my time on them anymore. I’d rather spend a half hour driving down to GameScape just so I’m not supporting these fools that work at Outer Planes.

I just had my first positive comic experience ever in this store. If it had been my first one, I’d give the place a solid four stars. Previously, it had a mental negative score, too low to review.
Background: I fucking love comics. I have zero interest in superhero comics, but I’ll buy anything Stan Sakai or Jim Woodring write. I have a fourteen year old son who also loves comics. Chew. Persepolis. Walking Dead. We walk by this place twice a week to eat at Haku or Brasa, or get ice cream at Shuffles. About once a month we bother to remark on how much Outer Planes sucks. Just this side of spitting on the ground when we pass. We literally live four blocks away, and if the Comic Box was this close, we’d have to eat out less often.
This disgust is based on only two or three visits (people learn fast), where we’d ask for, say, an Usagi Yojimbo trade paperback, and the guy (not a clerk, shopkeeper, or salesman… just a guy) would say, «I don’t know what that is. I’m more into the gaming side.» And walk away.
So today, my kid had a book assignment for his Art Quest English class to read a memoir, but the teacher wouldn’t accept Maus or Persepolis, since he’d read them 7 and 3 times respectively. The vintage Baron Munchausen with the Dore illustrations was also rejected, for being entirely made of lies. I’m pretty sure the kid presented it in exactly those terms. He needs to learn to dissemble a bit himself.
So I thought — Joe Sacco. War reportage is kind of like a memoir, and even Outer Planes would have it. Definitely legit shit my kid would dig. They’re open till 10, which is fantastic, but I’ve never taken advantage of the convenience. Why would I? I’ve painted my share of lead figures, but that was a long time ago.
I looked through the books, and instantly noticed that something had changed. Saga? Saga’s excellent. An Eisner display at the front counter, with books I’d never seen? This is new. Two linear feet of The Walking Dead? Lots of good stuff, alphabetical by title, which is some rudimentary organization, mixed in with standard Marvel bullshit (if you like it, they got it). Interesting.
After finding nothing for Palestne, or Safe Area Goradze, the only two Sacco titles I could recall offhand, I asked if the guy filing comics worked there. He did. And he knew comics. He LIKED comics! He took me to the front of the store where they have the comics for grown ups (not the Adults — different section, includes The Bible), and recommended some good stuff I didn’t know about, including a direct hit on my battleship — different artists writing stories about their childhoods, called Streetwise. «And by the way, we’re clearing out some older stuff to make way for new stuff — Spiegelman for six bucks, that’s a good deal. Guys similar to what you were looking for, Adrian Tomine, not really a memoir, but based on his life…»
i bought both recommendations, and marked some things for later, both bargain bin and new TPBs. I can see this place becoming a 4 star comic store. I’ll still drive to the Comic Box, but having a decent store in the neighborhood… That would be nice. No promises, but I am an adult with a job and a teenage child, who will drive to Rohnert Park or San Francisco (The Isotope, Mission Comics, Green Apple Books) for a decent comic experience.

Just the worst.
I really want to support these guys considering what they offer, but I can’t support their practices and the customers/​gamers they facilitate.
They have a large selection of comics and games — most notably Magic the Gathering. They have a huge area for gaming with tons of tables and seating. Unfortunately if you want to play any of the other games, or you’re not in with their group, you get treated very poorly by their staff as well as the local players.
Since I know nothing about comics, I figured this would be a gold mine. I had various questions like where to start, but I was met with was sarcastic remarks and disinterest from the employee.
I’ve tried to purchase clearly marked items in their case but had an employee pull it out and try and quickly research the item on the internet then mark it up. I’m fine with paying what am item goes for, but don’t display prices if you don’t intend on honoring them.
Again, this seems like it would be a great place to come and play or get comics, but I guess for me we just didn’t fit.

I went in to buy a board game, Dominion. It is $ 30 on Amazon. Their price? $ 45. 150% of Amazon’s. $ 35 would be fine. I was hoping it would be $ 30 like Amazon or maybe even cheaper. But 50% higher is way too high.

The store has a great selection, but the comic store and the accompanying toy store, The Carbonite Chamber need to learn customer service. When you call the store, they don’t even say anything except hello. They are not very helpful and the prices are ridiculous!
Update: I contacted the store to suggest it needs to work on its customer service, the owner then proceeded to attack me verbally. I will definitely not be back at this establishment and I highly recommend Brian’s Comics in Petaluma, CA or Comics FTW in Santa Rosa. Both stores have incredibly nice owners, are much nicer and don’t smell like body odor and weed! And they also know how to treat a paying customer!

First time in this store they have a large section of comics. I came into the store to find magazine covers. The clerk was friendly and helped us right away. Great buy 100 covers for $ 7.99 cant beat it.

A great place to go if you’re looking for anything from comics, games, cards, and other random things. Also, now that they have the Carbonite Chamber toy store inside, it just adds to everything. The environment has greatly improved over the past few months, and looks like it will keep doing so.

Please take some time to clean the place up? It smells bad, looks bad, and only seems to attract the kind of people that I really don’t want my son hanging out with.
We really want a place in Santa Rosa to support (buy stuff and hang out) and get involved with Warhammer, but so far this place is not it. Staff is nice, but the owne needs to get enthused about his business and step it up … Please.

My friend and I had a stuffed dinner across the street at Brasa, so we decided we wanted to walk it off. I saw a sign that said COMICS, so we decided to give it a try. Funny thing is that my friend was just talking to another co-​worker this week about possibly starting to collect comics, in their 30s.
After browsing for a little bit, I asked him «where do you even start?» He decided that it would be a great question to ask Alex, the extremely helpful gal that works here. Somewhere along the line, I joined the club. We told Alex what type of stories we liked, and she knew exactly which comics to introduce. She gave us the rundown of the storyline, and we picked from there. Her and Dan were helpful, and we left with a handful to start. Morning Glories and East of West were my choices. Let’s see if I get hooked.
I wouldn’t be surprised to find myself back at this comic store the next time I’m in the area. Oh goodness… I guess it’s never too late to start a new hobby!
P. S. There were a ton of tables and chairs in the back, and a bunch of randoms sitting at one of the tables. I’m guessing you can share comics or play games here as well? Would love to come back and check that out next time.

Still don’t like this place but it’s getting downgraded because of it’s restroom. I cannot believe the state of it. Smelled like straight a$$ when I walked in, had a huge ladder pushed up against the wall, empty toilet paper rolls all over the floor, AND THE WORST PART was the MOUNTAIN of paper towels/​toilet paper in the corner. One piece even had poop on it and was just thrown into the trash. I could have puked. I understand that it’s a bunch of Magic and D/​D nerds but holy crap, no one should ever have to be subjected to this restroom.

This place it’s one of my favorite when I want to play with friends read some comics. The place looks pretty neat. A lot of different comics. The more I go to this place the better it gets. They always have cool ideas. The guys there are friendly. Pretty cool nerdy place. I love it.

Outer Planes gets two stars instead of one strictly because of how big it is. Although I do not play tabletop games, I can appreciate such a large space for people to come together to play. Seeing any sort of thriving community always warms my heart.
Outer Planes ONLY gets two stars because of how incredibly RUDE a majority of the employees are. I was there today with my husband, as a matter of fact. I wanted to purchase the first and second issues of a new comic called Outcast, partially written by Robert Kirkman of The Walking Dead fame. I love the Walking Dead graphic novels and was eager to pick up something new by Robert Kirkman. My husband went to the counter to ask if they had the first issue in stock since all we saw was the second. «Nope. We had like, fifty of them but they sold out quick because what’s-his-name’s name is on it. The Walking Dead guy.» The employee and the manager then go on to give unsolicited opinions about how such and such work of his is better than this new one, which isn’t so great, etc. I just picked up the issue, put it back, and didn’t buy anything.
It’s just basic good customer service to not talk disparagingly about a product a customer wants to buy from you. Even though it’s not YOUR favorite, it could become a favorite to a customer who MIGHT come back to buy issues monthly if you don’t act like a jerk. You know how you could have gotten me to leave with something in my hands? «You know, we’re out of Outcast issue one right now but have you heard of _​_​_​_​_​by Robert Kirkman? I think it’s one of his best works! Can I show you the first issue or tell you a little bit about it?» It’s not rocket science. And I’m, by far, not the first person to experience condescension at the hands of these folks.
I WANT to spend money here, but I don’t wanna have to deal with Comic Book Guy and Co, to be honest. Work on your soft skills.

Let’s get through the «Pros» section first, because it will be fairly brief:
–Lot’s of play area for board games/​MTG
–Solid selection in comics and board games
–Good location
And now on to the «Cons» section:
–Slim tabletop RPG selection. Fair amount of Pathfinder stuff, but everything else is very hit-​or-​miss. Came in looking for the Starter Box for D&D Next, and was advised by the single most condescending and disinterested game store employee in the world that they weren’t planning to carry it. I hope she was just mistaken, but it seems insane that a gaming store wouldn’t carry the current edition of D&D.
–As referenced above, generally pretty terrible service. There is one guy who works there who is genuinely helpful and pleasant to talk to. The rest of the staff is awful: Somehow both woefully uninformed and holier-​than-​thou simultaneously.
–This is par for the course in many game stores, but certainly worth noting: The play room smells heavily of old piss.
Overall, I would love to be able to spend my money here, as they are the most conveniently-​located comic and game shop. It takes a lot to make me prefer throwing my money at Amazon to spending it with the FLGS, but the staff at Outer Planes have managed to make me do it (if I can’t find what I’m looking for at a more personable local establishment like Brian’s Comics, Comic Book Box, or Comics FTW, of course).

I used to always requent over the years as they moved from location to location, but as of late I’ve found it difficult to use them.
It’s great to have a local business that offers collectables and comics, and so many tables available for open games.
The staff can come off either helpful and friendly or just downright rude.
I’ve had two experiences where I’ve found cards that were clearly marked at a specific price and asked to purchase the card. The clerk then turned around, looked up the card online, then immediately adjusted the price at a higher rate. While I can understand its difficult to maintain the prices of collectables, especially with the quantity that they have, I feel a little cheated when this happens. Especially when the cleark also comes off smug and rude when doing so.
I love to support local businesses, but I’m not sure what I’m supporting sometimes when I come to this store, but sometimes I feel like I don’t have to deal with the rudeness when the internet is just as convinient…

A nice selection of board and card games. Comics, too, but that is not my thing. If they do not have what you want, they gladly do special orders, which is nice, too.
The staff is surprisingly knowledgeable, considering how many games they carry and generally friendly, though, like everyone, they do have their moments.
They have lots of free table space. Drop in board games on Wednesday nights and once a month, all day on Saturday (once a month, I think the third Saturday but check their website since they list all of their events there). Public bathroom which is functional, if not terribly clean.
They really go out of their way to make you feel welcome — although they are certainly not afraid to play the «support us, we are local card.» Not that I disagree, I like to support local business over
, but sometimes I feel like they are a _​bit_​in-​your-​face about it – not that I blame them. They provide a nice service and if we want to continue to have that, we should support it.

I go here mostly for board games as they have the best selection in town.
Customer Service is not very good in my experience. I’ve been ignored almost every visit, had my questions incorrectly answered (better than standing up or talking, I guess), heard sexist and rape jokes from the staff (when I complained he said «I didn’t know anybody was in here»). The few women I have taken there are not comfortable, and that is not as typical as it used to be. The place seems an anachronistic throwback to the halcyon fanboy days of years past where the customers weren’t cool and girls weren’t allowed. Time to integrate.
I typically prefer to use local merchants but I think I’ll be sticking to the internet until a new alternative presents itself.