REMEMBERING THAT FIRST LCS... 3 3

[greggy]

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/

the link is no long er available..is this rhe shop Kin worked in?

Yes

[Ghost Town]

last night I was thinking about my first comic shop. Comic Kingdom on Lawrence Ave in Chicago.

 

I vaguely remember the set up, but what I do remember most was the smell of old books. Joe the owner was a nice guy, and later moved the shop to Irving Park near Central.

 

I'm many people from this area knew Joe or brought books from him. Unfortunately the shop is long gone but the memories still live on.

 

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Comic-Universe-The-Joe-Sarno-Fan-Page/103802766318694

 

What was your first comic shop and what do you remember the most?

 

Comic Kingdom was my first regular LCS too. Though I occasionally took a long bus ride to Larry's Comics on Devon Avenue for back issues.

 

Joe was awesome. Larry was probably the prototype for any comic shop owner to ever appear in a tv show or movie.

[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/

the link is no long er available..is this rhe shop Kin worked in?

Yes

thank you.

Silver Snail now closed,but the staff can be found at a new shop,location,Comet Comics in old Ottawa south.

[Guardian Comics]

Fantasm (or was it Phantasm Comics) on Markham Rd in Toronto.

 

The year was 1984, and I had been introduced to the Marvel Universe by playing the roleplaying game with two of my friends, Cecil Leung and David Anderson (just in case they ever Google themselves and can find me).

 

I had already determined from the game that the X-Men were my favourites, and one of them or maybe a different buddies older brother was headed to the LCS and asked me if I wanted to come along.

 

Well as soon as I walk in, there is is this giant vision of Guardian (perhaps 8 feet tall) painted on the wall. It might as well have been done by John Byrne himself but it was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen.

 

Don't know exactly what I bought, eithe X-Men #27 or #29 (can't remember which one exactly, the covers are so similar and I ended up getting both from there anyways). It lasted until about 1987-1988 as I went to take my friends there and I remember waiting an hour to catch a bus and then when we finally arrived there it was permanently closed. One of the saddest days to my 14 year old mind.

 

So although they don't know it, when I decided to give my place a name, it was an ode to the very first moment I was in a comic book store myself.

 

Jim

[Inhuman Fiend]

The first one I went to with any regularity was the Broad Ripple location of Comic Carnival in Indianapolis in the early 80's. My dad and I made the weekly run from the west side every Saturday morning for years.

 

Wow, small world...ME TOO!!!! Went there often as a teen in the late 70's and early 80's...good times!

[MyThreeSons]

Westside Comics in Manhattan. The owner was strange. Kind of looked like Tommy Chong.

I used to go there also while in grad school with a couple of friends. We made a weekly trek to this store. They closed down around 1992. You could catch a contact high just by hanging around inside the store. Two guys ran the store. "Tommy Chong" and the other guy played imaginary drums the entire time I was in the store. Picked up a lot of high grade books cheap from these guys.

[Shaolingoat]

The first one I went to with any regularity was the Broad Ripple location of Comic Carnival in Indianapolis in the early 80's. My dad and I made the weekly run from the west side every Saturday morning for years.

 

Wow, small world...ME TOO!!!! Went there often as a teen in the late 70's and early 80's...good times!

 

The original location in Broad Ripple was just one of those classic shops from that time period. Another good one was Comics Unlimited in Speedway just east of IMS, they always had a very nice wall selection of SA issues.

[Broke as a Joke]

Any Chicagoans remember the name of a small shop located on W Morse Ave. in the early 80's? I remember stopping in there all the time as a kid walking home from school. Don't remember the name though as I was only in first grade at the time.

[Ghost Town]

Any Chicagoans remember the name of a small shop located on W Morse Ave. in the early 80's? I remember stopping in there all the time as a kid walking home from school. Don't remember the name though as I was only in first grade at the time.

Evil Squirrel Comics? Looks like they've closed down.

 

https://www.yelp.com/biz/evil-squirrel-comics-chicago

[jsilverjanet]

My other shop - can't remember if I mentioned it here was Variety Comics which closed last year

[MK Ultra]

Surprised not more Florida in the house. I grew up in Miami and went to Sunshine Comics owned by Joel Fisher. It was a family affair, sister and mother worked there too and he had bought a heat sealer and was sealing the bags. Libby, their dog, was dubbed Libby the heat sealing dog or some such nonsense. I started going before Secret Wars came out. He had a costume contest one year and I won second with a spidey outfit my grandmother made me. I think it was $25 store credit? I still have the costume. I had the New Muties graphic novel and there were finger prints on it, I asked if windex would help. A couple blocks away was A&M comics. I didn't like them as much. Joel was the guy that wrote, "The Marvel guide to collecting comics". It was an insert in their books one month if memory serves. He had a long box full if not more. Since dad lived in Boca Raton Joel asked if I wanted to help him at a con in West Palm Beach and I jumped at the chance. It was the weekend that ASM 252 came out and he sold a ton. I bought 50 off him for $0.45 each and sold them later for $2.50 each. I was RICH!!! Joel called me one day b/c he had gotten in a run of Miller Daredevil. I got a bunch of mom's S&H green stamps, pasted them in books and pedaled to the store to exchange them for cash. I think they paid $2/book or so? I then went and bought all I could. When I moved in with Dad I went to Tropic Comics. John was crazy fun, and Rob was pretty cool too. I worked there a little bit. Phil's comic shop and the Comic Exchange were local stops too. I know it was only supposed to be the first, but it was such fun.

Edited September 9, 2016 by Bronzed Jbone

[jessebrook1]

I started collecting at age 12, My first shop was called Worlds Greatest Cards and Comics in Douglasville, Ga. My mom would drop me off for a couple of hours and let me go through longbox after longbox. There was another store right behind Worlds Greatest called Quest Comics. I did not like Quest as much because everything was so clean and in order, over at my store it was a little unorganized and you had to hunt for some things.

 

I still have a VHS of me walking around the store for a class project about your favorite hobby.

Edited September 9, 2016 by jessebrook1

[Broke as a Joke]

Any Chicagoans remember the name of a small shop located on W Morse Ave. in the early 80's? I remember stopping in there all the time as a kid walking home from school. Don't remember the name though as I was only in first grade at the time.

Evil Squirrel Comics? Looks like they've closed down.

 

https://www.yelp.com/biz/evil-squirrel-comics-chicago

 

I don't believe that is it since this one closed down in the 90's. Tried finding it on google to no avail.

[Gaard]

The Book Stop in Wyoming, MI. It was paperbacks and comics...about 50/50. There were a couple of other stores in town that dealt in comics, but seeing as how I grew up 2 blocks from The Book Stop, that one was my favorite. It was run by an older guy(John) and his two sons (John & Joe). The dad would always save any back issues of DD for me - he knew I was into that comic. For my 13th birthday, in '75, my older sister handed me a box. Inside was a can of Pork -n- Beans, a bottle of Tahitian Treat, and a DD #1. She said she had talked to John about it and he hunted it down for her.

[Ghost Town]

My other shop - can't remember if I mentioned it here was Variety Comics which closed last year

I passed by Variety on my way to high school every day. (That's not me in the photos. But I probably had the same hairstyle back then.)

 

 

[grebal]

That's not me in the photos.

 

 

Pffft, I think most of us could figure out that you're not really Spiderman.

 

 

I remember the comic shop in Wantagh, NY near the train station as being located in different place than you guys - on Wantagh Ave. just no. of Sunrise Hwy. Maybe they later moved to Sunrise just east of the Wantagh Pkwy/Want. Ave, the one I think was mentioned. Or maybe that was a different store that opened after the smaller one closed? Anyway, I remember one down there too, just not the same as you guys mentioned (Buzzetta and ?).

 

I grew up in Levittown and was there 70s-90s, and during my hunt-for-comics-by-bicycle days from 1975-80, when that Wantagh store wasn't enough, I finally found another back-issue store a long ride east on Sunrise Hwy into Amityville, I think around Rt 110 and Merrick Rd (or Sunrise), it was called Manketo's Memorabilia (sp?).

 

Then a few years later I recall a "Heroes World" opened up in the Nassau Mall (on Hempstead Tpk, just east of Wantagh Ave.) third shop on the left as you enter the Mall. That was big time, it had more than just a handful of long boxes of back issues, it was huge.

[Brother J]

Showcase Comics in Bryn Mawr, PA (suburban Philadelphia).

 

I first walked in around age 11-12 in the summer of 1989. The new issue racks were dominated by that summer's Marvel Annuals (Atlantis Attacks) and the premiere wall books were Batman 426-429 (Death in the Family) along with The Cult and Dark Knight Returns.

 

I was a weekly regular there for the next 7 years, attending signings by Al Williamson, Rick Leonardi (for Spider-Man 2099 # 1), Bernard Chang (Valiant's Deathmate tour), and others.

 

Memorable purchases included a beat-up copy of Daredevil # 1 for $4, a 9.0 copy of ASM # 129 for $100 during that period in the late '90s when he wasn't popular, and hundreds of new issues, including Man of Steel 18 (x 6), ASM 361 (x 3), Superman 75 (x 13), New Mutants 95-100, X-Men # 1e (x 5 - d'oh!) and all the early Image books (Youngblood # 1 was "limit 5 per customer").

 

1989-1996 was a great time to ride the comics wave, from the summer of the Batman movie, through McSpider-man, Image, Valiant, Ultraverse, Comics Greatest World, to Stephen Platt.

 

There was a Detective Comics # 27 in the showcase that the owner sold around 1992-'93 to purchase a 2 million-comic warehouse that allowed him to open one of his other stores (either the one on South Street or in the Granite Run Mall -- I forget).

 

Both of those stores are long gone, but the flagship Bryn Mawr store's still around, and it's still owned by Mike.

 

Last time I tried to go to Showcase in Bryn Mawr, I found that they had moved from the location I was used to going to. I couldn't find where they had moved to, but I do buy quite a few of their cheapo books at the Philly comic show.

[Black_Adam]

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/

the link is no long er available..is this rhe shop Kin worked in?

Yes

 

To answer an earlier question, I think the first photo I posted was of their first location at 3638 W. 4th Ave (which is less than a block away from the store's current location).

 

The store I remember, and it sounds like others do too, was the one at 4th and Arbutus owned by Ron and Ken (who later opened a store in North Vancouver called Airship Comics that I also frequented). Kin Jee, below, often worked the counter along with a cast of other colorful characters (hippies). Some of my best books came from those boxes behind him!

 

 

And this is where I usually blew all the cash I collected on my paper route. Boy did I hate when people refused to pay for their monthly subscription early!

 

 

[porcupine48]

i took that pic into Kin when you originally posted it.he was quite happy.

[Comicdey]

That's funny - my mom wouldn't let me go to the comic shop in my home town (Fairbanks Alaska) since everyone knew it was full of druggies and hippies. I remember the shop was in the basement of a downtown business and it definitely did smell of something funky when I did go in there later on down the road.

 

Been there

 

Undergrounds. Drug accessories And comics.

 

What's not to love

 

My dad took me there a couple of times but I mainly bought my stuff from the rexall and terr was a mom and pop shop which I can't for the life of me recall where it was.

 

Near Martha O'learies I think??? It had a rack just near the main cashier area

 

 

 

 

Wait - you knew Martha O'Leary? I went to her daycare for a few years and we use to call her Magic Martha since she could pull off band aids without it hurting. Didn't she live right down from Denali Elementary School since I remember walking to her house from school. Old school memories.

 

Yep. Same Martha

 

And her two boys

 

She liked to take your temp recitally if you were sick...ack...not such a magi moment :-)

 

You sure that wasn't something she saved for special boys since I don't remember that happening to me (or maybe I blanked it out).

 

Maybe child services got to her a year or two before you showed up...corrected her ways....

 

I recall a little thermometer action