Tales from the Comic shop

[Lunchbox-migration]

So I worked in a comic store in the mid-90s, and this was the best perk I ever received. A new artist named Paul Lee moved into town and became a subscriber at the store. Admittedly we were skeptical at first, but yeah, he had work lined up for Marvel and DC. So he would come in on Wednesdays and shoot the , and the owner and I became friends with him.

 

So one day he mentions that he thinks it'd be fun if he painted us into the comics he was working on. Of course we agreed! So signed a model waiver () and it was a go. I appear in Amazing Fantasy #18 and Dhampire:Stillborn for Vertigo, and had "speaking" parts in both. If you check the Dhampire book, the blond stripper is my wife

 

The icing on this cake is that for Christmas one year, Paul gave me the original painted page from Dhampire that I appeared in. Of course I still have it today

[HotJuicyBurgers]

So I worked in a comic store in the mid-90s, and this was the best perk I ever received. A new artist named Paul Lee moved into town and became a subscriber at the store. Admittedly we were skeptical at first, but yeah, he had work lined up for Marvel and DC. So he would come in on Wednesdays and shoot the , and the owner and I became friends with him.

 

So one day he mentions that he thinks it'd be fun if he painted us into the comics he was working on. Of course we agreed! So signed a model waiver () and it was a go. I appear in Amazing Fantasy #18 and Dhampire:Stillborn for Vertigo, and had "speaking" parts in both. If you check the Dhampire book, the blond stripper is my wife

 

The icing on this cake is that for Christmas one year, Paul gave me the original painted page from Dhampire that I appeared in. Of course I still have it today

 

Now that is a really unique story. Who else can say that they are in a comic book

[batman_fan]

So I worked in a comic store in the mid-90s, and this was the best perk I ever received. A new artist named Paul Lee moved into town and became a subscriber at the store. Admittedly we were skeptical at first, but yeah, he had work lined up for Marvel and DC. So he would come in on Wednesdays and shoot the , and the owner and I became friends with him.

 

So one day he mentions that he thinks it'd be fun if he painted us into the comics he was working on. Of course we agreed! So signed a model waiver () and it was a go. I appear in Amazing Fantasy #18 and Dhampire:Stillborn for Vertigo, and had "speaking" parts in both. If you check the Dhampire book, the blond stripper is my wife

 

The icing on this cake is that for Christmas one year, Paul gave me the original painted page from Dhampire that I appeared in. Of course I still have it today

 

Now that is a really unique story. Who else can say that they are in a comic book

 

+1, thats a great story !

[Lunchbox-migration]

So I worked in a comic store in the mid-90s, and this was the best perk I ever received. A new artist named Paul Lee moved into town and became a subscriber at the store. Admittedly we were skeptical at first, but yeah, he had work lined up for Marvel and DC. So he would come in on Wednesdays and shoot the , and the owner and I became friends with him.

 

So one day he mentions that he thinks it'd be fun if he painted us into the comics he was working on. Of course we agreed! So signed a model waiver () and it was a go. I appear in Amazing Fantasy #18 and Dhampire:Stillborn for Vertigo, and had "speaking" parts in both. If you check the Dhampire book, the blond stripper is my wife

 

The icing on this cake is that for Christmas one year, Paul gave me the original painted page from Dhampire that I appeared in. Of course I still have it today

 

Now that is a really unique story. Who else can say that they are in a comic book

 

Thanks. Actually, a buddy of mine might be along to one-up me with a picture of himself on the cover of a comic (!) :hail: I've also read a few threads in Modern where someone who's close to/an agent for an artist has been in a book. JonJesper in Green Lantern maybe?

[Not*Sure*]

I miss the great deals and steals. When I had my own store I used to have a lot of reallllly nice books and daily people came into the shop looking to sell. I only had one stumbling block..being female.

 

I guess there is a misconception that boob make it impossible to grade a comic book or have comic book knowledge.

 

I would probably get more if I had a dime for everytime someone brought in a Macfarlane Spider-man and wanted 20K for it. But if I had a dime for everytime I heard "Is the owner here?I need to talk to your comic book guy" I would still be rich. "where is the guy who owns the place I want him to look at some books I have?" Some guys would out and out just not want to talk to me at all. If they stuck around a bit I would eventually win them over that I was not just standing there while my "dad" or an "owner" was out to lunch. But it kind of sucked.

 

Once I got their attention I could usually make regular customers out of them or convince them to let me buy their comics.

 

BUT when I did work for a man ..it was easier to get books because the guy I worked for was just a jerque no one wanted to deal with him. He thought he was all cool and smooth but he came off as rude and condescending. Plus his knowledge of comics was pretty limited..he had never actually read a comic book in his life. He couldn't tell you issues or characters etc, only price guide quoting and "This is hot super hot you need to invest in this now I am telling you if you buy 500 copies to keep as an investment you get this leather cover variant edition that sells for $300 right now just think in 10 years this will be paying for your kid's college!" He had a little circle of these people who thought he was just brilliant ROFLMAO these people probably still have thousands of copies of Xforce #1 and hundreds of Beavis and Butthead #1's etc carp comics by the hundreds contributing to the glut at the time.

 

Often people who dealt with me there would only come back when I was there and leave the store if he showed up. Those people would only offer their books to me.

 

My policy was always "Collect what YOU like and you will never be disappointed" And I would never tell anyone to buy 500-1000 copies of a single book as an investment unless it was some Incredible Hulk 181 warehouse find. Also, when I buy books I steer the seller to tell me their price. If they say "I want $250 for this B&B 28" then we can work from there but if they start out "I know these are incredibly valuable I want $2000" I could direct them to another dealer because they are crazy in the head. So many people wanted Wizard NM or Overstreet NM price on non NM non sellable comics. I tell those people "By all means call Mr. Wizard or Mr. Overstreet and ask THEM to buy your books because I ain't paying that for that book"

 

 

 

 

 

[Not*Sure*]

Oh I just thought of a really really good/funny story. This couple comes in one day and asks if I have and FF comics. I steer them over to all the boxes we had quarters,fifty centers,dollars, half of cover, cover, 30% of guide, half of guide, and then regular priced books/bronze/silver/gold/ etc.

 

They buy an enormous amount of books maybe around 3k of normal FFs. Then they come back and want character sketches of FF heroes and older more pricey books and spend about 7k. I had just sold a #1 so I had the word out I was looking for older older ones. They were nice but not a couple so to speak. They guy asks me for about 40k worth of books all FF related has a big list. I was like "Sorry I just do not have all these but let me get you in touch with my friend who works over at another shop. (It used to be Geppi's but I cannot remember the guys name who took it over.)

Anyway I told them I could probably network to get them the books but wondered what they were doing trying to assemble a complete collection in record time? Spend money incredibly fast?

 

No he was a writer working on a Fantastic 4 movie and the girl was his production assistant. They had carte blanche to purchase anything FF related to help them in creating this movie.

 

Unfortunately this was the 1994 sucktastic never theater released movie.

But on the bright side I made some money and I am sure the other shop owner did too!

 

 

[Psithyrus]

Had a guy walk in with a large box and plop it down on the counter. "Do you buy comics?" "Let me take a look." So I open the box...and like a Penn and Teller trick...giant cockroaches come flying out. Big one. Palmetto bugs. Huge monster flying cockroaches. Tons of them. Amid my screaming like a little girl (sorry Sharon) I tried to close the box. "Get these outta here!" Never saw what was in there...other than tons of huge bugs.

 

Those are fun, aren't they?

[Magneto]

Great stories. This thread should be stickied.

 

+1

 

This is the type of stuff that should be discussed on shows like Comic Book Men

[r100comics]

Thanks. Actually, a buddy of mine might be along to one-up me with a picture of himself on the cover of a comic (!) :hail:

 

Daniel Bradman ?

[Passport Comics]

Great stories. This thread should be stickied.

+1

This is the type of stuff that should be discussed on shows like Comic Book Men

 

Exactly! I'd love to see a show about this sort of thing. Especially the cockroaches.

[Whizzer]

I forget who, but there is a boardie on here who owns a bar in NYC which has featured in a bunch of recent Marvel books.

[Timmay]

This past summer on vacation in Monterey CA and stopped by the LCS to have a look around.

 

While I'm in there several odd...Californians came through the shop.

 

I'm almost ready to leave when yet another odd duck walks in carrying a shoebox. He asks the store owner if he buys sportscards. The owner says that he doesn't and that he doesn't know of any other stores in town that still buy them.

The guy opens the box and I'm starting to walk up to the register to check out, so now I'm standing right next to him.

He says "All of these are rookie cards from when I used to buy them. I really need the money. See, I have Montana rookies, Magic rookies, Elway rookies, Marino rookies, Jordan rookies..."

And he's flipping through them and has anywhere from a half dozen to upwards or 15-20 of each one of these. At least a dozen Jordan RCs straight from the pack fresh.

I used to collect so what I'm seeing is legit.

 

So I look at dude and ask him how much he wants for them. I only had $20 in cash on me and knew I couldn't afford them but thought I'd ask.

He looks at me with this stupidly blank look and pauses motionless for about 10 seconds.

Then he slowly blinks and says, "I'd like to get fifty bucks for them, man."

My eyes open widely and I'm trying to figure out how I can find an ATM to get the cash without this...stoner wandering off.

 

Mid conversation another patron had walked in and was listening to our conversation while looking over our shoulders. Before I can say a word in reply to the guy he says, "I'll take them, and I'll give you $100 for them."

 

I'm like...what just happened? Completely rattled as to being in the situation I was in. Looking at the golden goose and my hands completely tied as to being able to do anything about it.

 

I mourned over it for days. It was heartbreaking.

 

 

Do you keep a spare benjamin in your wallet at all times now?

[DR.X]

This past summer on vacation in Monterey CA and stopped by the LCS to have a look around.

 

While I'm in there several odd...Californians came through the shop.

 

I'm almost ready to leave when yet another odd duck walks in carrying a shoebox. He asks the store owner if he buys sportscards. The owner says that he doesn't and that he doesn't know of any other stores in town that still buy them.

The guy opens the box and I'm starting to walk up to the register to check out, so now I'm standing right next to him.

He says "All of these are rookie cards from when I used to buy them. I really need the money. See, I have Montana rookies, Magic rookies, Elway rookies, Marino rookies, Jordan rookies..."

And he's flipping through them and has anywhere from a half dozen to upwards or 15-20 of each one of these. At least a dozen Jordan RCs straight from the pack fresh.

I used to collect so what I'm seeing is legit.

 

So I look at dude and ask him how much he wants for them. I only had $20 in cash on me and knew I couldn't afford them but thought I'd ask.

He looks at me with this stupidly blank look and pauses motionless for about 10 seconds.

Then he slowly blinks and says, "I'd like to get fifty bucks for them, man."

My eyes open widely and I'm trying to figure out how I can find an ATM to get the cash without this...stoner wandering off.

 

Mid conversation another patron had walked in and was listening to our conversation while looking over our shoulders. Before I can say a word in reply to the guy he says, "I'll take them, and I'll give you $100 for them."

 

I'm like...what just happened? Completely rattled as to being in the situation I was in. Looking at the golden goose and my hands completely tied as to being able to do anything about it.

 

I mourned over it for days. It was heartbreaking.

 

 

I'm surprised you let that guy slide? Just about the same thing happened to me. I was at my LCS and a guy walks in with a box of books. Some decent Dells and Gold Keys. The owner wasnt interested and asked if I wanted to look at them.

 

I know this owner very well and have been in the store dozens of times when someone walks in with books. I just quietly sit a gaming table till he's done looking. If he doesn't want them, then he asks me and I get up and take a look. It's just courtesy.

 

Anyway I was looking at these Dells and asking this guy what he wanted for them. Another customer is eavsdropping, walks over and started humping against me, just like at a con when your looking through a long box. He asks the guy what he wanted for them.

 

I looked at him and said " do you see me standing here, when I'm done I''ll let you fricking know". I just gave me this stupid look and walked out the door. Now if it had been a women rubbing on me, no problem.

[MrBedrock]

Got a call from an old sounding lady who was positive she had a Superman 1. I gave her the whole spiel about size, concerned that it might be a Famous First Edition. It was pretty obvious over the phone that that was what it was. But she would hear none of it. "I'll bring it to you. It's real and you'll buy it."

 

Next day an 80-some-odd year old women comes in saying she just took the train from Corpus Christi (150 miles south of here), and she had a Superman 1 that she bought at a flea-market for $300. Sure enough it's a Famous First with the cover torn off. "I'm so sorry ma'am. But your Superman #1 is a reprint. It's practically worthless." This old women starts to pitch a fit. "I can't believe you gonna try to rip off an old woman. I came all this way and I ain't gonna get ripped off! I'm gonna git my money for my Superman!"

 

We had a pretty nice Famous First behind the counter. I picked it up, tore the outer cover off, and handed it to her. "Ma'am, now you have two Superman #1s. Good luck with them. Thanks for stopping by."

What did she say?

She immediately stopped whining about getting ripped off and said, "So it's really not worth anything?" then turned and walked out.

[MrBedrock]

In the early 00s a couple of my employees and I had a band. We usually practiced after hours at one of our locations where the other tenants were also closed so we wouldn't bother anyone. We played obnoxiously loud (kinda like my posts) punk . Well one week we had to move practice to the Westheimer location. Our next door neighbor is a Chinese restaurant and the relationship has been pretty icy. Normally we would have waited until they closed to crank it up...but we didn't. They didn't seem to have any customers and it was close to closing. About two minutes after we started the little old Chinese guy who owns the restaurant was banging on the door. But due to the noise we missed it. So he leaves, comes back, and chunks a head of lettuce which explodes all over the front door. We saw that.

[InvstmntComcSuply]

In the early 00s a couple of my employees and I had a band. We usually practiced after hours at one of our locations where the other tenants were also closed so we wouldn't bother anyone. We played obnoxiously loud (kinda like my posts) punk . Well one week we had to move practice to the Westheimer location. Our next door neighbor is a Chinese restaurant and the relationship has been pretty icy. Normally we would have waited until they closed to crank it up...but we didn't. They didn't seem to have any customers and it was close to closing. About two minutes after we started the little old Chinese guy who owns the restaurant was banging on the door. But due to the noise we missed it. So he leaves, comes back, and chunks a head of lettuce which explodes all over the front door. We saw that.

 

aaaagh! Now I have to clean the coffee off the screen!

[mikephoen]

Oh man, I have so many funny stories. Here is a short one to start things off...

 

I had just opened my store in late 1994 and I didn't have a lot of customers. One day getting toward close there was no one in the store, so I was staring out the front window. About a block and half away, on the opposite side of the street, I noticed a guy running at full speed down the sidewalk. Arms pumping, head down, like he was being chased by a bear.

 

As he gets closer, he swerves out into the street and starts winding his way through the bumper to bumper rush hour traffic, still moving at close to top speed. I realize he is coming straight for my door!

 

I move back behind my counter and he bursts in the door. He slams $15 down on the counter and says "I need 100 bags and boards!".

 

At the time, $15 was exactly what I charged for 100 bags and boards so I hand him a pack of each, he scoops them up and charges back out the door like the Flash.

 

I didn't recognize the guy and as far as I know he never came in again. I had only been open a couple months, so how he knew exactly what I charged for bags and boards I'll never know...

 

I call this my 'Bagging and Boarding Emergency' story.

 

 

[seanfingh]

Oh man, I have so many funny stories. Here is a short one to start things off...

 

I had just opened my store in late 1994 and I didn't have a lot of customers. One day getting toward close there was no one in the store, so I was staring out the front window. About a block and half away, on the opposite side of the street, I noticed a guy running at full speed down the sidewalk. Arms pumping, head down, like he was being chased by a bear.

 

As he gets closer, he swerves out into the street and starts winding his way through the bumper to bumper rush hour traffic, still moving at close to top speed. I realize he is coming straight for my door!

 

I move back behind my counter and he bursts in the door. He slams $15 down on the counter and says "I need 100 bags and boards!".

 

At the time, $15 was exactly what I charged for 100 bags and boards so I hand him a pack of each, he scoops them up and charges back out the door like the Flash.

 

I didn't recognize the guy and as far as I know he never came in again. I had only been open a couple months, so how he knew exactly what I charged for bags and boards I'll never know...

 

I call this my 'Bagging and Boarding Emergency' story.

 

 

This is awesome.

[HotJuicyBurgers]

Oh man, I have so many funny stories. Here is a short one to start things off...

 

I had just opened my store in late 1994 and I didn't have a lot of customers. One day getting toward close there was no one in the store, so I was staring out the front window. About a block and half away, on the opposite side of the street, I noticed a guy running at full speed down the sidewalk. Arms pumping, head down, like he was being chased by a bear.

 

As he gets closer, he swerves out into the street and starts winding his way through the bumper to bumper rush hour traffic, still moving at close to top speed. I realize he is coming straight for my door!

 

I move back behind my counter and he bursts in the door . He slams $15 down on the counter and says "I need 100 bags and boards!".

 

At the time, $15 was exactly what I charged for 100 bags and boards so I hand him a pack of each, he scoops them up and charges back out the door like the Flash.

 

I didn't recognize the guy and as far as I know he never came in again. I had only been open a couple months, so how he knew exactly what I charged for bags and boards I'll never know...

 

I call this my 'Bagging and Boarding Emergency' story.

 

 

That is hilarious

I might try to to do this one day.

[500Club]

As he gets closer, he swerves out into the street and starts winding his way through the bumper to bumper rush hour traffic, still moving at close to top speed. I realize he is coming straight for my door!

16th Ave rush hour! Nice!