Adventures in Ink
15201 Ronald Reagan Blvd, Suite 210 — Leander
aiicomics.com ✽ @adventures_in_ink
Year Opened — 2025
Employees — 1 Employee, Eli Roberts
“We have issues.”
What’s the story of your bookstore’s origin?
The origin behind Adventures in Ink has a lot of twists and turns. For the last 22 years, I worked in education. First, I was a middle school English teacher in Round Rock and Pflugerville. In 2012, I transitioned to an Instructional Coach for Austin ISD in their Central Office (oftentimes called "Going over to the Dark Side"). I was with Austin ISD for 10 years, and I worked for them through the COVID shutdown.
After that, I was feeling pretty burned out, and I wanted to try something different. After getting a continuing education certification in Digital Marketing through the University of Texas' Continuing Education program, I worked for a local technology company with all the extras: fully stocked snack room, ping pong tables, all that stuff. A little over a year later, though, I got to experience a "Tech Layoff". Initially, I wasn't worried about finding a new job, unfortunately, one month became two months which became three months, and so on and so forth.
I was speaking with a family member and mentioned that, "I feel like if I'm going to have a job, I may have to make my own." My family and I mulled the idea over, and I started researching how to start a comic book store and spoke with other comic shop owners about their experiences. Before I fully committed to the idea, I decided to give teaching one last try, but it wasn't the same. I completed a short teaching stint, taking over the assignment for another teacher who was leaving mid-year, in May 2024.
With help from others, I was able to find a location and start building what would become Adventures in Ink through the Fall and Winter of 2025, and we opened in February 2025. Adventures in Ink is coming up on its 1 Year Anniversary this February 22, 2026, and it's been a pleasure and privilege to be welcomed by the Leander Community and meeting all sorts of people and introducing them to the world of comics.
What makes your bookstore special?
Adventures in Ink is special as we take a very personable approach to working with customers. We strive to make the shop a safe place for people to explore the different multiverses of comics, learn about their favorite characters, and meet others who share similar fandoms and interests.
