Spotlight: Exotic Planterium

Exotic Planterium, Comic & Card Collectorama
2008 Mount Vernon Ave, Alexandria, VA
703-548-3466

Yeah, with a store front like that I had to check it out.

No.  That is not a misspelling.  This eclectic shop is a combination Exotic Plant shop and Comic Store.  Yeah.  That's what I said. WTF.

IT'S FANTASTIC.  It has that air of a hoarders personal collection of stuff, but it has so many interesting items for sale. Freakin' Star Trek TNG action figures (we'll ignore the Waterworld action figures...), Doctor Who books(old skool Doktor), classic comics, nerd classic scifi fantasy books.

Plants and comics.  Normally such natural enemies...

I FREAKIN' got a XANTH graphic novel from there!  Did you know that they made Xanth graphic novels?  Nope, neither did I.  Yeah, I know you see the look on my face.  I'm just as surprised as you.  How did I not know about this before?

I spoke to the owner for a bit.  He's been at this location for 35 years and seems very knowledgeable about the content on display and the plants for sale.  This store's location is nearly impossible to find through the Google or Google Maps.  But we've provided it at the top to make things a little easier for you.

Old comics, old card games, and action figures galore.

So, this store isn't the best store if you're looking for any of the newer comics or newer anything really.  Buuuuuuut, it's fantastic as a place to find all sorts of geekery that you either didn't know existed, or thought had been destroyed years ago.  Seriously, there was stuff there that horrified me and amazed me.

Ok, we'll go over what I actually picked up.  That Xanth novel, pretty good. Once you get past the normal Xanth cheesiness.  It's pretty in line with the book series, and it's kinda awesome seeing it drawn. The other item procured was the old school Doctor Who adventure novel for a friend of mine.  They had a bunch of them for a very good price.  I was tempted to grab a bunch and run out of the store cackling.

This place was full to bursting.  Sometimes it appeared literally.

One of my favorite moments, is when one of the DC Geekers with me saw an action figure from the movie Steel, immediately about faces and leaves the store.  Evidently this is an affront to humanity.

Check it out.  It's well worth a look see.