Phenomenal comic shop! You can ask about anything and get insightful explanations, news, and recommendations. The two people I've seen regularly working here over the years (Willard Call and the guy with the awesome beard) have made it comfortable to ask for changes to my pull list, even frequent changes and closing all subscriptions. Multiple staff members have let me drop off promotional material at their promo table without any hassle. One year during Free Comic Book Day, I asked for just one extra comic to give to my student who likes the featured character, and I was given 24 free comics so I could give one to every student! read more

I was hoping the store would be a little bigger and have more things than just comic books, they did sell a lot of trading card singles, I think their yugioh cards were like 10 cents each for the regular ones. Its nothing special though no discounts on manga or anything and if they did well it wasn't posted anywhere..:( I rather go to comics unlimited. A little disappointed. read more

So I've visited almost all the comic shops south/s.east of the 105 fwy down to Orange County. Here's my rundown on my visit... LIke others have said, this place is very, very small. That being said, every little bit of this space is definitely being used. They cram a lot of items into this tiny little space. Their comic related merchandise is what's to be expected. They have the typical amount for the size of the store. Some gaming items, mostly card gaming. A decent selection of Manga titles that was nice to see. Their new comics selection is small (there's that word again), but of course they don't have the room. All the new titles you would expect to see in a comic store. Not very many indie titles. There were some variants and other key priced issues behind the counter on display. They have a decent amount of back issues available. The short boxes are stacked in cubbies and are well organized. The issues don't go back that far, they are mainly newer back issued items. They did have some bargain boxes though most of these are in pretty bad shape. It appeared that there were more boxes behind the counter but I was unsure what was in them. I love the location of this store, it's in a shopping center very accessible to the students of UCI. The staff was welcoming when I entered the store and were helpful when I was looking for something in particular. I hope that they are able to expand the store in the future, it definitely needed. read more

Super nice staff. Small but fun. it had everything I needed and Ryan was really helpful and fun to talk to. Would love to hang out here!

We've been here many times. The kids love it (and even grown up fan girls can find great things). Every single time we've been the people who work here are so, so nice. They always make the kids feel like people instead of young problems. They answer all the questions, give great suggestions, and are really fun and kind. read more

Same great store, but now bigger and right off the 405 freeway! Love all the selections they have here. I always come back for more.

The best comic book store! Me and my husband go here all the time. Ryan makes a great experience. Other comic book stores, the staff is not as relaxed and down to earth. But Ryan along with that is always helpful- if he doesn't know something- he'll look it up on his computer. I always have a lot of annoying questions, so I've tested his patience a lot. He has a great memory as well. He knows my taste and is great at recommending things I might like. I couldn't imagine going here without him! And I think they have a big selection- I don't like huge comic shops that overwhelm me. But this is the perfect size. And now they have a big back area where comics are discounted. They always have special sales going on here and there as well, if that's what you're into. This comic shop is definitely worth checking out! For adults and kids.. I know my kids will be growing up going here! read more

They have a great atmosphere , laid back, they love the games. Went for yugioh cards (I like seeing things in person instead of online) found just what I was looking, few singles, some card sleeves, deck boxes, new and outgoing packs, etc. read more

I am not a local to Irvine, I visit the area every other weekend to visit my boyfriend. He and I discovered this place while walking around one of the first weekends I was out there. It is a nice little store run by friendly people. The selection of comics seems a little limited to me compared to my local store, but I don't mind. They have a neat selection of toys and busts. This is a place I will keep coming to. read more

Very nice shop with good selection of TPB & Graphic Novels. They also seems to have most of the popular weeklies. The shop also appears to have a wide variety of games and things like that, but I do not know how that selection compares to other stores. read more

I needed a $100+ comic for a friend's birthday. These guys had variable stuff well within the range of my price. I couldn't find any other comic book shop in Irvine to do this. GREAT JOB! read more

I freaking love this place! Tons of comics, toys, and manga. They just recently moved into a new location with tons of space and it looks great! The customer service here was phenomenal! the two guys there tonight were super cool and engaged in conversation with all the customers, they had tons of knowledge and great recommendations in graphic novels and comics. Keep it up guys cant wait to come back read more

This is definitely my new favorite store, maybe even my new permanent store considering how close it is to the 405 MacArthur exit. Right next to the Carl's Jr. and facing the John Wayne Airport runway along Main Street. Very close to my home. This location is clean, highly organized and very well stocked, especially when you take into account how large the store is and that they only just opened. The selection is only going to grow. At this time they have only had this location open for about 2 weeks, but I have very high hopes for the owner, Marco, and his team. read more

Finding a good comic book store has gotten harder and harder over the years. Seems like just when you find one and start establishing a good relationship, economic reality sets in like a deathstar and planet strikes the shop. Luckily, Alakazam @ the Irvine location has thus far had the force be with them and are still going strong. Staff is quirky, funny, helpful, and knowledgeable - great combination! They do offer subscription service. read more

The guys here were super helpful! We came in looking for Pokémon cards for a birthday present. They explained the values of the cards and help us pick out one for our collector friend. They also gave us a good deal on the cards and packs. I highly recommend this place. read more

I was here awhile back and I was looking to buy some yugioh cards. I see some cards in huge pile that are holos and I ask if they are for sale... That clerk guy Willard says they are not for sale. Then when I buy some cards and asked if he minds if I take a quick peek he says..."YES I DO MIND. I DON"T KNOW HOW MANY TIMES I HAVE TO TELL YOU THEY ARE NOT PROCESSED AND THEY ARE NOT FOR SALE". I asked once...and he gets all sarcastically angry over it. I almost thought it was his period. Also I asked if he would mind if I got a second card bag....which he responded "Yes I do mind...we give one per customer as a gratuity". Very rude. Customer service is terrible. You are better shopping at other places for TCGs (check around anaheim). read more

Skip this one. There are better choices in the skeezy comic/game store category. I've wandered in and out of the store several times in the last year during my lunches at the University Center. It's a small ecclectic store, with a little section of board and card games, which was the main draw for me. Although I could get any of these games on Amazon for 75% the price they were asking for, I like supporting these little home grown places. I've been frequenting Comic Quest in Lake Forest for the same reason--now that's a great store. One day, I decided to by a $40 card game ($27 on Amazon) which I had heard was very good. So far so good. Less than a week later, I hadn't yet unwrapped or opened the game. After considering the purchase more carefully (frankly, my wife was unlikely to play it with me), I decided to return it for a refund or even store credit (they have other games that would have worked). I called to ask for their return policy, explaining that I had an unopened game purchased less than a week ago that I wanted to return. The clerk didn't know the policy and put the phone down to ask the manager who was nearby. 10 seconds later he gets back on the phone to tell me that there are no returns or exchanges. Really?! A week out with an unopened (and very popular) product? So they just lost my business forever to save the hassle of putting a box back on the shelf, which they would have re-sold in short order. This is silly. From now on I'll be buying my games from other stores: Comic Quest (I love that dirty place--and their selection is easily 50 times Alakhazams) or, if ncessary Barnes & Noble or Amazon. read more

Rude owner, made sarcastic remarks when I told him that I didn't want to buy a item that I was looking at.

Seemed to have a decent selection. My only thing is the prices. I just know too many places that give great discounts and this place was charging face for what I was interested in. I'll take bad customer service for 40% off anyday. My comic habit is just too big to pay full price. But again, cool little shop in a good location for UCI students. read more

Store owner has a great ebay store, I found out he was nearby so I checked out his shop. Great old comic books and every discount I asked for I got! Friendly service, very informative, an awesome place where real collectors should go. Too bad I live a lil too far away to come here all the time but definitely will have to come back for some older books at a later date...... read more

I've been a customer of Alakazam for more than half a decade at it's Costa Mesa location since my relocation to OC from Pasadena, but moved to the Irvine location due to the consolidation of the locations of this store. The owner is a great guy who is extremely helpful, friendly, does his best to accommodate and I have had a good relationship with him and the one employee that came from the other store, but only works one day a week. Will, however, is indeed a douchebag and that is something that I have felt the couple of times I have spoken to him. I won't speak to the guy when I don't have to and won't come in when he is there. I'm not surprised that other reviewers have felt he is too persistent, one-sided and rude, since that is exactly how I have felt. During my time there, I have been a loyal customer and always picked up nearly every Marvel book released. That is over $200 per month, many times over $80 per week on average. My track record has been flawless and I would have considered myself one of it's biggest subscribers. However, Will considers otherwise and decides to cancel my subscription without notice and despite me not even being his customer. I'm done with this store simply because Will is in primary control of it and I just don't care for him, as much as I like the owner. The Irvine store is just too small to manage in a professional manner especially with an unprofessional employee who has no clue how to speak to people and whose judgment basically controls the store. On principle, I refuse to come back while Will is still around and I don't care how well the owner feels about him. If I ever want to fulfill my comic book needs, I will likely drive the 50 miles back to the Comic Factory in Pasadena, which has a big store, recent comics always available and great, friendly staff. The 50 miles is worth it rather than having to deal with Will. I rate Alakazam 4 stars for it's mom and pop feel and great owner, but give the Irvine location 2 stars, for the reasons provided above. read more

In terms of inventory, they have a neat variety for such a small store. You can't find too many back issues but they try their best to keep everything available. They have a sizable collection of magic cards. Their prices are not horrible but still overpriced. They also have some neat gifts which are nice I guess. I would give them a 3 out of 5 based on inventory and pricing. However customer service kills it. The owner of the store or the guy usually there is a complete douche. He is not very knowledgeable about the card games and doesn't know how to interact with most of the customers in a courteous polite manner. I will mention the beard guy is quite cool and starting a conversation with him is cool but the owner who has a smaller beard pretty much makes me stay away from this store. I know I am not the only one that shares this view. The owner's number 1 issue is he is extremely apathetic. He will try to rip you off selling magic cards even though he has no idea what he is doing. He doesn't care. Making customers come back and respect the store is not his intent, he just wants your money. He is always right. You are not. You need to get this straight if you want to sell or buy from him. I understand local shops need to make a living but there is a stark difference between profiting and bad business manners. He just rubs people off the wrong way and doesn't care to change for the better as long as he makes money. I don't want to attack him personally but he should not work with people. It is what it is. At one of their annual sales, I arrived before the sale and bought something. I noticed the sale during the transaction and in about 2 hours and I would get a 20% discount if I waited.The thought about waiting did cross my mind but I probably wouldn't have since I was busy later on that day. But before I said anything, the owner goes "Well too late now! sorry. hahaha." and tries to joke around to convince me not to end the transaction. Do you know how rude this is? I seriously wanted to just walk out without paying but I had a friend there and didn't want to be rude as well. Seriously the owner needs to learn how not to be a douche around customers. Period. Other than that. Average store. Might be a little small. Try to support them as they are local but try to avoid the owner at the same time. read more

A great shop, brimming over with amazingly cool products. I always find new and awesome things there! The service is friendly and their promotions are awesome. read more

Website says they pay 70% of the value of a comic when they buy. My comic was certified at a 9.0 by CGC and is a silver age comic. The value at 9.0 on all value lists has it at $152. 70% would put it at about $100. I was offered $45 to $50. That would be about 30%. When I brought this up I was told that they don't care what any value list says they just look at Ebay and see what that book would have sold on Ebay and then offer much less then that so they can make money on Ebay. I can do that myself lol. By the way the comic that they found on Ebay that they were basing their price on was my comic that I sold previously. To funny. Low balers!! The guy was cool and I like the shop but their website is misleading. read more

The cashier Will was very nice at first and allowed me to go through his collections of Pokemon cards in which I wanted to buy. But when I was at checkout, I ask if he could give me a discount on one of the cards in which I had wanted since I am used to going to vendors rather than stores. And by the way, the cards looked like they haven't been touched in a while and if no ones going to buy them anyways why not sell them slightly cheaper? He then rudely told me that the place wasn't a swap meet, even though it looks like one.... Anyways, understanding that I had obviously said something wrong I tried to change the light of the conversation by asking if he would buy some of my old cards. This is what he said to me," I ain't buying shit from you." So my experience was definitely not pleasant. I am truly sorry if I had angered Will by saying something that he wasn't used to hearing, but he didn't have to be rude. If somehow he wasn't trying to be rude, the rude vibe DEFINITELY rubbed off. And for that reason, I most definitely will not be going back to Alakazam for anything... and I am sure to tell friends of my experience... read more

Came in to buy the variant Spider-Man 700 books. When I called to see what the price was, they said 10.00 each. When I arrived, the books were priced at 10.00 each. I go to the counter and the manager or whoever he was grabs the books and puts 15.00 price tags on them and says to me "oh, I've been meaning to adjust these" who does that???? I understand raising prices but right when I'm about to pay??? False advertising and greed at its worst here. Be careful if you decide to buy anything behind their counter. read more

I called ahead and explained what I had for sale. He took a couple minutes, presumably to look the item up online then got back and said to come in. So I drove quite a distance only to be told that the most he could do was "a couple bucks." Really. Well, I took my item, left and promptly sold it online for 10 times that plus shipping so if you ask me, this place was a total waste of time and gas. If you're a seller, take note. If you're a buyer, there's some neat, hard to find collectibles here. read more

I went there today only get some yu gi oh cards. They have an amazing price for 10 cents for a yu gi oh card(it has mostly common monster cards and some spell and trap cards). They also have some structure decks, and packs available(and i think some tins and other big stuff). They also got a binder for foils and more higher level cards in singles which are more expensive than the 10 cents boxes(they also come with a sleeve). If you're getting into Yu gi oh and need to build a cheap simple deck this place is for you. I was only there for the yu gi oh cards but from a glance they have a nice DC/Marvel comic book collection and also some manga. The staff was very nice and helpful. read more

Terrible service and unfriendly staff. Went in to sell trading cards, which they said I could do when I called earlier on the phone. They stated that they would value the cards based on eBay completed listings. Perfect. I valued the cards for myself using this method and brought them in, expecting to get over $100. Nope. The staff claimed the cards were "beaten up" when in fact they were in excellent condition. I wish the rude staff member would have told me that they only accepted mint condition cards over the phone so I didn't have to waste my time only for him to scoff at me for my cards that weren't good enough for his taste. He said he would give me TEN DOLLARS for the whole lot of 200 cards even though I valued a single card at $20, even given its non-mint condition. Absolutely insulting. I hope this place goes out of business. read more

I have been going to Alakazam for a very long time now to get my comics, very near a decade. Will, who runs the store, has always been incredibly helpful, and has pointed me towards many a good book that I would have otherwise missed. The store carries a bunch of great boardgames as well as comics, many of which the staff can tell you about from first hand experience. This is the best store in the OC for comics, they are amazing. read more

This is the one stop little shop for any geek and people who are into comics and trading cards I gotta say it has a lot of stuff that I like as a nerd myself I would recommend this shop to get fun games and stuff read more

I love this comic store. I most appreciate how much the staff is willing to explain anything I can think to ask about. You can find good, weird stuff under the "staff picks" section of the new releases. It is really easy to subscribe and unsubscribe from titles. read more

So I'm not much of a comic book person, but I love card games, board games, and collectibles. My wife and I would occasionally come in for new 2 person board games to play for each other and maybe try to find some fun collectibles for Rick and Morty, Simpsons, or Bobs Burgers. Recently we caved in and wanted to try a new person card game, so we did some research and decided on Magic: The gathering. We thought a great place to get some more info on this would be our local comic book shop. I was blown away at the helpfulness of the staff and owners here. They are all positively passionate about what they do. It's pretty awesome when a location doesn't just feel like a "shop" but like a small all inclusive community. Highly recommend this place to anyone. It's a good place if you just want to nose around and purchase a few things, but it's so much more when you start socializing with the staff and to start getting involved. Very happy this place exists. Gonna be coming here for a long time. read more

Alakazam is really great and I don't get some of the negative reviews on here. Though part of walking into a comic book shop, especially privately owned ones, is don't expect every employee to put up with nasty customers, unrealistically bend over backwards or have a high tolerance for some...not so savory customer behavior (ala, "Not Always Right") because unlike big corporations they don't have to. However, despite that, I have never had bad customer service from them. I've always been treated really well from the moment I was dumb kid walking into the store in Jr. High, turning in my anime VHS late and all! I've gotten really great deals from these guys and even got a pull box here for my regular issues! One memorable moment was when they got a vintage Pikachu that wiggles its ears and lights up. The day they got it in I HAD to have it (nostalgia, I had one as a kid), but was totally broke. They held it for me until I had the money and gave it to me for lower than its typical collectors sale value. It was also in absolutely PERFECT condition! A wonderful comic book shop with a small selection but amazing people, and they always have the lastest issue, plus a little extra! read more

Awesome place. wish they had more space. Had the board game I was looking for, have tons of comics

Love this place. They have my books whenever I want, keep a box for me, and they always play awesome stuff on TV (last time I was there they were playing a Transformers parody or something. Epic win). People working there always down to talk about whatever. All in all, go there. Try it out. Talk to them. It's awesome. read more

Visiting for years. Love the pull-list system, complimentary bag & boards. Lots of tchotchke. Actually bought gifts for my family there; Alakazam also provides gift bags and wrapping. Nice. Service pleasant and always willing to chat. read more

I used to frequent here for trading cards when I was in the area. Overall, the customer service here is terrible, and judging from the other reviewers it wasn't just my impression. The owner, who thankfully I didn't see too often, was the epitome of uninviting. I remember on one occasion I was looking through their card selection, and after I didn't find any bargains on that particular day I put them back and made my way out. At that point the owner glares at me and says to the effect of "why didn't you put the cards back in order!? You're trying to steal from us aren't you?" Gee, I'm sorry your little world is so fragile that putting a bunch of cards out of alignment would send the sky crashing down. They weren't even in any particular order to begin with, so I'm not sure what his deal was. On a later occasion he deliberately tried to rip me off on booster packs when the actual price was marked in clearly legible letters. The only reason I don't give this place a one-star rating is Ryan, the only employee with any semblance of customer service, with his pleasant demeanor. I believe he prices the cards, so I was occasionally able to find good deals here and there. Overall though, I'd say just go somewhere else. Majestix has a far bigger collection and isn't too much of a distance. read more

Great place tucked away right next to the Univ. of Calif Irvine campus. I have a pull list, so I just come by and pick my comics once a week, bagged and boarded. Anything you can think of, they will order it if they don't have it. New comics, boxes of 2nd hand graphic novels, and comics. read more

I just found out about this place recently when a friend recommended it to me and I stopped in last week. I really should have checked it out sooner! They have a great selection and the guy and girl working there were nice and helped me find what I wanted. They have cheap rentals for classic graphical novels and offer special orders so I highly recommend this to anyone looking for comics or manga. read more