Jermaine Exum

Jermaine Exum (known in the comics community as Lord Retail) is the owner of Acme Comics in Greensboro, North Carolina — the oldest and largest comic specialty shop in the Triad and one of the most celebrated independent comic shops in the country. Exum first encountered comics as a child in the 1980s and became a customer at Acme around 1989. He began volunteering at the store, eventually joining the staff in 1996, and worked his way up over 25 years before purchasing the shop from founder Mark Austin in September 2021 — making Acme Greensboro's first Black-owned comic book store.

Exum has been a fixture in comics retail culture for decades, earning a reputation for his encyclopedic knowledge, his warmth with customers, and his ability to meet fans at every level of engagement. His nickname Lord Retail was coined by science fiction writer M.A. Foster. His passion for the medium caught the attention of award-winning writer Brian Michael Bendis, who traveled to Greensboro for a rare in-store signing appearance at Acme. Exum was prominently featured in the 2019 documentary My Comic Shop County. Acme Comics has received an Eisner Award nomination for outstanding comic book retailer.