Skanky Vamp
Sniffin' the Slayer
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From Amy Poehler's Smart Girls
Imagine your dream comic book shop. Better yet, it doesn’t just have to be a comic book store. It can be your ideal coffee shop. Thinking of somewhere friendly, warm, and welcoming? You might just find it in Philadelphia, where Amalgam Comics and Coffeehouse just opened its doors. And behind that store stands our very own Storm–Ariell R. Johnson, creator, owner, and first black woman to open a comic book shop on the East Coast.
Amalgam has been a long time coming for Ariell. “The idea came to me as a result of the loss of my favorite coffee shop,” Ariell shared. “I started purchasing comics in college and directly across the street from Fat Jack’s (my local comic store in Center City Philadelphia) there was this great coffee shop called Crimson Moon. The shop was owned by a young black woman, and it was phenomenal!… When she closed it was more than just losing the place I would buy the occasional hot beverage, it was a place I felt comfortable, a home away from home.”
As a young girl who grew up idolizing Storm, one of the first comic book characters she could identify with and hold as a role model, the distinction of being a black woman operating in an often white-male dominated industry is not lost on her. “I think it is more important because I’m another example for all the little black girls everywhere that you can be or do whatever you want. Another example that we don’t have to believe what other people tell us about ourselves, we can make our own destiny.”
This distinction was also in the forefront of her mind from a general business perspective as well. “In order to get this business open I had to deal with architects, engineers, contractors, lenders, and government agencies; and as you may have guessed, most of the people I dealt with were white and male.
So many times in the year it took us to renovate the space, I wondered: Where are the black architects? Why haven’t I found a woman-owned construction company? Why are there no black women on this loan committee? It just shows that despite my accomplishment and the accomplishments of many other phenomenal people of color and women, we still have a long way to go.”
As someone working towards equality in her shop, Ariell is baffled by the continued separation of genders when it comes to pop culture merchandise. “It really makes no sense, and I think it comes from an attitude of ‘women and girls don’t buy toys’… That creates this attitude that boys and men can only look up to other men, which I have a huge problem with,” Ariell suggests. “I love when I see guys that are into things that are usually gendered female. We have a little guy that comes into the shop that is really into My Little Pony and I think it’s awesome. Our society has shamed the feminine, I think. Fathers get excited when their daughter is ‘tom-boy’ that is really into football, but are ashamed when their son is really into ballet. That just makes no sense to me. If I ever have a son and he asks for a Storm or Wonder Woman t-shirt, I think it will be one of the happiest days of my life.” And the culture of Amalgam reflects these views, “Amalgam is a safe space and I want people to know they are free to express themselves without feeling boxed into a certain social norm.”
While Ariell is doing an amazing job promoting positive values in her community, we’d still be wrong to check in with a comic book shop owner and not ask about her favorite pieces of pop culture. Ariell’s an 80’s kid and holds ThunderCats, He-Man, and She-Ra close to her heart. She’s also an X-Men, Gargoyles, Buffy, and Angel fan-girl. When she can find time to read, she has vowed to start, catch up on, and finish Saga, Fables, Niobe, Silk, Y the Last Man, and of course her favorite band of merry mutants, X-Men.
“There is something magical about seeing your dream fully realized,” Ariell mused. “I’ve had this idea about the shop in my head for the last twelve years, and I have fantasized about what a day at Amalgam would look like, so the feeling I get when I walk through the door and actually see everything that has played out in my head happening in front of me… I can’t put it into words. It’s like I wrote fanfic and my story became canon.”
Imagine your dream comic book shop. Better yet, it doesn’t just have to be a comic book store. It can be your ideal coffee shop. Thinking of somewhere friendly, warm, and welcoming? You might just find it in Philadelphia, where Amalgam Comics and Coffeehouse just opened its doors. And behind that store stands our very own Storm–Ariell R. Johnson, creator, owner, and first black woman to open a comic book shop on the East Coast.
Amalgam has been a long time coming for Ariell. “The idea came to me as a result of the loss of my favorite coffee shop,” Ariell shared. “I started purchasing comics in college and directly across the street from Fat Jack’s (my local comic store in Center City Philadelphia) there was this great coffee shop called Crimson Moon. The shop was owned by a young black woman, and it was phenomenal!… When she closed it was more than just losing the place I would buy the occasional hot beverage, it was a place I felt comfortable, a home away from home.”
As a young girl who grew up idolizing Storm, one of the first comic book characters she could identify with and hold as a role model, the distinction of being a black woman operating in an often white-male dominated industry is not lost on her. “I think it is more important because I’m another example for all the little black girls everywhere that you can be or do whatever you want. Another example that we don’t have to believe what other people tell us about ourselves, we can make our own destiny.”
This distinction was also in the forefront of her mind from a general business perspective as well. “In order to get this business open I had to deal with architects, engineers, contractors, lenders, and government agencies; and as you may have guessed, most of the people I dealt with were white and male.
So many times in the year it took us to renovate the space, I wondered: Where are the black architects? Why haven’t I found a woman-owned construction company? Why are there no black women on this loan committee? It just shows that despite my accomplishment and the accomplishments of many other phenomenal people of color and women, we still have a long way to go.”
As someone working towards equality in her shop, Ariell is baffled by the continued separation of genders when it comes to pop culture merchandise. “It really makes no sense, and I think it comes from an attitude of ‘women and girls don’t buy toys’… That creates this attitude that boys and men can only look up to other men, which I have a huge problem with,” Ariell suggests. “I love when I see guys that are into things that are usually gendered female. We have a little guy that comes into the shop that is really into My Little Pony and I think it’s awesome. Our society has shamed the feminine, I think. Fathers get excited when their daughter is ‘tom-boy’ that is really into football, but are ashamed when their son is really into ballet. That just makes no sense to me. If I ever have a son and he asks for a Storm or Wonder Woman t-shirt, I think it will be one of the happiest days of my life.” And the culture of Amalgam reflects these views, “Amalgam is a safe space and I want people to know they are free to express themselves without feeling boxed into a certain social norm.”
While Ariell is doing an amazing job promoting positive values in her community, we’d still be wrong to check in with a comic book shop owner and not ask about her favorite pieces of pop culture. Ariell’s an 80’s kid and holds ThunderCats, He-Man, and She-Ra close to her heart. She’s also an X-Men, Gargoyles, Buffy, and Angel fan-girl. When she can find time to read, she has vowed to start, catch up on, and finish Saga, Fables, Niobe, Silk, Y the Last Man, and of course her favorite band of merry mutants, X-Men.
“There is something magical about seeing your dream fully realized,” Ariell mused. “I’ve had this idea about the shop in my head for the last twelve years, and I have fantasized about what a day at Amalgam would look like, so the feeling I get when I walk through the door and actually see everything that has played out in my head happening in front of me… I can’t put it into words. It’s like I wrote fanfic and my story became canon.”
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