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Comic shop memories

Started by karlos, 24 November, 2023, 07:19:49 PM

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karlos

Richard Piers Rayner once popped into the shop I worked in.

On my day off.

Bah.

I did get a signed Hellblazer #10, though!

BadlyDrawnKano

#31
Quote from: Colin YNWA on 29 November, 2023, 02:03:40 PMOhhh don't wait, just start a thread with a list of the things there and I'm sure there are a load of folks who will love to dive in and provide advice. I know I certianly would.

I just wanted to echo this, I'm fairly new to the forum but everyone's been really friendly, and I enjoy posting here a lot, and if I can I'd be up for helping out.

And I know what you mean about the world of comics being overwhelming, it's why some of my friends have never got in to them, or only read stand alone series like Preacher or Y The Last Man. I think a lot of writers are very aware of the complex history of the characters and some might lean in to that, and make it heavily tied in to the continuity, but many will ignore what's happened before and just write their own take on the character.

I'd highly recommend Shade by the way, I love it to pieces and though there are occasionally times it's linked to other DC characters (mainly John Constantine, but it's been a while since I read it and can't remember if there are others) but I'm all but certain it can be read without having needed to read any other DC series, or even Steve Ditko's original run, which I've never read but have recently begun slowly buying, though I've yet to find issue 1 at any sane price and may well end up having to read it online.

rogue69

My first comic shop was American Comics Enterprise (ACE Comics) in Colchester in the mid 80's. From finding the odd American comics in local newsagents to finding a shop full of DC & Marvel comics alongside old British ones. I mainly started going there to rebuy old 2000ADs I was made to throw away by my parents then found comics with names I recognized from 2000Ad like Marshal Law, Luther Arkwright, Swamp Thing, L.E.G.I.O.N, Outcasts & other pre-Vertigo comics which set my love of US comics. It is just a shame that ACE Comics has now moved away from concentrating on the shop to mainly be a online company

RookieNerd

2020 got to start somewhere. It wasn't Forbiden Planet, but some local comic book reseller who opened just one day a week. They had a stacks of cheap trades so I gave it a go.

Daveycandlish

Sometime in the last century  I used to go to Timeslip comic shop up by the Haymarket area in Newcastle when it was barely more than a grubby pre-fab building with a brilliant back issues section. I miss those days.
Now it's moved and morphed into a Forbidden Planet, a white tiled pleasuredome of Funko Pops and Manga on the ground floor with comics relegated downstairs. It's still where I get my fix, though (when not buying old shite off ebay or backing kickstarters online).
An old-school, no-bullshit, boys-own action/adventure comic reminiscent of the 2000ads and Eagles and Warlords and Battles and other glorious black-and-white comics that were so, so cool in the 70's and 80's - Buy the hardback Christmas Annual!

Hawkmumbler

Some dodgy basement space in the Edwardian arcade of Bolton. Stank of sewage and grud knows what else, and never seemed to stock anything 'contemporary'.
Felt more than a bit like one of those depressing cases of a guy who gave up his job to pursue the dream of running a comic shop of his own but absolutely nothing went right in that process.
Closed down at some point, this was over a decade ago and I only just noticed this summer just passed it was gone.
Still, got a healthy stack of the Kitchen Sink editions of The Spirit for pennies from there which I have since lost, goddamn it.

Woolly

First comic shop: Nostalgia and Comics in Sheffield. (Now Forbidden Planet <shudders>) Also the place where I attended my only ever droid signing - the 1992 yearbooks I think. John Smith, Peter Doherty, Duncan Fegredo, and (I think) Dean Ormston. Really wish I could go back to that point in time and re-live it. At the time I had no idea who anyone was!

Favourite comic shop: The Sheffield Space Centre. It's great. Barely changed since the early nineties. Still the same people running it too, I think.

Colin YNWA

Quote from: Woolly on 05 December, 2023, 07:34:25 PMFavourite comic shop: The Sheffield Space Centre. It's great. Barely changed since the early nineties. Still the same people running it too, I think.

My local comic shop since the early 2000s when I got back into comics and just celebrated its 45th birthday and hasn't changed a jot form both good and ill.

Still run by the same lovely folks and still my favourite shop in the most magnificent city in the world.

The Legendary Shark


I once enjoyed a brief but passionate affair with a lass from Sheffield. I drove from here to there, in the dead of winter, in an ailing Granada hatchback, through a blizzard, just to spend one night with her. Worth every gruelling mile. 

Oh right - comic shops. Sorry, I got nothing. 

Kinda got a soft spot for Sheffield, is all.

[move]~~~^~~~~~~~[/move]




sheridan

Quote from: rogue69 on 01 December, 2023, 09:19:46 PMMy first comic shop was American Comics Enterprise (ACE Comics) in Colchester in the mid 80's. From finding the odd American comics in local newsagents to finding a shop full of DC & Marvel comics alongside old British ones. I mainly started going there to rebuy old 2000ADs I was made to throw away by my parents then found comics with names I recognized from 2000Ad like Marshal Law, Luther Arkwright, Swamp Thing, L.E.G.I.O.N, Outcasts & other pre-Vertigo comics which set my love of US comics. It is just a shame that ACE Comics has now moved away from concentrating on the shop to mainly be a online company

The comic shop where I completed my 2000AD collection (as in the last back prog to fill in the gap).  Also bought my copy of Prog 2 from there for much less than it would fetch these days.

karlos

Anyone here ever visit the many comic shops Hull had during the late 80s to the mid 90s?

If so, we probably met!

JohnW

Quote from: karlos on 07 December, 2023, 12:58:37 PMIf so, we probably met!

I've never been to Hull, but I refer you to the pornography comparison.
I never so much as made eye contact with anyone in a comic shop, and even close friends were acknowledged only as distant acquaintances.
And friendly staff commenting on my tastes? Yikes! They might as well have said, 'Hey! Sluts Go Nuts 2! Why don't you come round my place and we'll watch it together?'
If I were a well-adjusted and sociable chap I'd hardly be frequenting comic shops, now would I?

But before I forget, let me commend a guy who worked in Gosh in 1990. I'd picked up a copy of Prog 124 which bore the price tag '£0.00' and I asked him if it wasn't some sort of joke.
Indicating that the comic was a little raggedy around the ages, he assured me that the price was for real.
'I mean, you wouldn't expect anyone to pay money for that,' he said.
Well actually...

Anyway, they should put up a little plaque on Great Russell Street to that guy.
Why can't everybody just, y'know, be friends and everything? ... and uh ... And love each other!

karlos

There's definitely a real similarity between comic shops and adult shops.

I remember at the first real job I had at a comic shop, aged 13, there was a real push to actually engage with everyone who came in.

Some didn't, a lot did and it was often remarked upon how unusual it was compared to other shops.

I loved it and working there felt like being part of a social club as much as anything.

Magnetica

Quote from: Fortnight on 29 November, 2023, 12:54:09 PMTrouble is, I don't know where to start! So much of the comics world seems so inter-twined, and series riff of others, and featured previously established characters, sequels, prequels, reboots, parallel narratives span across multiple series, and I've no idea what's what. If I start on something that looks interesting, I could easily end up starting in the middle of some huge saga and not even know it!

Yes that sort of thing has put me off trying Marvel and DC.

At one point I thought I would give Guardians of the Galaxy a try, as I really liked the film and it was written by Dan Abnett. But when I did a bit of research into where to start, it all seem way too complicated.

So I mostly just read 2000AD and Judge Dredd Megazine.

lordmockingbird

Coolest thing ever was finding out I had a comic shop well within walking distance of my home on the city outskirts where no other such cool shops existed. Well we had a baseball card shop and a news/magazine shop. I can't comprehend those ever existing now. Something to tell the kids about.

Our comic shop was small but cozy. It had a certain smell. I don't know what it was. It had a couple arcade games; a neo geo one with art of fighting. I swear everyone had the neo geo cabs.

The owner could tell I wasn't a real reader, I was there for the early 90s comic bubble. Comic shop owners can sniff me out. My wife and are joking about this one comic chain in our area, and at both locations, the same cashier is always working when I come in. He can tell I don't do the comic lifestyle. I feel his dark energy coming at me.