HD Comics: New shop opens in Market Parade for Cork's comic book lovers 

Alan Hurley has opened the first dedicated comic shop in the city since Comic Vault shut in 2023

Alan Hurley of HD Comics at the Market Parade in Cork. Picture: Noel Sweeney

Within the same week that one much-loved independent Cork City business announced it was closing (Prime Time clothes store on Washington Street), another opened. Located in the Market Parade mall, connecting the English Market to Patrick’s Street, HD Comics is the first fully dedicated comic book shop in the city since Comic Vault on Oliver Plunkett Street Lower closed almost three years ago.

The people behind it are childhood friends, Alan Hurley and James Dwyer. “James is more of an entrepreneur; I’m more of a comic fan,” says Hurley, who says they only decided to start this venture in October.