Tales from the Comic shop

[RedFury]

Back in the late 80s and early 90s I would frequent Fat Jack's Comicrypt in downtown Philadelphia. Mike, the owner, and Chuck, the manager, took notice of me when I bought a Whiz Comics #12 because they didn't know any other teenage kids buying golden age comics.

 

I struck up a friendship with them and would spend a lot of time in the store with them talking about old comics. I learned so much from those guys. Chuck in particular was a font of knowledge and introduced me to ECs, Good Girl Art, Pre-code Horror, and pulps. Frazetta and Williamson and Wood, Kamen and Baker and Feldstein. What a thrill that was.

 

I started going to college nearby and they offered to let me work part-time in the store. I was able to pretty much set my own hours. Mostly I graded and priced books and ran the register, but I loved every minute of it.

 

I didn't have a lot of money in those days, but I would occasionally buy a silver age key or a nice golden age book from the store and Chuck or Mike would always give me a good deal. Over the years since, I've sold all of those books. All except for one.

 

In November 1991, a man walked into the store with two liquor boxes filled with golden age DCs. The books had no bags or boards. Each box had two neat stacks of books, side by side. The guy's father had died and he had inherited the books. Mike negotiated a price with him and purchased the collection.

 

Back then Fat Jack's was a local distributor. This was new comic day, so the backroom of the store was filled with all the local dealers picking up their new books. Of course when they saw the books Mike had purchased, the feeding frenzy started.

 

Mike put the two boxes on a table and everyone queued up to look through them. There were about a dozen dealers there jockeying for position. And there was me. I don't remember how I did it, but somehow I got the second spot in line. It might have had something to do with my 6' 6" frame.

 

Mike pulled the books out of the boxes and neatly stacked them on the table. The books were mostly 1940-43, so no Action 1, no Detective 27, no Superman 1. But there were a lot of the other DC keys in the collection. The books were not priced, Mike had literally just purchased them minutes before. Just stacks of raw golden age goodness on the table!

 

The dealer in front of me, #1 in line, went through the first stack. As soon as he finished that stack I started on it. And so on. Dealer #1 just wanted the keys, and pulled every one out. I remember being dejected as I saw him pull a Batman 1, a Green Lantern 1, an All-Star 3, a Wonder Woman 1, and an All-Flash 1, and put them in his pile. There were probably others he took too. I can't remember all of them now.

 

But I had been keeping a keen eye on what he pulled and what he skipped. And right after he pulled the All-Star 3 I noticed that he skipped over the All-Star 8. Jackpot! When he was done with that stack I went right to that book and pulled it out. He glanced over and said "What do you want that book for?" I flipped to the back and showed him the first appearance of Wonder Woman. He had forgotten about that.

 

I wasn't even sure if I could afford the book or how I would pay for it. I guess I just had faith that I'd be able to work something out. I showed the book to Mike and he smiled, looked it over, pulled out his price guide, and quoted me a price of 40% of guide. Not off guide. Of guide.

 

 

 

 

Thanks Mike.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[comicstock]

Great story, RedFury!

I went to Glassboro State College in Jersey (now Rowan) and took the bus into Philly one day to walk around town. This was in the mid-70s. I happened across Mike's store by sheer chance. Comics shops were for the most part a brand new thing then. Mike was on the floor breaking down his shipment of new comics. It was a Friday. Back then that was new book day. He told me it was his first week of business. The original store was fairly small and narrow.

I never really got to know Mike but the few times we spoke, he was fun and interesting. Hard to believe that was over 35 years ago.

[montrealfilmguy]

Back in the late 80s and early 90s I would frequent Fat Jack's Comicrypt in downtown Philadelphia. Mike, the owner, and Chuck, the manager, took notice of me when I bought a Whiz Comics #12 because they didn't know any other teenage kids buying golden age comics.

 

I struck up a friendship with them and would spend a lot of time in the store with them talking about old comics. I learned so much from those guys. Chuck in particular was a font of knowledge and introduced me to ECs, Good Girl Art, Pre-code Horror, and pulps. Frazetta and Williamson and Wood, Kamen and Baker and Feldstein. What a thrill that was.

 

I started going to college nearby and they offered to let me work part-time in the store. I was able to pretty much set my own hours. Mostly I graded and priced books and ran the register, but I loved every minute of it.

 

I didn't have a lot of money in those days, but I would occasionally buy a silver age key or a nice golden age book from the store and Chuck or Mike would always give me a good deal. Over the years since, I've sold all of those books. All except for one.

 

In November 1991, a man walked into the store with two liquor boxes filled with golden age DCs. The books had no bags or boards. Each box had two neat stacks of books, side by side. The guy's father had died and he had inherited the books. Mike negotiated a price with him and purchased the collection.

 

Back then Fat Jack's was a local distributor. This was new comic day, so the backroom of the store was filled with all the local dealers picking up their new books. Of course when they saw the books Mike had purchased, the feeding frenzy started.

 

Mike put the two boxes on a table and everyone queued up to look through them. There were about a dozen dealers there jockeying for position. And there was me. I don't remember how I did it, but somehow I got the second spot in line. It might have had something to do with my 6' 6" frame.

 

Mike pulled the books out of the boxes and neatly stacked them on the table. The books were mostly 1940-43, so no Action 1, no Detective 27, no Superman 1. But there were a lot of the other DC keys in the collection. The books were not priced, Mike had literally just purchased them minutes before. Just stacks of raw golden age goodness on the table!

 

The dealer in front of me, #1 in line, went through the first stack. As soon as he finished that stack I started on it. And so on. Dealer #1 just wanted the keys, and pulled every one out. I remember being dejected as I saw him pull a Batman 1, a Green Lantern 1, an All-Star 3, a Wonder Woman 1, and an All-Flash 1, and put them in his pile. There were probably others he took too. I can't remember all of them now.

 

But I had been keeping a keen eye on what he pulled and what he skipped. And right after he pulled the All-Star 3 I noticed that he skipped over the All-Star 8. Jackpot! When he was done with that stack I went right to that book and pulled it out. He glanced over and said "What do you want that book for?" I flipped to the back and showed him the first appearance of Wonder Woman. He had forgotten about that.

 

I wasn't even sure if I could afford the book or how I would pay for it. I guess I just had faith that I'd be able to work something out. I showed the book to Mike and he smiled, looked it over, pulled out his price guide, and quoted me a price of 40% of guide. Not off guide. Of guide.

 

 

 

 

Thanks Mike.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The picture at the end makes the whole story top droolage material.

 

Thanks.

[comicwiz]

Back in the late 80s and early 90s I would frequent Fat Jack's Comicrypt in downtown Philadelphia. Mike, the owner, and Chuck, the manager, took notice of me when I bought a Whiz Comics #12 because they didn't know any other teenage kids buying golden age comics.

 

I struck up a friendship with them and would spend a lot of time in the store with them talking about old comics. I learned so much from those guys. Chuck in particular was a font of knowledge and introduced me to ECs, Good Girl Art, Pre-code Horror, and pulps. Frazetta and Williamson and Wood, Kamen and Baker and Feldstein. What a thrill that was.

 

I started going to college nearby and they offered to let me work part-time in the store. I was able to pretty much set my own hours. Mostly I graded and priced books and ran the register, but I loved every minute of it.

 

I didn't have a lot of money in those days, but I would occasionally buy a silver age key or a nice golden age book from the store and Chuck or Mike would always give me a good deal. Over the years since, I've sold all of those books. All except for one.

 

In November 1991, a man walked into the store with two liquor boxes filled with golden age DCs. The books had no bags or boards. Each box had two neat stacks of books, side by side. The guy's father had died and he had inherited the books. Mike negotiated a price with him and purchased the collection.

 

Back then Fat Jack's was a local distributor. This was new comic day, so the backroom of the store was filled with all the local dealers picking up their new books. Of course when they saw the books Mike had purchased, the feeding frenzy started.

 

Mike put the two boxes on a table and everyone queued up to look through them. There were about a dozen dealers there jockeying for position. And there was me. I don't remember how I did it, but somehow I got the second spot in line. It might have had something to do with my 6' 6" frame.

 

Mike pulled the books out of the boxes and neatly stacked them on the table. The books were mostly 1940-43, so no Action 1, no Detective 27, no Superman 1. But there were a lot of the other DC keys in the collection. The books were not priced, Mike had literally just purchased them minutes before. Just stacks of raw golden age goodness on the table!

 

The dealer in front of me, #1 in line, went through the first stack. As soon as he finished that stack I started on it. And so on. Dealer #1 just wanted the keys, and pulled every one out. I remember being dejected as I saw him pull a Batman 1, a Green Lantern 1, an All-Star 3, a Wonder Woman 1, and an All-Flash 1, and put them in his pile. There were probably others he took too. I can't remember all of them now.

 

But I had been keeping a keen eye on what he pulled and what he skipped. And right after he pulled the All-Star 3 I noticed that he skipped over the All-Star 8. Jackpot! When he was done with that stack I went right to that book and pulled it out. He glanced over and said "What do you want that book for?" I flipped to the back and showed him the first appearance of Wonder Woman. He had forgotten about that.

 

I wasn't even sure if I could afford the book or how I would pay for it. I guess I just had faith that I'd be able to work something out. I showed the book to Mike and he smiled, looked it over, pulled out his price guide, and quoted me a price of 40% of guide. Not off guide. Of guide.

 

 

 

 

Thanks Mike.

 

 

 

Great story - thanks for sharing!

[Brian48]

Back in the late 80s and early 90s I would frequent Fat Jack's Comicrypt in downtown Philadelphia. Mike, the owner, and Chuck, the manager, took notice of me when I bought a Whiz Comics #12 because they didn't know any other teenage kids buying golden age comics.

 

I struck up a friendship with them and would spend a lot of time in the store with them talking about old comics. I learned so much from those guys. Chuck in particular was a font of knowledge and introduced me to ECs, Good Girl Art, Pre-code Horror, and pulps. Frazetta and Williamson and Wood, Kamen and Baker and Feldstein. What a thrill that was.

 

I started going to college nearby and they offered to let me work part-time in the store. I was able to pretty much set my own hours. Mostly I graded and priced books and ran the register, but I loved every minute of it.

 

I didn't have a lot of money in those days, but I would occasionally buy a silver age key or a nice golden age book from the store and Chuck or Mike would always give me a good deal. Over the years since, I've sold all of those books. All except for one.

 

In November 1991, a man walked into the store with two liquor boxes filled with golden age DCs. The books had no bags or boards. Each box had two neat stacks of books, side by side. The guy's father had died and he had inherited the books. Mike negotiated a price with him and purchased the collection.

 

Back then Fat Jack's was a local distributor. This was new comic day, so the backroom of the store was filled with all the local dealers picking up their new books. Of course when they saw the books Mike had purchased, the feeding frenzy started.

 

Mike put the two boxes on a table and everyone queued up to look through them. There were about a dozen dealers there jockeying for position. And there was me. I don't remember how I did it, but somehow I got the second spot in line. It might have had something to do with my 6' 6" frame.

 

Mike pulled the books out of the boxes and neatly stacked them on the table. The books were mostly 1940-43, so no Action 1, no Detective 27, no Superman 1. But there were a lot of the other DC keys in the collection. The books were not priced, Mike had literally just purchased them minutes before. Just stacks of raw golden age goodness on the table!

 

The dealer in front of me, #1 in line, went through the first stack. As soon as he finished that stack I started on it. And so on. Dealer #1 just wanted the keys, and pulled every one out. I remember being dejected as I saw him pull a Batman 1, a Green Lantern 1, an All-Star 3, a Wonder Woman 1, and an All-Flash 1, and put them in his pile. There were probably others he took too. I can't remember all of them now.

 

But I had been keeping a keen eye on what he pulled and what he skipped. And right after he pulled the All-Star 3 I noticed that he skipped over the All-Star 8. Jackpot! When he was done with that stack I went right to that book and pulled it out. He glanced over and said "What do you want that book for?" I flipped to the back and showed him the first appearance of Wonder Woman. He had forgotten about that.

 

I wasn't even sure if I could afford the book or how I would pay for it. I guess I just had faith that I'd be able to work something out. I showed the book to Mike and he smiled, looked it over, pulled out his price guide, and quoted me a price of 40% of guide. Not off guide. Of guide.

 

 

 

 

Thanks Mike.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Great story. The guy I worked for was a sleazy . Nice to hear that not all dealers are like that.

[HotJuicyBurgers]

No more stories? :'(

[KONG]

Not a tale from the comic shop but it kind of fits here I think.

 

My criminal history in one paragraph.

 

20 or so years ago I was at the movie theater with a friend of mine. After the movie when we were walking out we passed by a cardboard standup promotional piece for Batman. It was the Jack Nicholson Joker. I mentioned to my friend that I'd like to have it and we proceed towards the exit. When we get further down the hall he says "get the car I'll be right out". I think you see where this is going but I just thought he had to pee or something at the time. I went out to the car (I had a big white Camaro at the time) and a couple of minutes later he comes running out cradling that Joker stand-up with a hero employee hot on his heels. I started the car as he crammed the Joker into the back seat and hopped in. We peeled out right as the hero got to the car and never looked back. Got back to my apartment and carried the Joker in to set up in the living room. He was worse for the wear as his head got bent in half from being crammed into the back seat. I think we propped it up with a paint stir stick and some tape or something. I'm pretty sure the statute of limitations has lapsed and if the would be hero is reading this I apologize.

 

 

[mrwoogieman]

Not a tale from the comic shop but it kind of fits here I think.

 

My criminal history in one paragraph.

 

20 or so years ago I was at the movie theater with a friend of mine. After the movie when we were walking out we passed by a cardboard standup promotional piece for Batman. It was the Jack Nicholson Joker. I mentioned to my friend that I'd like to have it and we proceed towards the exit. When we get further down the hall he says "get the car I'll be right out". I think you see where this is going but I just thought he had to pee or something at the time. I went out to the car (I had a big white Camaro at the time) and a couple of minutes later he comes running out cradling that Joker stand-up with a hero employee hot on his heels. I started the car as he crammed the Joker into the back seat and hopped in. We peeled out right as the hero got to the car and never looked back. Got back to my apartment and carried the Joker in to set up in the living room. He was worse for the wear as his head got bent in half from being crammed into the back seat. I think we propped it up with a paint stir stick and some tape or something. I'm pretty sure the statute of limitations has lapsed and if the would be hero is reading this I apologize.

 

 

SO IT WAS YOU!!

 

I'll tell you, I got fired from that job for my lousy lobby security skills, ended up unemployed and eventually divorced.

 

So thanks for that....

[Mad Titan]

[HotJuicyBurgers]

 

Who's got more stories to tell on this good Friday eve?

[thehumantorch]

Great story Red. What a memory.

[Disco Stu]

I want to hear some more stories, so I will give one of my lame ones as encouragement to others to dig into their memory banks.

 

Fatal Attractions was the greatest storyline ever to my 8-year-old mind, especially because it had those hologram cards on the covers. Oh yeah.

 

My mom found out during this time that none other than Wolverine was going to appear at our LCS to sign comic books. And of course he had to sign my Wolverine issue #75, the Fatal Attractions one.

 

We wait in line for half an hour with other moms and 8-year-olds. I get my comic signed by "Wolverine III." The "III" were his claw marks. After staring at "Wolverine III" sign my comic in his discounted Halloween outfit with plastic claws, I thought something might be up.

 

I was one of the last to get my comic signed and after hanging out in the store I saw "Wolverine III" get up to leave, but was trapped by a 4 ft. metal garbage can. Thinking he might claw it to pieces or make a gravity defying leap over it, he instead moved it carefully to the side and walked away. My suspicions were correct, he was not the real Wolverine.

 

I still have the comic forever tainted with that crushing memory.

[dgarthwaite-migration]

I think regular people sometimes dress up at superheroes. I saw someone that I thought was Superman at a comic book convention, but he was obese. His hair color was wrong. The costume had the Superman logo, but I think he was an imposter.

 

DG

[HotJuicyBurgers]

 

Any new stories anybody's got?

[dupont2005]

There was a shop that went through several owners over the course of my comic collecting. Back in the late 80's I first started visiting the shop as a young boy. The shop owner was an old man who seemed really cool. He'd have in store signings, mostly from Kris Silver and artists from Silverwolf or Greater Mercury Comics. Funny, the shop owner wouldn't sell me Love And Rockets but he gladly sold me Grips. In fact when I went in there when Kris Silver was there I must have been picking up a copy of Wolverine and he told me "Hey, you like Wolverine? You'll love this!" and handed me the Grips TPB

One day I went in there and bought every copy of the Epic Elfquest series he had. The shop owner went to the back of the store and grabbed his personal copy of WaRP Elfquest #1 (reprint) and gave it to me. I was stoked! I never thought I'd own a copy of the magazine series.

 

I grew out of comics in the early 90's and didn't return to the store for many years. It must have been around ten years later, in the early 2000's when I caught the comic bug and went in. The store was now owned by the old man's son. He was a goth Magic gamer. He had darkened the store, had a bunch of goth 20-somethings hanging around all day, and set up a huge gaming table that dominated the entire store floorspace. Where comics used to be there were now statues, cards, dice, and so on. He didn't seem very helpful. I don't remember what exactly happened, but I know I found nothing to buy and left empty handed. My comic bug was filled by digging up my old comics and re reading them and then putting them back away.

 

So several more years pass and I'm interested in comics again. I go back to the same shop. It's under new ownership again, circa 2008. The store is bright, the staff is friendly, and it's all about comics again. One downside, almost no indies. I used to have great fun in the bargain bins and this time I'm finding nothing. I asked where their independent comics were and they pointed me to a wall of TPB's and I think they had like a Kick and maybe a few other things. I wasn't interested. I said I liked 80's black and white comics from publishers like Eclipse. They said they had never heard of it and they didn't have comics that old. The other downside is where the gaming table used to be, the one that dominated the entire floorspace, there was now a baby playpen, dominating the entire floorspace. I don't have a problem with kids or anything but I just felt weird browsing the comic wall with my back to a toddler playing in a cage. I felt like I was in a strangers living room. It wasn't a big deal but just something I took note of. I didn't find anything to buy but came by semi regularly for supplies since at the time I was buying online like a maniac. Went from 6 longboxes to 21 during this period. The store ended up closing because the mother didn't want her kid to be in that play pen forever. I bought like two longboxes worth of stuff I didn't really want during their fire sale just because it was cheap

 

So that was the end of that comic shop that I was a customer of for over 20 years.

[mt1000]

I remember in the early 90's (91) when I was about 11 me and my mom went out to some stores she sometimes went shopping at, I remember there was a comic shop I had been to once. It was a small place, so I asked if we could go after she was done. BTW it was my birthday too. So we went in and looked around, now mind you I didn't know much about older books ( my dream book was ASM 300). But I did know some older stuff, so this guy has a mint and I mean mint ASM 14 for $250. Which I remember seemed like a ton of money for a comic. I knew what it was but had no idea if it was restored ( before someone asks). I just remember the man saying it was mint and I couldn't find a thing wrong with it. It looked like it was glowing. So anyway I ask "can I get this for my bday" she say no its too much and asks if he will take any less. He replies "no". So we go to the car and get ready to drive away and she asks " do I really want it? I say yes so bad, but I know it's a lot of money so it's ok we can leave. She would have went back 100% if I said yes but I felt bad. I still think of that book a lot. I had no idea about restoration, but if it didn't it was the nicest book I've almost ever seen had to have been in the 9.0+

[Earthbornpig]

Well, not a comic shop so to speak, but... back when I was living in Toronto and bought one of my first couple price guides, there was a guy who advertised in the OPG named Ken Mitchell. This would have been around early to mid 1980s I guess. I had written him for his catalogue, even though he was in Willowdale - part of Toronto. I had primarily been collecting some silver age (was still dirt cheap then) and some bronze age books. Never really thought much of GA stuff, anyway, I called this guy up and asked to come over as I wanted to buy some of his FF books... when I got there - he was nice as punch. Took me down into his basement - holly - I had never seen so many comics - Loads, and loads, and loads, neatly stacked on shelves. Piles of golden age. So I went there with the intention of buying FF and ended blowing my whole load on a Detective 72 in at least VF. Beautiful book. He explained to me that the GA books were much better to collect and I was hooked. Usually went over to see him a few times a year subsequently and bought more GA books. He had nearly everything... at least I remember seeing loads of Actions - including a #2 when I was there one time. Wish I had bought more. Sold my Detective #72 in the last year of university... and didn't buy much thereafter. Not sure what all happened to him or his books, but it was unbelieveable to go there and see all the stuff he had. Was cool back then, but now would be out of this world. Anyone else ever get into to see Ken???

[HotJuicyBurgers]

The other downside is where the gaming table used to be, the one that dominated the entire floorspace, there was now a baby playpen, dominating the entire floorspace. I don't have a problem with kids or anything but I just felt weird browsing the comic wall with my back to a toddler playing in a cage. I felt like I was in a strangers living room.

 

That seems like a pretty unique comic shop lmfao.

[eccomic]

Ken Mitchell has passed on. I went back as his home earlier this year, as his widow invited me to sift through the remaining Movie Star Magazines from the 1930s-1940s.

 

Ken told me prior to his death that he sold the rest of his comics to JS Comics in Neptune NJ and told me the buyer was a "prince" Ken told me the buyer from Jersey drove up to his home in Toronto with a van and had a ton of cash in his money-belt and bought him out.

 

I got the final books, which were a B & B 28 and a JLA 1 from Ken back in 2006

[Badger]

Ok, so I worked in a comic shop in Oklahoma City from 1991 until 1993 and because so many people talk about the *spoon* bosses they had, I've got to tell my story.

 

I graduated College in 1991 and I could not find a job to save my life due to a lousy combination of a recession and an English degree. Upon graduation, I received two job offers: one in New York City interning at a publishing company for $19,000 a year and the other as a technical writer at IBM in Austin, Texas. Between the time the offer letter was written and the time I received it, the IBM plant closed, or retooled, I forget which, and my just offered position was eliminated! Laid off before I was ever hired; has to be a record I tells ya!

 

Anyway, I move to Oklahoma City and I start visiting, weekly, the LCS I always visited through the years. The owner is still around and he offers me a part-time job while I make a half-hearted attempt at getting a Computer Science degree to make myself employable.

 

A few months go by, living with my parents again, and after one particularly frustrating day, I make the decision that I must move out or lose my sanity. I called an apartment complex across the street from the LCS, find out their mimimum income requirements, and rush to the store. Lucky for me, the owner and the manager were there.

 

After I explained my fear that my brains would melt through my ears if I had to stay with my parents any longer, the owner and the manager put their heads together and figured out a way for me to move to full-time! They put my salary at exactly the minimum to get into the apartment complex and I was on my way to the cushiest job known to man: Comic Shop employee!

 

Over the course of the next two years, I did my best to repay the owner and manager of the shop by pushing the very large back stock of great 60's and 70' material to the customers. The owner was very generous with my authority to make deals and he had the attitude, for the most part, that a dime today was better than a quarter that might never come. I was able to sell runs like X-Men #2-6 at 30% off guide to literally kids that would drive, with their parents, to the shop from surrounding commmunities. We encouraged investment in Silver Age and helped our investment customers, where we could, stay away from the trap of multiple cover 90's drek.

 

Where we could, we would turn the ravening greed of the QVC type collector into a force for good. For example, for "The Death of Superman", we announced through the newspapers and local news programs that we were going to sell the issue at cover price + 2 cans of food for the local foodbank. I don't know how many thousands of copies, over ten thousand if I had to guess, we sold on the evening of the release but the line went winding through the store, down the strip mall, and ended in front of the Pizza Hut, at its peak. We were able to fill a small Uhaul truck with canned goods. (thumbs u

 

The most amazing part of this, for me any way, came at the end of 1992 when the store manager and the owner presented me with my bonus: a VG copy of F.C. 386 with a hundred dollar bill stuffed between each page!

 

I hope Barry and Bash are reading this because I don't know if I ever said thank you for the great time I had working for them. That period is some the happiest memories of my life. I would say the name of the store but it exists under new management and is not really the same place.