FEATURE STORY
We’re GEEK-ING Out! Kilgore is unexpected hub for comics, sci-fi, fantasy fans
BY STELLA WIESER | swieser@panolawatchman.com PHOTOS BY MICHAEL CAVAZOS
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n recent years, the City of Kilgore has become sort of a hub for all things 'geeky' — comics, sci-fi, fantasy and fun.
Two local stores, RC Comics' Geektopia and the Dragon's Nest, lean into this to create places for people to gather to enjoy and express their interest in these things. Rick Custor, owner of Geektopia, began an annual event in Kilgore called Geekend eight years ago. "I think that kind of woke people up and got some people's attention a little bit eight years ago," Custor said. "So I'd like to take a little bit of credit for bringing it to people's attention and getting people excited about it, so I think that may have had something to do with it. I started out just trying to give people — a lot of geeks feel isolated and they don't have that much in common with just everybody, and I think it gave those types of people a place to meet other geeks that they had something in common with. They could talk about the latest movies or the latest books or the latest whatever, and word kinda got out, and 10 Etcetera | October 2021
it's 'Hey, we can meet people here; we can find somebody that we can be friends with.' I think it just kind of grew from there." Custor said you'd be surprised how many geeks are in Kilgore. "I've had people tell me 'well there's no geeks in Kilgore,' but there are," he said. "You don't see them as much. There's people that are into that kind of thing that you'd never suspect are into that kind of thing. It really appeals to all ages, not just kids or even teenagers. I have all ages of customers that come in, and like I said I have books, I have non-geeky books. I've got history books and that kind of thing too. I try to appeal to as many different demographics in the entertainment field that I can. Everybody likes to be entertained. Everybody has something that they geek out about." Stevan Beets, owner of the Dragon's Nest, said something similar. "I say it's bigger than most people would think because back in the day it wasn't cool, now it is. So everybody is embracing the geek culture, and it's like, it's the new norm," he said. "It's not the
