After a fairly uneventful few days off work (assuming you regard shelling out cash as a result of an MOT uneventful) my wife Sara and I fancied a day out. A bit of shopping, something to eat and a stroll around an interesting, preferably new (for us), place with character and history. I vaguely recalled that on Shane Chebsey's Smallzone website that his retail outlet was located within Infinity and Beyond in Shrewsbury, a town reputed to have plenty of charm and all the other attributes that make it worth my while driving yonks for. I suggested we go and Sara eyed me with a bit of suspicion, as though I only wanted to go to visit yet-another-comic-shop, but she was intrigued enough to go with the flow.

I won't bore you with the details of the drive, but it was fairly pleasant - we used the M6 ( we live in Manchester, started out on the M56 ) and ended up on the A-whatever which was a nice drive through ye olde English countryside, which we don't see enough of. We passed Shane's neck of the woods and, in no time at all, we were heading into Shrewsbury Town Centre. On the map it looks like a tiny town but it's a fairly substantial built-up urban area, a nice mix of modern and old architecture that offers all the usual suspects shopping-and-eating-wise in a refreshingly different setting. We parked and hit the streets. I don't know about you, but whenever I'm in a new town or city it takes me forever to find the LCS. Usually because I forget the address, so when I visited New York I was rather pleased that I stumbled across Midtown Comics as easily as I did! We checked out the shops, doing some serious browsing without haemorrhaging too much cash after downing a greasy breakfast. After a while, it became apparent that we'd walked the majority of the town centre and we stopped for coffee at a rather quaint cafe, the building itself must have been Tudor/Stuart era housing the most historical toilet I've ever piddled in. By this time Sara kept asking where the bloody comic shop was, followed by 'you don't know?' and 'why don't you ask someone?' several times.

Have you ever asked a stranger in a strange town where the LCS is? I have and they tend to look at you, jaw agape, as they have never, ever heard of said retail outlet. I formulated a fool-proof plan and entered a Games Workshop to ask the staff and/or customers, figuring that the gaming and comics worlds were pretty close sectors; therefore there would be some crossover. Or, to put it simply, geeky people know geeky places (no offence to the polite and helpful fellow I spoke to at Games Workshop. Hang on, I've categorized myself there and I'm actually super-cool! ). Another schlep later, we found ourselves at ‘Infinity and Beyond’ and Sara, being totally disinterested, opted to mooch about whilst I entered the store alone. Being a tad egotistical, the first job was to locate ‘Urban Serial’ #1 (by the extremely talented duo of Atkins & Doyle) and then to browse the rest of the smallzone fare. I was impressed by the amount of shelf space that Shane had been able to secure, at least two metres wide slat wall along with two spinner racks. Another nice touch was how the comics were categorized in smallzone website style (comics in groups like ‘slice of life’, ‘crime’, ‘horror’ etc. Above the main display was enough room to display A3 sized posters. Loads of cool looking comics were on display, the kind of stuff most of us are fairly familiar with like ‘Dead by Dawn’ and Accent’s ‘Zombies’, as well as newer (to my eyes anyway) material like ‘Infinteens’ and ‘Kade’.

The inclusion of titles from the likes of Markosia is an indication of how well regarded the Smallzone service is within the UK comics industry and whilst, to some, the idea of ‘pro’ comics sharing space with ‘amateur’ material may seem at odds with the whole indie promotion ideal upon which Shane built his distribution service. Personally, I believe that it’s more a reflection of the closing gap between indie and major comics publishers and that belief was borne out by the wonderfully presented comics on sale.

The funny thing was, I didn’t actually buy any Smallzone gear! Despite having already blown some cash on a DVD box-set, I fully intended to, but remembered that I wanted the latest BND ‘Amazing Spider-Man’ issues (thrice monthly! I can’t keep up!), The Spirit (not as good without Darwyn Cooke) and Virgin’s new ‘Dan Dare’ (for my son). Then I thought I’d better move my arse as Sara was hanging about outside, obviously having exhausted window shopping possibilities. I stepped up to pay and a pleasant fellow, Paul – if I remember his name correctly, asked me if I was enjoying BND Spider-Man, to which I replied I was using BND as a jumping on point as I’d not really read the comic for about twenty years. Before realizing what an old fart I’ve become, we quickly moved onto the Smallzone offerings and Paul seemed very enthusiastic about a lot of the comics, pointing out good sellers and highlighting quality stuff for my attention. I told him about a forthcoming project or two that I’m involved in (watch this space) and asked if he would display a poster over the section when we publish, a request to which Paul responded positively.

The entire time I’d been browsing and chatting, a young chappie carrying a portfolio case had been either talking with Paul or having a look around. We exchanged a few pleasantries and I was informed by Paul that the guy was comics pro artist Charlie Adlard. He showed me a copy of ‘Walking Dead’ that he’d done for Image and the three of talked for a few minutes more until I realized that Sara was still waiting in the rather windy street outside. So apart from not making indie purchases, as originally intended, I felt the trip worthwhile and was genuinely impressed with the whole set up. Most comics will give some shelf space to small press, for example ‘Travelling Man’ is a decent chain that supports indie comics (the Manchester branch has them displayed on slatted column that is one of the first things you see upon entering the shop). It would be nice, however, if there were more outlets like ‘Infinity and Beyond’ and more people like Shane Chebsey who obviously put a lot of time and effort into ensuring that a considerable number of creators get some retail exposure.

Chris Atkins writes a column for RedEye magazine and has self published comics himself, as is currently working on "Urban Serial" with Ed Doyle.