Betty Bayer, AB ’11, runs a comic shop in Webster Groves that’s just as much about building community as it is about selling books. Her passion for comics started during her senior year at WashU, in a course taught by professor Elizabeth C. Childs, “Modern Art in Fin-de-Siècle Europe, 1880–1907.” The class introduced her to bande dessinée, richly detailed political cartoons from France that are regarded as both art and social commentary rather than mere entertainment. “That was a spark for me,” Bayer said. “It reshaped how I saw comics, not just as fun, but as something with intellectual and cultural value.”

A decade later, Bayer, who majored in art history with minors in French and German, turned that spark into Betty’s Books — an inclusive, community-focused comic shop that welcomes longtime fans and wins over plenty of new ones, too. 

She’s built a growing business over the past three years, with plans to move to a larger location just a mile away in Webster. The move will help her grow her mission to create a space that’s welcoming to everyone, especially those historically underrepresented in the comics world, including queer readers, people of color, and others outside the traditional superhero fan mold.

“There’s a lot of diversity of voices in the area,” she said. “I want to have a shop where these voices are represented, where kids are welcome, and everyone can come and be happy.” The new location will give Bayer room to expand in-store events, including author visits, parties, book clubs, and workshops, like the popular monthly zine-making nights. It will also provide ample space for the wide range of genres found in the graphic novel world, including non-fiction, history, horror, and manga, a popular Japanese style of storytelling.

For Bayer, comics embody a universal lesson grounded in her arts and sciences education. Like many forms of art, comics offer an alternative way of understanding the world. “Some stories come to life most powerfully when words and images work together,” she said. “In comics, the words deliver the message while your brain takes in the images as you read. This allows you to grasp the ‘head’ information and the ‘heart,’ which is communicated subconsciously through the visuals. It opens up a different way of understanding.”

Taking comics seriously isn’t the only lesson Bayer took from her WashU education. She leaned on her liberal arts background when crafting her business plan, especially when presenting her vision to investors, banks, and family. The process felt familiar. “For projects like my honors thesis, I had to work hard to give good presentations,” she said. “Being able to communicate clearly, make a strong argument, and support it with evidence and research is something I credit to my WashU education.”

Bayer also credits WashU with teaching her the importance of building a strong network. “I used to think networking wasn’t for me because I thought it might feel inauthentic,” Bayer said. “But collaboration and working with others have become a key part of my success. That’s something that started when I was at WashU.”

Bayer’s connection to WashU remains strong. Last year, Bayer guest lectured a course for the MFA in Illustration & Visual Culture at the Sam Fox School of Design and Visual Arts. Students from that same program are now painting a mural at her shop’s new location. One of her booksellers is a recent WashU graduate, and the store also hosted “A Night with John Hendrix” — award-winning graphic novelist and Kenneth E. Hudson Professor of Art at the Sam Fox School — to celebrate his new book, “Mythmakers: The Remarkable Fellowship of C.S. Lewis & J.R.R. Tolkien.”

Bayer has seen her vision of a more inclusive community come to life. “It’s been rewarding to see so many different people find something that speaks to them,” she said. “Most kids feel right at home. Kids really get it, but it’s especially meaningful when teens and adults who aren’t usually catered to by traditional comic shops walk in and feel like they belong.”