Today we’d like to introduce you to Byron Canady.
Hi Byron, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I was just a regular eight years old kid whose love for reading and storytelling really took off when my dad bought me my first collection of comic books. Fast forward to 2008, and after spending some decades adulting and experiencing life, I picked up a comic book for the first time and it was like I never put ’em down. From that time, I went back and forth about the idea of having a shop; I sat on my research & business plan for about five years. It wasn’t until grad school that a series of events started pushing the plan back to the forefront. One of those events was the loss of my dad and mom. My parents were business owners and ran a successful business in Houston for a large part of my childhood. After my parents died, I began to refocus and actively put the necessary pieces together and the end result is a brick and mortar comic book shop!
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Definitely not. Challenges and obstacles that I faced have been both external and internal. Even with a business degree, research, asking all the questions and planning down to the last detail, the real world will find creative ways to throw you curveballs, like a viral pandemic, loss, conflict, self-doubt, no access to capital, etc.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
As Houston’s first and only Black-owned comic book shop, Gulf Coast Cosmos Comics is for the comics AND the culture! We sell comics, graphic novels, and manga from major to indie titles from local/regional comic book creators. We also sell apparel, exclusive fan art, and collectibles and host comic book-themed events in the local community and throughout the city.
Our 700-square-foot shop was designed and built in 2009 by Rice University’s architecture student as a modern take on Houston’s traditional row house. We use the front area as our retail /reading area and the back area is reserved as rental space for private group meetups, book signings, etc.
Where do you see things going in the next 5-10 years?
One of the biggest shifts has been the expansion of the comic book nerd narrative. Today we see a more robust, nuanced and unapologetic representation of what has always existed from and by the storytellers themselves to the comic book fanbase/culture. Manga continues to gain a bigger mainstream following and is influencing the aesthetic of traditional Western comic books and cosplay. Graphic novels and short-run single-issue comics have an increased in demand and comic book-based tv shows and movies snd apparel show no signs of slowing down.
Pricing:
- Single issue comics: 2.99-9.99
- Graphic novels trade paperback: 12.99-59.99
- Apparel: 9.99 -29.99
- Fan art: 29.99- 199.99
- Collectibles: 1.99 – 250.00
Contact Info:
- Website: www.gulfcoastcosmos.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/gcccomics
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/gcccomics
Image Credits
Image credits: Byron Canady
