any good comic books stores in the Atlanta, GA area? 0

[thedude]

a buddy of mine is traveling through Atlanta soon and wants to know which comic book stores are worth a visit to.

he is mostly interested in back issues.

 

thanks.

[deadleg]

Is he going directly through Atlanta or is he willing to detour outside of Atlanta to some other shops?

[thedude]

directly through,  and also willing to detour outside around Atlanta area.

 

[deadleg]

For back issues I would recommend Odin's Comics in lilburn. Hopefully some other people can chime in. I've been trying to look for other shops in the Atlanta area that a decent back issue selection.  

[Martin Sinescu]

Most stores around here have scaled back their back issue selection. I generally quit shopping around years ago when the stores converted more towards trades and Magic tournaments to stay viable. It will depend on what type of back issues he's looking for, though, as my brother mainly targets modern stuff from the last 10-15 years and is generally able to find plenty. Further back than that, you have to figure most stores don't bother stocking a lot of 90's stuff because they burned it all for fuel during Snowpocalypse a few years back and stuff before the 90's is very hit-and-miss, mostly miss, as far as what they have in-house. If you could get to these guys' storage spaces, it would be gold as I know they're sitting on thousands of older books, but I think it all got boxed up after the crash and many haven't bothered to drag it back out. Most of what I know is north of "the perimeter", but it will all depend on which direction he's coming from. He should also keep in mind, if he's never been here before, traffic is heavy. It's takes a long time to get anywhere. And people here drive like suicide bombers.

• Dave's Comics & Collectibles has been the best I've found for pre-90's stuff. It's south of Atlanta and about an hour drive for me, so I rarely drift down there, but he's got piles and piles of stuff. When I went to the local comics convention a year or so ago, his was the only booth where I found anything and I hit it three times until I ran out of money (then I borrowed more money from a dealer friend and went back). I've been to his shop twice and been able to find good stuff. It's pretty big and disorganized, which is how I like it.
• Oxford Comics in Atlanta (which is actually in the city, not the surrounding 'burbs) is a remnant of what used to be the best bookstore in the history of ever. Oddly, the comic wing of it is all that's survived, but the last time I went a few years ago, they'd drastically reduced their back issue stock as they geared more toward pop culture and manga. 
• Book Nook was another one of my childhood haunts dating back to at least '82 or so. I haven't been in there for a while and it's about 90% used books, then a mixture of used CD's and some comics. I'm not sure if they even keep a back stock of comics anymore, it may just be used tpb's. They have two or three shops still. The one in Decatur is just on the outskirts of what is generally considered the city of "Atlanta", but that's the one I've been to most recently. I believe there's one west of the city, but I was there two or three years ago looking for used books and don't recall seeing much in the way of comics. The one in Lilburn is closest to the rest of the shops I'm going to list, but it's been over 10 years since I've been to that one. 
• Titan Games & Comics used to be another great go-to with four stores all over the North Metro Atlanta area when I was a kid, but they're down to two now. Decent back issue stock for modern stuff, but, again, if he's looking for pre-90's stuff, I don't think they're heavily-weighted towards that any more. Another former haunt of mine, I've been an occasional customer of the one in Duluth since the mid-80's.
• Galactic Quest is a good chain with two stores north of Atlanta, not too far from Titan. Back issue stock is pretty good at the location in Buford and they've got a pretty large store space. Titan and Galactic Quest would be fairly easy to hit if he's traveling along I-85 north of the city. Both of these shops are closed on Sunday, BTDubs.
• Rock Shop in Buford is in a big mall, but it's a stone's throw (or a rock's throw) away from Galactic Quest and, again, right off the highway. I looked through their back stock a few weeks ago and it wasn't actually bad, considering their limited space (being a mall shop, which is at least half music-related shirts and vinyl). Lots of Bronze stuff hiding away, nothing in primo condition, but stuff I actually considered buying. Not sure if they'll haggle on prices -- guess it depends on if you get the owner or just an employee. Across the street from that same mall is a Second & Charles. I went there for the first time a few weeks ago and was surprised by the amount of back issues they had. Selection ran through the 90's and into at least the mid-80's as well as having some current stuff.
• Odin's, which was mentioned previously, I haven't been to in decades (amazing how a bit of 'tude can discourage a customer), so I can't speak too much to what they have now. It was a pretty solid shop back in the 90's and they've survived this long (even without my business). While it is going to be a good 15-20 minutes off a major interstate, it is also in the same county as Titan, Galactic Quest, Rock Shop and it's not far from one branch of Book Nook (in Lilburn). Just hitting those five shops alone could take half a day or more (it's a big county!), but might be the most fruitful.

There are quite a few around the I-75 artery as that hits Marietta/Cobb County which is another major suburb. I believe the second iteration of Titan is around there and my brother has found a few other shops there which have borne fruit, but I haven't been out that way in years. I see tons of stores pop up with a quick google, but most I've never heard of and the ones I've listed generally have been around for at least 20 years (except Rock Shop), so they're going to have a better foundation of back issues. There's also Atlanta Classic Comics which may sound tempting, but they are online only, so disregard that as an actual store front where you can browse.

(wow, bulletpoints are so much easier on the new forum!!)

[thedude]

WOW! that's how you answer a post. LOL! thanks so much guys, I have relayed the info to my friend, thanks again. 

[deadleg]

You can hit the Book Nook in Lilburn and Odin's at the same time. They're only about 10 minutes apart from each other and I drive by both everyday going to and from work. Met the guy who runs the comic part of Book Nook at a con last year and I bought one of the few slabs he had for sale at his booth. I believe there's some bronze back issues that they keep in a display case you can ask to dig through at that location. Titan and Oxford are pretty much geared only to moderns now but I still like going into oxford every once in a while just to look through all the stuff they carry. You could get lucky at Rock Shop. They tend to have some silver and bronze books on their walls that are neat. Mom bought me an Avengers Annual 10 from there for Christmas for me a year ago. 

[thedude]

sweet! thanks for all the information. 

[deadleg]

Decided tot take a trip down to Dave's because I had nothin better to do. I can definitely vouch for Martin and say that his place his pretty awesome!