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As a kid, where would you get your comics?


Lady Jaye

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Just curious where you would get your comics??

 

When I was very young, and only into Transformers and GI JOE; I would normally read those at the laundromat where I would accompany my moms to do laundry and she would let me get the latest issue from the Stop N Go next door!!

 

Then when I got into the Marvel U seriously, I got comics from pretty much any convenience store I could find!! Anytime we went out, I would pick up an issue!! -_- I got a few of those sets like at a drug store, and a few comics at book stores, but mainly it was those spinning racks where I would get my fix!! Ahhh good times!!

 

Of course it wasn't long before I discovered Austin Books, and the world of Wed release dates was known to me!! :)

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Started at a book store that was down the street from me, would pick up the occasional comics off the spinner rack. Then a Subscription to Marvel's G.I.Joe (loved waiting to get it every month in the mail. Then when I was about Ten my Mom and I were going somewhere when I saw my first comic shop and after a week or so of begging I talked her into taking me there. From there I figured out a "short route" to get there via my bike, but then that summer we moved and I picked up comics from the local connivence store. Then that fall I happened to be walking through a shopping center that had a Michael's at one end (was kind building models and stuff) and noticed the comics shop I had happened to go to had moved. That started a life long love (I stayed with that shop from 1985 until it closed in 1996).

 

On a side note, I must be really old, because when I started collecting we got the comics on Thursday. It wasn't until the mid 90's that they moved it from Thursday to Wednesday.

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I grew up in a small town and I started buying comics at a convenience store near my Grandma's house. I eventually found that there was a used book store downtown called "Mike's Book Store" that had a comic store in the back. An older couple ran the book store out front and a guy named Mike ran the comic store in the back. Surprisingly, the store was not named after Mike from the comic shop and nether of the people out front were named Mike. I believe they bought it from the previous owner, whose name was Mike.

 

Eventually, Mike (the one in the backroom) took his comic shop out of the book store and opened his own store called "Mike's Myths". He had a fairly small store located upstairs, just down the street from the book store. He was about the only place in town that sold comics, so he pretty much had the entire market for the area. Eventually, he rented out the larger location a couple of spots over and ran out of there for a long time. Finally he moved a few more blocks over and was a street front store. I bought pretty much all my stuff from him for a long time before eventually going to college. When I returned between schools years, Mike had closed up and I went back down to the original Mike's Book Store and found that Mike had gone out of business and that they were carrying most of the comics stuff in town now. I got to know the older couple that ran the place pretty well.

 

After college I had moved away, but I went back in the store one day when I was home to find that the older gentleman had passed on. His wife was still there and she was the one that told me he had passed. Their son was now running the store and to the best of my knowledge is still running it. I have gone in a couple of times, but I don't find that they carry as much for comics as in the older days and what they do carry I can get easily in Toronto.

 

I always remember Mike because as nice a guy as he was, he was possibly a little crazy. I remember the older couple a lot too because the older gentleman would often tell my stories from back in the 50's and 60's about the area and also about his time working as a prison guard. Really nice people and I was sorry to hear that they had passed. Still to this day, I don't know whatever happened to Mike.

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the first book I ever got was from a grocery store. There was a spinning rack that had a handful of comics on it. One day I was in there with my stepmom and she offered me a comic. They were only a dollar back then :)

 

I picked up Fearsome Foes of Spiderman #2.

 

I read it a bunch of times and then to my surprise, pretty soon after, Fearsome Foes of Spiderman #3 appeared! So I got that one too, and then later #4. Before that, I really didn't have any idea that comics came out sequentially every month.

 

After that I got into the Marvel Universe cards from Impel. I picked those up because I used to collect baseball cards. I had to take my first trip to a comic book store to pick the set up. And from there, I was hooked. The comic store was awesome! and then I started collecting comics here and there.

 

The first series that I really collected were Namor, Darkhawk, and Ghost Rider.

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I don't think there was a time when I wasn't aware of a local comic shop. I pretty much always got my books from there.

 

I guess in the VERY beginning my dad would pick me up a GI Joe comic after get got off of work, he had a comic/sports card store near his office downtown. I think when he saw I was into it, he looked up comic stores on his own for me and started bringing me there. Wouldn't you know, there were six in my area! Then I started biking there on my own (distance by bike was probably a bit farther than most kids would have bothered with). The first place I drove to on my own when I got my license was my favorite comic store, my mom didn't want me to go on my own...first time driving alone and all...That store is still there and I still enjoy picking up GI Joe there each month!

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it all started at a magazine store at the trainstation. we went to the beach one weekend. my mom told me to get the new mickey mouse adventure but i didn't really wanted one. my mom insisted to get something to read because it was a 3 hour train ride. so i went in and my world changed in a sec and suddenly something with big white eyes looked at me. that moment mickey mouse was history and spider-man became my all time favorite super hero. i still have that issue from the past. well where i come from we read mostly in german or french and in germany they did comics in the form of digests. smaller but bigger. it was spider-man vs magneto and in the end he fought a triple sentinel. i loved that book so much and that was how everything started and now i am a proud half owner of a comic shop so i get them right from the source :-D

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up until i was in junior high, i use to get my comics at the local news stand/corner store or at a store in the mall called Hero's World. man I use to LOVE Hero's World! that was the only full on comic/collectible shop around and boy was it awesome! they carried just about anything you wanted. HW opened in 1986 (i believe) and closed down around 1990. during junior high and high school, a local comic shop had opened up in town. it was called bill and matt's excellent adventures. taken after the bill and ted movie. it wasn't as awesome as HW, but it was still a great comic shop. bill and matt's closed down about a few years after i graduated high school. its always sad to see the places that brought you joy during your childhood, close down.

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Great stories guys!! Love reading about all our first forays into this world we love of comics!!! Looks like for many of us, the spinner rack was where we first delved into the Marvel U!!! -_-

 

Some of my most favorite reads came from the spinner racks or convenience store magazine stands!! The one Avengers annual where they fight the Grandmaster and his legion of undead!! Fantastic issue, stil!!

 

The simpler times, before Mylar bags, backing boards, and comic boxes!! I used to have a stackable plastic bin, and that's where I would stash them at!! Before comic boxes, where'd you stash your comics??

 

Oh and name your comic shops!! Are they still around? Mine were:

Austin Books, still around but new owners!! It's not as dank as it used to be!! LOL!!

Dragon's Lair, still around but moved from their old location in a house!!

Funny Papers, I'm not sure if its still around? May have to make a trek to Austin and check out?

 

Oh and I need to correct myself!! I didn't know about Wed release dates until the mid 90's!! Up until then I mainly got my comics on the weekend!! -_-

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Midway Book-first place I drove to when I got my license, still love going there each and every week. Have my 10% off preferred customer discount, the owner knows me by name. Just a great place!

 

The Source Comics and Games-apparently the 4th largest comic store in the US and the place where I met Jim Lee. Since back in the day, has moved to several different locations in my area, just moved to the biggest yet last year.

 

Shinders- was a big chain of sports cards/comic shops back in the day but went under when the owner got into some kind of drug trouble (drugs are bad!)

 

Hot Comics-used to have three stores, now down to two. The one that closed would have been right next door to the apt I live in now.

 

So yeah...I had a lot of comic store options when I was a kid. Still do.

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I remember my first foray into comics, there was a spinner rack at the drugstore next to the Piggly Wiggly that had a hand written sign that said "Comics $.60". The thrifty young lad that I was realized that the bigger books like the Annuals were priced at $1.00 and I could get them for $.60, so I jumped on that deal. They left that sign for a good year after normal books got hiked up to $.75, so I racked up my share of discount books. Looking back, there was a lot of grass cut to save that $.15 that year.

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I have a vague memory of JCPenny's having a magazine/comic rack(?) where I got one of the 'Giant Size' Star Wars adaptations. When I started actively collecting G.I.Joe, Transformers, Marvel Tales, and then the wider MU, I started getting my books at the grocery store and/or drug store (Big B/Eckerd's). In the mid 80's, I found Homewood Toy & Hobby, and had a subscription for a while, then, Wuxtry's, a local record/comic/collectibles shop opened in the area.

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I have a vague memory of JCPenny's having a magazine/comic rack(?) where I got one of the 'Giant Size' Star Wars adaptations. When I started actively collecting G.I.Joe, Transformers, Marvel Tales, and then the wider MU, I started getting my books at the grocery store and/or drug store (Big B/Eckerd's). In the mid 80's, I found Homewood Toy & Hobby, and had a subscription for a while, then, Wuxtry's, a local record/comic/collectibles shop opened in the area.

usually a grocery store or the base exchange we called it the BX. My dad was an air force pilot. So, we moved around a lot but every air force base had a BX. I just was into GI joe comics. I still buy them from a local comic book store.:-)
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Just checked online and Funny Papers has indeed closed up shop!! It was a cool place to talk to other college aged nerds! -_-

 

Oh and I don't remember the name, but there was this one cool comic shop way in North Austin!! It was one of those shops that always had signings and such!! Got to meet Bret Breeding, Dan Jurgens, the artists for the Icon imprint, and most importantly, Clive Barker!! Since it was so far, and they had a lot of stores, an arcade, and a movie theater, I made an entire day of it over there!!!

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Oh and name your comic shops!! Are they still around?

The drug stores/grocery stores where I used to buy comics aren't around anymore, and last time I checked Homewood Hobby doesn't sell comics anymore (they've mostly been a models & trains/collectibles shop). Wuxtry's closed around 1990; luckily, Empire/Legion Comics opened not long after. I hung out there a lot.
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Normaly I would never post here but I had to say if anybody here remembers the stores that had the packages of comics thats where I got my first comics.I don't remember my hometown have a comic book store till I hit my late teens.Otherwise I would only find them in the local Grocery stores

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Kind of like a grab bag of comics?? Yeah I got a few of those?! It's how I got some of the older comics at the time!! Before I knew about back issues!! LOL

 

And why would you normally not reply??

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Kind of like a grab bag of comics?? Yeah I got a few of those?! It's how I got some of the older comics at the time!! Before I knew about back issues!! LOL

 

And why would you normally not reply??

 

I wish they would do the grab bag thing again...I usually never post in Marvel since i'm a DC fan thats why :P

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Comic books have been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. One of my earliest memories is of having a Neil Adams Batman comic as far back as Kindergarten. (lol) I have no idea where I got it from. I'm assuming it would have been from a local grocery store called Shelby's, or the other "big grocery store" in town at the time, which would have been Woodson's. Incidentally, in the Woodson's shopping center, they had a toy store called Emmory's, where my brother and I got our first Star Wars figures in 1978. He got Darth Vader, and I got C-3PO. But that's a story for another thread...

 

Then around '79 or '80, Woodson's opened a much bigger second store called Woodson's New World of Shopping. They had a new, much larger version of their trademark grocery store, located in the middle of a big strip mall, which had a giant hallway down the entire place. It was grand, and they had the most spectacular news-stand with every magazine and comic book being published at the time. I remember spending many Saturday mornings hanging around there while my mom did her shopping. When my dad would go, he'd come home with a whole stack of comics that we'd read all Saturday afternoon. My brothers and I read Star Wars, G.I. Joe, and Transformers, with the occaisional Batman or Spider-Man book thrown in the mix, and Dad would read G.I. Combat, Weird War Tales, Swamp Thing, Conan the Barbarian, Warlord, The Unknown Soldier, Sgt. Rock, House of Mystery, and Kull the Conquerer.

 

Now as a kid, my brothers and I read Star Wars, G.I. Joe and Transformers faithfully, but there's a difference between reading comics and collecting them; I didn't truly get hooked on actually collecting comics seriously until my brother turned me on to Spider-Man with the "Kraven's Last Hunt" storyline...it was just so dramatic and unlike any comic story I had read up until then. I also discovered Marvel's Secret Wars mini series. I had found and bought the entire run packaged together in a set at a local store that was, incidentally enough, located in Woodson's Mall (as it came to be known as). It's long since gone now, but that's probably where I would consider my collecting career began. I was forever hooked.

 

A few years later, I took a drafting course in high school, and there I met a guy that collected comics. One day, he brought a couple of books to class in plastic sleeves with backing-boards. I had never seen nor heard of anything like that before in my life. (lol) I had no idea people preserved their comics in plastic like that. I was intrigued. Then a friend of mine introduced me to Ghost Rider (Danny Ketch), and I began collecting Todd McFarlane's Spider-Man books, along with X-Men books drawn by Jim Lee and/or Whilce Portacio.

 

It was around that time a friend of mine took me to the local comic book store where he bought his, and the rest is history, and I've been going there ever since.

 

Over the years, the guy that owns it has built a reputation for being a big jerk. And it's always been such a shame too, because he had such a relatively cool store, but his mother helped him run it for years, and he always seemed to be fussing at or yelling at her, even in front of customers, and he had even ticked me off a couple of times. But for many years, it was the only place where I could get new comics and supplies. So I continued to support him.

 

Well, there have been a smattering of new stores pop up since then. They come and they go...One rather cool one popped-up about six years ago or so, but it specializes in card and strategy gaming, although they have alot of current books. But the original store I always frequented is so sad. The original owner is still there, but his poor mother has passed-away. I had gotten to know them better and better over the years, and I've even warmed-up to the owner more, now that I've gotten to know him. He's not the jerk he could seem to be at times from his gruff voice. But his store is just pitiful. The cool murals he had painted by local high school art club students on his second-floor storefront windows have long since peeled and faded, all of the posters on his front windows are also faded and badly outdated (He still has a flyer posted advertising Free Comic Book Day from 2006!!), and on the inside...oh man. There are piles and piles of storage boxes, old comics and toys, basically junk everywhere, and he had recently had some storm damage where his roof leaked, and some of the ruined comics, supplies, and boxes are still just stacked and piled everywhere. It's an old building with really high ceilings, and almost all of his flourescent lights have burned-out except for two or three sets, so it's kind of dark and creepy in there...just clutter and crap absolutely everywhere. It's like Hoarders: Comic Book Store Edition. (lol) Seriously, it's that bad. And it's so sad to see it in the shape it's in after having such fond memories over going there over the years to get comics...

 

But anyway, I have considered asking the guy if I could come in and help him straighten the place up and perhaps help him make some repairs and generally help him clean up the place over the summer. Being a teacher, I'm off all summer and would love to do it. I can't quite seem to bring myself to bring it up though and ask if he wants help...I'm always afraid it will insult him or something, although he did tell me all about the roof damage he had to get repaired, as if he knows how bad things have gotten. That reminds me by the way...it's been about two weeks ago, and I was there just talking and shooting the breeze with the guy, and all of a sudden, somewhere in the dark, hidden recesses in back of the store, there was this loud crash as if some huge pile of crap just finally gave way and fell over. (lol) Maybe I can get a part-time job there helping him fix the place up, and he can pay me in comics or something... (lol)

 

One of my dreams is to open my own store someday. I don't see it as something I'd want to make a living at, but I could definitely see it as a part-time thing I'd do in my retirement years. In actuality, I could theoretically retire in ten years from my current career, and I'd only be 49...plenty young enough to still be a "comic book guy", right? (lol) I would specialize in comics, statues and/or busts, and action figures.

 

One more thing...as I had alluded to before, my dad played a big part in shaping my love of comics from an early age. Well, sadly, as some of you all may know, he passed away almost nine years ago, but the year before he got sick, I got the big idea to get him a few issues of some of the old books he used to read for his birthday. Years before he had an old box a pair of his workboots had come in, and he kept all of his old comics in it. A cousin of mine had borrowed them, and she never brought them back. He only mentioned it a couple of times over the years, but I always sensed the deep resentment and disappointment of losing his books when it would come up. For his last birthday before he got sick, I got him a Warlord annual, an issue of G.I. Combat, Sgt. Rock, and an issue of Conan the Barbarian with a cool cover showing Conan with a black lion on the cover. I'll never forget the grin that spread across his face when he opened his gift bag. Those books are now in my own collection. They are some of the very few belongings of my dad's that I have, and they are the most precious books in my collection.

 

My love for comics in general persists to this day, and my collection continues to grow. I have many more comic-book-related stories, but I'm sure I've rambled far more than I should have already. (lol) I'll save them for another post...

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Devibat, ramble away good sir!! It's these types of detailed posts that prompted me to start this and other threads reminiscing about days long past!! !! I love hearing stories on our lost youth!! Seeing just how close all of our pasts were!! The transition from convenience store to comic shop parallels a lot of us, it's funny!!

 

Of course kids today won't get to partake in that!! Just like a lot of things, it's just not the same.

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