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weirdest thing that's happened TO YOU at LCS?
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35 posts in this topic

During the Death of Superman publicity stunt in early 90s that fat guy that owned Golden Apple in Los Angeles on Melrose Ave grabbed me when I was in there browsing one day and insisted I go on TeeVee to say how sad I was that Superman was dead. There were news vans in front of the store like something mattered. I told him no, I thought it was all so stupid. 

"But Superman is dead," Fat LCS owner says.

"No he's not. It's the oldest PR stunt in the world," I replied. 

"You don't want to go on TeeVee?"

"No. Who gives a sh*t?"

"You'll be on TeeVee!"

And so on until I fled.

I know it's not much. Maybe you'll have a better story. Oh yeah, once in the early 80s I saw some girls at my LCS.

 

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I actually thought they would let Superman stay dead and the titles actually end. I thought it was a huge deal. Wasn’t even a Superman fan and I bought ALL that Doomsday garbage. Not purely out of speculation either, but because to me it was a historically and culturally significant event, like snagging a piece of rubble when the Berlin Wall came down. My disappointment was indescribable, still is.

 

Nothing too weird happened to me in comic shops. At one shop that was fairly busy at the time, small shop, maybe 8 customers, conversations going on like normal, a girl walked in and the place became dead silent. I wanted to flee from embarrassment. Another time I was at a shop Kris Silver used to do signings at a lot and he hard sold me on Grips. Stops me with “Hey kid you like Wolverine? This guys way cooler, look at this! I’ll even have this dude draw you a sketch inside if you get it.” Page one had nudity, rape, and four letter words. Same shop owner wouldn’t allow me to buy Love and Rockets because it had some Mexican lesbians in it. One shop, the Kris Silver one, which was owned by a friendly old man who knew everything about comics, had fallen into the hands of the dudes son, a Magic playing goth kid. Windows were blacked out, a gaming table dominated the retail space, and his way too old to be dressing like Marilyn Manson friends would sneer at anyone who came in to browse comics. After he ran the place into the ground he sold it to a young couple who eventually had a baby, and that babies playpen replaced the Magic table, in the middle of the comic shop was a screaming poppy diapered infant and its bed and all its toys, dominating the entire store. They were a nice couple, I was there to take advantage of their liquidation when the shop closed, and then at their yard sale where more comics were being sold by the box. They said when their daughter was older they’d reopen a shop. It’s been 10-11 years and I don’t think they own any of the three shops out here now. Amazing how when they closed they were the only comic shop around for about 50 miles. 

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2 hours ago, dupont2005 said:

I actually thought they would let Superman stay dead and the titles actually end. I thought it was a huge deal. Wasn’t even a Superman fan and I bought ALL that Doomsday garbage. Not purely out of speculation either, but because to me it was a historically and culturally significant event, like snagging a piece of rubble when the Berlin Wall came down. My disappointment was indescribable, still is.

 

Nothing too weird happened to me in comic shops. At one shop that was fairly busy at the time, small shop, maybe 8 customers, conversations going on like normal, a girl walked in and the place became dead silent. I wanted to flee from embarrassment. Another time I was at a shop Kris Silver used to do signings at a lot and he hard sold me on Grips. Stops me with “Hey kid you like Wolverine? This guys way cooler, look at this! I’ll even have this dude draw you a sketch inside if you get it.” Page one had nudity, rape, and four letter words. Same shop owner wouldn’t allow me to buy Love and Rockets because it had some Mexican lesbians in it. One shop, the Kris Silver one, which was owned by a friendly old man who knew everything about comics, had fallen into the hands of the dudes son, a Magic playing goth kid. Windows were blacked out, a gaming table dominated the retail space, and his way too old to be dressing like Marilyn Manson friends would sneer at anyone who came in to browse comics. After he ran the place into the ground he sold it to a young couple who eventually had a baby, and that babies playpen replaced the Magic table, in the middle of the comic shop was a screaming poppy diapered infant and its bed and all its toys, dominating the entire store. They were a nice couple, I was there to take advantage of their liquidation when the shop closed, and then at their yard sale where more comics were being sold by the box. They said when their daughter was older they’d reopen a shop. It’s been 10-11 years and I don’t think they own any of the three shops out here now. Amazing how when they closed they were the only comic shop around for about 50 miles. 

oh yeah, I forgot. was in the LCS as a kid and this guy was trying to get the owner to turn the shop into a disco at night. "Just put the boxes of comics on wheels and roll em to the side at night!":roflmao:

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I arrived at my LCS to pick up my file to find my copy of Captain America 25 ( death of Steve Rogers issue ) was missing. This particular book had made the national news as a story and became suddenly very in demand.

I noticed the LCS had a copy of the book for sale on their wall behind the cash register for $100. I picked my file up every week and usually on new comic day Wednesday. So this was a book that had just released.

After I finished browsing ( about 5 seconds because I really just wanted to know if I would get a copy of the book I ordered or not ) I asked for my file,

EMPLOYEE: "will there be anything else?"

ME: "Yes, I will take the Cap 25 hanging on the wall."

Employee starts ringing all the books in and before he rings in the Cap 25...

ME: "And I will pay cover price for that."

EMPLOYEE: "Ummm...no it has $100 on it."

ME: "it is supposed to be in my file, not on your wall."

EMPLOYEE: "Well that was a copy we ordered for the store."

ME: "You fill the store's order before your file customers?"

EMPLOYEE: "Look, if you want the book it will be $100."

ME: "Close my file please."

The guy behind me was also supposed to get a copy of Captain America 25 in his file and he also didn't so another file closed. He and I talked about what had just happened outside in the parking lot. 

I guess their strategy worked because they soon after opened another location.

I have never bought anything from them since then though.

Edited by Artboy99
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I worked at my LCS for about 2 years in the late 90's. We had a lot of characters come in. I'm sure I've told some of these stories. The Magic card guys were the smelliest, though there was a one-legged guy in a wheelchair that only bought vintage Transformers (not that vintage at that time...he was smart to grab them back then) who emitted a stench that was truly eye-watering. And I think I've told the story about the "Furry Guy" who would call every day and ask if we had any furry titles, then would ask us to describe the covers of Shanda the Panda or whatever and would start breathing heavily on the phone. One time I happened to be wearing a leather vest for some reason, and I was putting out cd's for sale and this guy kept trailing me all around the store, like getting right up ON me. I went back behind the counter and he came up to the counter, in front of everyone, and said "So...are you into leather?" I wasn't and am still not into dudes, but even if I was, show a little tact, man! At least ask me my name before you start into the hardcore BDSM leather daddy talk!

 

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4 hours ago, Artboy99 said:

I arrived at my LCS to pick up my file to find my copy of Captain America 25 ( death of Steve Rogers issue ) was missing. This particular book had made the national news as a story and became suddenly very in demand.

I noticed the LCS had a copy of the book for sale on their wall behind the cash register for $100. I picked my file up every week and usually on new comic day Wednesday. So this was a book that had just released.

After I finished browsing ( about 5 seconds because I really just wanted to know if I would get a copy of the book I ordered or not ) I asked for my file,

EMPLOYEE: "will there be anything else?"

ME: "Yes, I will take the Cap 25 hanging on the wall."

Employee starts ringing all the books in and before he rings in the Cap 25...

ME: "And I will pay cover price for that."

EMPLOYEE: "Ummm...no it has $100 on it."

ME: "it is supposed to be in my file, not on your wall."

EMPLOYEE: "Well that was a copy we ordered for the store."

ME: "You fill the store's order before your file customers?"

EMPLOYEE: "Look, if you want the book it will be $100."

ME: "Close my file please."

The guy behind me was also supposed to get a copy of Captain America 25 in his file and he also didn't so another file closed. He and I talked about what had just happened outside in the parking lot. 

I guess their strategy worked because they soon after opened another location.

I have never bought anything from them since then though.

Woooooooooow. It's this kinda thing that led me to make sure I could add limited titles (Batman: Damned and Superman: Year One) to my pull list. I didn't wanna have to pay $40+ again for a single issue.

That sucks.

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4 hours ago, Artboy99 said:

I arrived at my LCS to pick up my file to find my copy of Captain America 25 ( death of Steve Rogers issue ) was missing. This particular book had made the national news as a story and became suddenly very in demand.

I noticed the LCS had a copy of the book for sale on their wall behind the cash register for $100. I picked my file up every week and usually on new comic day Wednesday. So this was a book that had just released.

After I finished browsing ( about 5 seconds because I really just wanted to know if I would get a copy of the book I ordered or not ) I asked for my file,

EMPLOYEE: "will there be anything else?"

ME: "Yes, I will take the Cap 25 hanging on the wall."

Employee starts ringing all the books in and before he rings in the Cap 25...

ME: "And I will pay cover price for that."

EMPLOYEE: "Ummm...no it has $100 on it."

ME: "it is supposed to be in my file, not on your wall."

EMPLOYEE: "Well that was a copy we ordered for the store."

ME: "You fill the store's order before your file customers?"

EMPLOYEE: "Look, if you want the book it will be $100."

ME: "Close my file please."

The guy behind me was also supposed to get a copy of Captain America 25 in his file and he also didn't so another file closed. He and I talked about what had just happened outside in the parking lot. 

I guess their strategy worked because they soon after opened another location.

I have never bought anything from them since then though.

First off, the book sucked so you didn’t miss much...:roflmao:

But, that aside, very poor business practice on their end. Very short term gain for a long term potential. No wonder comic stores are folding.

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Weirdest thing that happened at the LCS?

(shrug)

Probably the time I actually found something I needed for my collection (a Strange Tales 75) that was reasonably graded and priced.

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23 minutes ago, Robot Man said:

But, that aside, very poor business practice on their end. Very short term gain for a long term potential

Sadly all too common. 

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About 10 years ago I went through a $1 liquidation box of misc. junk consisting of comics, toys, and other random items that can be found in your LCS, and guess what I found?

Batman #232 in mid grade.

I was shocked to say the least. This was a box of real garbage; stuff that would likely NEVER sell, with the exception of this. I paid for it and then asked the employee, who I knew, why it was in there. His answer? "I don't like old books."

No wonder sooo many LCS have a hard time staying open. Talk about losing an easy $100 or so. 

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The weirdest thing was when my daughter and her friend and I were going into a comic shop and there was an earthquake, well not really enough of one for us to feel, but it happened while we comic shopping. I think it was free comic day and was just a few years back. Oh yeah, we live in Michigan. My son was at home and he said he could hear the old farm house making creaking noises. 

Another weird time was back in the 80's at the shop I used to frequent, one time I went there for new comic day and the owner was so stoned that he reminded me of a zombie from a movie. I asked his helper "what the heck is wrong with the boss?" and he told me he was just stoned. Another time about the same year I went there and the store owner had two black eyes and looked like he was on the receiving end of something.. was told he had gone through a bad drug deal. He closed up in 1998. I looked him up on facebook just last year on a whim to see what ever happened to him, I find his page and there he had posted pics of himself with a puffy red face and black eye, said he was on the receiving end of a neighbor he didn't get along with. Twenty years later and still getting beat up, presumably over drugs again as his other pics and comments told about that type of problem in the area. Also said he wanted to leave the "hood" really badly. I hope he gets out of there...

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Not super-weird, but a few years ago when I used to go to the LCS regularly on Wednesday get my books I would constantly run into this one customer on a regular basis. 

He would stand in front of the rack of the new books, pick a book he was interested in and stand there and methodically read it, then put his read copy back and carefully pick out the mintiest “unread” copy from the stack and move on to the next book he was interested in. 

While he was reading, he wouldn’t back up to let other customers in but would deliberately stand right in front of the stack so nobody else beat him to his “choice” mint copy. 

There was a couple of times I’d glance back at the shop owner at the counter. He was clearly ticked...but would never say anything, I guess because gawd forbid he might “offend” a paying customer. 

Nothing especially weird about a comic guy being an obnoxious navel-gazer. 

The weird thing is he was always wearing dark, classic Ray-ban sunglasses.  I mean, so-dark-they-don’t-even-know-your-name dark. And the shop owner keeps the lights fairly subdued. 

I could never figure out how the guy could see to read, let alone pick out a mint copy. 

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3 minutes ago, Number 6 said:

Not super-weird, but a few years ago when I used to go to the LCS regularly on Wednesday get my books I would constantly run into this one customer on a regular basis. 

He would stand in front of the rack of the new books, pick a book he was interested in and stand there and methodically read it, then put his read copy back and carefully pick out the mintiest “unread” copy from the stack and move on to the next book he was interested in. 

While he was reading, he wouldn’t back up to let other customers in but would deliberately stand right in front of the stack so nobody else beat him to his “choice” mint copy. 

There was a couple of times I’d glance back at the shop owner at the counter. He was clearly ticked...but would never say anything, I guess because gawd forbid he might “offend” a paying customer. 

Nothing especially weird about a comic guy being an obnoxious navel-gazer. 

The weird thing is he was always wearing dark, classic Ray-ban sunglasses.  I mean, so-dark-they-don’t-even-know-your-name dark. And the shop owner keeps the lights fairly subdued. 

I could never figure out how the guy could see to read, let alone pick out a mint copy. 

You should've gone up to him every week and said, "excuse me", and try to get to the lack of space in front of him.

That's what an a-hole like me would've done had I seen the same thing happen every week.

You could've been a real-life hero!

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I used to visit a comic store in another city. They have their dollar boxes on the floor under the tables. I'm handicapped so usually they would let me use one of their gaming chairs to sit in so that I wouldn't be down on my knees. I would usually drop $50 to $75 on a monthly basis. Sometimes I would nab a pricey book off of the wall racks.

One day I went in and didn't see any chairs. I asked the guy behind the counter if they had a chair I could use. He said "No. People keep breaking them". Taken aback I said "I promise you I will be very easy on the chair. My physical problems make it tough for me to access the boxes on the floor. Being older I can't lift every box in here and put them on the regular boxes". Didn't cut any ice. I said "Thank you", mentally said "F$#@ you and everybody in here" and haven't been back since.

Now they don't sell to anybody that doesn't have a pull list.

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I was at a comic store in the late 80’s :preach:

I was still pretty young just a teenager and it was just me and the owner who was sorting through a stack of newer books and talking on the phone while I browsed the bins. 

Now here’s the crazy part two hot girls came it, it was pretty hot outside so the girls were wearing cutoffs daisy dukes and tube tops, they had long flowing blond hair both were very pretty. :x

They were looking at books on the opposite side of the store. I was looking for Batmans, if I remember correctly I just pulled a nice bats ##177 out of the a mix of bats in the #220’s when the two girls giggling caught my attention and I looked up, they approached the counter placed a stack of books on the counter looked like avenger’s I think and paid for them and left. :blush:

It was a wild scene never forget it. (:

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8 hours ago, Artboy99 said:

I arrived at my LCS to pick up my file to find my copy of Captain America 25 ( death of Steve Rogers issue ) was missing. This particular book had made the national news as a story and became suddenly very in demand.

I noticed the LCS had a copy of the book for sale on their wall behind the cash register for $100. I picked my file up every week and usually on new comic day Wednesday. So this was a book that had just released.

After I finished browsing ( about 5 seconds because I really just wanted to know if I would get a copy of the book I ordered or not ) I asked for my file,

EMPLOYEE: "will there be anything else?"

ME: "Yes, I will take the Cap 25 hanging on the wall."

Employee starts ringing all the books in and before he rings in the Cap 25...

ME: "And I will pay cover price for that."

EMPLOYEE: "Ummm...no it has $100 on it."

ME: "it is supposed to be in my file, not on your wall."

EMPLOYEE: "Well that was a copy we ordered for the store."

ME: "You fill the store's order before your file customers?"

EMPLOYEE: "Look, if you want the book it will be $100."

ME: "Close my file please."

The guy behind me was also supposed to get a copy of Captain America 25 in his file and he also didn't so another file closed. He and I talked about what had just happened outside in the parking lot. 

I guess their strategy worked because they soon after opened another location.

I have never bought anything from them since then though.

...Warp?

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Wish I could remember the name of the store but it was the mid-90s early 2000s if I remember right. I went in looking for Gold or Silver and the guy behind the counter says he might have some at the end of an isle, on the floor, which I thought was a really weird answer but(shrug) kewl books.

So, I go to the box he indicated, kneel down, and start flipping though. Its all porn comics; not even underground comics that might have some other redeeming social qualities, just porn comics.  I look up and the guy is no where to be seen. I am alone in the store. I yell, "Hello?" The reply come quickly with dude yelling, "Sorry! I'll be back in a moment!"  Creeped out, I leave. :fear:

I read a few months later that the store was closed down and at least one employee (the owner?) is accused of showing porn comics to children. He would allow them to come into the store and "discover" the porn comics then he would sneak away and watch them through a hidden peep hole.:sick:

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