Late last week marked the grand opening of Fantom Comics, purveyor of comic books, graphic novels, figurines and the like. The small boutique is located in the commercial development above the Tenleytown-AU Metro stop (map), alongside Best Buy and The Container Store. With the opening, Tenleytown will now become an attractive destination for Washington geeks, who can hit Best Buy for all their computer and videogaming needs, pick up some X-Men figurines at Fantom Comics, and then stop by The Container Store for some durable storage bins to file away the heaps of women's phone numbers they will have surely amassed by then.

In all seriousness, we are glad to see such a store open in our city at time when the comic book industry has been in a nasty decline. Fantom will be competing with fellow Northwest comic book shops Another Universe and Big Planet Comics. But both of those stores are in Georgetown. Metro accessibility and the free one hour of garage parking that Fantom provides may give the new store an edge. We aren't sure how they managed to afford a space in a building otherwise filled by large department stores and luxury condominiums, but we congratulate them on an excellent location and wish them the best of luck. For store news, including convenient inventory updates, check their website.