The Wednesday Waffle 4th February 2026: Comics in a time of Crisis

There always seems to be a crisis of some sort going on in comics. Inside the pages of our favourite books we've had a Crisis on Infinite Earths, two Civil Wars, Invasions, Infernos, a Cataclysm, a Galactic Storm, at least one Armageddon and a final crisis. And that's just off the top of my head. A crisis seems to be the default setting for comics, and if we're honest we wouldn't have it any other way.

More than 40 years old, the classic Crisis on Infinite Earths cover...

Then there are the seemingly never-ending crises in the industry itself. From the censorious days of Wertham's Seduction of the Innocent through the "DC Implosion" to the speculator boom of the nineties, Marvel's bankruptcy woes, the rise of the insidious ComicsGaters and a myriad of other problems people have been predicting the death of comics for much, much longer than the forty odd years I've been reading them. So far they seem to be weathering the storm...

These fictional and existential crises are not what I'm talking about today, however. Like most independent comics stores Desties is a small, family business. These days (and probably always) this means that we are only ever a couple of problems away from going under. (Don't panic, this isn't an announcement...) Of course, there is an upside to this - while it is true that a relatively small problem could potentially take us down it is also true that such problems are usually solvable. Just like the comics industry, so far we seem to be weathering the storm.

After all, we survived Brexit, at least one currency crash and the worst global pandemic since 1918. We almost didn't. Indeed we've almost gone under at least twice in the ten years I've been in charge. But here we are, still here and still kicking. A large part of this is stubbornness of course - I love comics, and I love every aspect of owning a comic store. I simply wouldn't let it go without a fight and perhaps that has meant that once or twice I've stuck to it when, had I been less invested I would have been sensible enough to walk away.

However, while Desties is one of the most important things in my life it is not the most important thing in my life. We are a family business after all, and sometimes things happen with your family and you just have to drop everything and go. The problem we have had is that over the last few years there have been a lot of things that have happened that have required me to just "drop everything and go". The effect of this on a business that is as small as ours is both clear and cumulative - but it is what is is and there is nothing to be done about it.

Bigger comic stores - even the cool independent ones - have enough staff that they can absorb the off random absence. Smaller stores like ours don't have that resilience. We only have two members of staff, so if one of us disappears there is only one person who can step in and fill the void and as the owner of Destination Venus I want to take this opportunity to thank Alice who has been doing a lot of stepping up and stepping in over the last few years. Indeed, on her literal first day we were less than an hour into her first shift when I got a call that had me dropping everything and leaving instantly.

I'm lucky to have her, but it would be unreasonable to expect her to turn up for unscheduled overtime every time I call - and even if it wouldn't the business can't afford the extra hours indefinitely. If you've been wondering about our erratic opening hours lately, that's the reason for them.

Of course if we're not open as much as we would normally be we have fewer opportunities to sell things to our customers, which makes the business less viable economically. In this way dealing with one crisis can lead to a whole new crisis.

I am not complaining, you understand - far from it. At the miserable end of my toughest day, whether I've been in the shop or not, I am still the owner of a comic store. I still get to go to work and talk to an amazing bunch of customers about amazing comics. I'm not telling you all of this because I reckon I deserve sympathy or support. I'm telling you this by way of explanation.

The crisis I am currently facing means I am going to have to spend a portion of every week in Cambridge, which is a two and a half to three hour drive. There's no way around it and I can't be in two places at once. Nor, as I said, can the business afford an increase in staff costs - one of the advantages of working in the store myself is that I don't have to pay me. I cannot (and will not) ask anyone else to work for free, which means if I have to be absent on a day that is not normally covered by my long suffering and much appreciated staff? Well then, we just have to close.

All of this is a long winded way of saying that for the next several weeks Destination Venus will be closed on Fridays. That will reduce the days we are open to Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday. We don't make this change lightly, and we will get back to (and hopefully even expand on) our regular hours as soon as we can. In the meantime we apologise for any inconvenience this may cause, but I thought that it would be better to be consistent rather than randomly closing on different days at short notice and with no schedule.

There are up sides, of course. Having an extra day of the week when I am not in the shop and far away from other distractions will give me some time to dedicate to this very website. With any luck we'll get our online store up and running again just that little bit faster.

With luck, the current crisis will be the last one we face and we can get back to normal before too long. In the meantime I'd like to thank everyone involved with Desties - customers, staff, suppliers, even people who randomly walk past and make comments about The Big Bang Theory. We appreciate you all very much.