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MacheteF7
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  • Posted: August 27, 2018 7:59:38 am
  • I was maybe 10 years old back in the 80's and I had a small stack of comic books that I loved to read and look at. I'm not sure where I got them or if I even bought them myself but I do remember a specific book that I loved. I read it a lot and it was a great issue.

    One day I decided that I wanted to sell them all at my local comic book shop and get some new ones to mix it up. I remember going into the shop and being very nervous as I was young and certainly didn't know anything about wheeling and dealing, bartering and dickering. The guy looked them over and offered me I want to say $1.25 for them all and of course I said yes and took the money and left. I remember leaving the store and being upset at myself for saying yes and then getting in the car and my dad asking me how much I got. I told him and he couldn't believe I took it. I felt like saying, "well next time come in and help maybe?! I'm 10 and obviously don't know what the I'm doing!" Lol

    Years later in my teens I realized what that favorite comic of mine actually was.
    It was a great issue of the Hulk battling a yeti looking creature named Wendigo and some new guy with claws in a yellow costume. Yup, you know it, it was Incredible Hulk #181. I think at the time it was worth maybe $175. I never said anything to the guy as I got older and frequented his shop, I kind of wish I would have asked him how he liked swindling a 10 year old kid. Oh well...what can you do right? Life lesson I suppose.

    Anyone else have any stories about their local comic shop whether they are good or bad? Or stories of great finds maybe just not at the expense of a 10 year old kid??

    Last edited August 27, 2018 2:36:33 pm
    nem·e·sis
    noun
    A righteous infliction of retribution manifested by an appropriate agent
Rapha1978
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  • Posted: August 27, 2018 9:16:19 am
  • Sorry to hear you had to learn that lesson that way. I really despise people who take advantage of others. I've been to a lot of good comic books shops and some really bad ones too. When I first started reading comics at a young age we didn't even have comic book shops. They were sold at drug stores and gas stations on a spinning rack. And they were cheap back then too, mainly I think because they were printed on newsprint. The first time I saw a comic shop it was in the early 80s at a local indoor flea market. The guy who started it later leased out a place in town and that's when I started seeing comics bagged and boarded for the first time. The 80s was a great time to collect and Marvel and DC had some really great talent.
    We strike hard and fade away into the night
MacheteF7
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  • Posted: August 27, 2018 11:05:04 am
  • Rapha1978 said:
    Sorry to hear you had to learn that lesson that way. I really despise people who take advantage of others. I've been to a lot of good comic books shops and some really bad ones too. When I first started reading comics at a young age we didn't even have comic book shops. They were sold at drug stores and gas stations on a spinning rack. And they were cheap back then too, mainly I think because they were printed on newsprint. The first time I saw a comic shop it was in the early 80s at a local indoor flea market. The guy who started it later leased out a place in town and that's when I started seeing comics bagged and boarded for the first time. The 80s was a great time to collect and Marvel and DC had some really great talent.


    I remember the spinning racks at the local supermarkets and such. Those were the good old days for sure. Thanks for sharing!

    I have so many questions about that issue I sold back then. Like, how and where did I get it? What kind of shape was it in when I sold it? How much did that guy sell it for after he robbed me? It is from 1974 which means it was around for 15 years or so before I got it and I don't ever remember buying comics from a comic book store so I must have either gotten it from a friend or relative perhaps? Or was it sitting in some local general store unknowingly priced at $175 and I bought it for a quarter?? Anyway, I don't have a lot of high dollar books so this one just sticks with me that's all.
    nem·e·sis
    noun
    A righteous infliction of retribution manifested by an appropriate agent
Rapha1978
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  • Posted: August 27, 2018 11:44:11 am
  • Well if it makes you feel any better, when I left home at 17 for the first time I was only able to take a few belongings with me to college. My parents thought I outgrew comics and I had left some in the garage in a box. These were mostly Marvel and DC's from the late 70s and early 80s. So one weekend they had a garage sale and sold them off at something like 15 cents each. I found out about it when I was back for fall break and oh well, just had to shrug it off. I do know there were a lot of X-Men and Amazing-Spider-Man issues sold. I think one was definitely Black Cat's first appearance. Luckily they did not find my other comics which I had kept in the attic and still have with me today.
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MacheteF7
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  • Posted: August 27, 2018 12:12:19 pm
  • Rapha1978 said:
    Well if it makes you feel any better, when I left home at 17 for the first time I was only able to take a few belongings with me to college. My parents thought I outgrew comics and I had left some in the garage in a box. These were mostly Marvel and DC's from the late 70s and early 80s. So one weekend they had a garage sale and sold them off at something like 15 cents each. I found out about it when I was back for fall break and oh well, just had to shrug it off. I do know there were a lot of X-Men and Amazing-Spider-Man issues sold. I think one was definitely Black Cat's first appearance. Luckily they did not find my other comics which I had kept in the attic and still have with me today.


    Parents just don't understand
    nem·e·sis
    noun
    A righteous infliction of retribution manifested by an appropriate agent
Canuck
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  • Posted: August 27, 2018 1:09:45 pm
  • To be fair, did anyone think comics would be collectible?
    I know I didn't back in the 70's when I was buying books off the spinner rack at the local pharmacy, confectionary and even the hardware store. I read my comics until the covers started falling off and even put my initials on the cover with a pen or marker so when I lent them to my friends to read I would get mine back and they all did the same, I still have some of these still in my collection...they're not worth a lot now but they mean a lot to me when I look at them now.
    I remember one summer we set up a tent in the backyard for a week or so and I lived out there reading comics all day long. One day I went swimming for the afternoon, I got back home to find my mom had thrown a whole box into the burning barrel and set them on fire as she thought she was just cleaning up my mess. Lost a lot of books from the early 70's.

    Last edited August 27, 2018 1:14:09 pm
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MacheteF7
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  • Posted: August 27, 2018 1:32:54 pm
  • Canuck said:
    To be fair, did anyone think comics would be collectible?
    I know I didn't back in the 70's when I was buying books off the spinner rack at the local pharmacy, confectionary and even the hardware store. I read my comics until the covers started falling off and even put my initials on the cover with a pen or marker so when I lent them to my friends to read I would get mine back and they all did the same, I still have some of these still in my collection...they're not worth a lot now but they mean a lot to me when I look at them now.


    That's a good point. We looked at things a lot differently when we were kids. That reminds me of the stories my dad used to tell me of putting his old Mantle, Mays, Dimaggio, etc, baseball cards in the spokes of his bicycle tires lol. If he/we only knew then...
    nem·e·sis
    noun
    A righteous infliction of retribution manifested by an appropriate agent
mrhan1
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  • Posted: August 27, 2018 2:17:19 pm
  • This happened to me a couple of years ago. I was at a comic book store in Oahu called Gecko's. I saw an old issue of Justice League that had Neal Adam's artwork in it (#94). I already had a mint copy at home but this one was really nice. I'd say 8.0+ and the price that was attached to the mylar said $20. Looks like it's been sitting for awhile since it isn't really a hot issue or anything. I bought it to the counter and was ready to pay for it. The old guy behind the counter looked at and said hold on. He actually went to his computer and looked it up. A few minutes later he said it would cost me $50 bucks. WTF?!! The a-hole said that was the current value. I said forget it and walked out. Never went back there again.
MacheteF7
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  • Posted: August 27, 2018 2:52:33 pm
  • mrhan1 said:
    This happened to me a couple of years ago. I was at a comic book store in Oahu called Gecko's. I saw an old issue of Justice League that had Neal Adam's artwork in it (#94). I already had a mint copy at home but this one was really nice. I'd say 8.0+ and the price that was attached to the mylar said $20. Looks like it's been sitting for awhile since it isn't really a hot issue or anything. I bought it to the counter and was ready to pay for it. The old guy behind the counter looked at and said hold on. He actually went to his computer and looked it up. A few minutes later he said it would cost me $50 bucks. WTF?!! The a-hole said that was the current value. I said forget it and walked out. Never went back there again.


    So I see this a little differently. I understand your frustration as that has happened to me as well but I get why the guy is doing it. It is impossible for a store owner to keep up on current prices of thousands of comics and if something has been sitting around for years and marked as an old price I don't see the harm in the guy updating it on the spot. Although it is unfortunate for the consumer. This is why my local store has a sign on his wall stating that "back issue prices are subject to change". The thing I DON'T like about what my local guy does is that he tends to use prices based on what people are selling on eBay which in my opinion is not accurate at all. I will do my research and look up a price of a book on multiple sites so I know roughly what it is worth, say $10. He will go on eBay and say, "this one is selling for $25 and here is another for $30". Then he will try to charge me $25 or something similar. But nobody is paying those prices dude, there are no bids. I can put anything on eBay with any price I want but if nobody is paying it, it's because it's not worth that and you're to high. It's frustrating.
    nem·e·sis
    noun
    A righteous infliction of retribution manifested by an appropriate agent
Tenzil
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  • Posted: August 28, 2018 2:24:12 am
  • So this isn't precisely a great deal or get ripped off story but it was undoubtedly my favorite moment in my LCS so it has to count, right? One day in early 1987 I was at Talking Illustrations in New Westminster, BC, picking up my comics. Terry, the owner, would occasionally bring in local artists or writers, usually smaller time or starting out guys, and usually without much fanfare. I did not know he was bringing in a young artist that day but was pleased to meet him. The guy had worked for DC for a couple of years and had just switched over to Marvel. I got him to sign my copy of the Daredevil story he had penciled, and was quite pleased to get it (no charge, btw). There was no one else in the shop but the three of us, and for the next fifteen minutes he regaled Terry and I with the story of how he had just finished penciling an issue of G.I. Joe and sent the pages in when his phone rang and Larry Hama was on the line reaming him out! He told the artist, I thought you were supposed to be good, I thought you knew what you were doing, and proceeded to spend the next hour telling the artist everything that was wrong with his work! It was a real eye opener into some things about the business and how it works, for me, and I really enjoyed listening to him. It was a wonderful experience and just sitting and talking to him about comics cemented me as a lifelong fan of Todd McFarlane, long before he went to work on the Hulk, Spider-Man or Spawn.

    PS: I'm sorry but unless Gecko's had a sign like you mention, MacheteF7, I am with Mr. Han on that one. Totally unprofessional imo.

    Last edited August 28, 2018 2:25:19 am
    Tenzil
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