Matt’s Comic & Nostalgia Shop

I realize my buddy Mondo has departed from this world many years ago, but I just happened on this site and wished to answer some unjust criticism. I knew Mondo when he 1st opened in Hamden, Ct. back in the late 1980's. I was a customer of his for over 15 years following him to Hall st. in Wallingford and finally to North Colony rd. This man was a giant in the comic book industry. He was warm and funny and very knowledgeable in all facets of comics. He was fair, honest, and decent. He would rather you get a better deal somewhere else then have you pay more for him to acquire a specific comic for you. He was a big fan of Roy Rogers and was even invited to stay at his home with Dale Evans. His family has the photos to prove it. There were times I would come in with a coffee for him just so we could trade old stories of Golden and Silver Age comics.

As for staring at young customers, I was there when 2 youngsters were trying to switch bags and prices on an expensive comic. Mondo was the only one there although there were many of us who would come in to discuss present storylines with him. Many times we were his extra eyes, especially if he needed to use the men's room. I remember in Hamden when a young customer kept coming in about a 1st edition comic he had out for $10. The kid kept offering $5, but Mondo said no especially since this kid wasn't a normal customer of his. He even told Mondo he bought his comics at another shop. Then finally, Mondo kidded with me about that comic and the fact that he thought the book was a piece of crap. Sure enough, the kid walked in and Mondo picked up the book from behind the shelf. He proceded to rip it in 2 and gave it to the kid. "It's yours", he said. The kid left dumbfounded. He also liked to shred comics that didn't sell that he thought should have. Amazing Spiderman #40 with the Green Goblin comes to mind. I asked him why and he just smiled. All the pieces were in a glass jar with part of the cover taped to it. The man was a classic. He wasn't in it for money. He just loved to interact with knowledgeable people. I miss the man as do many other comic collectors. There will never be another "Mondo"!

This store has a very large selection and I felt the owner/​cashier to be cheerful, warm and inviting. I have bought most of my collection from this shop. I highly recommend that all of you comic book lovers out there take a visit to this great place.

Owner/​cashier who was working there made me uncomfortable the entire time I was there (staring at me from behind the register as I looked at things), and when I went up and asked if they had a more recent issue of something, he scoffed and said,“you think we’d have that??” Weird. A simple no would’ve sufficed. This could be a more successful store if the owners just sold it.

When my friend and I exit this «establishment» and he says, «That was the worst comic shop I’ve even been to.» You’d better believe him! This is a small little waste of space in the middle of nowhere Wallingford should be the last, and I mean LAST, place you’d ever want to shop for comics. This place is small and there is NO room to walk around. There were already 4 people in the store and I could tell this was already maximum capacity. There were two elderly men speaking with a younger hipster and his hipster nerdy girlfriend. I could tell that they were hipster nerdy (not bad traits alone, but combined are awful), because when my friend needed to get through an aisle (which are only one-​person wide), they didn’t have the forethought or social skills to move out of the way.
But maybe it wasn’t their fault, maybe they were hypnotized by the long, droll story that one of the elderly men was telling them. I know it was long, because he was in mid-​story when we walked into the store and had been still going on without a point for 10 minutes before my friend interrupted him. He must have been the owner, or Matt, or whatever, but I honestly didn’t know if the hipsters or the old men worked there until he asked if we needed to find anything! They were in the middle of the store and I couldn’t make out if one of them was behind a counter, or if they were just on other side of a table of comics. There is a large display that blocks most of this small shop, so you really can’t see from one end to the other, and it’s not even larger than a kitchen!
First my friend looks through some Star Wars comic and «Matt» chuckles and says, «Not what you were expecting, huh?» What the fuck does that mean? How do you know what he was looking for? Then my friend asks if he has any of Grimm’s Fairy Tails, and he starts telling this long tale about how Zenescope called him up PERSONALLY and wanted to sell him a bunch at a discount, but only if he ordered a large amount and blah, blah, blah, and then he said he is better off just ordering it online. Ordering it online??? What comic store tells you to order it online??? Aren’t comic shops and wine stores sort of known for ordering things you are asking for?
When we left he continued his story to his two petrified younger friends. I could only surmise that this man just owns a store that happens to sell comics and that he doesn’t really care about comics at all, at least not since the Silver Age.