DR.X Posted February 8, 2015 Share Posted February 8, 2015 yeah, I had the loops. I'll take some pics in the next day or so of that stuff. saved it along with all my H.O. trains. I also had the straight and curved cross-overs, the electric lap counter, and all kinds of other krap. Still have an original carrying case that held about eight cars, and all your little spare motors, tires, and junk. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DR.X Posted February 8, 2015 Share Posted February 8, 2015 I remember the first sets had those krappy steering wheels on the little boxes controllers. Then they came out with the push button ones. I had eventually updated to some pistol grip controllers that I bought at a hobby shop. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DR.X Posted February 8, 2015 Share Posted February 8, 2015 I'll post more later when I did out my big box with the track and stuff in it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thehumantorch Posted February 8, 2015 Share Posted February 8, 2015 Started buying comics at a shop at the University of Alberta called Lifeforce. They made their bread selling Penguin books and textbooks and even tons of the local paper for a quarter a copy. They also brought in new comics. I loved going down there to look at comics, read their copy of CBG, hit the arcade for some pinball and foozeball, and over to a little Chinese restaurant for some beef and broccoli. The most carefree and enjoyable time in my life. Later a local collector opened the first of what I like to think of as dedicated comic shops. Hobbits Fantasy Shop. They sold other things but it's focus was comics. They had scads of original Kirby Forever People art on the wall. $50 a page sigh, wish I'd bought more than 1......... podboy66 and Artboy99 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tec38 Posted February 8, 2015 Share Posted February 8, 2015 (edited) Zeno's in Chesapeake,Va I dont know how my mom found out about it but when I was around 9 years old we used to go out on Saturdays to run errands, and I'd get to stop by a 7-11 and pick up a comic or two. Memory is fuzzy but I think it was around October of 1978 when we pulled into Zeno's instead. I walked in that door and the ink smell was just,wow. I looked around at the stacks of books and the ones hanging on the wall... The 7-11 had a spinner rack but here I was surrounded I remember asking my mom if she could leave and pick me up later but that didnt fly. Can't recall which book I chose that day only wishing it was a hundred more I'm sure. Within a week in my ignorance of comic values I had made a Christmas list of books like the first 3 issues of Superman and Batman. Being a good mom she went back to Zenos and checked where she was told that the Superman 1 alone would run about 3 grand. We had a good laugh and that actually led to me getting a price guide for Christmas instead but I still wonder if they had access to a Superman 1 or they were just setting my newb self straight. Over 30 years later Zeno's is still there and so am I, waiting to pair 3 grand with a time machine. Edited February 9, 2015 by Tec38 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
01TheDude Posted February 8, 2015 Share Posted February 8, 2015 I'll post more later when I did out my big box with the track and stuff in it. I had a kit similar to that with a bunch of tony car parts. I must have had about 30 cars-- I just kept buying new ones. The one that came with the set (typically had lights for night racing) - I think those were designed to fail. I kind of recall that sometimes I would just play with the cars without the track itself-- like I was running a garage or something. Sure wish I had pictures of my lineup. hundreds of dollars of paper route money burned on pure enjoyment. anyway-- the thing that kind of got me into it was that I missed out on going with my dad and brother to the slot car track hobby shop-- where tons of cars would race around at the same time-- these cars were bigger scale-- about the size of a kids hand 5"x3' by about 2 inches high. My dad had the one car that I never got to try on a track but I would play with it-- had the #66 on it-- and looked like a 60s Le Mans course car. It seems like I had all the time in the world to play back then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
01TheDude Posted February 8, 2015 Share Posted February 8, 2015 Zeno's in Chesapeake,Va I dont know how my mom found out about it but when I was around 9 years old we used to go out on Saturdays to run errands, and I'd get to stop by a 7-11 and pick up a comic or two. Memory is fuzzy but I think it was around October of 1978 when we pulled into Zeno's instead. I walked in that door and the ink smell was just,wow. I looked around at the stacks of books and the ones hanging on the wall... The 7-11 had a spinner rack but here I was surrounded I remember asking my mom if she could leave and pick me up later but that didnt fly. Can't recall which book I choose that day only wishing it was a hundred more I'm sure. Within a week in my ignorance of comic values I had made a Christmas list of books like the first 3 issues of Superman and Batman. Being a good mom she went back to Zenos and checked where she was told that the Superman 1 alone would run about 3 grand. We had a good laugh and that actually led to me getting a price guide for Christmas instead but I still wonder if they had access to a Superman 1 or they were just setting my newb self straight. Over 30 years later Zeno's is still there and so am I, waiting to pair 3 grand with a time machine. be careful to bring vintage money-- they will lock you up and confiscate the time machine if you try using current money. You know one thing that your mom learned that day was that these items are not just funny books- that they can sometimes be worth quite a tidy sum of cash. I bet she looked at the hobby a lot different after that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ciorac Posted February 8, 2015 Share Posted February 8, 2015 My first shop was the One Book Store on Mill Avenue in Tempe, AZ. It was a small college-town store, but it was amazing for a kid who loved comics. So many great memories there...I'd head over for my weekly trip with my mom, grab my books, and then we'd head over to the Chuckbox (an amazing burger joint). There was a copy of Amazing Fantasy 15 that was on the wall for months, with the astronomical price tag of $150 bucks. I started saving up for it, but it sold before I could grab it. Knowing how bummed I was about that, my mom bought me a copy of ASM 129 instead. Still have that book, too Great memories, great topic! I think you and I shopped at the same LCS. I remember it as the One Book Shop, but it was so long ago I could be mistaken. But it was near Forest Ave/St. if I recall, in a small strip mall near the college. There was a Christian book store in the same building that also would have comics. However they stapled cards into the back covers of them. It was a great store and the owner would often get in key Marvel and DC silver age. It was such a thrill to see those books back in the mid 70s. JJ-4 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
01TheDude Posted February 8, 2015 Share Posted February 8, 2015 the strange thing to think about is back then-- these major Marvel keys from the 60s were barely 15 years old in most cases-- which is like nothing-- and you think about the GA at time (mid 70s) were about 30 years old. Now all that bronze age is older than the GA when most of us 40-50 somethings were kids. seems like the 1970s were the last real time comic books were more likely to become ragged out-- between the pulp material and the general disdain for their value for all but a handful of known keys. Not that there weren't more kids taking care of the books and better storage etc-- but compared to the next few decades, comic book protection/hoarding was much less. I clearly remember walking into a LCS in the late 1980s thinking of selling my collection and the guy acted like everything from the 1970s was total drek. maybe that is how it works-- people downplay the importance of books to the point that they get destroyed enough to the point where high grade is uncommon. I doubt that can work from mid 1980s onward though. too much volume, too much protection. it will take a looooooooong time for the 1990s drek (not the legit good books) to ever be held as having decent value. dime a dozen (and you over paid!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
auboy77 Posted February 8, 2015 Share Posted February 8, 2015 (edited) mine, like other peoples here was in Nashville, in the mid 80's , The Great Escape. it used to be over by the Vandy campus but has since moved over the West side b/c the lease was too high and the owners didn't want to renew it. the original location had been there since the 70's. it sold everything pop culture related and i remember my mom letting me a my bro walk to it from the children hospital b/c she was visiting a friends sick child at the time. i loved the fact that it was old and had stuff everywhere, so you could search for hidden gems , unlike the new location where everything is neat and extremely organized. the old paper smell was awesome. my first comics were marvel team up 53 w/ hulk and spidey for $4 (took all my allowance and ASM annual #1 for a buck (g-vg). also bought the fireside books, bring on the bad guys, origins of marvel comics and marvel comics the women. these are what got me into comics and is the reason i love the bronze /silver age more than copper / modern even tho thats what i should have grown up on. i also found the 60's penguin paperbacks of the hulk and ff, for only a few bucks. i really loved digging through the bottom boxes and finding hidden gems . can't do that anymore , they know the price and everything now . also found some very early marvel masterworks at the time when that line had been discontinued in the 90's. i grew up in that place and now that it has moved and become super organized , i feel my childhood is gone with the old location. i'm a filmmaker in l.a. now and would love to do a documentary based on everyones stories here. Edited February 8, 2015 by FOOM! Larryw7 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reaperron Posted February 8, 2015 Share Posted February 8, 2015 i'm a filmmaker in l.a. now and would love to do a documentary based on everyones stories here. You should totally do this! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gabagool Posted February 8, 2015 Share Posted February 8, 2015 (edited) As a youngster i remember going to one with my Grandmother every friday after school. we used to go to a shop called Al's Baseball cards and comics in Pembroke Pines Florida back in the mid 90s. like most comic shops, it was a tiny store in a shopping plaza, Al was the the father and he had two of his sons who were in their 20s working there. I used to go for a couple of years with grams to buy comics, then they ended up moving their location to somewhere closer to my house. i continued going there but eventually as most comics shops do they end up closing and later on i ended up taking a long break from comics as i got into my late teens. Now my regular LCS has been in the same plaza close to my home for years, i used to go there as a kid to just browse or just to bike ride up there with my buddies. Funny thing is one of the guys who used to work there when i was a kid is still to this day working there. i know owners changed and so fourth but this guy is selling working there making a living on it. pretty cool i guess. Edited February 8, 2015 by Donmeca2020 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crimebuster Posted February 8, 2015 Share Posted February 8, 2015 (edited) The first comic shop I visited was in Ayer, MA, just outside of Fort Devens, but I don't remember the name of the store. This was in 1985. I do remember wanting to buy the oldest back issues they had for my two favorite titles at the time, which ended up being Avengers #36 and Fantastic Four #61. On the way out, I checked their 25 cent bin as well, looking to find whatever they had that was really old, regardless of the title. The two comics I pulled out of the bin for a quarter each: Amazing Adventures #6 and Flash #137. My copies are long gone now, but I sure wish I could find stuff like that in quarter bins now. Not long after this I started visiting A-Ok Cards and Comics in Leominster, as well as Same Bat Channel and Great Expectations in Fitchburg. Edited February 8, 2015 by Crimebuster Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bio-Rupp Posted February 8, 2015 Share Posted February 8, 2015 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. Bonthan 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanCooper Posted February 8, 2015 Share Posted February 8, 2015 Anyone remember Collector's Comics of Wantagh on Long Island ? They were awesome when I was a kid. I even remember standing on line to meet John Romita. I still have the copy of ASM 42 he signed. I remember Collector's in Wantagh I believe it was on the Sunrise Highway just west of the Wantagh Pkwy Run by a nice couple and I used to get the quarterly Overstreet Updates there in the late 80s/early 90s (God, I miss those!) Also at The Incredible Pulp in Baldwin. I echo everything said about Mike's Comics Hut GREAT store and GREAT guy Mike was! Sad he passed at such a young age. I believe Mike had three locations (at different times) during his run on Northern Blvd in the Flushing Queens area. Peter G mentioned Continental Comics in Forest Hills and "legs". Mike Carbonaro may remember who she was if you bump into him at a Con or shop or on his planet! Thanks everyone for the GREAT memories here! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Icculus308win Posted February 8, 2015 Share Posted February 8, 2015 Mine was River City Hobbies in La Crosse, WI. We used to visit my grandparents up there once a month or more while I was in lower school. I would walk there from their house when we were visiting and grab some X-Mens, GI Joes and Groos. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rabidwolf Posted February 8, 2015 Share Posted February 8, 2015 I cant remember which one was the first. But I started going to comic book stores in L.A. around 1989 a few years before I started driving: Superhero Universe (later moved locations and became Mega city comics) 1000000 comics (took over the Superhero Universe spot) Continental comics - probably one of the oldest stores that still exists in L.A. that still primarily does back issues Outer Limits comics (later became Forbidden Planet) Golden Apple comics A Collectors Dream Comics and Fun Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Mad Irishman Posted February 8, 2015 Share Posted February 8, 2015 My first shop was the One Book Store on Mill Avenue in Tempe, AZ. It was a small college-town store, but it was amazing for a kid who loved comics. So many great memories there...I'd head over for my weekly trip with my mom, grab my books, and then we'd head over to the Chuckbox (an amazing burger joint). There was a copy of Amazing Fantasy 15 that was on the wall for months, with the astronomical price tag of $150 bucks. I started saving up for it, but it sold before I could grab it. Knowing how bummed I was about that, my mom bought me a copy of ASM 129 instead. Still have that book, too Great memories, great topic! I think you and I shopped at the same LCS. I remember it as the One Book Shop, but it was so long ago I could be mistaken. But it was near Forest Ave/St. if I recall, in a small strip mall near the college. There was a Christian book store in the same building that also would have comics. However they stapled cards into the back covers of them. It was a great store and the owner would often get in key Marvel and DC silver age. It was such a thrill to see those books back in the mid 70s. That's the one! I was trying to remember if it was "Store" or "Shop" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimjum12 Posted February 8, 2015 Share Posted February 8, 2015 Zeno's in Chesapeake,Va I dont know how my mom found out about it but when I was around 9 years old we used to go out on Saturdays to run errands, and I'd get to stop by a 7-11 and pick up a comic or two. Memory is fuzzy but I think it was around October of 1978 when we pulled into Zeno's instead. I walked in that door and the ink smell was just,wow. I looked around at the stacks of books and the ones hanging on the wall... The 7-11 had a spinner rack but here I was surrounded I remember asking my mom if she could leave and pick me up later but that didnt fly. Can't recall which book I choose that day only wishing it was a hundred more I'm sure. Within a week in my ignorance of comic values I had made a Christmas list of books like the first 3 issues of Superman and Batman. Being a good mom she went back to Zenos and checked where she was told that the Superman 1 alone would run about 3 grand. We had a good laugh and that actually led to me getting a price guide for Christmas instead but I still wonder if they had access to a Superman 1 or they were just setting my newb self straight. Over 30 years later Zeno's is still there and so am I, waiting to pair 3 grand with a time machine. ..... wow...... I just saw Wayne yesterday at the VaComicon ..... one of the best LCS owners around. GOD BLESS... -jimbo(a friend of jesus) (thumbs u Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mccollect Posted February 8, 2015 Share Posted February 8, 2015 Grand Street Books - You walked in and looked at his list of back issues (he had everything) then he would go downstairs and pick it for you. After them, it was Continental Comics -(Mike Carbo's first place) on Austin St and down the block was Little Nemo's. I always wonder what happened to the Grand Street Books collection once the owner either closed or passed on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
