{prologue}

Heading to this new bookstore/stationery shop on the top floor of ION, I was prepared for the usual suspects: $6 ballpoint pens and chic city guides. What I did not expect was one of the neatest, most impressive graphic novel/comics sections outside of Kinokuniya, with a focus on independent publications sorted by author.

So this is where all the elusive copies of Strangehaven are, along with obscure treats from indie publishers like Oni Press and writers like Matt Fraction.

Besides an overwhelming flood of nerdish joy, the initial, most noticeable pro was that I didn’t have to jostle for space with whiny children or surly comic fans. The new kid on the biblio-block is run by (surprise, surprise) book and stationery titan Popular, but its classier sibling isn’t for kids looking for study guides.

For one thing, it’s not strategically placed in an accessible, traffic-heavy location like Borders, and the in-store café, JAMS, serves the sort of organic-coffee-and-profiteroles selection that’ll burn a hole in the average wallet.

Browsers at Popular suffer under cruel fluorescent lighting, while {prologue} has a little more ambience – just beware of the relentless soft-rock soundtrack. The rest of the shop sections offer typical big-bookstore titles, but looking out of the windows at Orchard’s leafy green treetops, the difference between here and say, a Page One, is that I don’t want to leave. Alexis Ong