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Wild, Weird, and Wonderful: The Unwitting Charm of Dan Urazandi and His Bizarro World

In the DC Comics universe, lies Bizarro World: a backwards, broken version of Earth, where humanity revels in the perverse and absurd. Garbagemen deliver trash, instead of collecting it. People brush their teeth with shoe polish and shine their shoes with toothpaste. Society scorns beauty and cherishes ugliness, aspiring for imperfection. 

Superman’s failed replica and mirror image, Bizarro, founded the planet to provide a haven for those rejected from Earth for their eccentricities. Similarly driven by his love for the unconventional, comic book enthusiast, Dan Urazandi, established his own Bizarro World, the sole novelty and comic shop in Davis. 

For over thirty years, Urazandi has operated Bizarro World. Opening his first retail location in 1991, he began with selling only comic books, all from his personal collection that barely filled the place. 

“It was such a crappy location,” he says. “It was a shack-sized space that’s now the storage room of the Paint Chip. I had that and boxes of comics on the floor. Nothing else.” 

Jumping around cramped backrooms and secluded storefronts, Urazandi spent these initial years journeying his shop across Davis. He jokingly regards the time as his years in exile. Since then, he has settled downtown on E St. and expanded to selling music, cards, games, and DVDs. 

When customers come in the store, looking for the latest issue of Thor or Magic: The Gathering expansion sets, Urazandi greets them with a familiar politeness. 

Watching him work, he appears completely in his element. He effortlessly answers questions about series updates and supplies, like he has a complete log of all his inventory stored in mind. And he navigates visitors along rows of shelves, packed with hundreds of different, colorful novel covers, and glass cases displaying iridescent card decks, as if they were walking through his house. 

“Everything here– I put anywhere I can find it,” he says. “There’s really no method, which can be difficult for my employees.” 

Like his organizational system, Urazandi’s path to founding Bizarro World emerged unplanned. His career choices trace back to his longstanding passion for comics and free-spirited nature– or as he puts it, his general unemployability. 

“I had some shitty jobs, then I realized during those that I was fairly unemployable,” he says. “I had a bad attitude. I didn't take directions. I thought I was smarter than the people I worked for.” 

When talking with Urazandi, he comes across unmistakably sincere and kind. He speaks patiently and candidly, often finishing his sentences with a smile. Across the store’s counters, he holds himself with humility, relaxed in simple long-sleeves and jeans. 

Seeing this, I couldn’t help feeling taken aback learning the catalysts for his work, especially the second one. 

“Also, I was inspired by getting thrown out of college,” he says. “I had problems with authority. I went to a tiny school, where you can’t just get away with stuff.” 

Expelled and ill-suited for the workforce, Urazandi figured he would fare better working for himself. However, he felt uncertain about all the things that he could do to make money, except for his interest in comics.   

 For as long as he can remember, Urazandi has been passionate about the medium, collecting issues since he was four. 

“I mean, I learned to read on comic books. So, they’ve been the thing I've been interested in the longest,” he says. 

As a child, he was a voracious reader, consuming all kinds of books. 

“Being a nerd trained me to be able to keep track of this shop and all the junk in it,” he says. “I could name every single dinosaur and all their little details, just like how kids memorize Pokémon now.” 

He recalls first reading comics in newspapers and Smithsonian Books from the Berkeley library, near the university where his mother worked. The first issue he owned still lies prominent in his memory. 

“I remember the cover– a circle of all these superheroes, all punching shit. And Superman was slugging Power Girl. And I'm like, Superman is punching a girl!” Urazandi says. “My mother gave me a hard time [for making her buy me that].” 

Growing up, Urazandi’s family had little in common. His mother worked for Encyclopedia Britannica and was a devoted scholar, while his father “was more of a regular Joe,” he says. “He did run his own business for a while, a sandwich shop in San Francisco. So, maybe I got a little of that [business acumen] from him.” 

Neither of his parents had any interest in comic books or Urazandi’s other nerdy hobbies, which he attributes to their old age– with his mother being forty-five and father sixty when he was born. Despite their disinterest, they supported Urazandi’s passion, collecting comics for him occasionally. 

Urazandi and his family moved frequently for his mother’s job, living in a handful of different cities across the Bay Area until he was ten years old. Soon after, they settled in Davis, where Urazandi attended middle and high school. 

After graduating from Davis High, Urazandi left to Oregon for college, eager to get out of the town for the first time in several years. However, he did not stay there long, returning to Davis to pursue his passion.

For nearly two years, he peddled comics from the trunk of his dad’s car, cultivating his collection and clientele. At the time, the comic industry enjoyed a period of growth, with a large market and demand. Urazandi took advantage of the profits, constantly reinvesting his time and money, until he could open his first location when he was twenty-one. 

Though profitable, the medium was a ghetto then, considered a juvenile form of entertainment, meant for dorks and outcasts. Urazandi’s Bizarro World thrived off its reputation as a haven for weirdos. 

“It’s a little bit weird,” he says. “The stuff I got picked on for liking is everywhere and everybody's favorite thing now. We [have] come full circle from the niche.” 

For thirty years, Urazandi has worked nearly every day. He admires the idea of a nine-to-five and getting vacations from managing his business’ taxes, rent, and finances. Without his devotion to the products themselves, he feels that work would become a chore. 

“If you look around, you'll see other things beyond comics. The cards, board games, records, movies,” he says. “There’s all sorts of crap in here. It's all something that interests me, [or] had, at some point. I can still enjoy and understand it, which is why I got in the first place.”