REMEMBERING THAT FIRST LCS... 3 3

[anstettoman]

my first lcs was queen city comics and coins on bailey avenue in buffalo. this was 1971 and I remember a FF #1 behind the counter asked how much it was and the owner whispered to me $31. My first comic con was at the statler hotel in buffalo 1974 and i remember holding 5 copies of amazing fantasy 15 in my hands where the seller wanted $100-150 per book. hind sight is 20/20 and for every deal i did'nt get(like the 2 above) there was the x-men #94 book i picked up at cover price because it looked cool and different along with giant sized #1, and hulk # 181 because i was a hulk collector (still got these)

[Robot Man]

I used to buy my new comics at a drug store a few miles from my house. Me and my friends would ride by there everyday and see the bundles dumped out in front on "comic day". We couldn't wait to get out of school to get over there. Then there was the big decision on how to spend the little amount of dough we had.

 

First store I bought "used" comics at was the Book Nook in Pasadena. Not a whole lot but sometimes he would get in some cool stuff. I picked a Supe #9, Submariner #6 and a couple old WDCS from a stack of old Life mags. They were penciled $3.00 on back. I'd never even seen a single digit GA book. The guy wasn't going to sell them to me at first but I whinned and begged until he did. I ending up giving back one of the Disneys because I only had $10. on me. Folklore from the rest of the kids was that he had a ton of this stuff in the basement but we could never get down there. I had dreams of what that basement looked like.

 

The first official real comic book store I went to was Cherokee books in Hollywood. I'm sure you've all heard of it. Blew my mind to see early Golden Age books that I never knew existed and couldn't afford any way. Got a ton of early Marvels and EC's there. Collectors Books was down the street and Bond Street around the corner. Good times!

 

Leonard Brown of Collectors Book store with a "recent" buy (early '60's) check out the bundles wrapped up on the floor!

 

 

Malcom Willitts in the vault. The store was in an old bank building.

 

[reptilekingdie]

There were two in San Antonio this was the first one I ever went to and I remember one of the owners her name was Sharon really nice. That's were I bought my first adult comic Faust 1 love that book, Cards, Comics and Coins on Military Dr near I35 on the south side. Then there was the greatest shop in history in SA, Dungeons on Fredrickburg Rd on the north side. The biggest selection of back issues in SA at that time and I do believe to this day. It was massive. Damn I miss that shop.

[RockMyAmadeus]

I don't remember the first shop I went in to...it was either Fact, Fiction, & Fantasy in Livermore, or The Land of Nevawuz, in Danville.

 

I still remember those times quite sharply.

[porcupine48]

Arthurs on Bank st. Downtown Ottawa....I can still smell it.

Was taken over by Silver Snail...grand opening featured Chris Claremont. Still there,same manager,but not the same.Love it the same..but the dollar bins have changed.

[porcupine48]

Here is a good link to 1974 history of the 2nd Comicshop in Vancouver, BC I shopped at including a reference to Silver Snail Comics in Ottawa, ON too:

 

http://www.thecomicshop.ca/history/

So happy to see this article...I can't wait to run down to The Snail and show Kingdom tomorrow!Thanks!!!!

[Vikingreed]

I grew up in Southern Indiana.

The closest comic store was in Louisville, KY.

 

It is still there and is called The Great Escape.

 

Its dark, smells like old paper, and is basically heaven to a 10 year old boy who loves comics.

 

It was like I was transported into a different world when I walked through those doors.

Man, I loved it. It was special every time my parents would take me. Priceless memories, for sure.

 

I got some great raw books there back in the day. Way before I cared about numbers like 9.8. All I knew is that the copy of ASM #300, or NM #87, was a little slice of happiness, and I couldn't have been more excited, and proud, to add them to my collection.

 

They had/have a huge wall of new weeklies, and a lot of back issues.

The box I always loved to look through was the $20.00 and up short boxes. Oh, to be able to own all of those back then, haha!

 

They also had a wall behind the counter of the more expensive issues.

 

I also scored a Captain America Annual #8 poster (vs Wolverine. And I still own it too!), and it was the coolest thing ever to me back then.

 

Thanks for this thread. It brought back some very happy memories...

 

 

Too funny, I was jumping in this thread to mention The Great Escape myself! I started buying comics off the rack at a convenience store at the end of the street when I was a kid. In time my best friend told me about a store that JUST sold comics. Eventually his folks took us both there and my mind was blown. The posters on the walls, the smell of the newsprint, and the bins full of 25, 35 and 50 cent books! I was in heaven. After that I was able to talk my folks into taking me out there every other month or so. This was back when I could recycle aluminum cans and gather my meager allowance, head into the store with $5-$10, and walk out with armloads of stuff.

 

I eventually ended up working there when I got out of high school, when I was about 19. A lot of fond memories of that brief year and a half as well. But when I go in there now, as a nearly 40-year old man, I still see the place through the eyes of 10-year-old me.

 

Awesome!

Love that place!

[jools&jim]

 

Pretty sure the first comic book shop I was aware of was essentially the back room of a head-shop in New Cumberland, PA (ca. 1975 - 1976).

 

My collecting pal Steve and I were only 10 or 11 at the time, but we somehow managed to talk my older sister into driving us across town. Among other books, I bought a spine-rolled ASM 28 there for pocket change, read it on the ride home, and it was instantly both the coolest and oldest comic book I had ever owned.

 

The thing I remember most is that the comics were stored, un-bagged, in fruit crates (they sold fresh fruit up front--I distinctly recall cantaloupe!--in addition to bongs, incense, "High Times", etc.), and that there was some sort of oddball, "flat-rate" pricing system based on issue numbers, with the early numbers of any given series being more expensive than the later numbers. It was a long time ago, but I don't remember grade being a factor at all...

 

 

 

[HouseofComics.Com]

As it happens, The Great Escape was the first store for me too. Nashville was perfectly suited for my family to stop for the night on our way from Michigan to Florida when I was a kid and comic stores were late coming to SW Michigan.

 

Just amazing to be able to get early 70s Batmans in the quarter box, James Bond paperbacks for $1 at most, get the new issue of Dragon magazine, and see a lot of old comics I couldn't afford! I'd never seen anything like it.

[Semicentennial]

Mine was Comic Collector's in Oakland, California. I remember seeing the shop whenever my mom and I took the bus. Years later I took the bus ride by myself to visit the shop. I don't remember buying anything from the shop but I remember the sign that was above the new books, "If you want to read the library is across the street." The Oakland Public Library was actually across the street.

[Unca Scrooge]

I grew up in Southern Indiana.

The closest comic store was in Louisville, KY.

 

It is still there and is called The Great Escape.

 

Its dark, smells like old paper, and is basically heaven to a 10 year old boy who loves comics.

 

It was like I was transported into a different world when I walked through those doors.

Man, I loved it. It was special every time my parents would take me. Priceless memories, for sure.

 

I got some great raw books there back in the day. Way before I cared about numbers like 9.8. All I knew is that the copy of ASM #300, or NM #87, was a little slice of happiness, and I couldn't have been more excited, and proud, to add them to my collection.

 

They had/have a huge wall of new weeklies, and a lot of back issues.

The box I always loved to look through was the $20.00 and up short boxes. Oh, to be able to own all of those back then, haha!

 

They also had a wall behind the counter of the more expensive issues.

 

I also scored a Captain America Annual #8 poster (vs Wolverine. And I still own it too!), and it was the coolest thing ever to me back then.

 

Thanks for this thread. It brought back some very happy memories...

 

 

Too funny, I was jumping in this thread to mention The Great Escape myself! I started buying comics off the rack at a convenience store at the end of the street when I was a kid. In time my best friend told me about a store that JUST sold comics. Eventually his folks took us both there and my mind was blown. The posters on the walls, the smell of the newsprint, and the bins full of 25, 35 and 50 cent books! I was in heaven. After that I was able to talk my folks into taking me out there every other month or so. This was back when I could recycle aluminum cans and gather my meager allowance, head into the store with $5-$10, and walk out with armloads of stuff.

 

I eventually ended up working there when I got out of high school, when I was about 19. A lot of fond memories of that brief year and a half as well. But when I go in there now, as a nearly 40-year old man, I still see the place through the eyes of 10-year-old me.

 

Awesome!

Love that place!

 

Do you all remember the commercials they used to run on the local Louisville channels? Pretty sure it was Great Escape but whatever store it was the commercials showed off new stuff that they had got in and always had some guy dressed up in costume. Also, if memory serves me right there was another store in Frankfort which I think might have been another Great Escape. Truth be told though, I was a child of the 90's and I basically associated any comic store in the area with Great Escape since it's the only name I knew.

[jsilverjanet]

Great stories everyone!

[scooter99]

No LCS's in my hometown, but I would often nag my folks to take me to a shop in Stockton, CA on Pacific Avenue (before Al's Comics). They closed after a year or so and I picked up books across the street at a place called Avenue Books. Mitch M. opened a shop not too far away from Pacific Avenue in either 79 or 80. I bought several high grade spidey's from him (39,43, 52 and a few others) along with a sweet FF Annual 2. I distinctly remember he had a low grade AF15 in a big glass case. Being a high grade snob, I didn't even consider it at the time. I think he had it priced at $450.00.

 

It was always a treat to visit Comics and Comix on k street in Sacramento. Saw my first Strange Tales 110 along with JIM83, Avengers 1, etal.

 

My favorite shop during the late 70's/early 80's was Atlantis Fantasyworld in Santa Cruz. They had a huge building downtown chock full of GA, SA and BA books. I picked up my X-men 1, GS X-men 1, 94-121 and countless other books from them.

 

I have fond memories of all of these places.

 

 

 

 

[Ken Aldred]

A small bookshop, Chapter and Verse, in Bolton, near Manchester. They sold imported, cent copy Marvel and DC titles that weren't ordinarily available the UK and charged 35p for a standard-sized issue, which was three times the cover price for the distributed pence copy comics received by the newsagents three months later.

 

Lots of overpriced back issues but only from the previous four years or so to 1973, after the picture frame Marvel era, with lots of Giant-Size titles but without the most significant one, of course.

 

I went there for about 18 months and then started going to comic marts, found cheaper dealers and a wider range of material, and never went back.

[SkunkApe]

The first place that I ever bought a comic from was a Food Lion grocery store near my house. My best friend and I would ride out bikes up to the store every weekend to buy new comics with our allowance. The closest actual comic shop to me was across town (back when my hometown was still a small town) next to a swimming pool supply place. I'd get to go in there once in awhile when my folks were shopping for pool supplies. I don't remember the name of the shop, if I recall correctly it just had a big sign that said "COMICS" outside. It's been closed for probably 20 years.

[FineCollector]

My first store was Heroes Comics in the suburbs of Montreal in 1989. I was late to the party, because Montreal already had chain stores of Capitaine Quebec, and Gerry Ross' Million Comix, which I only discovered later by flipping through the yellow pages (and dad driving me there on Saturday mornings). I remember it was '89, because the first book I bought there was the Batman movie adaptation off the stands. The store was tiny, but orderly. I don't remember the wall books all that well, what caught my eye was the Marvel choose-your-own-adventure type novels (bought the Cap issue), and some pewter superhero figurines (which I never got into). They ended up moving to a bigger location on the main street for a few years before moving into a flea market around the time of the X-Men 25 holographic cover, and dropped out of sight. There's still a Heroes Comics north of town in Laval, and he does conventions too, but I'm not a fan.

 

Nice to see the mention of Silver Snail in Ottawa. They have lousy back issues now, but the manager Kin is a friendly guy.

[1Cool]

My first comic book I even got was at the 7-11 directly across from the local clinic in Fairbanks, Alaska. I had something done at the clinic and I remember my dad taking me over their to get some ice cream and I got to pick out a couple comics I guess as a thank you for not giving my dad a headache. I was about 6 or so I have no clue what books they were but I remember picking them out from the spinner rack.

[jsilverjanet]

I'm pretty sure my first comic was an Archie Digest at some gas station on the road to Mexico from Chicago

[F For Fake]

I grew up in Southern Indiana.

The closest comic store was in Louisville, KY.

 

It is still there and is called The Great Escape.

 

Its dark, smells like old paper, and is basically heaven to a 10 year old boy who loves comics.

 

It was like I was transported into a different world when I walked through those doors.

Man, I loved it. It was special every time my parents would take me. Priceless memories, for sure.

 

I got some great raw books there back in the day. Way before I cared about numbers like 9.8. All I knew is that the copy of ASM #300, or NM #87, was a little slice of happiness, and I couldn't have been more excited, and proud, to add them to my collection.

 

They had/have a huge wall of new weeklies, and a lot of back issues.

The box I always loved to look through was the $20.00 and up short boxes. Oh, to be able to own all of those back then, haha!

 

They also had a wall behind the counter of the more expensive issues.

 

I also scored a Captain America Annual #8 poster (vs Wolverine. And I still own it too!), and it was the coolest thing ever to me back then.

 

Thanks for this thread. It brought back some very happy memories...

 

 

Too funny, I was jumping in this thread to mention The Great Escape myself! I started buying comics off the rack at a convenience store at the end of the street when I was a kid. In time my best friend told me about a store that JUST sold comics. Eventually his folks took us both there and my mind was blown. The posters on the walls, the smell of the newsprint, and the bins full of 25, 35 and 50 cent books! I was in heaven. After that I was able to talk my folks into taking me out there every other month or so. This was back when I could recycle aluminum cans and gather my meager allowance, head into the store with $5-$10, and walk out with armloads of stuff.

 

I eventually ended up working there when I got out of high school, when I was about 19. A lot of fond memories of that brief year and a half as well. But when I go in there now, as a nearly 40-year old man, I still see the place through the eyes of 10-year-old me.

 

Awesome!

Love that place!

 

Do you all remember the commercials they used to run on the local Louisville channels? Pretty sure it was Great Escape but whatever store it was the commercials showed off new stuff that they had got in and always had some guy dressed up in costume. Also, if memory serves me right there was another store in Frankfort which I think might have been another Great Escape. Truth be told though, I was a child of the 90's and I basically associated any comic store in the area with Great Escape since it's the only name I knew.

 

Hmm, when I was there I know they used to run late-night ads that usually involved a flying saucer (like, very primitive CG animation) that would visit the store or something like that. I don't remember any costumes, though it's certainly possible. I DO remember that local chain Book and Music Exchange used to do lots of ads with people in weird wigs and costumes and such.

[F For Fake]

I grew up in Southern Indiana.

The closest comic store was in Louisville, KY.

 

It is still there and is called The Great Escape.

 

Its dark, smells like old paper, and is basically heaven to a 10 year old boy who loves comics.

 

It was like I was transported into a different world when I walked through those doors.

Man, I loved it. It was special every time my parents would take me. Priceless memories, for sure.

 

I got some great raw books there back in the day. Way before I cared about numbers like 9.8. All I knew is that the copy of ASM #300, or NM #87, was a little slice of happiness, and I couldn't have been more excited, and proud, to add them to my collection.

 

They had/have a huge wall of new weeklies, and a lot of back issues.

The box I always loved to look through was the $20.00 and up short boxes. Oh, to be able to own all of those back then, haha!

 

They also had a wall behind the counter of the more expensive issues.

 

I also scored a Captain America Annual #8 poster (vs Wolverine. And I still own it too!), and it was the coolest thing ever to me back then.

 

Thanks for this thread. It brought back some very happy memories...

 

 

Too funny, I was jumping in this thread to mention The Great Escape myself! I started buying comics off the rack at a convenience store at the end of the street when I was a kid. In time my best friend told me about a store that JUST sold comics. Eventually his folks took us both there and my mind was blown. The posters on the walls, the smell of the newsprint, and the bins full of 25, 35 and 50 cent books! I was in heaven. After that I was able to talk my folks into taking me out there every other month or so. This was back when I could recycle aluminum cans and gather my meager allowance, head into the store with $5-$10, and walk out with armloads of stuff.

 

I eventually ended up working there when I got out of high school, when I was about 19. A lot of fond memories of that brief year and a half as well. But when I go in there now, as a nearly 40-year old man, I still see the place through the eyes of 10-year-old me.

 

I was visiting my Uncle in Franklin, TN and I could've sworn i went to this awesome shop called the Great Escape near Nashville. Had to be early 90's. They sold toys, records, anything pop culture.

 

I'm sure you're right. They were a regional chain. I think the Nashville store was the original...if not, it was certainly the headquarters, at least when I was there. The Nashville store was almost more a record store than anything, but they did have a huge selection of comics and other stuff as well. I think they eventually spun off a second store in Nashville.

 

TGE had other locations, though I can't remember all of them. I believe they took over Pac-Rats, which was...Bowling Green, maybe?

 

The Louisville store is still going strong. I try to get in there every couple of weeks to look at back issues.