oakman29 Posted January 8, 2019 Share Posted January 8, 2019 16 minutes ago, Robot Man said: But, John knows how to do a convention. The Torpedo Con the week before SDCC was off the hook. He managed to convince most of the big dealers to set up for a one day show that was epic. It felt like an early SDCC. Plus he partnered up with someone else and had a great original art show right across the hall all for the same cheap admission price. John is a smart man , and knows the comic book world better than rock music. I have a feeling his Orange store will thrive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robot Man Posted January 8, 2019 Author Share Posted January 8, 2019 Maybe, but it makes me wonder why Big Red sold out. They are in a good area with a college right there but they didn't seem to be able to make it. I was never much of a fan of them. The owner and the employees just didn't seen to care much when I went in. I hope it works out better for John. If the prices and selection suk, I doubt I will make it over there much if at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bumble Kitty Posted January 8, 2019 Share Posted January 8, 2019 The wife and I had lunch in Old Town Orange on Sunday. I walked over to Big Red Comics and I took this picture. ADAMANTIUM 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fatlab123 Posted January 8, 2019 Share Posted January 8, 2019 2 hours ago, oakman29 said: John is a smart man , and knows the comic book world better than rock music. I have a feeling his Orange store will thrive. Agreed plus at the Las Vegas store he would have store signing every month with the biggest names in the comic book business from frank miller to Jsc . Hope the same happens here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oakman29 Posted January 8, 2019 Share Posted January 8, 2019 8 minutes ago, fatlab123 said: Agreed plus at the Las Vegas store he would have store signing every month with the biggest names in the comic book business from frank miller to Jsc . Hope the same happens here. Oh it will my friend , it will. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JazzMan Posted January 8, 2019 Share Posted January 8, 2019 I'm about 45 minutes away and I may visit the store this weekend. The wife and I love the old Orange downtown. I remember stopping by there a few months back but nothing of interest at the time since it's pretty much all new stuff. I'm looking forward to seeing back issues there soon. My go-to place thus far has been Comics Toons N Toys in Tustin and a place down in SD for overpriced golden age. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mmehdy Posted January 8, 2019 Share Posted January 8, 2019 17 hours ago, Robot Man said: Maybe, but it makes me wonder why Big Red sold out. They are in a good area with a college right there but they didn't seem to be able to make it. I was never much of a fan of them. The owner and the employees just didn't seen to care much when I went in. I hope it works out better for John. If the prices and selection suk, I doubt I will make it over there much if at all. I applaud the keeping of another brick and mortar store in existence, I wish them well and hope they are there for a long time and profitable.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robot Man Posted January 8, 2019 Author Share Posted January 8, 2019 5 hours ago, JazzMan said: I'm about 45 minutes away and I may visit the store this weekend. The wife and I love the old Orange downtown. I remember stopping by there a few months back but nothing of interest at the time since it's pretty much all new stuff. I'm looking forward to seeing back issues there soon. My go-to place thus far has been Comics Toons N Toys in Tustin and a place down in SD for overpriced golden age. What place in SD has over priced golden age? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JazzMan Posted January 9, 2019 Share Posted January 9, 2019 28 minutes ago, Robot Man said: What place in SD has over priced golden age? It is Empire Comics and Collectibles. Nice place - doesn't have A/C and I visited on a hot summer day last time. The owner is a nice guy and he's got a nice selection. Robot Man 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F For Fake Posted January 9, 2019 Share Posted January 9, 2019 I have nothing useful to add, except I think that it should be "Torpedo Comics spreads its fins". There, I said it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoMan Posted January 20, 2019 Share Posted January 20, 2019 called yesterday because I was gonna make the trip today, person on the phone said don't bother for another month as that's when John (Torpedo) will be sending back issues. Saved me a trip Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JazzMan Posted January 21, 2019 Share Posted January 21, 2019 I stopped by on Saturday and they had some CGC graded books and a smattering of back issues, but really not more than a handful. They told me that they are bringing somewhere in the order of 300 long boxes (something like that, I can't quite remember) in the next few weeks while they remodel the storefront. I'm looking forward to making that my main stop in the near future. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
500Club Posted January 21, 2019 Share Posted January 21, 2019 (edited) On 1/9/2019 at 11:50 AM, F For Fake said: I have nothing useful to add, except I think that it should be "Torpedo Comics spreads its fins". There, I said it. If John were here, you'd get a 'Ba-Dum-Bum-Bum' Edited January 21, 2019 by 500Club F For Fake 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robot Man Posted February 15, 2019 Author Share Posted February 15, 2019 Was in the neighborhood so I stopped by the Torpedo shop today. Pretty much updated and changed. Big Red was manning the store. He said he and John were partners. No one came in the 45 or so minutes while I was chatting with him. Kind of grim. I asked about vintage books and he said a ton of them were coming in a week or so. I will wait and see. Store looked nice. He pointed out bins that he said would hold about 100 longs. He claimed they would have a good selection of GA/SA/BA. Keeping my fingers crossed... ADAMANTIUM, Silver_Couch_Surfer and BlowUpTheMoon 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ronnieramone Posted May 4, 2019 Share Posted May 4, 2019 I buy back issues pretty regularly from Torpedo, and over the years I have bought quite a few keys in the $2k range. As others have noted, the "sticker price" is often higher than you might see at some other dealers at first glance, but I've negotiated a fair amount of bargains with them. I have also missed a couple of opportunities to purchase from them that I wish I had been able to take advantage of. It is important, I think, to remember that some people get along better than others. If a particular buyer did not get along well with the folks at Torpedo, I feel that is more to the buyer's detriment. By holding a grudge over that one incident, they will miss out on a lot of great comic buying opportunities. This may be a somewhat hypocritical position, but I, too, have a particular dealer I do not buy from who shall go unnamed. Mostly that is due to multiple incidents over a period of several years and conventions. Friends of mine deal with him just fine, and he has even been nice to my daughter and helped her find some books. He and I simply do not get along well. Personality clashes, what can I say? Torpedo, on the other hand, has been very professional and courteous with me over the years. One of my favorite stories is when John sold me on a 9.4 Giant Size X-Men #1 at WonderCon several years back. I wasn't shopping for that book at the time. It wasn't even on my list. I mainly collect Silver Age, and mostly avoid Bronze Age keys unless I am getting it signed by a legendary creator or something. John assured me that if I was not happy with the purchase, he would buy it back from me at the same price he sold it. I can't reveal the exact deal he gave me, but suffice to say I kept the book. It just so happened that I had an opportunity shortly afterwards to get it signed by Len Wein before he passed. Now it is one of my favorite books and has more than doubled in value. There's another story where the dealer I do not get along with snaked a book I was trying to buy from a third dealer on the final day of a con. Feeling somewhat cheated by the two of them, I went to Torpedo and was able to get a better copy of the same book at a competitive price. Now I just go to Torpedo first. I think Torpedo's expansion to California is great news, and will translate into a significant improvement on back issue availability both there and here in LV. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
