Hi Alan, Marsha, and Phil,

Thank you for the beautiful books and service. Par excellence. It is really nice and refreshing to have friends in Phoenix and people so dedicated and committed to the industry. It seems to me as a customer that your grading on your books is quite strict and I find myself always satisfied. It always keeps me happy as a customer receiving books in the condition as described or better. In fact many of the books sent to me I have sent or will be sending to CGC to be professionally graded. The ones I have received as a customer in the past and have sent to be graded have come back always in the condition described or better. As a collector and completist with certain runs of books I have a penchant for near mint books. All About Books and Comics has always come through for me with my needs as a customer while continuing to supply me with those near mint (if not better condition) books keeping me happy and making me satisfied as a return customer again and again. It is also evident that the staff and owners of All About Books and Comics have a certain passion for the comic industry that is evident in the way that they treat me as a customer and the beautiful books they ship to me to me in Canada. The books I have ordered always arrive within a reasonable amount of time and are packed and shipped securely to have them arrive in nice near mint shape. I truly feel honored to be your customer and I fell that I have been treated right. Kudos to All About Books and Comics!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! A+++++++++

Thanks again guys,

Christopher Kostyniuk
Canadian Comic Collector

After trying out several other comic shops when I moved to the Valley 12 years ago, I discovered AABC. Their friendly and knowledgable customer service combined with an impressive inventory convinced me to stick with them, and I'm glad I did. I consider Alan and Marsha friends, and T'era just may be the best store manager I've met in 40 years of buying comics. She quickly came to know my tastes, and goes out of her way to not only fill my orders, but to recommend items she thinks may be of interest. I spend entirely too much of my weekly paycheck at AABC, but it's worth it.

I started collecting comics about a year ago and have been to all the comic stores in ARIZONA. I now know which store has the most friendly and knowledgeable staff that I have met, who will bend over backwards to help their customers whether your bidding at their auctions on e-bay or in one of their stores which actually put customer satisfaction first. This is truly one place you could bring the whole family for an enjoyable time, for there is something for everyone. The Phoenix store on Central has a complete inventory from rare finds to new releases and every time you visit you find something new. Nobody comes close to the deals that I have gotten at ALL ABOUT COMICS - at there store and at their auctions. Just recently, I won one of their auctions, and it was a deal of a life time, which will bring hours and hours of enjoyment to me and my family.

I began collecting comics 25 years ago when my mother bought me The Invaders and The Inhumans from the corner Circle K store. I was hooked. In high school I discovered that there were entire stores devoted to comics, and I began subscribing. When I found Alan and Marsha Giroux’s store, All About Books and Comics, in 1982, I became a devout collector and have never wavered in my loyalty to All About!

Alan and Marsha made me feel at home in their store. They wanted to talk comics with you, and they knew their business through and through. I felt good going there - they were excited about comics and so I got excited. When my subscription "bag" turned into a "box", they always understood. Marsha and Alan knew I’d pay for everything eventually and never threatened to cut me off. When the business got too big for Marsha and Alan to be at each store personally every day, they made sure that they hired managers and employees who were as passionate about comics as they are.

The staff at All About taught me to expand from Marvel and DC into independents and smaller publishers. They turned me on to Cerebus and Faust, Eclipse and Image, to name just a few. I remember one employee encouraging me consistently by saying, "Hey, Robert, this is pretty good - you should try it. If you don’t like it, bring it back." Nine times out of ten, I added it to my subscription list!

When I go to All About Books and Comics, I can count on any of the employees being able to answer my questions, from publication dates to industry rumors about artists and writers. If they don’t have a book I am interested in, they will hunt it down for me, from their stores or from competitors or their network across the country.

Part of the reason I love All About Books and Comics is that they always have something new. When you enter the store, it’s like a visual smorgasbord of everything available in comic products: t-shirts, action figures, statues, posters, anime, you name it. If it’s comic-related, All About has it. They constantly have new displays reflecting what is going on in the comic industry, and the store is continually changing. The current and back-issues of comics are accessible, and the staff is always willing to help me.

I have personally been affected by All About Books and Comics’ commitment to helping in the community. I work with troubled teenagers, and they have generously donated comics to my organization for the boys to read and keep. Many of these kids have never read a book on their own, and they forget when reading the comics that they are actually reading -something they profess to hate doing. All About also donated comics to be used as auction items for the nonprofit organization for which my wife works.. I have participated in food drives they have organized. I’m sure there are many more things of which I am not ever aware.

I have a three-year-old daughter who looks forward to her visits to Daddy’s favorite store. The staff know her by name and make her feel as welcome as I have always felt. Other kids may have The Cat in the Hat, but she will be learning how to read through comics for children: she leads me by the hand directly to " her" section!

As long as I live in Arizona and All About Books and Comics is around, I will remain a loyal supporter and subscriber. They go out of their way to have your enjoy comics, because they enjoy comics. Sure, it’s a business, but they’re so good at it because they love every aspect of comics. And it shows.

What can I say about All About Books and Comics, that hasn't already been said? Having been a customer of theirs for 20+ years, and having worked with them in the comics industry for 10+ years, I can say I've seen it all. The hard work and devotion to make the public aware of the comic industry, equality in publisher promotions (both giants and independents), the staff going above and beyond the call of duty to track that special something down for a walk-in customer, the contests, the charity raffles, the numerous creator appearances, the store remodeling, the creative store windows and displays, the movie/comic tie-in events, and the most important thing in a comic store - OUTSTANDING CUSTOMER SERVICE! It's not the exception at All About Books and Comics, but the rule.

As the guy on the other end of the phone taking orders from, I can testify to the staggering - sometimes mind boggling - variety of products they carry. Pretty much everybody carries your run-of-the-mill Marvel/DC/Image books, the guys and gals at All About Books and Comics also manage to carry great independents like Terry Moore’s Strangers in Paradise, anime comics from Viz and CPM, horror and adult comics from more small press publishers than I can name in a single paragraph, and a great variety of collectors and fan magazines. If you want to read it, All About probably has it in stock or on order already.

But wait, there’s more! All About Books and Comics also carries t-shirts, action figures, art books, zippo lighters, statues, videos, and all sorts of collectibles. If you slapped Spider-Man on a kitchen sink, these guys would find a customer who had to have it.

On a personal and professional level, everyone at All About Books and Comics is great to deal with. They know their product, know how to order and know how to help you solve any problems that may happen with their orders. As a group, they are among the best retailers I deal with here at Diamond. If it wasn’t for an unfortunate fondness for Jar Jar Binks, I would say they were too
good to be true.

Steve W.
Diamond Inside Sales

An Open Letter to Alan and Marsha Giroux, owners of ALL ABOUT BOOKS AND COMICS, from Robert Loren Fleming, comic book fan and occasional writer:

I started shopping regularly at ALL ABOUT BOOKS AND COMICS after my neighborhood comic book vendor unexpectedly dropped dead, so I can honestly say that the very best thing about the shops run by Alan and Marsha Giroux is that the two of them haven’t gone and croaked on me yet! I’ve been eagerly anticipating COMIC BOOK DAY - when the new books arrive - since I was 7 years old, so I’ve shopped at a lot of stores. This is as good as it’s ever gotten, except for those halcyon days when there were two COMIC BOOK DAYS a week, Tuesday and Thursday!
So what I’m saying is that the only thing better than shopping at ALL ABOUT BOOKS AND COMICS would be to shop there twice as often!

Selection is also a great reason to shop at ALL ABOUT BOOKS AND COMICS. Even today, with too many books chasing too small an audience, they stock just about everything. This means I don’t have to travel from store to store, like I did when I was a kid and the only place to get comics were spinner racks in family-owned delicatessens. Of course, I traveled by bicycle back then which was much better exercise, so I was in better shape. And those delis sure smelled good. I could buy homemade pastry or fresh cold cuts and make myself a sandwich, eat up in my tree house while I read the new comics……

So I guess my suggestions to Alan and Marsha are to keep doing what you’re doing, except that you should put out new books twice a week, give your staff a raise, install some Nautilus equipment, put in a pastry and deli counter….
and DON’T DIE!!

Your friend and customer,

BOB