Behold, we have a new name and Branding! Well, temporary new Branding with a temporary logo Wing whipped up in like 20 minutes using existing assets since our brand new logo is still cooking. :3
Anyway, yes, with the current move and the 9th anniversary of the store happening Soon we decided that it’s finally the right time to change our name from Outsider to Crow’s Nest! We are, legally speaking, still Outsider Comics LLC, and as corporations are not people don’t worry about deadnaming the shop. We’ll be switching to Crow’s Nest over the next couple weeks when it comes to internet presence and such but you’ll still be able to find us via Outsider Comics, and all e-mails to our @crowsnest.quest accounts will still work.
Why the name change???
1. The original meaning of the name has drifted.
When the shop was first named Outsider Comics in 2016, it was in large part because the owners aimed to serve folks who were on the outside of mainstream comics: women, LGBTQIA+ people, and people of color, among others.
Since then—thanks to the hard work of so many folks in the industry and the support of readers—that’s no longer the case. Yes, marginalized creators are still marginalized and we still hear quite a lot of horror stories from women and queer people and Black people working in the comics industry, but it’s undeniable that they—we—have staked a larger claim in comics than ever before and we’re part of it, whether it means we put and see ourselves in the latest series set in Gotham City or having a great time in a crowded Short Run Comix Festival.
2. The old branding is not super flexible.
When we bought the shop from its old owners, we also purchased the Branding. However, since we only own the final renders of the logos and mascot but not source files and type licensing, what we could do with it was somewhat limited. That was a problem because our logo was designed for a specific aspect ratio that was hard to translate into different media. Starting fresh means we can own all the source files and can adjust and make stuff as we please.
Also, yes, we have a mascot! We’ve sorta retired them over the years because they haven’t been really well received and they kinda clashed with our general aesthetic. (:
3. SEO is a thing.
This is honestly pretty minor now as search engines are now better and also simultaneously more useless thanks to slop generators, but the fact that DC Comics had a superhero team named The Outsiders has not been the greatest for us! Like we now appear above them if you don’t put the “s” after Outsider but that was not always the case and yeah.
So that’s why we’re changing our name.
Okay why Crow’s Nest???
Whether it’s because of Kevin (our shop mascot sent to us by the Fairylogue / Crow Time / Namesake crew) or the murders of crows that’s attracted to our storefront by the our neighbor Wright Bros Cycle Works‘ crow feeder crows kinda became A Thing for us. Plus we have been slipping more and more into the Cozy Zone ™ over the last three years so some kind of cozy crow name with a Marketable Crow Mascot was a no brainer.
Fun Fact: We were debating between Cozy Crow Comics and Crow’s Nest Comics. Crow’s Nest won because of two reasons: Cozy Crow Comics is the name of a webcomic and we already own the domain crowsnest.quest. (You may recall seeing us carrying Crow’s Nest brand dice—that was our house dice brand!)
New name is cool what about new shop?
We are currently planning to do a soft reopening on 11/12/25, the 9th anniversary of the store. We’ll have limited hours until we’re 100% ready to reopen. Stay tuned to our social media for more info!