The curtain doesn't look like much
You walk into Sequential Stories on 5th Avenue expecting the usual—aisles of poly-bagged issues, a few customers flipping through trade paperbacks, maybe a cardboard standee of whoever's headlining the next Marvel phase. What you don't expect is the burgundy velvet curtain behind the counter, or the bartender who nods at you when the owner rings up your copy of *Saga*. The shop operates exactly as advertised until 6 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday. Then the curtain pulls back, twelve stools fill up, and the longboxes stay exactly where they are. You're allowed to keep browsing. Most people do, one hand on a beer, the other thumbing through back issues of *Hawkeye* or *Paper Girls*. The bar doesn't have a separate name. It's just the back room, and regulars call it "behind the boxes."
The wall tells you who's been through
Every surface past the curtain is signed. Not tagged—signed. Artists who've done signings at the shop get invited back for a beer, and most of them leave their mark somewhere between the taps and the bathroom. You'll spot signatures from Image regulars, a few Marvel veterans, even a *New Yorker* cartoonist who wandered in last spring. The owner, Marcus, started the tradition in 2019 with a Sharpie and a question: would you mind? Now the wall's a living catalog. Some artists sketch their characters. Others just scrawl their name. There's a small Hellboy head near the beer list, drawn by someone who definitely wasn't Mike Mignola but did a decent impression. Marcus adds a discreet label below each signature with the date. It's not a museum, but it's not not a museum either. You can stand there with your pint and trace the shop's last four years in Micron ink.
Tuesdays mean trivia, and the questions aren't easy
The weekly trivia night pulls a mixed crowd—comic nerds, obviously, but also Gowanus locals who just like a good question-and-answer format and a $5 pour. The host, a freelance colorist named Jen, writes every question herself and doesn't soften them. Round one might cover *Sandman* issue numbers. Round two could pivot to brewery history or New York transit obscura. The third round is always "pull from the box," where she grabs a random comic from the shop's dollar bin and asks increasingly specific questions about it. Teams max out at four people. Winners get a $25 shop credit, which most immediately spend on the bar side. The games start at 8 p.m. and run until someone hits ten points, usually around 9:30. If you're sitting at stool seven or eight, you're close enough to hear the answers but far enough from the speaker to pretend you didn't when your team gets it wrong.
The beer list rotates, but the cider stays
Marcus keeps six taps running: four rotating craft beers, one pilsner that never changes (Threes Brewing's Vliet), and one cider for the non-beer crowd. The cider is always from Abandoned Hard Cider up in the Finger Lakes, usually the dry hopped variety. The rotating taps lean Brooklyn and Hudson Valley—Interboro, Folksbier, Suarez Family. Prices hover around $7 to $9. No cocktails, no wine, no pretense. The bar's not trying to be a destination; it's trying to be the place you end up after you meant to just buy one comic. There's a mini-fridge behind the counter with a few NA options and a couple of cold brew cans. If you ask nicely, Marcus will sell you a bag of the Japanese rice crackers he keeps for himself. He charges $2 and acts like he's doing you a favor. He is.
You're encouraged to stay in the shop section
Most bars would draw a hard line: drink here, shop there. This one lets the two sides bleed together. You can carry your beer into the front room and dig through the back-issue bins. You can sit on the small couch near the graphic novels and nurse a Folksbier pilsner while you decide if you're ready to commit to all of *Bone*. The only rule is no drinks on the new releases table, which makes sense when you're holding a $6 beer over a $50 foil-cover variant. Regulars treat the whole space like an extended living room. You'll see people perched on stools with a stack of comics beside them, reading and sipping in silence. Others cluster near the bar, debating whether *Invincible* holds up or if *Watchmen* is overrated (it's not, but the argument's fun). The vibe is library-meets-pub, and it only works because everyone's bought into the same unspoken contract: be cool, don't spill, put the longboxes back in order.
The owner runs both sides himself most nights
Marcus opened Sequential Stories in 2018 after a decade managing a comic shop in Park Slope. The bar addition came a year later, partly because the back room was just storage, partly because he was tired of telling people there was nowhere nearby to grab a drink. He handles the register, pulls the beers, and restocks the longboxes, usually in that order. On weekends, his partner Sam works the bar while Marcus focuses on the shop side, but most nights it's a one-man operation. He's fast and unbothered. If the bar's slammed and someone wants to check out a $3 comic, he'll ring them up mid-pour without breaking stride. The system works because the crowd's self-regulating. No one's trying to get trashed behind a curtain in a comic shop. You're here for two beers, maybe three, and a chance to talk about why *Saga* went on hiatus or whether the new *Batman* run is worth it. Marcus knows most regulars by their pull list. That's the kind of place this is.
Practical notes
Sequential Stories is located at 394 5th Avenue in Gowanus, a five-minute walk from the Union Street R stop. The shop is open Wednesday through Sunday, 12 p.m. to 8 p.m., with the bar operating from 6 p.m. to close. Trivia runs every Tuesday at 8 p.m.; arrive by 7:30 if you want a stool. Beers range from $7 to $9, cash and card accepted. There's no cover, no minimum, and browsing the shop is always free whether you drink or not. Street parking is possible but tight; the Union Street station is your better bet. The space is small—twelve seats total—so weekends can fill up by 7 p.m. Weeknights are quieter. If you're planning to dig through back issues, bring a tote; Marcus doesn't love handing out plastic bags. The bathroom's in the back, past the signatures, and yes, someone drew on the mirror. It's allowed.
Tags: #GowanusBar #ComicShopBar #BrooklynBars #HiddenBarNYC #CraftBeerBrooklyn #ComicBookCulture #NYCTriviaNight #SequentialStories #BackRoomBar #BrooklynComics #TheOddEdit #NYCInsiders #GowanusEats #BeerAndComics
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