first trip to the comic shop.....

[justiceleaguer]

There used to be a shop in t.o. called Unknown Worlds.....great little shop. Had that classic old comic book smell to it. Closed down long time ago. Bought my first g.i.joe comic there as a kid, went back every saturday for the next few yrs till it closed. Wish i was a bit more knowledgable about silver age books back then... they had some awesome wall books.

 

Sal

[WernerVonDoom]

Back in mid-70s I was walking around downtown San Jose, CA with my father, when we saw this store called "Comic Collector Shop”. It looked interesting so we walked in. That was a fateful decision, as I have been fascinated with comics ever since. The store was dark and permeated with the sweet smell of old comics. Jazz was playing through a crackly speaker. The walls were lined with comics, old records, books, and art. Every square inch of the store was packed with something. The back issue comics were stacked raw in massive piles everywhere. The higher value books were in piles near the front counter and the lower value books were stacked on the floor in a back area for the kids to dig through. The owner, the late Bob Sidebottom, was a character. He just priced books in his head, based on his mood and your attitude.

 

Fast-forward to the early 90s. It had been a few years since I’d been in the store, so I started digging through the stacks. Most of the books were mid-high grade bronze/80s and low grade silver. Near the bottom of one especially dusty large pile, I pulled out a group of books wrapped carefully in waxed paper. Inside the waxed paper I found Sgt Fury Annuals 1-5 in NM condition. At the bottom of another pile, I pulled out a bag holding a stack of books. The top book was Iron Fist #1 NM. The second book was #2 NM, and so on, and I was just holding my breath hoping that the #14 was in there – Bingo! It was there, NM. I also dug out a high grade Lois Lane #70, but being a Marvel Zombie I set it back down (my DC-collecting friend’s eyes bulged and he grabbed it). When we laid the books on the counter (carefully mixed in with cheaper books), Bob gave us the eye and I think was actually surprised to see those books come out of his stacks. He even charged us more than his usual $5 max per book (I think the expensive ones were $10-$15 each). Every trip there was like that.

 

I really miss that store.

[Shield]

This isn't necessarily a story about a comic book shop, but a story similar to those previously mentioned. My Mom always enjoyed stopping at yard/garage sales, and she had bought me my first Archie comics when I was 5 years old (1978). She told me she loved reading Katy Keene stories when she was a little girl, and growing up poor they used to stop and buy them by the "bale" for a nickel. Apparently the comics were in large stacks connected by baling wire to hold them together, and this was in the 1950's.

 

Anyway, we lived outside of a small town 1/2 hour south of Columbus, Ohio, so there were plenty of yard sales to visit. I remember the summer of 1985 or 1986; she came home and told me about a house in Circleville that was selling comics for .10 each. Well, new ones were .60 each, so I was beside myself with excitement. Our family wasn't exactly 'well-off', but I still earned a modest allowance that I spent on every new issue of Archie comics from about 1983-1988. So we get down there, and here were stacks and stacks of 1965-1978 "mint" condition Archie comics! I begged and pleaded with Mom to get maybe a hundred or so, continually reminding her how much new ones were (what other angle did I have? !). Anyway, my sweet Mother ended up buying 40 dollars worth, which to a 12 year old kid who loves Archie, was unbelievable. 400 comics! What a score! I still have all of those books, too, safely stored away.

 

In 2000 I learned about EBAY and started buying up early Archie's, and committed to having a complete run of 1-100 to show Mom.

Mom passed away at the young age of 55 at the end of February this year due to bladder cancer, and some of my last memories are showing her some really cool books that I had gotten. Anything to keep her mind off of the continual pain of being on morphine round the clock. I would like everyone to know that in Archie #104 there's a story called "Mama's Boy" that always reminded me how dependent on her I truly am/was. I was the last one to stand by her open casket March 1st at the funeral; I gently placed that copy of Archie with her. She's the reason I'll never stop collecting, and the pain of being that close to "Mom" and losing her at 29 has been unbearable.

God, I miss my best friend.

[Proverbs22_2]

The first comic that I ever remember buying was Shazam! #1. I was riding under the shopping cart at Warehouse Groceries, in Carrollton, Georgia. My mom turned a corner, and stopped to select something from the grocer's shelves across the aisle, but from my "kids-eye-view", I was eyeball-level with a shelf-full of comics!

 

Superman, Batman, Spidey, all those guys I knew from cartoons, but from the look of this thing, this KID was actually the HERO! That concept just blew my six-year-old mind... Oh, and obviously Superman was also in the book, right? He was right there on the front cover! (Thus, my first experience with comics, and my first experience with truth-in-advertising issues, specifically the "bait-and-switch", are in fact the SAME experience, but I didn't really mind at the time...)

 

Even then, looking at Supes and the "Big Red Cheese" practically side-by-side, the FIRST QUESTION that bloomed in my little cranium was " I wonder who could whip who, here?"... I didn't know, back then , that that fight had been decided, in a courtroom, years before I was even a consequence of Dad's week-end furlough...

 

Anyway, wonder of wonders, my Mom let me get the thing, and I poured over it daily, even though it was the better part of a year before I could read all the words!

 

Fast-forward a few years to my freshman year in high-school, when some NUT opened up a honest-to-God Comic Store in our tiny little town! Well, actually he sold all kinds of books, but comics was his main focus. I bought a lot of GEMS there, mostly from his own private collection. I first bought all the appearances of a liitle used character that I had always thought was cool, The Punisher, then came back the next Saturday and picked up all the appearances of another villain with some potential, a guy named Bullseye. I got a lot of great stuff: Hawkman #1, some nice early S.A. Green Lanterns, all in stunning condition...

 

Sadly, things took a turn for the worse though. His prices kept escalating with neither rhyme nor reason...then one day I was standing RIGHT THERE when the new books came in, in fact, as I often did, I had helped him do his shipment free of charge. I saw among the new stuff, just out of the boxes, Frank Millers Ronin #1, which at that time carried the highest cover-price EVER for a comic, and I asked him to add one to my regular order...

 

"Sure", he said, "But it'll be five dollars". FIVE DOLLARS!

 

I asked why, and he said it was because "This one's gonna be hot!".

 

I PAID him that five dollars, but it was the last five he ever got from me...

 

A month or two later, his wife got sick of his enterprise, and forced him to sell the store. It was purchased by a friend of mine, who moveed the store from it's 600sq. ft. showroom to a bigger place, and I started buying stuff anew. About three years later he got married, and realizing that he wasn't gonna make enough money with that small shop to support himself, his wife, and the surprise baby on the way, he sold the shop to myself and my best friend since childhood, Tom Morris.

 

Please note the irony:

 

When Tom and I did our first inventory of the merchandise we would be purchasing with the business, there were NO copies to replace my long-gone Shazam! #1. there were, however, a plethora of unsold Ronins...

 

-Joe

[Mushroom]

I was the last one to stand by her open casket March 1st at the funeral; I gently placed that copy of Archie with her. She's the reason I'll never stop collecting, and the pain of being that close to "Mom" and losing her at 29 has been unbearable.

God, I miss my best friend.

 

Very moving.......

[Punisher-migration]

My first trip to a comic shop was around 1992 when I was in the 7th grade. The shop was called "Comic Book Country" and a old man named Sandy(RIP) was the owner. I loved this comic shop, I went there almost everyday after school just to talk to the owner so I can learn more about comics. Most other shops usually tell me you can't hang around the store if you aint gonna buy anything but not Sandy, he didn't care even if it was closing time and I still wanted to talk about comic, he was more then happy to say late and anwser my questions........ After about a month we got to know each other pretty good and to my surprise he offered me a job. He couldn't pay me in cash so he gave me comics instead which I was very thankful! I would of worked for free....

 

Getting off work now.... i'll finsh the story when I get home....

[Proverbs22_2]

My first trip to a comic shop was around 1992 when I was in the 7th grade. The shop was called "Comic Book Country" and a old man named Sandy(RIP) was the owner. I loved this comic shop, I went there almost everyday after school just to talk to the owner so I can learn more about comics. Most other shops usually tell me you can't hang around the store if you aint gonna buy anything but not Sandy, he didn't care even if it was closing time and I still wanted to talk about comic, he was more then happy to say late and anwser my questions........ After about a month we got to know each other pretty good and to my surprise he offered me a job. He couldn't pay me in cash so he gave me comics instead which I was very thankful! I would of worked for free....

 

Getting off work now.... i'll finsh the story when I get home....

 

Uh-oh... This pause is in an ominous place...

 

I hope he didn't make you "go to the back room"!

 

-Joe

[minutekev@50]

A truly touching story, Shield and so sorry for your loss. Thanks for sharing it.

[Zonker]

Shield...man, I literally cannot imagine. Am so sorry. At least this hobby is forever tied to some very precious memories for you.

 

All the best.

[pavespawn]

There was one shop that I went to when I was a kid called Bruce's Books. I would cut grass around the neighborhood to make money to feed my habit and then on Saturdays, my Dad would take me to the comic shop. Bruce's was not the best shop, he was kind of rude and didn't want you to touch any of the books. I would pick one up to buy and he wouldn't even wait to see what we were doing. He yell out, "Don't touch the books unless you are going to buy them!" We put up with it because the only other shop (Dave's Comics) was across town. (Dave's Comics was much better and now they have grown to be fairly big) Anyway, after Bruce died the store change owners but kept the name.

That brings me to my freshman year in High School. My friends and I are meeting all the new people etc and get to talking about Bruce's Books. My friend snorts out something like, "I am glad that guy died. I hated him." That statement probably wouldn't have been a big deal if he hadn't unknowingly said it to Bruce's daughter. Needless to say we all felt like the south side of a north bound horse.

 

Gary

 

[garthgantu]

Shield: My sincerest condolences on your loss. Your mom sounds like an incredible person, and the fact that you had a common bond related to comic books is extremely cool. I wonder how many others of us were "enlightened" about comics by a parent or older relative.

 

My cousin Frit had hundreds of Archies stashed under her bed when we were kids (say about 1973 - 78). While her siblings practically wouldn't even let my brother and I in their rooms, Frit was always generous in every sense, and particularly with her cherished comics. Her willingness to share them definitely factored into my life-long love of comic books, and my continued passion for Archie titles in particular.

 

Great post Shield, and best of luck in continuing to fill out that early Archie run!

 

Garth

[garthgantu]

My friend snorts out something like, "I am glad that guy died. I hated him." That statement probably wouldn't have been a big deal if he hadn't unknowingly said it to Bruce's daughter. Needless to say we all felt like the south side of a north bound horse.

 

What a great reminder that

- hating people, even in an off-hand, trivial way, almost never results in any good

- we all need to stop and think before we open our big fat mouths

 

...and the above is coming to you from a long-time loudmouth (me) who hurt a lot of feelings in grade school, middle school and high school, without really knowing or caring...

[OldGuy]

I feel a group hug coming on.

[Darthdiesel]

I feel a group hug coming on.

 

 

That's probably just gas or your incontinence acting up again. Maybe you'll be crying about your shingles and "the vapors" acting up again ...

[Darthdiesel]

thanks for sharing...beautiful story and what wonderful grandparents...your 50 cent treasure chest could have been bought up by a wannabe "chuckie" clone or early mail order mogul...

 

I can't beleive I''m just reading this thread from the beginning today

[ArAich]

I can't beleive I''m just reading this thread from the beginning today

 

 

Actually I am also guilty of just reading this thread and I must say Shield your Mom sounded terrific and I can only imagine your loss...

 

[chrisco37]

So sorry for your loss, Shield. Your mom sounds like a wonderful person. It's always so sad when people pass on so young. Are thoughts are w/ you.

 

Chris

[OldGuy]

I feel a group hug coming on.

 

 

That's probably just gas or your incontinence acting up again. Maybe you'll be crying about your shingles and "the vapors" acting up again ...

 

I like lighting my farts on fire.......and ice-cream.

[BachelorOfComix]

I feel a group hug coming on.

 

[Bugaboo-migration]

Sorry to hear of your loss, Shield.