POP ROC: A Holiday Destination for Comics and Collectibles

Your Local Comic Book Cafe Serving Comics and Collectibles The Whole Year

The holiday season is upon us and with that can come stress of trying to find the right gift. We’d like to help you out.

We’re POP ROC, a local comic book cafe in downtown Rochester, NY that offers a wide range of comics and collectibles to choose from. We also offer breakfast and brunch items as well as coffee provided by Aporia, a local coffee roaster in Rochester, NY. 

Many of the comics and collectibles can be found and purchased on our website as well as in store. We’re a kid-friendly place who value fun, creativity, community, and safety. Our pop culture shop will bring out the inner-kid in you. We’re currently open on Wednesday’s from 10am to 2pm and are popping up on Saturday, December 18th, at a Holiday Market we’re co-hosting.

To help make your shopping season a little easier, we’ve put together a list of comic books that fit different personalities. And because we are Rochester NY’s destination for all things pop culture, we’ve also curated some comic and collectible gift sets that you can order online as well.

For the comic book fans there are several titles we recommend. Here’s a couple we have in stock and ready for you. We have several “lots” of exclusive, to only 100 stores worldwide, Bad Idea book runs like Eniac, Tankers & The Lot. 

We also have favorites like Echolands, House of Slaughter, the new Hulk and Venom lines. A little something for everyone from the casual reader, new reader and super serious enthusiast. 

For the toy collectors, we have tons of hard to find and just plain friggin cool finds. 

The first is the most recent rerelease of the Masters Of The Universe: Castle Grayskull. Brand new in the box. The box art is so ridiculously amazing and comes with a special edition Temple of Darkness Sorceress. 

We also have Free Comic Book Day (FCBD) exclusives in stock as I write this. These are fire!!! And I’m not sure how much longer they will be around. 

We have two, autographed by the man, the myth, the legend, Jason David Frank, Lineage Studios' special PREVIEWS Exclusive Power Rangers: Auto-Morphin Green Ranger pins. These were released exclusively for Free Comic Book Day 2021 and limited to 2,000 pieces.

Plus the PREVIEWS Exclusive Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Ninja Elite Series Black & White 4-Pack. The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles originated in black and white comics in the early 1980s, and they come to life as an action figure 4-pack in classic black & white designs. They were limited to only 3,600 pieces. 

For the Pokémon lovers, we have a wide variety of sealed booster packs, tins, Elite Trainer Boxes and even hard to find special cards. These have been very rare to see in “the wild” and even more popular than ever. We have only been able to secure a small amount at this time. So you better act fast because you know what they say, “you gotta catch ‘em all”. 

Not sure what to pick? We can help with that too. We offer a handful of options and price points where we can curate gifts for you. Let us do the work and you look like the superhero. 

We know that finding specific titles can be tough these days. With the transition of supply services for comics, we are blessed to have a partnership with Bad Idea Comics. We are still receiving comics from Diamond, however because the demand is greater than the supply, we deferred to our core values of creativity and community. 

We’re happy to share that we are looking forward to collaborating with local comic creators to begin distributing and promoting their work. We’re also collaborating with other local comic book stores in Rochester NY to distribute their inventory. By adding these two distribution channels, we believe we can keep the community of Rochester NY reading the stories that they love while exploring new territory and supporting local creatives and companies.

If you’re interested in a specific title, genre, or author, please reach out! Our squad is happy to answer your questions and see what we can do to get you the literature you are looking for. We can also make suggestions of what to read or purchase if you’re feeling a little lost or just want to do something different. 

We hope you have a happy holiday season and look forward to serving you!