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Stuart Bloom, owner of The Comic Center

The Comic Center of Pasadena

The Comic Book Store set on Warner Bros. Studio Tour

The Comic Center of Pasadena, more commonly referred to as "the comic book store", is a place where the guys frequently visit to buy their comic books and hang out, until it was burnt down in an accident revealed in the 7th-season finale, but was later rebuilt, using Howard's mother's money and furniture, much to Howard's disliking. The store is owned by Stuart Bloom. The store's name has only appeared twice on the show on its door, and has only been mentioned out loud three times. Once in "The Comic Book Store Regeneration" and twice in “The Comet Polarization”. It has actually appeared for the third time in "The Date Night Variable", when Raj comes in to the comic book store and has a night cap with Stuart. Stuart is folding may be t-shirts or towels and they have the comic book store's name on it briefly and seem kind of unreadable.

The store used to have a website at http://www.thecomiccenter.com (in reality, the domain name is registered to Warner Brothers), but it has gone offline since 2011. Similarly, its Facebook page has gone idle since 2011 too.

Last6

Comic book store on the last day of filming.

The Store[]

Torneo

The Mystic Warlords of Ka'a Tournament's final battle ("The Creepy Candy Coating Corollary")

The store first appeared in "The Hofstadter Isotope" where Penny follows the guys to the store to buy a gift for her nephew. Stuart recommends her a comic book for the gift. She sees Stuart has drawn a portrait of her, which he exchanges for her telephone number.

In "The Creepy Candy Coating Corollary", the store hosted The Mystic Warlords of Ka'a Tournament.

Comic Center (3x16)

Outside Comic Center waiting to meet Stan Lee ("The Excelsior Acquisition")

Lost bet

Lost bet in "The Wheaton Recurrence"

The store has hosted a Stan Lee signing thanks to Stuart's connections in "The Excelsior Acquisition". The logo of the store is shown when the guys are lined up outside waiting to meet Stan Lee, wherein the sign is visible; the only time the outside of the store was shown.

In "The Wheaton Recurrence" Stuart wins a bet and guys dress up like DC girl super heroes

Justice league-0

The New Year's Eve party at the comic book store ("The Justice League Recombination")

The Holographic Excitation

Costume Halloween party ("The Holographic Excitation")

Valentine's day

Valentine's Day party ("The Tangible Affection Proof")

Scavenger

Scavenger hunt ("The Scavenger Vortex")

Stuart also hosts a costume party on New Year's Eve which the gang won for the best Justice League of America team in "The Justice League Recombination".

He also hosted a costume Halloween party in "The Holographic Excitation" and a Valentine's Day party in "The Tangible Affection Proof".

Raj hosts a Scavenger Hunt in "The Scavenger Vortex" which first puzzle is the Comic Book Store in a puzzle.

The store has a fire and is gutted in the Season 7 finale ("The Status Quo Combustion") due to Stuart's hotplate. Stuart claims the insurance company thinks he did it for money. Also, the fire department, the police, his parents, and his therapist. He did not get enough money from the insurance company to reopen so Mrs. Wolowitz gave him the rest of the money. The store was reopened in "The Comic Book Store Regeneration".

Comic center burnt

The Comic Center burnt ("The Status Quo Combustion")

Stuart lived in the back of the store when necessary.

Fumetteria (3x05)-2

View from sky ("The Creepy Candy Coating Corollary")

QW5

CBS.

Matcon77

Stuart and Denise in the last appearance of Denise and the comic book store

Trivia[]

  • The store is located on E. Green Street near Pasadena City College and Caltech (according to the store's website).
  • At the end of "The Creepy Candy Coating Corollary" we can see a view from the sky of the comic book store, but it's located in Hollywood (near Hollywood High School), so it's just a casual location.
  • On the counter (since "The Russian Rocket Reaction") has shown the official website of The Comic Center and a QR code that points to it.
  • Penny is impressed by the looks she gets while in the comic book store, while Amy thinks that comic books are "lame-o".
  • After graduating art school and moving to Pasadena, Stuart seemed to gain ownership of the shop through the following possibilities:
    • He worked there until the previous owner named him their successor.
    • He attended business school and then opened up the store.
QR

QR pointing to the official Comic Center website

Card tables

Lonely Larry and Captain Sweatpants during the Mystic Warlords of Ka'a tournament

Comic center back

Back of the store

Stan lee

Stan Lee signing day poster ("The Excelsior Acquisition")

  • Lonely Larry, Captain Sweatpants and Dale are regulars at the Comic Book Store and friends with Stuart.
  • Dale once worked the register for Stuart when he was unavailable ("The Flaming Spittoon Acquisition").
  • In "The Nerdvana Annihilation", Leonard mentions that a man called Larry (maybe Lonely Larry) works at the comic book store, this could possibly be the previous owner. Season 1 is also the only season that the Comic book store doesn't appear in.
  • In "The Bakersfield Expedition", the girls visit the Comic Book Store looking into the guys' fascination with comic books.
  • While Marvel Comics play a part in many of the episodes, there are no Marvel Comics on sale at the store except during Stan Lee signing day ("The Excelsior Acquisition") and in "The Bakersfield Expedition" when girls buy a Thor comic book. The most comic books and merchandise are of DC comics.
    Dale behind the cash register

    Dale replaces Stuart at the store ("The Flaming Spittoon Acquisition")

  • There was a cutout and a man wearing a shirt connected to the former MMORPG, "City of Heroes".  He appears in a few episodes. http://www.cohtitan.com/forum/index.php?topic=4908.40
  • There is a cardboard cut-out of Ichigo Kurosaki from the anime Bleach in the store.
  • There is also a poster of Faith from the 2008 video game Mirror's Edge.
  • Posters and models from the sci-fi video game franchise Mass Effect can frequently be seen in the background.
  • After the store was reopened, the logo's colors were changed from purple, green, orange and yellow to blue, red, yellow and gray.
  • In "The Comic-Con Conundrum", Stuart gives Raj a part-time position to help with his finances after he finally cuts the cord on his allowance from his rich father.
  • When the store becomes successful, thanks to a visit by author Neil Gaiman, Stuart hires Denise as an assistant manager and they become a couple.
  • It's unknown when Stuart opened his comic book store, his friends were regulars around 2003.

Appearances[]

​Gallery[]

External links[]

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