Boulder's Favorite Comic Book Store, Time Warp, Celebrates Forty Years

Time Warp Comics owner Wayne Winsett wants to assure everyone that the Boulder-favorite comic shop isn't going anywhere. It's been around for over four decades, and despite some misunderstandings after a Daily Camera article in which a well-meaning writer led with Winsett wanting to "hang up his cape and cowl," his pending retirement doesn't mean the store is in any danger of closing.

"We had a lot of people reach out to us since that story came out," Winsett laughs, "thanking us for all the great years of comic books and saying they'd miss us. I've been like, 'You don't have to miss us! We'll still be here!'"

And it's true: Winsett and Time Warp have been there for fans, fighting the good fight to stay afloat in the weird and wonderful world of comics and pop-culture retail, for more than four decades. Time Warp opened in 1984, but Winsett started his own four-color adventure in 1978, when the manager of the Boulder satellite Mile High Comics offered him a summer job. Then pre-med at CU, Winsett took that job and never looked back.

"I worked there until I became manager," Winsett recalls. "And then they offered to sell me the store. Everyone I knew told me not to do it. Comics were still a fringe commodity, and the costs were high. But I was undeterred, and I went for it. It was tough, for sure. Lean times, especially early on. I think we may have made $60 that first day, and there were too many days at the start that I could count the sales with single digits. But still, I remember turning that key in that lock on the first day, and, man, that felt good."

That first store was at 1717 Pearl Street; it would later move just down the row to 1711. Then, when Winsett opened a second location in Longmont, the original Time Warp moved again, to Arapahoe and 28th. "That was a tiny, tiny space next to the Video Station," he says, citing Boulder's popular video-rental store that finally closed in 2017. "It could be that small because I was running two stores. But we always knew we needed more space."

The chance to move to the much-bigger present location at 3105 28th Street in Boulder came when the leases for both the Arapahoe store and the Longmont store ended around the same time in the early 2000s. Winsett decided to move and has been there ever since, selling comics and doing lots of community outreach. One of his biggest contributions to Colorado's comic scene was sitting on the committee that started the Denver Comic Con, now Fan Expo Denver.

When did Winsett first realize that Time Warp was going to make it? That despite the challenges, the store was going to be a success? "Maybe tomorrow?" he jokes. "Every day is its own little struggle. But I never once dreaded coming to work. I've always wanted to be here. Still, I never really sat back and thought that I'd made it through. I'm always focused on the next thing the store, and our customers, need. It's kept me going, for sure."

That commitment to customers is what's set Time Warp apart from a lot of other comic stores that have come — and some that have also gone — over the decades. Customers Joe and Rita Rollman make the trek out from the Denver Tech Center area. Why? "Time Warp is that comic store we all grew up with," Joe says. "It harkens back to a time when I would spend hours in wide-eyed wonderment, nose-deep in a long box. I'd drive further than Boulder for experiences like that."

Not only that, but Joe, who's also an up-and-coming local artist, has high praise for the staff and the customer experience they provide. "It's amazing how decent, genuine and engaging they have all been to me over the years," he reflects. "People can make or break an experience, and in this case, the experience has always drawn me back."

To honor his four decades and counting in heading up Time Warp Comics, Winsett and his crack staff are putting together a celebration on Saturday, September 28 — aka Local Comic Shop Day. The store will continue its month-long sale on back issues, but is also hosting local artists and national phenoms Jorge Corona (Transformers, Ain't No Grave) and Morgan Beem (Swamp Thing, Eat the Rich) for an in-store signing. A small run of Dick Tracy #1 with a custom cover by local artist Scorpio Steele (Penguin #1) will also be available (and in short supply — only fifty will be produced), and door prizes and giveaways will happen throughout the evening. And at 6 p.m., the main event: an auction of a huge list of rare, vintage and sought-after comics and ephemera. Just a sampling of the list of auction items is enough to whet the whistle of any serious comic collector: Amazing Spiderman #86, the first appearance of Black Cat; a hardcover Dark Knight Returns signed by Frank Miller; All American Comics #77 from 1946; Ghost Rider #1 from 1967; Captain Marvel #1 from 1968; Rat Fink Comix #1 signed by Ed "Big Daddy" Roth; an Alex Ross sketchbook from 2014; and a stack of 24 comics that would have been on the shelves when Time Warp first opened. And that's only listing a few highlights. (For the complete guide to all that will be auctioned, see the Time Warp website.)  Winsett is billing the auction as Time Warp's "final" auction — but that's not because the store is closing. Rather, Winsett hopes to be retired by the next anniversary celebration, which he's done every five years.

"I plan to be here for the 45th anniversary," Winsett says. "But as a guest, not the owner. My hope is that someone will come along and want to buy it and continue the ways of Time Warp. But I'm not going anywhere. Even if I sell it, I'll be around for quite a while, as a consultant and to help out any way I can. It's just too important to me, and I think to a lot of our customers and friends. It's my legacy."

Time Warp Comics anniversary celebration, Saturday, September 28, 3105 20th Street, Boulder. Auction begins at 6 p.m. For more information, see the store website.