Geeky L.A. Treasure Meltdown Comics to Close After 25 Years. TMS Says Goodbye.
There are institutions that you assume will be around forever. Places that you count on to be there when your friends come to town, or when you’re randomly looking for something to do. Places that you take for granted until they go away, and you realize just how much they meant. Meltdown Comics in Los Angeles is one of those places, and its owner announced yesterday that they will soon be closing their doors after 25 years.
In a blog post on their official website, Meltdown founder Gaston Dominguez-Letelier released a statement announcing the closing, citing March 30th as the date the store’s doors would be closing for the last time. He wrote:
To The City of Angels,
As is the case with all good things, at some point they must come to an end. Meltdown Comics is no exception to this rule and so, after 25 years coveting every comic treasure we could lay our hands on, I’m sharing that on March 30th I’ll be closing our doors for the final time.
No business is easy, least of all one rooted in paper surrounded by brick and mortar, yet against all odds we survived just long enough to host, share, and celebrate some of the most creative and imaginative artists in the world. It has been my personal privilege to welcome so many incredibly talented minds through our doors giving them and their work a home in this great city of ours.
And what a wonderfully surreal run it’s been… we’ve watched every fad, trend, and next big thing come and go while customers became celebrities, children blossomed to adults, geeks morphed into moguls, and fanboys scored Oscars. Throughout it all, I’ve been most fortunate to be surrounded by my family and the best staff anyone could have ever wished for – through thick and thin you supported Meltdown and invested in me, I will never be able to repay you but know that I am eternally grateful and forever in your debt.
As I prepare to extinguish Sunset’s neon know that there is a new path for me (more later) and I close Meltdown without any regret. For 25 years I have been enriched by every inquisitive mind I have encountered on this journey and for that I humbly thank you, all of you.
In signing off, I urge you all to continue creating comics, buying comics, and supporting the comic book world that has given us all so much over the years.
For one last time, #LetsgoMELTDOWN!
Thank you, LA
Sincerely,
Gaston DL
Meltdown Comics
October 26, 1993 – April 1, 2018
If you live outside Los Angeles, you might not know about Meltdown Comics. Then again, it’s likely you do anyway. It’s one of the few comic shops that has gained nationwide recognition thanks to its NerdMelt Showroom and what that performance venue has meant to the L.A. comedy scene. The stage was formed as a joint venture with Nerdist, providing an outlet for alternative comedy. The Meltdown with Jonah and Kumail, conceived by Kumail Nanjiani, Emily V. Gordon, and Jonah Ray, was filmed there from 2010-2016, becoming a Comedy Central series in the process.
Jonah Ray reminisced via Instagram about how all that got started:
Others took to social media to talk about that very thing: community. Meltdown was special, because it gave geeky weirdos a space to be themselves and connect, making it possible for them to do great things. For example, it was his internship at Meltdown that nurtured Riverdale’s Cole Sprouse into his acting career:
#Meltdown cultivated my love of comics throughout my childhood. These guys were the first I told when I booked jughead on Riverdale. I interned here before college, they ushered me into photography, and clapped when I went back into acting. I’ll miss melt https://t.co/MrK98L1pIN
— Cole M. Sprouse (@colesprouse) March 22, 2018
This is me looking nuts on the floor of the NerdMelt greenroom, opening for @weismanjake’s show. Meltdown was a gift and a home to so many comics. Walking the racks, recording podcasts, doing shows – LA is about to shift seismically. We’ll be ok, but we’ll be different. pic.twitter.com/kEBWJ4h33c
— Eliza Skinner (@elizaskinner) March 22, 2018
And recently, we wrote about an artist by the name of Leslie Levings who, while working at Meltdown Comics, was allowed to display her adorable monster sculptures for sale. Then one day, J.J. Abrams walked in with his son, saw the monster sculptures, and loved them immediately. Now, Levings has a deal with Bad Robot and Mattel to bring her creations, “The Beastlies,” to the world via multiple platforms.
All because Meltdown is the kind of place that not only built community, but encourages that community to create geeky, weird shit and actively supports those efforts.
Supported. Encouraged. UGH. Past-tense sucks.
We here at TMS are huge fans of Meltdown, and several of us in particular are sorry to see it go.
I moved to L.A. from New York six years ago, and I have a bunch of great memories of Meltdown from my first six years in LA: taking my friend Lindsay there when she visited me from NYC so she could geek out over being so close to where they do the Nerdist podcast. Meeting Brian K. Vaughan for the second time and Damon Lindelof for the first after a midnight release event for Saga. Dates to comedy shows that I didn’t know were dates. Non-dates to comedy shows that I thought were dates. Oh yeah, and comics. RIP Meltdown. I hope to get over there one more time before it closes.
Meanwhile, resident TMS opinion-haver Vivian used to live in L.A, but left just in time to not have to witness Meltdown’s demise first-hand. She says:
“Los Angeles can be a lonely place. It can be hard to meet people and forge real connections. When I moved to LA, Meltdown was the first place I felt a sense of community. I attended “Meltdown with Jonah and Kumail” every Wednesday for months. I couldn’t believe how lucky I felt to sit with a bunch of smart comedy nerds in the back of a comic book store and laugh our butts off. I am forever grateful to this place for making me feel at home in a big, new city.”
And like I said, you don’t have to be in or from L.A. to have Meltdown mean something to you. TMS Social Media Guru Daniella Bondar has this to say:
“I’m a New Yorker and the Comedy Cellar runs through my blood. Never did I think any other feeling could match that, until Meltdown. Even before I got a chance to visit, I felt some kinship with the place. I mean it gave me the Meltdown Show, which basically ensured that I could never have children because I wouldn’t be able to love them as much as that. It’s given me Nerdist and You Made it Weird, and so much else. But more than that, it was all the whispers of a comedy room where comics felt at home and safe. When I first got to walk through those doors, I knew that all my feelings were right. I’m so sad I didn’t get to go more, and it breaks my heart that it’s not there waiting for me. RIP Meltdown.”
So long, Meltdown, and thanks for all the fish. We can’t wait to see what’s next.
(via Variety, image: Meltdown Comics)
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