2. Desert Island (540 Metropolitan Ave.):

Walk down Metropolitan Avenue toward Union Avenue, and you’ll stumble across a strange storefront, advertising “Italian, French, and Sicilian Bread…and Comic Booklets.” No, dear friends, this is not a bakery; it is Desert Island comics, a fiercely independent purveyor of all published material that is artistic and worth reading. It’s an oddly visual little shop, too, filled with artwork for purchase by local and international artists. “It’s not exclusively about comics,” owner Gabriel Fowler said in a 2008 interview with Block Magazine. “I wanted to have work in here that’s affordable art. It’s about community and the quality of the stuff.” Even if Sandy’s got you grounded for now, you can still check out Desert Island once the subways are up and running at the upcoming Brooklyn Comics and Graphics Festival, at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Church in Williamsburg from 12-7 P.M. on November 10. (We love the store’s current Halloween display window, created by local artist Gary Lieb–check it out here).