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Comics and collectibles finding a big following

If you've got someone on your holiday gift list with an affinity for comic books, board games and collectibles, it couldn't come at a better time.

If you've got someone on your holiday gift list with an affinity for comic books, board games and collectibles, it couldn't come at a better time.

In recent years, the popularity of movies and TV shows based on popular characters has helped fuel sales of comic books, and after decades of being regarded as counter culture, comics have elbowed into the mainstream.

Whenever a new Spiderman, X-Men, Batman, Superman or Avengers movie is announced, it sparks more interest in their comic book origins.

For example, since the new Star Wars movie teaser trailers were recently released, anything related to that galaxy far, far away has been flying off the shelves, according to Peter Turcotte, the owner of Big Pete's Collectibles in Lower Lonsdale. "The last two weeks has seen a massive resurgence in Star Wars sales and that's all because of the trailer," he said. "People are excited."

Although it hasn't officially been announced yet, Marvel's upcoming Star Wars No. 1 comic due to hit shelves on Jan. 14 has already broken records, Turcotte said. "The Star Wars No. 1 comic, according to industry sources, (is) the highest ordered comic from retailers I think they mentioned in almost 20 years. It should be pretty big." DC Comics, which owns Batman, Superman, Justice League and Green Lantern, among many others, launched its New 52 series (52 new #1 issues starring some of their most popular superheroes) in 2011 to attract new readers to its established superheroes by bringing them into the 21st century. Turcotte said DC's launch did exactly what it set out to do, and the core Batman and Batgirl series are among the top sellers in his store.

But not all comic books are just about superheroes as the growing success of independent titles has exploded over the last few years, according to Turcotte. Some of the top-selling trade paperbacks include titles such as Rat Queens and Saga, Turcotte said. They make great gifts for comic book lovers looking to read beyond the realm of superheroes.

The board game selection has also grown to keep up with demand, and crowdfunding sites have helped board game inventors raise the money they need to get their games to market. "I think the board game generation right now is sealed by Kickstarter (and) crowdfunding," said Turcotte. "I think a lot of people have a lot of great ideas and they fail to get them to market because they don't know how, and then Kickstarter came and you've got good comics and good board games."

Turcotte said he hasn't been able to keep newer games such as Pandemic, King of Tokyo and King of New York on his shelves. Pandemic is a co-op game about virus outbreaks across the world, while King of Tokyo and New York are "versus" games (player versus player) in which giant monsters battle it out to dominate metropolitan cities. "It's monster versus monster, carnage and mayhem. It's really fun actually," Turcotte noted. "They were designed by Richard Garfield, who is the creator of Magic: The Gathering (card game)."

For the game-loving comic book enthusiast there are plenty of options for unique gifts and collectibles, Turcotte noted.