So I had originally intended to visit Word Power - the bookshop stocking Marxist and dissident literature on West Nicolson street. But apparently bookstores that spurn 'mainstream' culture are closed on Sunday afternoons. Or at least, they were shuttered when I arrived at 12.30pm. Oh well!
So I headed down to quite a different kind of bookstore to do some long, serious shelf-browsing: Deadhead Comics.
The title kind of says it all. This discreet shop tucked along Candlemaker row has apparently been serving Edinburgh for a good number of years. And really, it seems the perfect meeting place for devotees of comics and graphic novels. You can almost see them reverently surrounding Deadhead's huge selection of mint comics in sealed sleeves; or gawping at the glossy covers on the latest release shelf.
The lanky guy manning the shop is also Edinburgh's own version of comic book guy: he shuffles awkwardly behind the counter, and generally stares at his computer screen through curtains of long, scraggly hair.
But jokes aside, coming from someone who isn't particularly a fan of comics, this is quite an absorbing place to lose yourself. I went a bit wild looking at the mint editions of Neil Gaiman's Sandman series. I've read the compiled paperback editions, but I've never seen it in its original monthly serial format.
The cover art for all the issues is gorgeous, and at 2.99pounds for each issue I was sorely tempted. But I suspect I would also be very tempted to rip through the protective packaging just to have a read through the comic itself. I can never be a serious comic book collector.
Spent a nice part of mid-day browsing through the rather dusty shelves. Thumbing through X-men comics is somehow very therapeutic on a lazy, overcast Sunday afternoon. The selection seems quite large. Comic fans, you've found your mecca.
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