A Shrine to the Outer Limits of Popular Culture

Twenty-year-old John Goetz, an office courier from Simi Valley and comic book enthusiast, has some esoteric tastes.

“When I buy comic books, I generally look for stuff that seems out of the ordinary,” he said. “Stuff from independent publishers, instead of major labels. One comic book I like is Yusagi Yojimbo. It’s in English, but it’s a comic book that’s set in medieval Japan. The main character is a masterless Samurai rabbit. His lord dies early in the series . . . he just kind of wanders around.”

“I also like The Fish Police,” Goetz said. “It’s about a fish that’s in its own little universe called Fish City . . . and the good guys are squids and the bad guys are sharks.”

Because his choices are unusual, Goetz has become a regular at Outer Limits, a Sherman Oaks emporium that is a veritable shrine to pop culture. The pristine store houses nearly 20,000 current and collectible comics, including the above-mentioned titles and 1950s E.C. Comics such as Eerie and Creepy; 1,000 current and collectible magazines, including vintage copies of Mad; 6,000 paperbacks; T-shirts; signed lithographs and posters; audio and videotapes of cult movies such as “Beetlejuice” and “Road Warrior,” and a wide range of imported toys, including a French-made collection of tea sets, dolls, pins, rocket ships and magnets--all of which bear the likeness of characters from Tin Tin, a popular Belgian comic book.

“Everyone needs a little weirdness in their life,” said store manager Jessie Horsting, who is also the editor, art director and co-publisher of Midnight Graffiti, a quarterly “dark fantasy” magazine. “I think the universe is ruled by chaos and the sooner you learn to embrace that, the happier you’ll be.”

Goetz appreciates her philosophy. “Aside from the fact that Outer Limits has more books, graphic novels and science fiction books than other comic book stores, it’s different in that the people are nice and don’t give me weird looks when I buy the comic books I like.”

Open since January, Outer Limits is owned by two Europeans: Englishman Mike Lake and Yves Rasquain, who lives in France. They travel to Los Angeles about six times a year, and Horsting, a Sherman Oaks resident, holds down the fort.

When the store first opened, Horsting said she expected her customers to be between 12 and 24, but they tend to fall in the 18-to-35 range. “A lot of 40-year-olds come in,” she said. “I think it’s because it’s part of their culture. For the past several years, comics have been part of everyone’s upbringing. If you’re over 40, they weren’t as important to you.”

“We’re the ‘Star Wars’ generation,” she continued. “We are the MTV generation. Because of film making and television, we see all of our icons in a glass.”

Horror fan Chris Grable, 25, who lives in Sherman Oaks and works at a video store, frequents Outer Limits at least three times a week. “I collect magazines and I’m a big horror fan,” he said. “Outer Limits has a lot of stuff that you can’t get anywhere else. I buy their issues of Shock Express,” a British horror fanzine, “and they also have Chinese horror books and stuff from Germany.”

Twenty-year-old Sherman Oaks resident Eddie Block, an importer of Japanese animation, said: “I’ve devoted most of my life to Japanese art, ever since I saw Speed Racer and Robo Tech. I go to Outer Limits for their Japanese comic books.”

Prices in the store range from 50 cents for Marvel Age, a guide to upcoming Marvel comics, to $150,000 for an extremely rare collectible, such as a complete run of Detective comics. The beautifully crafted Tin Tin toys range from $10 to $1,000.

“We also have Aurora Monster kits, that’s something special to this store,” Horsting said. “Aurora was a model manufacturer of the highest profile during the 1960s. They produced a great number of kits relating to movies, and their most famous are their monster kits such as Dracula and The Mummy. According to folklore, they were destroyed in a train wreck in the late 1960s, and the kits, which were originally issued at $8 or $9, are now between $200 to $500.”

If you’re a limited editions fan, you can buy Steven King’s “Skeleton Crew,” which is a large, fully illustrated collection of short horror stories published in 1985 that now goes for $375.

Or, you might want to buy “Prime Evil,” a 1988 anthology of horror stories including works by Clive Barker and King, that goes for $425. “These books are available for less in other forms,” Horsting said. “But these are limited editions. They use top-quality paper and they’re beautiful books. It’s all about presentation.”

Horsting says that customers who aren’t devoted to pop culture, horror, comics or science fiction might be surprised by some of the prices. One item, a complete leather holster and replica gun that’s modeled after the weapon worn by Han Solo in “Star Wars,” sells for $450. “It’s a wish-fulfillment item,” she said. “The value is only in the eye of the fan.”