Pop Culture Paradise

Spent over $ 30 trying to order a new 52 comic book with a hard cover from this store. I attempted to cancel this order via phone today during business hours with nobody answering at all, three weeks after placing this order with nothing to show for it. When I arrived to the store in person to cancel the request, they claimed it could not be done; their reasoning was nobody would ever buy the hard cover of this book, at a COMIC BOOK store. This comment was than followed up with the idea of getting a fraction of the money back as store credit…
Got the same hardcover book for 12 dollars on Amazon in two days.
My bank agreed, I had every right to not process the transaction due to lack of service, and it was canceled on my behalf and determined to be fraud.

Nice comic book store with a great selection! I was able to find something for my husband, myself, and my 5 yr old daughter! Wonderful staff!

They have a good variety of comics, figures, toys and games. Staff is nice and seems to know what they are doing. And there’s always events happening here.
Good place to buy stuff or just chill sometime and look at all the cool stuff. Nearby food places are convenient too. The only gripe is that free parking inside the parking lot is limited. You can park at the meters if you want to pay however.

This review is only for the MTG side of the business.
Pop is great for buying boosters since they have a loyalty program, and it’s fun talking shop. I’m not crazy about their singles selection which seems somewhat disorganized, but it’s the first place I started buying Magic cards when I got back into it a few years ago. Everyone made me feel really welcome and gave me some great deck ideas.
I recommend everyone (card player or not) go there on a Friday after a set is released and just watch some of the madness going on — it’s a total blast.

Our favorite comic book shop. On Free Comic Book Day each person can pick out a free comic and they also have tables with additional vendors just for the event. The staff has always been pleasant. Parking can be a challenge in their small parking lot, but parking across the street is usually available for a small fee. Aisles are tight but that just means more cool stuff to enjoy.

Excellent customer service!
I have been checking out all the local comic stores to see how the selection varies and to decide where I want to shop. I visited a different Tempe store and was really put off by their attitude. Feeling unwelcome and unsatisfied, I drove down University to try Pop Culture… very happy I did! The owner was very helpful and eager to help me find books that I would enjoy. I appreciated the friendly service and I will definitely return.

3.5 stars!
This shop is smaller and has a more limited selection than a lot of the other comic shops I’ve been in. They have a wide variety of comics and graphic novels, but a small selection of anything else, like figures, clothing, posters, etc.
We came in looking for a birthday t-​shirt for my husband’s sister, but they actually didn’t have any women’s shirts, and only about ten men’s shirts, that were all haphazardly stacked on one another in one spot.
On the flip side, we found a great selection of $ 0.50 comics and since I make paper flowers for my Etsy shop and comic book flower is a big hit for these, I was able to stock up on that for cheap! We also were able to use a check in offer on top of the cheap cost per comic ($ 5 for $ 10 worth).
The staff was friendly and helpful and directed us where we needed to go when we asked, and offered up thoughts on places to search for shirts for our gift — which we ended up just ordering on Amazon after going to four or five shops after this one with no success.
Overall: B
If you are looking for comics, hit them up!

This is one of the best comic/​magic the gathering stores I have ever seen, and I have seen quite a few. The store moved from its original location to literally a few doors down, tripling its original size. They have a huge collection of comics, action figures, and trade novels. They have a video gaming area with a couch, About 10 tables for magic the gathering and more. The owner is extremely friendly and knowledgeable. Its also next to one of the best Hamburger joints in the Phoenix area. Its well worth a drive.

Polite staff, good environment, good collection of games. The wall in the game room has a fine artwork of game characters. One problem I saw was low privacy for the gamers in the game room which is right next to the shop and place needs renovation.

I come here all the time to play Magic: The Gathering because it’s a great place to hang out and play people. There’s tournaments everyday for magic and the staff is nice and always takes care of the people there. Normally I don’t drive really far regularly to go play Magic, but I have made an exception for Pop Culture Paradise multiple times. Their comic section is also fairly huge and I plan on also picking up comics from them in the near future. The environment could use a bit of touch-​up on the carpets and things feel a bit old, but other than that everything is great! If you live near ASU Tempe and are somewhat geeky, this is the place you should go to regularly.

Actually accompanied our daughter here. It’s a small shop but seems to have a reasonable selection of comics and memorabilia. Plus some materials for RPGs like Dungeons and Dragons.
They are behind the eatery on the corner. Parking is limited.

If you are really into Magic or are only a casual comic buyer, I’m sure this place is great. But I had nothing but problems when I tried to maintain a pull list here. They had my subscriptions there for me maybe 50% of the time. It was beyond frustrating to go into the store and be told my box was empty, no they don’t have my comic, they don’t know why it’s not there (one infuriating time I was told they «ran out» of a particular comic), and of course there are none left on the shelves for me to grab. I gave them several chances to improve and they never did. I closed my box and moved on.

I’ve been here about three times and haven’t had a bad experience.
In a city flooded with geek approved material, PCP offers a wide variety of toys, comics, and trading cards. This is the perfect store for collectors and avid comic book fans like myself to come in, shop, browse, and even compete in daily card tournaments.
Toys and comics can be pricey, but it is a store aimed at collectors.
Great location and parking. Friendly staff and service. Place is kept clean.

I have been to this shop multiple times, as it is somewhat near my home in Queen Creek. After recently getting into comic books at Amazing Arizona Comic Con, I opened up a subscription box at this store, it being the first one I visited. Though after seeing other Az comic shops, I realize that this one isn’t as great as previously thought.
For starters, every week the new issues are released, something goes wrong or something is missing in my subscription box. (I have since closed my box and moved it elsewhere). The whole reason for me having a box there was to get a copy of a limited print and very popular comic series that is rare and hard to find, but every time an issue comes out, they somehow forgot to order me one or put one in my subscription box…
Another huge issue (no pun intended) I have with this store is the current series’ section. (As previously mentioned by another reviewer) New issues and back issues for current series’ are VERY limited. In fact, unless you subscribe to a series, its almost impossible to walk in and catch up on the issues you are missing. Particularly with any Marvel Now or DC The New 52 series’.
Also mentioned by David B, a large portion of the store is dedicated to card gaming, particularly ‘Magic’. I have no issues with card games! I think they are great and while I don’t partake in them personally, I do see the fun and strategy they employ. However. The fact that this shop is almost halfway dedicated to card games, makes the volume get out of hand, not to mention the crude language. I am all for swearing and whatnot, but most of the time the shouts coming from the card area of this shop are vulgar purely for the sake of being vulgar.
All in all, its not a terrible shop. Just a little inconsistent and understocked for current issues. Don’t get me wrong, the staff is extremely friendly and great help, but unfortunately that doesn’t outweigh the other negative factors in my personal opinion.

I love this store, the owner is the coolest guy and super helpful! My fiancé has his pull box set up here and every time he goes to pick up his comics his pull box is always up to date. We’ve attended several fun events at the store and always feel welcome. I love the new setup and the fact there’s a place just for gaming. We plan on attending the Tuesday night UAG gaming regularly!

I’ve lived in Tempe, Tucson, and a few parts in California, but I’m glad Pop Culture is still my home base comic book store. As the name implies, it covers a wide variety of pop culture and entails all the things I love: comics, table top games, figures, posters and collectibles extending from comic book genres to animé. Plus staff is very friendly, nice and knowledgeable (Marco is the best!). I’ve picked up some really good series based off their recommendations. Their prices are very reasonable and they’ve price matched for me some kotobukiya figures for me. They have an active tabletop community, too, which compliments with the huge new place! Thank you Pop Culture for fulfilling all my geek fangirlisms… I’ll always be coming back!

My wife and I went to this shop over the weekend for the first time since it moved from its previous (smaller) location. Upon entry we were greeted by the employees at the counter. The staff at the store seemed very friendly and willing to help us find anything we needed. The store was well lit and organized; it was separated between comics, card gaming and video games.
I will review the comic section of the store over other parts. Most of the back stock issues were bagged and boarded. The dollar section had some great deals in it. The new issues were limited compared to some other stores I frequent. Comic supplies were fairly priced and well sorted. The back issue bins were average and contained decent amount of current and bronze age comics. For collectors looking for strong silver age selection, I would go elsewhere as I felt that those issues were the most limited and overpriced.
If I was a student going to ASU, this would be the shop that I frequent the most. The biggest turn off of this store was the fact that over half of it was devoted to card gaming and empty with tables used for tournaments. The video game section and old TVs seemed out of place to me, but I guess others would say its goes with the pop culture theme. Toys and posters were limited/​non-​existent. Overall, I’ve seen much better comic shops. The card gaming seemed average if you ‘re into that. I might stop by in the future, but I won’t go out of my way to visit this store.
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I had previously written a no so gushing review of this store. But since then I have received the best customer service and the owner and new employees have gone out of their way to earn my business and keep me coming back.
Thank you Marco and Ben!

This place is awesome. I stumbled upon this gem when I was googling a comic shop. It had been a while since I’ve been to one and I have been nostalgic of the days when I read more graphic novels as they’re now called, making it okay to indulge in my geek comic book side.
I went on a Saturday night and to my surprise, they’re open quite late. And apparently, they have a tourney there, which apparently goes on every weekend. I went on a weekend when they were slow, which was still fairly busy, considering it was a Saturday night. Anyways, they had quite a selection of the fan favorites and a few other ones that aren’t so mainstream, but awesome finds.
I was looking for a series in particular, which they didn’t have, but the staff told me they could order them for you which is awesome. And, also, they were able to suggest a few, which was awesome, being out of the «scene» for a while. I love this place and it’s a good place to get my comic book geek on.

Staff… FREAKING AWESOME!!! They know you by name, they know your likes and dislikes. They bathe!!! They know their products and are extremely competitive price was.
Product…WOW you walk in and you instantly know that this place rules. They have comics, they have collectibles, they have CCG, they have minis and dice. All of it is clearly and fairly priced. Also the more you buy the better they take care of you discount wise. Also check them out on facebook there are steals and deals listed there. the email newsletter is chock full of coupons and discounts.
This place is for fans by fans. Check it out!
After six pm and on weekends park in the lot across the street for free.