Valenti Govantes/ Staff Writer
Adorned with comic books, trading cards, and an incredible amount of funko pop figures, Korka Comics promotes a welcoming atmosphere to the community.
As an FIU alumni and self-proclaimed member of the South Florida’s geek community, owner Stephen Korka understands the appeal of a comic shop that is only down the street from the Modesto Maidique Campus.
“It’s really important to open up to the FIU community, I know from my experience as a student that it was great to have a shop nearby,” said Korka.
Kora, who graduated in 2004 with a bachelor’s degree in hospitality management and a minor in musical performance, was inspired to open up the shop when he found out that the owner of ZBK Comics, a comic store he frequented, was retiring.
“I have been a collector and reader my entire life and there was an owner of a store in Pembroke Pines and he was going to retire and thus I took it over and it became my first store,” said Kora.
He addressed how it was a very sudden moment that motivated him to take control of ZBK Comics and to rebrand it as the shop it is today.
“It was a spur in the moment decision—It was something that happened in a two week span. I saw they were closing and I made an offer— I didn’t anticipate the owner closing and I figured, well this can be fun,” said Korka.
Recognizing the prime market for comic shops in Miami-Dade County compared to the abundance of options available in Broward County, Korka decided to open up Korka Comics locations in Miami and Coral Gables as well.
“I was being successful and I wanted to tap into the Miami market because there weren’t as many shops in Miami as there were in Broward and I was a risk taker and it panned out well,” said Korka.
Amid the pandemic, Korka took advantage of the initial closure period beginning in March which had affected many local small businesses, to complete renovations to the shop including remodeling the restroom to resemble the world of the Super Mario Bros. series of video games.
“There is only so much you can do–considering what the county would allow you to do–we were allowed to be here but not allowed to have customers, so we were doing cleanings and doing minor renovations.”
Now that the county continues to reopen, Korka says that in these currently difficult times, small businesses have to be inventive in their business practices.
“It’s all about being creative–at least now, we can have customers now enter into the store so there is some sense of normalcy,” he said.
Korka and employee Juan Farach also host the web show “Atomic Pop” on the Korka Comics YouTube channel.
In the show, they do interviews with comic book writers and artists, top ten lists, reviews of the latest geeky movies and TV shows.
Korka, having been a musician for nearly all of his life, also DJs for events when he is not working at the shop.
In the past months, Korka has demonstrated his musical abilities through tributes to artists such as Little Richard or DJ music sets themed to popular music eras in livestreams featured on the Korka Comics Instagram.
“Aside from running the shop, I am also a musician and I couldn’t do that during quarantine, so to increase engagement, I thought of doing that to entertain people at home,” said Korka.
Recently, Korka has started to expand the reach of the shop by initiating online sales using social media platforms.
On Sept. 24, a charity auction was held on Instagram in support of the Children’s Miracle Network raising $675 dollars for them.
“We don’t have an online e-commerce presence, so it allows us to be more creative and set up online auctions on social media sites such as Facebook,” said Korka.
Korka admitted how the passage of time between decades has led to comic books becoming more popular.
“If you are 40 years old today then you were a teenager in the ‘90s, now these people are coming to these shops because of how things like comic books are now becoming more socially acceptable,” he said.
Korka also acknowledged how the niche aspect of such a fandom has become more mainstream.
“It almost seems strange now if someone doesn’t know about these things,” he said.
On the subject of the never ending debate between DC vs Marvel Comics, Korka had a thought-provoking perspective on it.
“I see them as equals—Marvel is a little more grounded in reality and it takes place in our world and has places like New York City. DC has made up cities like Metropolis and Gotham, In DC the superheroes are huge and godlike, with the exception of Batman,” he said.
As a salute to FIU, the shop offers a special ten percent discount for FIU students, faculty, and staff.
For more information, you can find Korka Comics on their Instagram @korkacomics or their website www.korkacomics.com.
About Post Author
