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Comic Books stores in Los Angeles?
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Started by Forbush-Man,

31 posts in this topic

Forbush-Man

Forbush-Man

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I'm heading up to Los Angeles tomorrow, hoping to hit a couple decent comic book stores that have Silver Age & Bronze Age comics, decent grading and reasonable pricing. Anyone have any suggestions on which shops to see? I'm heading as far as Culver City (West Los Angeles.) :popcorn:

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rjpb

rjpb

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I've never actually been there, but Geoffrey's Comics in Gardena lists a lot of Gold through Bronze on ebay, and at what look like reasonable prices ( and I'm sure you could probably bargain in person). The original owner has passed away, but was a character, and I used to pick up cool stuff from him back in the 90s at the LA Sci-Fi and comic conventions.

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rjpb

rjpb

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Blastoff has some really nice older books, though the ones I looked at were priced at the top of FMV.

 

House of Secrets gets a steady flow, mostly low-mid grade late Silver and Bronze for the older stuff, but some GA through early SA now and then. They have an excellent selection of trades as well. The tend to ballpark price and grade using OSPG, which means some books are a great value, some not so much. The well priced material moves out fairly quickly.

 

They don't actually list grades, but you can largely tell what they were thinking by price. The nice thing is they take an automatic 20% off listed price if they know you, and probably if they don't, and if you're buying a number of books, you can probably get an even better deal.

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jmg3637

jmg3637

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Just stopped by Blastoff comics the other day.

 

My wife and I were right by there and I sorta dragged her in.

 

We both commented how the store was the cleanest and least cluttered store we had ever been into.

 

It appeared that the woman at the store was the owner and was very knowledgeable and nice.

 

Best selection of Golden Age Batman I have ever seen in a local store.

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RockMyAmadeus

RockMyAmadeus

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Blastoff has some really nice older books, though the ones I looked at were priced at the top of FMV.

 

House of Secrets gets a steady flow, mostly low-mid grade late Silver and Bronze for the older stuff, but some GA through early SA now and then. They have an excellent selection of trades as well. The tend to ballpark price and grade using OSPG, which means some books are a great value, some not so much. The well priced material moves out fairly quickly.

 

They don't actually list grades, but you can largely tell what they were thinking by price. The nice thing is they take an automatic 20% off listed price if they know you, and probably if they don't, and if you're buying a number of books, you can probably get an even better deal.

 

The problem with House of Secrets is that they don't care about restored books and/or damaged books (missing coupons, missing pages, etc.) I bought a Hulk #181 with CT (unusually, in the brown area in the bottom right front cover), and an Avengers #1 that eventually graded 5.5...with a 5th wrap married.

 

:facepalm:

 

They had a Justice League of America #2, and when I pointed out to the (asst?) manager, Eric, that there was an ad page missing, he shrugged, didn't care, and put it right back in the case, at the same price.

 

They just don't care, because they don't have to. And because they don't care, they have become a dumping ground for problem books. So, if you go there, be very, very, VERY careful, and check everything thoroughly.

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kinzebac

kinzebac

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Just stopped by Blastoff comics the other day.

 

My wife and I were right by there and I sorta dragged her in.

 

We both commented how the store was the cleanest and least cluttered store we had ever been into.

 

It appeared that the woman at the store was the owner and was very knowledgeable and nice.

 

Best selection of Golden Age Batman I have ever seen in a local store.

 

Detective Comics or just Batman?

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kinzebac

kinzebac

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I think that they were all Batman. at least a dozen on display, mostly locked in a display case.

 

I must admit since I ma not in the market for either title I did not really study the books

 

Thanks for the heads-up. I will have to give them a call. (thumbs u

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comicgrinder

comicgrinder

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I've never actually been there, but Geoffrey's Comics in Gardena lists a lot of Gold through Bronze on ebay, and at what look like reasonable prices ( and I'm sure you could probably bargain in person). The original owner has passed away, but was a character, and I used to pick up cool stuff from him back in the 90s at the LA Sci-Fi and comic conventions.

this is a great place to get deals! good selection. Also Golden Apple Comics, and comic bug has a small case of books great guys who run the place.

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AmazingSaul

AmazingSaul

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You guys are forgetting or do not know of the biggest of them all.

 

The Frank and sons collectible show. It's opened only on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

 

It's a gigantic warehouse with collectibles of all types and mostly comics. I've purchased AF15s, FF1, Incredible Hulk 1 etc... From there. The dealers have all the comics from different years. Last week one dealer had a AC252 maybe around a VF-?

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white_rushin

white_rushin

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Agreed. Frank and Sons is frustrating nowadays. Luckily I'm around 20 minutes away from them so it doesn't take too much out of my day to stop by on a Wednesday and see what new inventory some of the dealers have brought in.

 

I think the key is to become well-acquainted with a vendor there who will let you know when new collections come in. At the least, when they have unpriced collections, they'll let you gander beforehand. That should be common knowledge to all of you though. I was able to get my TTA35 that way.

 

I also got my DD1 for cheap a month ago from Frank and Sons so maybe it isn't that bad...

 

Personally, I think the best shop in Southern California is Earth 2 Comics hands down. Carr is an amazing dude who prices nice books to sell. Everything is in Mylar and he buys collections frequently. It's like Blastoff comics except cheaper. He's one of the only guys I know that'll take 30% off his wall books during sales like Black Friday. I was able to get a decent Green Lantern #76 this year for under $100 because of that.

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