On the corner of South Sherwood Forest Boulevard and West Bricksome Avenue in an easy-to-miss suite sits an almost unusual sight — Louisiana’s Double Play, the last remaining comic book shop in Baton Rouge.
For about 20 years, the shop has been under the ownership of Robert Broussard. In those years, it has become the go-to location in Baton Rouge for anyone interested in reading comics and collecting cards for games such as “Magic: The Gathering.”
While the store may sell items such as comic books issues, graphic novels and card packs, there are more valuable things hung from the walls: an assortment of Silver Age comics. The Silver Age of comics ran from 1956 to the early 1970s and introduced many of the classic heroes of today such as Spider-Man, the X-Men, the Avengers and the Justice League as well as updated or new versions on Superman, Batman, Flash and Green Lantern.
The issues at Louisiana’s Double Play are valuable collectors’ items and include issues of “The Amazing Spider-Man,” “The Avengers,” “Batman,” and “Superman.” These issues are for sale as well as the variant covers of different newer series ranging from “Amazing Spider-Man #700” to “Avengers vs. X-Men,” to “Justice League” and hard-to-find issues of “The Walking Dead.”
While Louisiana’s Double Play is currently the only comic store in Baton Rouge, it was not always that way. According to manager James Gaspard, between the years of 2007 and 2012, other stores gradually went out of business. For the staff of the store, going out of business was never something that seemed like a possibility.
“We kept confident on knowing how to operate properly,” Gaspard said. “Everything’s different in a comic book market. The main thing is customer service in addition to everything else.”
For most of its history, customer service is something the store prides itself on.
“A lot of the times, a lot of the complaints with the other stores were with comics in stock,” Gaspard said. “They said they would order something a customer wanted, but when a customer went back to go check on it, it wasn’t ordered or they forgot to order it or they didn’t order the right thing.”
The shop also has dedicated customers who come to Baton Rouge from other parts of the state just to visit the store.
“We have people who drive from Hammond, Prairieville, Gonzales,” Gaspard said. “Before I worked here, I used to come out from White Castle to come here.”
Since the store has a large group of devoted customers, it has one day set aside when it organizes events as part of the national event known as Free Comic Book Day. The event is held on the first Saturday in May, which is May 4 this year, and gives publishers a chance to bring in new readers with different special releases, all available for free. While different stores carry different issues, Louisiana’s Double Play said that they will be carrying the “Star Wars” release from Dark Horse Comics. Not much is known about the release, but it promises new material.
Recently, the comic book industry has been trying to borrow a page from other industries such as the music, film and news industries and incorporate digital into the medium. DC Comics, Marvel Comics and Dark Horse Comics have launched apps that allow readers to carry their libraries with them on their phones and tablets.
But the push to digital has not affected Louisiana’s Double Play, according to Gaspard.
“Comic book people are always going to buy comics,” Gaspard said. “There’s something about having that physical copy in your hands as opposed to sitting there moving your finger on a tablet or your phone swiping from page to page to page.”
“Comic book people are always going to buy comics. There’s something about having that physical copy in your hand…”
