Do you have good LCS's?

[blowout]

Again, you guys are talking about real nice books. Those should be stored carefully. But I would like to see some mid-high grade 70's Neal Adams Batman's on the wall or in a case. Our shops have nothing!

 

I like the idea of putting out on display high quality printed scans of the decent books, which lets you see what the shop has without the chance of damage to the book. I have seen this done at a couple of shows and I think its a good compromise.

[Robert]

Agree about the Phoenix/Valley stores. The Atomics and Samurai are fine for Modern stuff, but they don't really deal in HG back issues at all. I think a lot of it is that they seem to be increasingly focused on whatever card game is "in" this week, manga and anime. You can't even shop in these stores on Saturdays with all of the kids.

[Illiterati-migration]

There are two in OP thst I know of. Elite and 1 Million Comics. I much prefer 1 million, very friendly people, and very good about pulling my monthly books. Elite has a better overall selection but their store is a disaster area, books everywhere, new books stacked on top of old, eveything getting bent. Very disorgasnized. And there is always a group of young kids hanging around yapping with the workers while totally ignoring the customers. Drives me nuts!

 

Elite is the guy I'm having problems with on ebay, after 2 1/2 months I still do not have my comic or the money I've asked him to return to me. I guess I should not be surprised to hear his store is in shambles.

 

Timely

 

You STILL don't have your book?!?!?! You want I should go loosen his knee-joints for ya?

[Illiterati-migration]

CD, do you ever go to Pop Culture Comics? Really, aside from the constant sissy music, he's got a nice store with a HUGE amount of new issues, TONS of TPBs and GNs, and a very low obnoxious fanboy count. In fact, I'm usually the only person there when I go and he ALWAYS has the books I'm looking for, no matter how "hot" they are. You should give him a look, if for no other reason than to support a poor fella who's trying to squeak by.

[cd4ever]

CD, do you ever go to Pop Culture Comics? Really, aside from the constant sissy music, he's got a nice store with a HUGE amount of new issues, TONS of TPBs and GNs, and a very low obnoxious fanboy count. In fact, I'm usually the only person there when I go and he ALWAYS has the books I'm looking for, no matter how "hot" they are. You should give him a look, if for no other reason than to support a poor fella who's trying to squeak by.

 

Never even heard of it. is it new? Where's it at? I'll definitely give it a shot. A good selection of TPB's is hard to find in this town.

[xrcst]

Yeah, where is it at...I need a place to plunk down my 50-60 bucks a week on new comics.

[Timely]

There are two in OP thst I know of. Elite and 1 Million Comics. I much prefer 1 million, very friendly people, and very good about pulling my monthly books. Elite has a better overall selection but their store is a disaster area, books everywhere, new books stacked on top of old, eveything getting bent. Very disorgasnized. And there is always a group of young kids hanging around yapping with the workers while totally ignoring the customers. Drives me nuts!

 

Elite is the guy I'm having problems with on ebay, after 2 1/2 months I still do not have my comic or the money I've asked him to return to me. I guess I should not be surprised to hear his store is in shambles.

 

Timely

 

You STILL don't have your book?!?!?! You want I should go loosen his knee-joints for ya?

 

That may help, but who knows for sure!

 

timely

[joe_collector]

Elite is the guy I'm having problems with on ebay, after 2 1/2 months I still do not have my comic or the money I've asked him to return to me. I guess I should not be surprised to hear his store is in shambles.

 

Timely

 

You STILL don't have your book?!?!?! You want I should go loosen his knee-joints for ya?

 

I don't know it that'll help. I had some of the boyz go over and bust his store up, and I still haven't got my books.

[Mr. Kabotz-migration]

Good to hear about comic fans in the KC area. I get my new issues at A to Z comics in Blue Springs. They always have the most recent stuff -- rarely sold out. They frequently have, on the new book racks, several issues back for the popular books. Last year I got several months behind on new books, including Ultimate Spider-man, and they still had months of issues (#44-50 or so) still on the new book racks. As with the other stores, the back issues are mediocre quality.

 

I've also been to Frank's, Elite, Be-Bop, Clint's, 1 Million -- all mediocre quality back issues. Clint's is unique with the back issues -- no boards and each bag is heat sealed at the top so the book can't come out, even if you wanted to examine it. I'm sure that sealing process is great for the books...

 

My single experience at Frank's: Uncanny X-Men 94 behind the counter with a "NM/Mint $800" sticker. I asked if I could see the book, and the exchange went something like this:

"We like to leave these on the wall behind the counter."

"How do you let people buy those books, then?" I ask.

The dude stares at me for a bit, sizing up whether I might grab the book and run out of the store. "OK, but I will have to hold it."

He brought it off the wall and held it while I looked -- I couldn't touch. Like it was an Action #1 I was asking to see. Un-f'n-believable! And it was a 7.5 at best. Glad I made the trip all the way up north for that customer service.

[nik]

 

My single experience at Frank's: Uncanny X-Men 94 behind the counter with a "NM/Mint $800" sticker. I asked if I could see the book, and the exchange went something like this:

"We like to leave these on the wall behind the counter."

"How do you let people buy those books, then?" I ask.

The dude stares at me for a bit, sizing up whether I might grab the book and run out of the store. "OK, but I will have to hold it."

He brought it off the wall and held it while I looked -- I couldn't touch. Like it was an Action #1 I was asking to see. Un-f'n-believable! And it was a 7.5 at best. Glad I made the trip all the way up north for that customer service.

I cant stand that when i go to shows and a seller has this attitude. If I cant look at the damn thing I might as well be buyind it randomly on Ebay from anyone.

[lighthouse]

CD, do you ever go to Pop Culture Comics? Really, aside from the constant sissy music, he's got a nice store with a HUGE amount of new issues, TONS of TPBs and GNs, and a very low obnoxious fanboy count. In fact, I'm usually the only person there when I go and he ALWAYS has the books I'm looking for, no matter how "hot" they are. You should give him a look, if for no other reason than to support a poor fella who's trying to squeak by.

 

Hey Khaos... you do realize you're talking to one of only two forum members to visit my Brick and Mortar shop???

 

It was a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away... but cd4ever gets top kudos from me

[cd4ever]

CD, do you ever go to Pop Culture Comics? Really, aside from the constant sissy music, he's got a nice store with a HUGE amount of new issues, TONS of TPBs and GNs, and a very low obnoxious fanboy count. In fact, I'm usually the only person there when I go and he ALWAYS has the books I'm looking for, no matter how "hot" they are. You should give him a look, if for no other reason than to support a poor fella who's trying to squeak by.

 

Hey Khaos... you do realize you're talking to one of only two forum members to visit my Brick and Mortar shop???

 

It was a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away... but cd4ever gets top kudos from me

 

[Apotheosis]

Agree about the Phoenix/Valley stores. The Atomics and Samurai are fine for Modern stuff, but they don't really deal in HG back issues at all. I think a lot of it is that they seem to be increasingly focused on whatever card game is "in" this week, manga and anime. You can't even shop in these stores on Saturdays with all of the kids.

 

Very true. The Atomic by me is about 3000 sq. ft. and at least half of it is anime and card games. Plus they have a room in the back for the kids to play tournaments in on saturdays. I understand that card games are huge money for comic shops now... but do they really need 1500+ sq. ft. for it? You're right about weekends there as well. I'm not exactly a "kids" person so it's annoying to go in to just pick up some storage boxes (this is common lately as I scale down to nothing but short box's) and I have to wait behind 15 kids buying card packs so they can get back into the game in the back. Granted... they wouldn't bother me as much if they were buying comics instead of game cards. At least then I would have some hope that my hobby would be gaining new blood to keep it alive.

 

I don't know... maybe I'm just too picky.

[Apotheosis]

Ok I officially give up on my LCS's here. I went to three different LCS's today looking for some golden age stuff. Any golden age stuff actually. At the first store the guy looked at me like I was nuts. The guy at the second store just kind of chuckled and said no. The third guy (Atomic Comics... our biggest LCS with 4 stores) said yes. Score!! So I thought. He quickly guided me to two boxes sitting on a glass case near the back and also to some comics on the wall. The two boxes were nothing but early 70's [!@#%^&^]. The wall had about 30 books (which for this guy meant "a bunch" in his world) on it. The oldest being an issue of Fantastic Four #96. Now maybe I'm wrong here, but last time I checked the Golden Age ended long before 1970!

 

I just wish that I could find a local shop that had some GA and better SA stuff that wasn't in another state! Then I could actually look at something in person before I bought it. There's a concept.