SYSTEM OF A DOWN’s JOHN DOLMAYAN Officially Closes His Las Vegas Comic Book Shop
July 11, 2026
According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Torpedo Comics, which is owned by SYSTEM OF A DOWN drummer John Dolmayan, has closed its Las Vegas location after nearly a decade
“Thank you to the Las Vegas community for supporting us for the last 9 years!” reads a sign posted on the shop’s door announcing its closing
Torpedo Comics was previously described as the largest collectibles retailer in Nevada
Despite the closing of its physical location, the Torpedo brand will continue to live online at torpedocomics.com
Founded by Dolmayan, Torpedo Comics specializes in Golden Age/Silver Age back issues
Dolmayan had been acquiring rare comics for more than two decades before opening the Torpedo Comics store in Vegas
“I started selling in the early ’90s, because at 18 years old, it’s tough to go to your parents and say, ‘Can I have some money for comic books?'” he told Las Vegas Review-Journal. “Initially, I started off by losing a lot of money trying to sell books at conventions and stuff like that until I figured out how to do it. By the time SYSTEM got signed (in the late ’90s),I was making $55,000-$60,000 a year. I took a huge pay cut to join SYSTEM.”
Dolmayan, who encouraged Heidi Woan, the wife of LINKIN PARK turntablist Joe Hahn, to buy her husband a $10,000 issue of “The Incredible Hulk” No. 1, turned his business into an online outlet in 2003, and his physical shop initially stocked 60,000 modern and vintage issues
“I don’t want 18 locations, I want the best location,” he told Vegas Seven back in 2017. “The first time I walked into a store, everything came to life. It was like this fantasy world that I walked into. I want to replicate that.”
Dolmayan, who previously said that many modern comic shops had become “glorified gaming stores,” incorporated his love for comic books into the drum kit that he played during SYSTEM OF A DOWN’s 2006 tour. Dolmayan contacted 22 of his favorite comic book artists, including Jim Lee, Simon Bisley, Kevin Eastman, Neal Adams and Bill Sienkiewicz, were each sent various pieces of the drum kit onto which they drew original illustrations
Dolmayan has always had a passion for acquiring and collecting rare comics, a hobby that began long before he joined SYSTEM OF A DOWN. As a child, Dolmayan would utilize his $5 per week allowance to purchase new issues of his favorite series, and in time, eventually began selling off back issuesg his entrepreneurial skills, Dolmayan was making more money selling comics than he was working at “real” jobs
Dolmayan took a step back from the comic world when he joined SYSTEM OF A DOWN in 1997, though he never gave up collecting. Touring with the band allowed him to explore comic book stores, shops, and antique treasures all around the world, looking for vintage, high-end titles that were not readily available. During rare breaks from the road, he would return to conventions to continue selling his finds. Those pop-ups eventually led to the launch of Torpedo Comics in 2003 — Dolmayan‘s first brick-and-mortar comic book shop in Las Vegas. It later expanded into three more stores located throughout Southern California, all specializing in rare and hard-to-find titles.
Dolmayan had taken his love for comics even further by creating and authoring his own series. His first body of work, “Ascencia”, was a post-apocalyptic sci-fi thriller set 150 years in the future that explores the question: how far will human civilization go to attain immortality? He later launched a new series, “Dead Samurai”, which was a zombie thriller set in 16th century feudal Japan
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