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Post by dupersuper on May 11, 2015 17:35:28 GMT -5
I'd go with my parents to the Co-Op when they got groceries. I'd get $ from them for a comic or 2, but take a bunch to the little tables by a counter with cheap pop and read them there as my parents shopped. Good times...
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Post by Farrar on May 11, 2015 20:15:58 GMT -5
Not all comics would arrive at all stores. You'd need to visit several stores to make sure you didn't miss anything. I have no idea how the distribution system actually worked back then. I don't remember seeing Marvel comics consistently in 1962 or 1963 in any store That's how it was in my neighborhood too (late '60s). There were 3 or 4 luncheonette/candy stores within walking distance, and all of them seemed to carry different comics, mostly Superman and Batman-related comics, JLA, Harveys, and Archies. There was also a bodega that had a spinner rack of Charlton comics (which I wasn't interested in back then) and also IIRC Gold Key comics. I think it was up to the individual dealer regarding exactly which comics they wanted to order/stock (and remember, back then they had to return the unsold monthly copies, sans covers, if they wanted any sort of refund...so it seemed like they erred on the side of understocking--in my neighborhood, at least). Out of the 3-4 stores, only one store in my neighborhood carried Marvels on a regular basis, and I knew the delivery schedule for the Marvels I read (FF, Avengers, X-Men): 3rd Wednesday of every month. Then one month on the appointed Wednesday--no new Marvels! I panicked--but all that happened was that the delivery date had changed to Thursday, and remained that way for a couple of years. |
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Post by DE Sinclair on May 12, 2015 15:08:16 GMT -5
I don't remember making my earliest comic purchases (Adventure 403 and three of the 100 Page Super-Spectaculars. The Super-Specs I still have, Adventure 403 was lost to time, but I replaced it a few years ago). The first I can remember the actual purchase of, and the one I count as the beginning of my collecting (meaning I didn't lose or trash it), was World's Finest 221, which my oldest brother bought me from a spinner rack in a trailer park's camp store.  We lived for about 4 years in various trailer parks around Florida and the camp stores, along with convenience stores, mostly 7-11s and Little Generals, were my only sources of comic buying. It involved a lot of bike riding and nagging the adults to stop repeatedly at the convenience stores when we were running errands in the car. I didn't discover my first actual comic store until I was in the Navy stationed in Charleston, SC. It was called Galaxy Comics, which was where I finally found a copy of the Death of Captain Marvel, among many others. |
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Post by SJNeal on May 12, 2015 20:16:24 GMT -5
My first comics were Archies. The closest place to find them was a gas station near our house, and I used to beg my mom to buy one every time she filled up ("$0.75?! Comics were a dime when I was your age!") *eyeroll*
From about 1987-1990 I was all about every Archie book I could find. It wasn't a big deal to miss issues here and there, because there was no such thing as continuity in Riverdale, obviously. Once I graduated to DC/Marvel books, the obsession really kicked in! Now I HAD to find every issue, even if it meant finding a way to hit every spinner rack in town. As someone else mentioned, knowing the delivery schedules always helped. It was the best way to make sure you got new issues when they were "fresh"; before everyone bent the spines and left their greasy fingerprints all over them!
I kind of miss newsprint (or even baxter paper). I distinctly remember the feel and smell of those early issues (not in a weird way!); sensations that haven't been experienced since the mid-90's!
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Post by Trevor on May 19, 2015 7:14:59 GMT -5
My earliest comic memories involve newstand purchases back in the 20 cent cover price days. I'd ride my bike up to the local 7-11s and glory at all the brightly colored goodness of mostly DC superhero fare. I remember buying Flash, Green Lantern, and Superman mainly; but was always a bit eclectic and picked up plenty of Marvel and even Archie books. Loved DCs horror line too; but two books that cemented me as a comic book fan were first Plop and then Micronauts.
I miss those days where one hour of minimum wage work could buy me 15 comics books, instead of 2 now.
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Post by MWGallaher on May 19, 2015 8:21:18 GMT -5
In the early 70's, I never thought about how the comics got to the spinner racks. I'd just go to the store, and there they'd be: sometimes the same ones I'd seen a few days earlier, sometimes an entirely new selection. Sometimes comics would linger in the racks for weeks, sometimes I'd look for one I'd planned on coming back for and it would be gone.
Then one day, probably a summer vacation day, I was at my favorite Walgreen's, and there by the spinner rack was a grocery cart full of new comics: I'd happened upon that magic moment when a new shipment was about to be birthed to the racks! I remember being afraid to touch them. No one was there to put them out, they were evidently saving the task for later. If I started looking through them, would I be yelled at, chased out of the store? Would the cashier know if I brought an issue that wasn't officially on sale yet? But...there was the new issue of Phantom Stranger, right there on top (#27, so this would have been early July, 1973--summer it is!), and I had to have it.
I lingered in the store, waiting for someone to unload that cart. The comics currently on the spinner rack lost every ounce of their appeal. I wanted that Phantom Stranger, I wanted to know what else was in that pile, underneath the ones I could spot on top. But they were all secured in strapped stacks. If I wanted one, I'd have to break the strap, and that seemed too risky.
I think I waited for what felt like hours, visiting other stores in the shopping center, frequently checking back at Walgreen's, until somebody started racking the new comics, and I got my Phantom Stranger #27 (ironically, a supremely disappointing issue: the series had been on the chopping block as of last issue, which was designed to be the last, but its new lease on life came without Len Wein, Jim Aparo, and Mike Kaluta, instead giving us Arnold Drake, Gerry Talaoc, and Bernard Bailey).
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Post by kongat44 on Jun 14, 2015 23:12:20 GMT -5
My first comics I bought, were Scamp, Casper, ad Spooky, Batman #181 1966 was the first Super her book, and Brave and the Bold #77 from 1968. These were fine comics, and I bought them a Kitridges, a convenience store a block from my house. I guess the month before the Brave and the Bold is where my comic book interest came into being, when one of my older brothers brought home two comic books, Fantastic Four #73, and The Amazing Spider-Man #59, these two comics blew my mind, and made me search out comics on my own. It was hard to beat my brother to the store however, as he scored the next issue of Spidey as well and Marvel Tales, but he overlooked one great comic, Marvel Super Heroes #14, guest starring the Amazing Spider-Man, so that was the first comic I bought with Spidey in it. So in two months time, I saw Spidey comics drawn by John Romita/Don Heck, Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, and Ross Andru, so it was a pretty amazing couple of months. My brother really stopped buying Spidey after three issues and I picked up the slack starting with issue #62, the name of the Dame is Medusa. I was born in 62, just like Spidey, so an easy number to remember. Oddly I loved that comic as a kid, after all it was my first official Amazing Spider-Man, but re reading it today, it is a pretty lame issue.
I did not ever figure out when comics came in either, and therefore missed many issues. Spider-Man was my main interest in comics, and what I mostly bought, those and Warren Magazines.
The variety store has been sold and bought many times since then, last I knew it was more of a coffee shop, and I don't think they sell comics anymore.
Ah, those were the days.
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Post by Farrar on Jun 15, 2015 8:58:59 GMT -5
My first comics I bought, were Scamp, Casper, ad Spooky, Batman #181 1966 was the first Super her book, and Brave and the Bold #77 from 1968. These were fine comics, and I bought them a Kitridges, a convenience store a block from my house. I guess the month before the Brave and the Bold is where my comic book interest came into being, when one of my older brothers brought home two comic books, Fantastic Four #73, and The Amazing Spider-Man #59, these two comics blew my mind, and made me search out comics on my own. It was hard to beat my brother to the store however, as he scored the next issue of Spidey as well and Marvel Tales, but he overlooked one great comic, Marvel Super Heroes #14, guest starring the Amazing Spider-Man, so that was the first comic I bought with Spidey in it. So in two months time, I saw Spidey comics drawn by John Romita/Don Heck, Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, and Ross Andru, so it was a pretty amazing couple of months. My brother really stopped buying Spidey after three issues and I picked up the slack starting with issue #62, the name of the Dame is Medusa. I was born in 62, just like Spidey, so an easy number to remember. Oddly I loved that comic as a kid, after all it was my first official Amazing Spider-Man, but re reading it today, it is a pretty lame issue. I did not ever figure out when comics came in either, and therefore missed many issues. Spider-Man was my main interest in comics, and what I mostly bought, those and Warren Magazines. The variety store has been sold and bought many times since then, last I knew it was more of a coffee shop, and I don't think they sell comics anymore. Ah, those were the days. Cool post, kongat44, and great avatar. Like you, Batman #181--the Poison Ivy issue--was the first DC superhero comic I ever owned (paid for by my mother). Prior to that inaugural, epic purchase, I'd relied on reading/surreptiously borrowing my older cousins' DCs (they didn't read Marvel; later on I did). |
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Post by MDG on Jun 16, 2015 11:04:48 GMT -5
Like you, Batman #181--the Poison Ivy issue--was the first DC superhero comic I ever owned (paid for by my mother). Prior to that inaugural, epic purchase, I'd relied on reading/surreptiously borrowing my older cousins' DCs (they didn't read Marvel; later on I did). I recall Batman 181, along with 179 and 184 as some of the first comics I ever read. I think I would've gotten all three at the same time from my uncle. I remember the covers of Superman 184-190 as being some of the early ones I got from him as well. JLA 47 and 48 are the first ones I remember pulling off a spinner rack. Marvel Collectors' Item Classics #21 was the first Marvel I ever bought--we were on vacation and the gift shop didn't have any DCs. Two other early purchases I remember are Boris Karloff Tales of Mystery #21 and Ghost Stories #17 |
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Jun 16, 2015 12:17:47 GMT -5
Inspired by a few posts in the Meanwhile Thread, what do you remember about when you first started buying comics? From the cover prices, to what was popular at the time, to the smell of the newsstand, stationary or drug store, or LCS where it happened, what do you remember about those days? The smell, absolutely. The smell of the two-three places I bought my comics was like the smell of happiness. No comic-book shop could ever match that mix of newsprint and cherry-flavored pipe tobacco. |
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Post by Trevor on Jun 16, 2015 12:34:58 GMT -5
One thing that I miss, and that I sadly know that we'll likely never have again, are the times where comics were almost everywhere.
We didn't have Walmarts and the like, but many more local drug and grocery and 5&dime type stores. All of these stores had either comic book racks or comics on the magazine and book shelves. Barber shops had comics. Doctor and dentist offices had comics.
I used to be able to make a 5 mile loop on my bike, and check out 10 different stores that had comics, and I lived in a small town.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 16, 2015 14:54:06 GMT -5
One thing that I miss, and that I sadly know that we'll likely never have again, are the times where comics were almost everywhere. We didn't have Walmarts and the like, but many more local drug and grocery and 5&dime type stores. All of these stores had either comic book racks or comics on the magazine and book shelves. Barber shops had comics. Doctor and dentist offices had comics. I used to be able to make a 5 mile loop on my bike, and check out 10 different stores that had comics, and I lived in a small town. Thanks for posting this ... I had good memories like this!  |
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Jun 16, 2015 15:08:11 GMT -5
One thing that I miss, and that I sadly know that we'll likely never have again, are the times where comics were almost everywhere. We didn't have Walmarts and the like, but many more local drug and grocery and 5&dime type stores. All of these stores had either comic book racks or comics on the magazine and book shelves. Barber shops had comics. Doctor and dentist offices had comics. I used to be able to make a 5 mile loop on my bike, and check out 10 different stores that had comics, and I lived in a small town. There weren't quite that many here, but I did something similar. I grew up in the country between two small towns. In the summer I'd ride my bike to one of them one day and the other the next. In one there was a drug store, a convenience store and a grocery store with spinner racks. In the other there were two grocery stores, a drug store and a convenience store with spinner racks. Between them I could find most of what I wanted. I recall that one of the grocery stores had a magazine stand that had black & white comic mags and Heavy Metal, but they were too expensive for my blood. During the school year I had to live with my Mom's weekly trip to town and walk to the various stores. |
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Post by Prince Hal on Jun 16, 2015 16:24:22 GMT -5
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I too remember the thril of the hunt. My beloved hometown had what we called "candy stores" everywhere. I recall seven that sold comics. The beauty and the frustration were that no store ever had all of the available comics, and that sometimes, none of them had the ones you wanted. One, for instance, that carried the fewest, always seemed to have hard-to-find titles like Rawhide Kid, as well as many Charlton titles.
Another, which was really a front for a local bookie, was the only place I ever saw a copy of Savage Tales #1. Such were the vagaries of distribution way back when. I think I still have that.
As I grew older and more mobile, taking the Public Service bus to high school in Newark, I found several more stores along "the Avenue" and would investigate them all. It was in various of those stores that I finally saw a copy of Tomahawk on the stands and found the only copy I ever saw of copy of SHIELD #3, which a spy-nut friend of mine trades a entire box of great comics for. (I remember Daredevil 16 as part of the haul.)
I loved those days. You'd miss an issue or three here and there, but it was a helluva lot of fun making the quest.
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Post by Phil Maurice on Jun 16, 2015 16:28:46 GMT -5
I had very similar experiences to many of those recounted here. My first comic was Amazing Spider-Man #122, bought for me by my father at a Kresge in Lockport, NY while we were running errands. I recognized the Green Goblin from the Spider-Man cartoon and convinced my Dad that I had to have it. I was five.
My parents took note that the comic kept me occupied and quiet. It contained no sugar and sort of counted as "reading." Many more comics followed, often when good behavior or independent activity was required of me (an only child until age 8). I was happy to comply. Soon, the word spread to aunts, uncles, grandparents, and baby-sitters.
A few years later, I was capable of walking or biking on my own to the 7-11 or equivalent. It was around that time that I discovered the joys of subscription service. Then in 1980 when I turned 12, I began haunting the used book stores where I had discovered back issues! It was like finding El Dorado! |
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