The Fat Ogre

Over the last few years, I have driven past a comic shop on the south side of The Woodlands. I never stopped until Zimm visited. He has an eye for these sorts of places. We went in, and he canvassed the place. On the way out, he told me that he had liked it.

Lacking his and Robert’s technical eye, I was unable to comment on the quality of the comic book collection or statue offerings. But the environment was a different matter. The Fat Ogre was a small shop—they have recently expanded doubling their size and gaming space. Besides comic books, statues, and figurines, they sell snacks—although the Valero is only two doors down. Strange as it sounds, the snacks along with the chatty guy behind the counter and the geek on his way back from Valero all contributed to a clear sense of community.

This was a great place to visit to look over titles, pick up a Warhammer figurine for the nephew, or undertake some serious RPG work. The staff seems less interested in proving their expertise than they are in chatting about comic books or giving advice to newbies.

Starbucks has made a fortune off of tapping people’s desire for a refuge from work and home. This place has done it on a much smaller scale and with a hell of a lot let pretension. If you are in Houston and someone drags you north to The Woodlands Market Street, ditch them at Border’s or Tommy Bahama's. And take a five minute drive down Grogan’s Mill to a refuge.


Bayard