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REMEMBERING THAT FIRST LCS...
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361 posts in this topic

1 minute ago, DanCooper said:

Yes, remember it well on Ascan Avenue!

Mike Carbonaro also had at least two different locations in Forest Hills - one on Austin Street and then a move to Queens Boulevard by the old Midway movie theatre.

Speaking of Spiderman's old nabe of Forest Hills Queens, I don't know if this has been brought up here in the past, but Peter Parker's address in Forest Hills is 20 Ingram Street. Back in 2002, the following attached NY Times article shows a coincidence that a Parker Family lived at that address at the time! (also their neighbors on Ingram Street were named Osborn! Don't know if they had a preference for the color "Green"!)

NY Times article:

https://www.nytimes.com/2002/05/08/nyregion/so-spider-man-brilliant-disguise-real-mild-mannered-parkers-are-superhero-s.html

 

Yes, Mikes shop was down the street from the Midway theater. Bought  books there in the late 80's and early 90's. IIRC there were 3 comic shops within walking distance in Forest Hills back then. One you had to go down the stairs to get to. Cant remember the name of the shop. 

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19 minutes ago, joeypost said:

IIRC there were 3 comic shops within walking distance in Forest Hills back then. One you had to go down the stairs to get to. Cant remember the name of the shop. 

There was a place, on the other side of Continental Avenue on Austin St., called Hurricane Comics or Collectibles.

I think there were steps, but don't recall if it went back to that time frame you mentioned (late 80s-early 90s)

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So many awesome stories! Wow, love reading them. (thumbsu:bigsmile:

My first was/is called Pinocchio. Back in the day, the cool guy there showed me to take off the tape and stick it on the bag before taking the comic out :D It was great, and I bought tons of stuff there, but didn't have the expensive Golden/Silver ones I was more interested in. Recall looking through the back of a comic one day and found an ad....Brane Damage.... in Brooklyn, NY.!!!  It had an ad in the back of the late 80's/early 90s Marvels --- the guy with a beard reading a comic. The dude Carlos owned it (if anyone has been there and/or knows what happened to him, please let me know!!)  Then changed its name to Memory Lane.

But oh wow, can still feel the first time going in there :cloud9:, the comics were all over the wall, up to the ceiling. He showed me Marvel Comics #1 - that was all the way on the top lol  All the rare Gold/Silver books. He had everything there. I remember thinking, this is what I'm looking for x1000.

He said this is going to be good and gave me an ASM #300 (I think his ad in the back of that one, also lol )  Anyway, I couldn't wait to save up and go back for a big book. Finally did, but couldn't decide/didn't really know what to get, so I asked him for Batman #14- because they mentioned it in the Lost Boys, which I watched on VHS a few weeks/months earlier, so I figured that's as good as any lol :facepalm:  He didn't have that one, but he had others close to it. First big purchase was... Batman #15! $400. 6.0/6.5

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27 minutes ago, rturr said:

Brane Damage.... in Brooklyn, NY.!!!  It had an ad in the back of the late 80's/early 90s Marvels --- the guy with a beard reading a comic. The dude Carlos owned it (if anyone has been there and/or knows what happened to him, please let me know!!)  Then changed its name to Memory Lane.

Welcome to the boards!

Brain Damage Comics - another gem of a place back in the day where Ocean Parkway meets the Prospect Expressway in Brooklyn!

Carlos Rosario was the guy who ran it.

Carlos was a character and overall great guy to deal with! He always had and got nice stuff!

Before I had even ventured out to his store, I remember seeing Brain Damage set up at either a Fred Greenberg or Creation show at the Penta Hotel in NYC. They had a sign that said "NO DEALERS - ONLY COLLECTORS" posted to buy their stuff! HA!

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At the now-defunct Town & Country Mall in Arlington Heights (IL), there was a central location perfectly designed to separate late 80’s to early 90’s kids from their money: a six-picture movie theater, a coin op arcade, a toy store (KB Toys I think), and a comic shop! Whoever set up that layout was a genius.

I don’t remember the name of the comic shop, I was very young. I do remember that the owner/manager (?) looked like the herbalist from The Princess Bride; a really nice older guy. My dad & I would go to the movies on the weekends, and afterwards we would stop by. Dad & the owner would BS while I poked around the back issues. The coolest part about the shop (to my under ten year old self) was that the owner would occasionally slip an extra item into the bag as a “thank you for your business” thing. That’s how I picked up my Aliens/Predator Deadliest of the Species Red Ashcan; totally unexpected, very cool.

When we moved further out into the suburbs we started going to a theater closer to the house, and I don’t think we ever went back there. Every so often I wonder what happened to that shop; I hope it worked out ok for them.

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18 minutes ago, DanCooper said:

Welcome to the boards!

Brain Damage Comics - another gem of a place back in the day where Ocean Parkway meets the Prospect Expressway in Brooklyn!

Carlos Rosario was the guy who ran it.

Carlos was a character and overall great guy to deal with! He always had and got nice stuff!

Before I had even ventured out to his store, I remember seeing Brain Damage set up at either a Fred Greenberg or Creation show at the Penta Hotel in NYC. They had a sign that said "NO DEALERS - ONLY COLLECTORS" posted to buy their stuff! HA!

YES!!! Exactly! Oh wow :bigsmile::headbang::o  That just blew my mind- i remember he always said to me "this book will blow your mind" lol 

So cool that you know him. For sure, what a great guy and store. First time I went there it was on Prospect avenue, then a few yrs after he moved down the block to a bigger building on the corner of Greenwood avenue and Prospect avenue. I think he went to Florida after, but not sure. I wasn't going there like everyday. I would go on Holidays/B-day to go get a cool book, haha, then one year he wasn't there :facepalm:.

Recall any books that you bought from him that standout?

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4 minutes ago, rturr said:

So cool that you know him. For sure, what a great guy and store

The search engine here on CGC sometimes is not efficient (especially on older threads)

Go to Google and type in "Brain Damage Comics CGC" and a few older threads should pop up on CGC board discussions about Brain Damage from back in the day that may interest you.

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59 minutes ago, DanCooper said:

The search engine here on CGC sometimes is not efficient (especially on older threads)

Go to Google and type in "Brain Damage Comics CGC" and a few older threads should pop up on CGC board discussions about Brain Damage from back in the day that may interest you.

;) right on

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Mike's comic hut, would go and buy back issues of G.I Joe, (guess wrong title to invest in, but loved them anyway). It was on northern bld. As a kid it felt massive in size with all the books on the wall, and that distinct comic book smell. Always felt a lot of energy in that place. I would also go to the busy bee mall, there were a few guys selling books in the basement. Eventually made Reenie's comicadia, my go to place. They had a location on Bell blvd that caught fire and burned down. I actually snuck into the place to see if I can grab and salvage any books but everything was soaked beyond belief.  They eventually moved to Bay terrace shopping center. Was on business in forest hills where there was a comic book store next to the Ale house. Had my son with me and we went in. There is something to be said, toward the generation we belong to whether boomers, gen x,y etc... The sense of nostalgia that is triggered when we enter an Lcs is truly priceless. The stories are similar but different in small details. Either we would ride our bikes, parents would take us, scrounge for change, as kids it was something to look forward too, couldn't wait to see what happens next issue, need the back issues to know the full story, need to complete my collection.

         I don't know if kids today will ever feel the "magic" we felt growing up in this hobby. Then again I am being a hypocrite because I didn't grow up with I-pads or smart phones.

Edited by jzeze
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14 hours ago, joeypost said:

Little Nemo in Forest Hills, Queens. IIRC it was under the LIRR ‘L’. 

The area was actually filmed in the original TM Spider-Man movie. He runs out from an alleyway and is seen in front of a fruit stand. The store was across from the fruit stand. 

Picked up lots of back issues from Richie M. At the aqueduct flea market back in the 70’s. 

Little Nemo's was run buy a father and son team. I wish that I could recalled their name. :pullhair: I remember the father had a massive OA collection at the store. He had early Byrne's, Romita, Kirby, etc. :cloud9: He auction off his OA at the first Sotheby's Comic Book and Comic Art auction in 1991 in NY. 

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On 11/9/2018 at 7:01 PM, BabaLament said:

At the now-defunct Town & Country Mall in Arlington Heights (IL), there was a central location perfectly designed to separate late 80’s to early 90’s kids from their money: a six-picture movie theater, a coin op arcade, a toy store (KB Toys I think), and a comic shop! Whoever set up that layout was a genius.

I don’t remember the name of the comic shop, I was very young. I do remember that the owner/manager (?) looked like the herbalist from The Princess Bride; a really nice older guy. My dad & I would go to the movies on the weekends, and afterwards we would stop by. Dad & the owner would BS while I poked around the back issues. The coolest part about the shop (to my under ten year old self) was that the owner would occasionally slip an extra item into the bag as a “thank you for your business” thing. That’s how I picked up my Aliens/Predator Deadliest of the Species Red Ashcan; totally unexpected, very cool.

When we moved further out into the suburbs we started going to a theater closer to the house, and I don’t think we ever went back there. Every so often I wonder what happened to that shop; I hope it worked out ok for them.

I remember that place too.  It was a very strange set up.  Not sure if it had a name...

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@Moondog I can't remember if it had a name or not. You're right about the layout too; it was a small triangle-shaped retail end unit. I remember he had the glass display cases with the high dollar stuff in the corner w/ the register, and he would have folding tables with dollar bin long boxes in the mall walkway/hallway with a younger guy keeping an eye on things.

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My first was in the mid-70's, Bill Cole's (yes that Bill Cole) Comicbook Kingdom, in the Colonial Village Mall in Quincy, MA (about ten minutes from Boston). Pretty small shop, and all I really remember they had was Origins/Sons of Origins and Marvel calendars. I'm not saying that's all they had, that's just all I remember (I was about 10).

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On 2/8/2015 at 12:00 PM, Bio-Rupp said:

First comic store I went to was Super Giant Books in Asheville, NC ran by D.W. Howard.

 

I had met D.W. at the Asheville flea market a few months prior on a trip with the parents in 1981. He sold me my first new Overstreet (#11 with the LB Cole cover) and gave us directions to his shop which we visited a few weeks later.

 

Things I remember snagging that day was a Green Lantern/Green Arrow # 76 with a dime size hole in the front cover for $5 and some Iron First back issues for $1 a piece.

 

D.W. had a rule that you could not break and that was to not handle the new comics unless bringing them to the register. Not the best sales technique... but as he himself stated in his distinctive voice... "collectors don't like damaged books".

 

Something about Asheville, NC is that in those mountains rested all kinds of comic book collections and D.W. probably touched most of them. He always had sweet wall books on display including GA from every genre and always a bunch of ECs.

 

Tried to get to his shop at least once a month and went to a few of Super Giant Con's that he put on. Met Forry Ackerman, Al Williamson, and Butch Guice at the 1983 one and had a great time.

 

I tried to visit his store more often after that, but the distance and high school became a problem to accomplish this.

 

Last time I saw D.W. was at his shop sometime in '94 or '95 or so... which I believe also doubled as his home upstairs.

 

I wasn't able to go back since I had started my own store around that time and from what I understand, he passed away a few years later.

 

Good memories.

 

 

Was this store eventually near Biltmore Mall?

Was there a previous location?

There were 2 main stores in Asheville when I started buying in the early 90's... I'm pretty sure Super Giant and DW was my first real shop too, but for some reason I'm thinking Super Giant was the name of the other store off of, like, Montford Ave or something.

One of the 2 was on a pretty steep hill, I seem to remember for some reason. (Or maybe I'm completely thinking of another city!)

EDIT: Pastimes was the other shop at the time!  Looks like it's still around but in a new location...

Edited by Schmakt
Pastimes!
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My first comic shop was in Ayer, MA. I don't remember the name of it unfortunately. This was around 1985. I remember I wanted to buy the oldest things I could afford. At the time, my favorite comics were Fantastic Four and Avengers, so I ended up with Fantastic Four #61 and Avengers #36. Before I left, though, i also took a dive into the quarter box, which was on the floor by the door. The comics I pulled out of there were the Atlas Amazing Adventures #6, and Flash #137. 

That was a pretty good start to my collecting career!

I remember also around this time stopping in at a little mini-convention being held in, like, the basement of a bar somewhere in central MA. The big ticket item that blew my mind was a G.I. Joe #2 for $55. I could only stare in awe and dream of such delights. 

The first comic shops I regularly went to were A-OK Cards and Comics in Leominster, MA - which had massive runs of Marvel titles back to 1965 or so for very good prices - and Same Bat Channel in Fitchburg. They had a huge New Look Batman logo on their awning, and driving into town down the fill across the river, you could see that thing from a mile or more away, like an actual bat signal. My understanding is that in the days leading up to the Batman movie in 1989, DC forced them to take it down for trademark infringement. My earliest memory of this place was, again, just wanting to buy the oldest comic I could get frommy favorite series, which ended up being a totally mangled copy of Avengers #4 that my Dad bought me for $12.50. 

My first subscription, though, was at the other comic book store in Fitchburg, which was just across the street and around the corner, Great Expectations. It eventually moved so that the two comic book stores were on the same block, just about 4 storefronts away from each other. Needless to say, that didn't work out in the long run. Great Expectations closed, and Same Bat Channel was bought out by That's Entertainment, which eventually moved it off of main street.

Good times!

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I don't have any pictures but my first LCS was the originally named "The Comic Shop" in Toledo, OH. I think it was circa 1979 over on Hill Rd. (Later became JC's Comic Stop, who bought the inventory.)

I'd love to experience that "wonder" of my 13 year old self when I could convince my mom to drive me there. I'd scrap up $5 to $10 and dream about owning thousands of comics when I got older... (40 years later, I have plenty. lol) I didn't make lists originally, so I bought what I thought was cool. I remember buying JLA #61, Detective #294, and others on my first visit. I still have both though the JLA has been upgraded from the $1 version I bought in VG back then. Another I still own is Cap #100. The owner had a sale and marked it down from $10 to $2. It's a nice looking F 6.0 and I still have it. Thought I was something owning that... lol

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I was sorta forced to find my first. There was a Laundromat in the same shopping center  that Titans Comics was in Riverdale Ga. We lived a good 30 miles from there so I never understood why my mom would drive all the way out there but she would take all our large items out that way. I was made to go one time and dreaded it but saw that place and was hooked. After that I would always try to speed up the trip to the laundromat. To that point I had been able to get comics from gas stations and drugs stores but to get to spend all day Saturday browsing was euphoric for me. 

 They closed that location but Titans is still in business north of Atlanta.

There was another place right down the street that I actually liked better, Fishers Comics or Fishers Books don't recall exactly as we just called it Fishers, but they had all the old stuff and I could get more for a few bucks. That place seemed huge although it may not have been. That became my favorite until I stopped collecting in 94 or so. 

 Any other local South Ga collectors remember those? 

 

Phillip

 


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