Travelling Man

I love indie businesses like Travelling Man, they care about what they do. This is a friendly store where that staff have lots of knowledge and offer a great selection of products.
They get all sorts of hard to find, interesting or imported items — the Totoro hand puppets last year made the best Christmas tree toppers. It’s a great place to browse and find something new to try, if you have something in mind and don’t see it out, ask. Often books can be ordered in or sent from another branch.
It’s always a pleasure to go to a place with the personal touch, rather than the rather soulless Waterstones on Deansgate. If you’re curious or thinking about getting into board or card games, comics or manga then give Travelling Man a go. For the die hard fan, you probably know about this place already ;)

TM Saved my interest in games and such…
I went into the shop with a friend to try and get into gaming a little as have never really got it before. Liked it a lot in here, clean and friendly and has a much better atmosphere than the total BO fest that is Fanboy 3, a nearby store that perpetuates the stereotype that all Geeks smell.
Had it not been for how nice and cool TM was, FB3 would have totally put me off and made me feel dirty even thinking about gaming.

**NOTE: About 6 weeks after posting this review in late 2014, they hired me on. They didn’t know about the review, and I didn’t know about the job, so since there wasn’t a conflict of interest, I’m leaving this review here for posterity.**
This shop is the best lcs experience I’ve ever had. The shop is very small, but they still manage to carry singles, trades, manga, cards, and games.
They manage to avoid a lot of the bad things you sometimes run into at this type of shop:
–The staff is diverse and has diverse taste – not a fanboy hive mind
–They are personally enthusiastic about comics and give great recommendations
–If you take a recommendation from them and end up disliking it, they’ll let you return it (I’ve never had to take them up on this, all the recommendations have been spot on)
–If you want something and they don’t have it, they will move heaven and earth to get it for you
–They have a cushy arm chair at the new-​this-​week rack to encourage people to slow down and flip through books they might not have otherwise considered
–You don’t have to chase them up and check in on your order status, they send you a text when your order comes in
In the digital age, it’s difficult to figure out what value bricks and mortar shops bring to customers, but Travelling Man is doing it right by creating an environment where people feel free to find something that really speaks to them.

I was in need of some reading material for a train ride home so thought I’d pop in. I normally try to stay away from comic book shops when I’m carrying my bank card as the results have the potential to be financially dangerous but I’d had a few beers and was feeling a little devil-​may-​care.
Heading straight for my normal home of vertigo & image published comics I was perusing the wide selection with no real purpose and before I knew it my hands were full of several potential purchases and an idea for one more. The guy behind the counter was knowledgeable and friendly, unfortunately informing me that one of the items I was after was out of print, and provided me with a number of recommendations that I trusted rather than trying to sell the most expensive books.
There is much more of an emphasis on comics/​graphic novels and board games than collectables, a refreshing contrast to some well-​known chains — although one of the window displays boasts more Totoros than I think I’ll ever see outside of Japan!

I’ve collected comics for a good number of years, while living in a variety of different cities. Recently I’ve had to stop however thanks to the;
RECESSION *shakes fist*.
However, I did try and get back into collecting when I got paid one time and so I ventured into the enticing Travelling Man.
I literally only came in for Batman and a few others. This should have taken 10 minutes… max! But after an hour, I was still in there chatting away about the difference between DC and Marvel villains and the potential for the new DC: 52. I think I ended up leaving with about £50 worth of comics, all of which I thoroughly enjoyed.
This just proves the relaxed and friendly atmosphere that the shop holds within it’s walls.
Obviously you can get more than just comics. There seemed to a wide variety of manga, action figures, graphic novels and everything to satisfy your inner (and outer)
geek.
Maybe one day I will have the funds to return and purchase everything. EVERYTHING I TELL YOU!!!

Comic book shops can be off-​putting environments for newcomers — they are greeted by cardboard cut-​outs of cybermen, poseable figurines of video game characters and stands filled with brightly coloured pamphlets of nerdetry. In times past there would have been no need for them to walk in somewhere like this but now comics are cool — Watchmen, Kick-​ass and The Dark Knight have all proven that. It’s all part of the whole ‘geek chic’ thing — deck shoes, tucked in shirts and of course comic books. When you walk into your average comic book shop, though, there is little’ geek chic’ on offer — just sweat, subway-​stink and desperation.
Travelling Man is different. It offers all the usual trade hardback and paperback collections (Judge Dredd compendiums retail here for around £10.99) but also a broad manga selection and some rarer and more unusual titles (like Jason’s ‘I Killed Adolf Hitler’ and’ A.D.: New Orleans After the Deluge’ by Josh Neufeld), the shelves dotted with handwritten recommendation cards. The staff are friendly, passionate and more than willing to offer advice, for example wanting to try out a manga series I was asked what sort of stuff I was interested in reading and was then recommended the excellent ‘Death Note’ series. The level of customer service and the fantastic range of choice will ensure that Travelling Man sticks around long after ‘geek chic’ hangs up its horn-​rimmed specs.

This is a shop completely and utterly for satisfying your inner geek. Whatever it is that tickles your fancy, be it comics, manga, animé, role-​playing games, board games, card games, collectibles, etc. they have it here, and most likely several different versions, expansions and spin-​offs you didn’t even know existed.
It’s a little bit out of the way where it is; just off from Piccadilly Gardens, on one of the strange back alleys that criss-​cross behind it like a Tic-​Tac-​Toe board on acid. However, this only adds to its esoteric appeal and general nerdiness. Only true followers will hunt it down.
It’s a real delight inside if you’re into that sort of thing, as the whole shop is designed to catch your eye and introduce you to something new, and you’re practically forced to try it all out. The staff are only too willing to play any of the variety of games inside, either introducing you to the rules or just simply beating you down with their carefully tuned battle strategies. Of course, should you be interested they will gladly detail the ups and downs of various techniques you can use yourself, although possibly in too much detail, as my friend found out after asking for tips on how to best build a Sliver deck. Half an hour later we were still there, only he had now adopted the glazed expression of one who’s sentience had long since abandoned ship.
I really wish I hadn’t admitted all that. Well, there goes the rest of my street cred…

Forbidden Planet’s younger, less experienced, slightly delinquent brother-​in-​law. Travelling Man is for the Graphic Novel enthusiast or the RPG maniac, selling an assortment of books and knicknacks to that effect. They also have a display cabinet of rather impressive models (that are not cheap and probably never sell) for you to peruse.
I prefer the staff at this shop to that at Forbidden Planet, as they actually looked at me when i bought something and said words. The trouble is they don’t have nearly as wide a selection as Forbidden Planet as they are half as small, and they’re prices are no better either. If anything it may be a little more expensive. But at least the staff are nice.