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Post by Ish Kabbible on Nov 20, 2015 15:32:36 GMT -5
Probably. Steve Ditko looks like a Steve Ditko character You've met Steve Ditko?!? no, no, no. But there's those one or two pictures of him from around 1960 or so. He's thin, wirey looks shy and soft spoken. Lots of his characters looked like that. Or maybe he just used his mirror as a model |
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Post by Prince Hal on Nov 20, 2015 16:38:43 GMT -5
Herbie was in my neighborhood too. Back in the 60s, comics and magazines where delivered twice a week, Tues and Thurs. You'd race to the store after school to get the books and find the owner hasn't gotten around to unpacking it. You look at him with puppydog eyes and ask when they'd be ready. He'd give you a scowl and say "Whenever I get to it". You go to the schoolyard to play ball or home for homework and show up sometime later. You never will know if something sold out because stores recieved items haphazzardly, not getting all titles (except the major sellers) consistantly each month. You would need to develope a routine of going to multiple stores each week to ensure you got all the books you might want. Publishers generally would not tell you if something got cancelled and so you're searching for Brother Power, The Geek # 3 for a year before giving up. A great way to prepare for the frustrations of adult life Right, Tuesdays and Thursdays! And like you, and unlike Rob the Lucky, I had to hit as many stores as I could looking (often unsuccessfully) for titles I wanted. We had at least six stores in town where you could buy a comic, and you usually had t go to them all t find anything. Rarely did you see more than one or two of the same titles in different stores, either. Fun, but often frustrating. Frustrating, but usually fun. |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 20, 2015 18:18:46 GMT -5
were those whitman's reprints or what exactly?? I never really knew. They weren't reprints, they were done in the same print run as the regular issues, they were just distributed differently. The bagged issues were not returnable like most newsstand periodicals. In that way, they were a precursor to the direct market, but they weren't sold to comics shops. Whitman was big in coloring books and puzzle books, and the bagged comics were part of that product line. I remember Whitman. I used to buy the bags at a 7/11 store near my house. I would try & fold the bag to see what the middle issue was. I only bought them if I couldn't get to the news stand where I usually bought my titles. |
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Post by Action Ace on Nov 20, 2015 20:54:54 GMT -5
I first starting buying comics in the late 70s at a local convenience store called Big Sack. It had the rotating rack with the "Hey Kids, Comics!" sign on top. It sat next to the magazine rack. My father bought me my first comics, Justice League of America 149 and 150, followed by Batman Family 16, and Teen Titans 48. I believe comics were .40 at the time. Superman Family, Batman Family, and Adventure were the dollar comics. I remember reading Superman Family, Batman Family, Justice League of America, Teen Titans, Wonder Woman, Detective, Brave and Bold, DC Comics Presents, Avengers, Uncanny X-Men, Defenders, several Archie titles, and Adventure Comics. I remember seeing the big tabloid editions sitting on the bottom of the magazine rack and there was a spot for the DC and Archie digests. I can remember the top rack being Playboy, Penthouse, and Hustler magazines...right there near the comics, haha!! The store was always very brightly lit from what I recall and was very cold inside. The guy who owned it was gruff, wore glasses, and had a crew cut. I remember him always wearing an apron. His wife was very sweet. She had silvery white hair, was always very stylishly dressed. I remember asking for a certain issue of a comic and she'd help look for it. Or if my Mom went in there, she would help my mother find whatever comic I had asked for. The owner's wife was much nicer than he was. I can remember getting comic books along with a Pepsi and candy bar when we would stop in there. The store sign was a big light up sign. It had a drawing of a grocery sack with items sticking out the top. It had yellow light bulbs all the way around. The store closed in the early 90s. The building is still there and is a pizza place now. Of the places I've ever bought comics, the only ones that still exist are my local IGA supermarket (that hasn't sold a comic in more than thirty years), Barnes & Noble (two comics and counting) and my current shop that opened in 1996. Ten other places have closed including one that used its money to found Avatar Press. (UGH!) |
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Post by Action Ace on Nov 20, 2015 20:58:37 GMT -5
I never got around to figuring out when the new comics came out. Distribution was good enough in central New Jersey that my usual 3-store circuit got me everything. The owner of one of the newsstands looked like he had stepped out of a page drawn by George Tuska. The nose, the teeth, exactly the way Tuska would draw them. Have you ever run into someone who reminded you of a certain artist's style? The owner of the comic shop where I had my pull list in my college days was an exact copy of Comic Book Guy from The Simpsons. |
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shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Nov 21, 2015 7:25:33 GMT -5
Even though I got started on comics in 1989, well into the rise of the LCS, I did have two newsstand haunts that I frequented before settling on a shop at which to establish a pull list.
The first was an upscale gift and stationary store near my home where comics were a true afterthought on their magazine rack. There was no consistency in what could be found there, and I even recall purchasing a Walt Disney Comics & Stories off of that rack when I was seven that (in hindsight I realize) must have already been at least five years old at the time.
I get far more nostalgic for the second store -- a musty old Korean cigar and stationary shop next to my dad's store where one wall of the entire shoe-box sized store was just magazines and comics. At nine years old, I would begin the day at my father's store doing odd jobs for him (usually sorting and making the shelves look appealing), get paid a few dollars for my efforts, run to the shop next door during lunch, and spend the afternoon reading behind the produce display. If I finished my books too quickly, I'd borrow a pad and doodle my own Batman comics in the office. I distinctly recall first encountering Grant and Breyfogle in particular on these days, as (for some reason) the other newsstand by my house always had Batman but never seemed to have Detective Comics.
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Post by realjla on Nov 21, 2015 18:11:28 GMT -5
I was 4 years old when I first 'experienced' comics, in 1978. I don't remember exactly which order I got them, but the oldest issues I can recall were DC Comics Presents # 1, and Superman # 325. They were most likely in the same Whitman Comic Pak. I remember they came from the now-defunct Longs Drugs in Redwood City, CA. For the first year or so that I read comics, everything came from drug, toy, or department stores that sold the bagged comics. K-Mart was another source for comics at that point. My dad would take me there every Saturday, and that would be my day to get comics for years to come.
Department stores tended to have the non-superhero stuff, and I had quite a few random Western Publishing comics.
At some point in 1979, K-Mart and Longs stopped carrying comic packs, and it was a while before we found out that there were convenience stores in my hometown(San Carlos) that sold comics the 'normal'' way, unwrapped and without 'Whitman' logos.
San Carlos had a Quik Stop store where I got most of my comics from mid '79 to mid '80(basically, kindergarten year). When that place dropped comics(it was more of a liquor store, anyway), we started going to 7-11. A third location, Ed's Smoke Shop, was actually a couple blocks closer to home, but we stuck with 7-11 until they started phasing out comics in '86. By then, we'd moved even closer to the Smoke Shop, and I did most of my comic shopping until I mostly quit comics in '93.
I recall 7-11 rarely carried Archie comics, and seldom stocked both Batman and Detective when those two were 'serialized'. All-Star Squadron was also hard to find there.
The smoke shop usually had two spinner racks, one for DC, Marvel and the infrequent 'others' that weren't direct-only, and the other for Archie. At one point, they stopped carrying DC books, but a new owner soon brought them back.
Backtracking a bit, the DC Dollar Comics and Marvel and DC treasuries, were sold at supermarkets, and Woolworth stores, even though those places almost never had the 'regular' comics. I think the whole point of those formats was to get display space on magazine racks in places that previously didn't sell comics. It worked for a few years, anyway.
Once DC raised its prices to 50 cents, in 1980, the Dollar Comics finally turned up at 7-11(or at least Superman Family did; World's Finest and GI Combat didn't until they downsized).
I visited the closest comic shop, but it was about 8 miles from home, and didn't shop there regularly until Marvel's Doctor Who direct-only title began in 1984.
I gradually cut down on comics when I started high school, and was basically down to the Spider-Man books, as well as the Hulk, when I quit.
My last issue as a regular customer was Spectacular Spider-Man # 200, the Harry Osborn death issue.( I hear Norman got better!)
It sounds like I was fortunate to miss 'The Clone Saga', 'Death of Superman', 'Zero Hour', etc.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 23, 2015 12:00:31 GMT -5
Out of all the places I've purchased comics, only 2 remain. The store I referenced in my earlier post is indeed a pizza place now. I drove by it yesterday when I was home visiting my dad.
The first actual comic shop that was near me was open for about 10 years. I think it is a payday loan place now. It was a small shop, but it's where I first started collecting back issues. He had paperbacks for sale too. Very cheap, like .50. There was an entire wall of paperback books. The guy who ran it was very strange. My mother hated taking me there, haha! There was another shop about 45 minutes away that had old comics, books, magazines, and toys. It was open for nearly 20 years. The building is still there but it is empty. The guys that ran it were really cool, but got in trouble for not paying their taxes. I think the owner ended up in jail.
My current shop has been open for about 10 years.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Nov 23, 2015 12:05:47 GMT -5
Out of all the places I've purchased comics, only 2 remain. The store I referenced in my earlier post is indeed a pizza place now. I drove by it yesterday when I was home visiting my dad. This actually got me to thinking. Not a single place that I bought comics as a kid is still in business as it was back then. One grocery store remains, but it has moved locations. |
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on Nov 23, 2015 13:00:23 GMT -5
Out of all the places I've purchased comics, only 2 remain. The store I referenced in my earlier post is indeed a pizza place now. I drove by it yesterday when I was home visiting my dad. This actually got me to thinking. Not a single place that I bought comics as a kid is still in business as it was back then. One grocery store remains, but it has moved locations. If only you'd bought more comics, the owners of those stores and their families might not have ended up homeless and destitute. You wicked, wicked boy! |
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Post by Trevor on Nov 23, 2015 15:06:01 GMT -5
This actually got me to thinking. Not a single place that I bought comics as a kid is still in business as it was back then. One grocery store remains, but it has moved locations. Cool topic. Most of the dozens of comic book stores I've patronized over the years are gone. My inital self purchases in the 1970s were mostly at 7-11s, a chain ubiquitous in Virginia, and those specific 7-11s are still operational. But this tidbit is slightly less boring I think: The town where I spent the largest chunk of my life, and those formative comic habit forming years, had a strip mall with a 7-11, a grocer, a drug store that still exists, and an independent book store. I bought comics at all of them. That book store was the first place where I ever saw comic book back issues. It was before the direct market and comic shops were huge, but I guess the owner just liked comics and bought old collections or something. He had maybe 20 long box sized custom drawers under a large table of books. No new comics there, just these old ones. The comics were completely unorganized, and I spent countless afternoons thumbing through them hoping to find missed issues from the previous years. I can't quite recall exactly what he had, but it wasn't really old stuff, mostly 25 cent or so cover prices. One Saturday, tired of the unorganized mess, I convinced the store employee to let me organize.I must have spent 8 hours that day alphabetizing everything. Years later, after I had moved from my hometown, that book store became a comic book shop, EG Comics in Vienna Virginia. I still visit it a couple times a year and reminisce. |
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Post by Randle-El on Nov 24, 2015 12:02:15 GMT -5
This actually got me to thinking. Not a single place that I bought comics as a kid is still in business as it was back then. One grocery store remains, but it has moved locations. Cool topic. Most of the dozens of comic book stores I've patronized over the years are gone. My inital self purchases in the 1970s were mostly at 7-11s, a chain ubiquitous in Virginia, and those specific 7-11s are still operational. But this tidbit is slightly less boring I think: The town where I spent the largest chunk of my life, and those formative comic habit forming years, had a strip mall with a 7-11, a grocer, a drug store that still exists, and an independent book store. I bought comics at all of them. That book store was the first place where I ever saw comic book back issues. It was before the direct market and comic shops were huge, but I guess the owner just liked comics and bought old collections or something. He had maybe 20 long box sized custom drawers under a large table of books. No new comics there, just these old ones. The comics were completely unorganized, and I spent countless afternoons thumbing through them hoping to find missed issues from the previous years. I can't quite recall exactly what he had, but it wasn't really old stuff, mostly 25 cent or so cover prices. One Saturday, tired of the unorganized mess, I convinced the store employee to let me organize.I must have spent 8 hours that day alphabetizing everything. Years later, after I had moved from my hometown, that book store became a comic book shop, EG Comics in Vienna Virginia. I still visit it a couple times a year and reminisce. Wow, didn't know you grew up in the area. I'm from Alexandria, and still live in the area. I've never been to EG Comics, and the two main places I used to buy comics from as a kid are no longer in business (Geppi's and a small newsstand/convenience store), but I had a lot of fun browsing the spinner racks over a Slurpee at the 7-Eleven's back in the day. |
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Post by Trevor on Nov 24, 2015 12:51:40 GMT -5
Cool topic. Most of the dozens of comic book stores I've patronized over the years are gone. My inital self purchases in the 1970s were mostly at 7-11s, a chain ubiquitous in Virginia, and those specific 7-11s are still operational. But this tidbit is slightly less boring I think: The town where I spent the largest chunk of my life, and those formative comic habit forming years, had a strip mall with a 7-11, a grocer, a drug store that still exists, and an independent book store. I bought comics at all of them. That book store was the first place where I ever saw comic book back issues. It was before the direct market and comic shops were huge, but I guess the owner just liked comics and bought old collections or something. He had maybe 20 long box sized custom drawers under a large table of books. No new comics there, just these old ones. The comics were completely unorganized, and I spent countless afternoons thumbing through them hoping to find missed issues from the previous years. I can't quite recall exactly what he had, but it wasn't really old stuff, mostly 25 cent or so cover prices. One Saturday, tired of the unorganized mess, I convinced the store employee to let me organize.I must have spent 8 hours that day alphabetizing everything. Years later, after I had moved from my hometown, that book store became a comic book shop, EG Comics in Vienna Virginia. I still visit it a couple times a year and reminisce. Wow, didn't know you grew up in the area. I'm from Alexandria, and still live in the area. I've never been to EG Comics, and the two main places I used to buy comics from as a kid are no longer in business (Geppi's and a small newsstand/convenience store), but I had a lot of fun browsing the spinner racks over a Slurpee at the 7-Eleven's back in the day. Howdy neighbor! I have found memories of driving my bike east into Falls Church and sometimes Alexandria for a couple comic book shops there, Hole in the Wall for one. I've lived and/or worked in Fairfax County since 1972. |
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Post by Randle-El on Nov 24, 2015 16:55:11 GMT -5
Howdy neighbor! I have found memories of driving my bike east into Falls Church and sometimes Alexandria for a couple comic book shops there, Hole in the Wall for one. I've lived and/or worked in Fairfax County since 1972. I primarily shop at Victory Comics in Falls Church, but I used to frequent Aftertime in Old Town Alexandria until my work site moved. I've been to Hole in the Wall a couple of times, mainly to browse the back issues. |
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Post by rom on Sept 8, 2016 13:13:21 GMT -5
I was born in the early '70's, so by the late '70's was getting into comics. Having an extremely limited budget & also not being able to drive at that young age, I didn't have a lot of opportunities to go to newsstands - so don't remember "collecting" any comics per se. I would typically just go to the newsstand on occasion and buy what I could afford & what looked cool at the time. I also remember really appreciating those 'bagged' comics that came three to a bag, since they typically included comics from the same series in chronological order.
I also remember going to newsstands at this time and seeing piles of the same comic on the floor; not sure why they would get 50 of the same exact issue - instead of getting many different comics (which would have made more sense). I specifically remember seeing a ton of Marvel Star Wars #38 (with great Michael Golden art) on the floor at a 7-11 type store, circa Spring 1980.
I remember going into another store & seeing a lot of the comics on the newsstand with the covers torn off; I'm sure there was a reason for this, but I always wondered who would want to buy comics without covers - and why a store would bother selling them like that...
It wasn't until the early '80's when comic specialty stores sprang up that I was actually trying to "collect" a specific series; it was also helpful that a lot of these direct market books had checklists which specified the exact dates the comics came out - this was invaluable in those pre-Internet days. |
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