Amy McKay. Tristie-Mattea Ortiz Photos.
Modern blockbusters have popularized the concept of alternate universes, but only Amy McKay can say she’s flown from England and landed at an Alternate Universe in New Haven.
McKay, 38, made the trip to the Elm City from Yorkshire, England to be her sister’s study buddy during a school fellowship. She dropped into the Chapel Street comic store, Alternate Universe, on a recent Wednesday afternoon to find it packed to the brim with single issues, paperback collections, and comic omnibuses.
A comic book store has existed at this location for over 25 years and is still the go-to place in the city for comics of all kinds. Co-owned by Joseph Stinson and Eric Yacko, the shop boasts hundreds of titles, from hot-off-the-press contemporary comics to vintage comic books and collectables.
Every customer comes into the store for a different reason. A longtime professional freelance illustrator, McKay is in the middle of working on a commission, an educational graphic novel about the Dato Koyah shrine in George Town, Malaysia. She got into comics after working at Travelling Man, a comic store in her home country. She started with Batman, but soon began getting into indie books that have a “nice” or “queer” vibe.
She was far from the only one to do so: Wednesday is when new comics drop, and the store sees a steady flow of customers each week when they do. Chris Amato, 31, swooped down to Alternate Universe to grab a copy of one of the Fellspyre Chronicles books because he’s a fan of their author, Phillip Kennedy Johnson, who wrote a Superman story that stuck with him. Amato is in the midst of a journey to branch outside the world of superhero comics and get into other genres, such as fantasy.
A second-time visitor, Amato is still new to the joy to be found in Alternate Universe, but said he was an instant fan of the store.
“It’s got that comic book store smell, you know?” he said. “Very comforting.”
He said he enjoys the wide range of books and even if “I didn’t have a specific target, I’d probably be able to find something, no matter what.”
Amato said he believes that comics are extremely important and should be supported—that’s why he makes an effort to always buy something from every comic store he enters.
“I think as I got older, I realized that a lot of the most original kinds of stories are probably still in comics,” he said. “I don’t even just mean TV shows and movies that are strictly comic book based, but a lot of the storytelling tropes and kind of different, wilder ideas, like in fantasy or sci-fi. You look, and even if they’re not based directly on something, it’s something else probably done in comics first.”
He said that comics are the “most original, most interesting form of storytelling” and that there’s “a lot you can do with it that you can’t really do in most other mediums.”
A former TV journalist, Amato added that comics might have even influenced his career choice. It was superheroes that inspired him to make positive changes both on the people who consumed stories he worked on, and within the field itself.
That’s part of the store’s hope, said Stinson. Forged from the ashes of Paperback Trader, Whirligig, Dream Factory, and Moondogs, all previous comic stores in the same location, Stinson and Yacko took the mantle of the “Kingpins of comics in New Haven” when they opened their comic store on Chapel Street in 1996.
Since then, they’ve opened a second location in Milford, which Yacko has operated while Stinson remains in New Haven.
Stinson, 55, is a lifelong comic connoisseur with a wealth of knowledge on the medium. While he can come across as reserved, he’s quick to engage in conversations with readers both new and old, and often assists new visitors with getting into comics–a task he believes is easier than many expect.
“Find something you like, and keep getting it,” Stinson said by way of advice for comic newbies.
Some of Stinson’s favorite books include Fables, Astro City, Sandman, and Alias. He also follows the work of comic book writers such as Warren Ellis, Garth Ennis, Mark Millar, Dan Abnett, Andy Lanning, and Bill Willingham.
A perk of running the store is that Stinson occasionally reads new issues early— not just so he can pretend to see the future when talking to visitors, but so he can check if anything important happens. He noted that previews make every issue seem world changing, even when they aren’t.
When they are, though, Alternate Universe is the place to find them. That was the case for 49-year-old Trevor Meggett, who swung by Alternate Universe to preorder an upcoming book.
Meggett said even the comic stores in his home state–the distant realm of Virginia–know about Alternate Universe.
“It’s like a network.” Meggett said.
Practically raised by comics, Meggett said he initially hated reading. It took his mother buying him his first comic, Daredevil #189, to grab his attention. The Klaus Janson artwork was eye-catching, he said, and Frank Miller’s writing kept him engaged.
Meggett said he was later brought back to the world of Marvel’s crimson champion years later in high school, when he finally read Daredevil #190.
What makes Daredevil stand out from other Marvel heroes is the fact that he is blind, but is still able to fight crime with the help of his hyper-senses and radar sense. Meggett said he connected to Daredevil because he is dyslexic, and has a grandmother who went blind at 20.
“As a boy, you think you’re a superhero,” Meggett said.
Top: Joseph Accettullo.
He remembered how hard it used to be to find things like comic books or anime, but that’s changed in recent years. Meggett said he is able to laugh at the quality of older live-action adaptations of Marvel characters he grew up with and enjoy the newer films.
He views comics as an escape from reality that should be viewed as important.
“If you snuff out that inner child, it affects the rest of your life,” Meggett said.
Joseph Accettullo, 42, made his first appearance at Alternate Universe over 20 years ago, and has continuously returned ever since to browse the store's selection of hardcover collections and get his weekly comics.
Visiting has opened his eyes to more underground, rare finds, and he said the store is “full of gems.”
He said the beauty of Alternate Universe is that it’s run by “real comic book fanatics.”
In comparison to staying home in the confines of one’s own secret lair and reading books online, Accettullo said it’s important to actually go to a comic store for the full experience of getting to “nerd out” with other comic fans, and that Alternate Universe is the “best comic experience in Connecticut."
This article comes from the 2024 Cohort of the Youth Arts Journalism Initiative. Tristie-Mattea Ortiz is a 2024 graduate of West Haven High School. She is headed to Simmons University this fall.