Today we’d like to introduce you to Megan Daniel.
Hi Megan, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Growing up I had always been drawn to comic books, the colorful pages and vivid action scenes along with the compelling stories they told. In my teenage years, this interest of mine turned into a passion that kept me going through many hardships while in the Troubled Teen Industry. I spent several years trapped in a cult-like environment, being locked in a basement, left to fend for myself in the woods, along with many other harsh conditions. After leaving I felt very lost, no longer understanding how the world worked or my place in it. Comics, anime, and manga reasserted themselves in my life as my main source of solace and joy. I eventually fell into the world of online games, briefly playing WoW semi-professionally, it was during this time that I had the epiphany of what I wanted to do with my life. I wanted to create a space where I could share the things that have always brought me comfort, books comics, and music. Moving forward everything seemed to just fall into place as I managed to find other like-minded souls who have survived and appreciate the pop culture arts. My friend Todd brings in his limitless knowledge of vinyl records new and old with encyclopedic knowledge of artists of every genre. Finding my friend Sabrina, she had previously worked in comic shops for years amassing a knowledge of indie and underground comic artists, writers, and creators and their oeuvre of books as well as being the most knowledgeable metal head I know. Then finding my friend Freddy who had worked closely with Sabrina at the same shop as a marketing writer who has a great love and knowledge for horror, Star Wars, and Marvel helped complete the puzzle for my vision. Each one of us have things we love and cherish that bring something new to my store and together we order and discuss what we carry to create a new comic shop-going experience that caters to each of our loves to a masterful degree. I can safely say there will be no other store like this that combines all forms of entertainment. Within this vision, I’ve found my friends and my family of like-minded individuals that will bring the love and compassion to make our store the place to come and congregate in shared passions. These passions saved my life and have kept me sane and now together with my friends I get to give back to others who love these passions as well and maybe can help save their lives and sanity.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
The struggles I have faced have mostly been rooted in misogyny and ageism. I can’t begin to count the amount of people who have been dismissive of me, my business, and goals. It took me time to take notice of this treatment as I had become accustomed to it during my time in the Troubled Teen Industry. I have developed a thick skin in order to combat these types of people, I can’t change the world but I can change my reaction to it. My hopes are that the more I establish myself in this community the more I can change perceptions.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Black Cat Records n Comics?
We specialize in foreign imports in both records and comics. With our collected staff’s knowledge, we excel in pop culture collectibles for music, comics, movies, TV, and games. Our biggest specialties are in Manga and the Horror genre as well as a large base of independent publications and comics as a whole. Our record selection has minimum one (50 records) and maximum (1000records) twenty boxes of each genre. In our store you can walk in and grab a beer while searching for a comic, find a record to compliment it, see figures for both said book and record, purchase a shirt featuring said music or characters, and end up with your pop culture palate completely appeased.
Have you learned any interesting or important lessons due to the Covid-19 Crisis?
As someone who started their business at the end of 2019, Covid has been my biggest adversary. With no way to predict a world crisis, I had to learn how to work around it with the people I have with me. Partnering with Alamo Drafthouse has been our saving grace, they have allowed us to host pop-up installations in several of their locations in the Dallas area. This has awarded us the opportunity to gain some recognition and fan base despite conflicts with being able to open. We hope to continue our relationship with Alamo moving forward, and continue building solid relationships within our community. With that, I have seen true community within the local nerd and entertainment proprietors and specialty shops. It shows how much we all need to work together and how we need each other to make everything work in these times. As my friend and co-worker, Freddy says, “We want this to be the Cheers of comic book shops where everybody knows your name.” That community is key.
Contact Info:
- Email: mgdaniel03@gmail.com
- Website: www.blackcatrnc.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/blackcatrecordsncomics
