Jim Cornette, of all people, was talking about the history of Diamond, and it got me to thinking that I don't remember the name of the first dedicated comic book store that I ever saw. I'm pretty sure that I saw my first one in the early 1980's, but that I was still buying my comics during my college years (1981-1985) from newsstands and small independent bookstores of the sort that seem to be nearly extinct. I used to go to branches of Newbury Comics, a chain that still exists - there's one up to the Smithhaven Mall that's kind of a hassle to get to, but which I sometimes go to if my Local sells out of an issue that I want. They barely qualify as "comics stores" these days, since the comics are confined to a relatively small corner of the shop. I didn't really start going to comics stores regularly (i.e., every week on new comics day) until I got a car of my own. I'm lucky nowadays, since my Local is a like a fifteen minute walk from where I live.
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Oh, I know exactly when it was for me; it was more or less a knife-edge cut. I collected only three titles, via subscription, throughout junior high school. Just about the time those subscriptions ran out, I saw an ad for a comic book store in my school newspaper. The way I remember it is, I went in and bought basically one of everything, just to see what was new in the years I had been "away." The store's name was "The Fly By Night Fantasy Shop," which was generally referred to by one and all as "FBN." The name couldn't have been more ironic because, with it's main store on its fourth location and three other chains (at one point it was up to five brick-and-mortar locations), it is anything but. The name of the store eventually transitioned to "Fantasy Shop," the name by which it has been known now for years and years and years. Whenever I talk about the Fantasy Shop opemning up its legendary backroom for a quarter sale back in the '90s, this is the store I'm talking about. (the num,ber of comics I bought @ 25¢ back then is the reason I will never be caught up in my reading.) I have often joked (to myself) that I don't know how much money Dave (the owner) paid for that high school newspaper ad way back then, but he more than got his money's worth from me over the years.
The first comic shop I went to was before there were what we now know as comic shops. It was in Long Beach, California, and had no new or old comic books. What it had was soft cover reprints of newspaper strips and what was then available of that sort of thing. My ten-year absence between 1979 and 1988 caused me to miss the infancy of the LCS. When I attended the 1989 San Diego Con with my new wife, I bought my first comic in years, Legends of the Dark Knight #1.
I had lived in Azusa CA for several years. I discovered (probably thru a fan magazine) that an LCS was in the downtown area, owned by Ken Krueger, who I knew by reputation. He was one of the founders of the San Diego Con. What I didn’t know at the time was that he was one of the fans in 1938 that supported the first Science Fiction Con in New York. Here is his Wikipedia page.
He sold the LCS to Jean-Pierre Michelou and his wife Linda. When they made their first move to Glendora CA (before Gayle and I did), the store was renamed JPM Comics. We became good friends with the Michelous. Their hearts were devoted to music (him trumpet and sound, her percussion). I am still friends with Linda after we both lost our spouses. So far, the store is still called JPM Comics after it was purchased by the guy who had managed it for a while, Jason Cox, who has discussions with me and puts up with my meager pull list.
Drug store spinner racks were my source for comic books until early 1974 when I made what turned out to be my last comic book purchase from Arnolds Drugs located in the Northland shopping center in Southfield Michigan. Three years later one of the Detroit newspapers ran a story in its Sunday supplement about something called a "comic book shop" that had recently opened. Even though I wasn't currently buying comics, I still had an interest in the medium and I had to check out the store located just a few miles from where I lived.
One Saturday afternoon a buddy and I made our first trip to The Classic Movie and Comic Center. The front entrance was blocked off requiring you to use the rear entrance. Stepping through the door you could walk into the street level section which offered both movie memorabilia and used records or the other option was to head down a small staircase with super heroes painted on the walls which took you into the lower level comic book shop and science fiction bookstore.
The store was a dream come true - comic books, s-f books and used records - what more could you ask for. I got back into the comic reading habit solely because of that store. Although I would go through stops and starts in my comics reading Classic Movie and Comic Center would be my source for comics until it closed its doors in 2006 - nearly 30 years after they opened.
I discovered my first comic shop in Austin, Texas, when I attended UT 1979-81. I don't know what year, but probably the first one. Lone Star had a shop on "The Strip," a commercial strip along one side of the campus. I bought Avengers #4 there, but from another customer. She had brought it in to sell, but Lone Star wasn't interested for some reason, so I bought it. That was the last Avengers I was missing, so it was a pretty momentous day. When I returned to Memphis in 1981, I discovered that a used-record store on Highland -- "The Strip" next to University of Memphis, some things seem universal -- had re-branded as Memphis Comics and Records. Across the street was "Whatever," a head shop that sold comix. I bought my comics at MC&R until I moved to Panama City, Florida, in 1985. I went to the one comics shop there, but the owner was Comic Book Guy's cousin -- hairy, fat, smelly, disinterested and vaguely hostile. So I started buying from Westfield Comics. When I returned to Memphis, I discovered Memphis Comics and Records was out of business, but a former clerk there had opened his own shop, Comics and Collectibles. I still get most of my comics from C&C and Westfield.
The former clerk, now LCS owner, is named Ronnie Crumb. Yes, "R. Crum."
Growing up, my main source was Cloverleaf Pharmacy at Summer and White Station. (I lived on White Station.) I also bought all my paints, brushes and turpentine for building models there. I don't know the last time I bought comics there, and whenever it was I certainly didn't know it would be the last time. It might have been when I left for Vanderbilt in 1976, or when I spent a few semesters at U of M in 1978-79. I remember asking the girl behind the counter, who had gone to high school with me, out on a date. Which means it was after graduation. But how much after graduation I couldn't say.
Cloverleaf Shopping Center is still there, but the pharmacy is long gone, as are all the other stores in the center, replaced by other stores. There was a Big Star grocery, a Ben Franklin, the Food Fair (an odd, fast-food mall which had the layout of the skating rink it had replaced), my pediatrician's office and a mexican restaurant I liked called Pancho's -- all gone. Even the Super Kmart across the street is gone (I always went in there thinking, "Surely there's something in this gigantic store related to my hobbies," and there never was). Come to think of it, all of the mom & pop stores and the Walgreens on my "comic circuit" are gone, too. The head shops are gone as well, except for "Wizards," which has been around since 1977, but it no longer sells underground comix, so I have no reason to go in.
When I think of the counter girl -- we did go on that date, but just the one -- I remember her as a cute girl in her late teens. I just realized writing this that if she's still alive, she'd be an unrecognizable sixty-something. Just like me. I prefer, I think, to remember the cute girl. And she'd probably prefer to remember the young fella with a full head of hair.
Hmmm ... I first started buying comics as back issues from friendly neighborhood corner stores in Baltimore, Maryland -- at a dime each, sometimes coverless, sometimes not. I got a mix of stuff: superheroes, war. horror/mystery anthologies, Western, humor, sci-fi, Archie. I even still have some of those I bought then. I graduated to buying new comics from spinner racks at local drug stores, convenience stores and newsstands. I recall having to go hither and yon sometimes to find every issue of the titles I was interested in, because (and I didn't know this) distribution wasn't consistent.
I don't remember how, but I learned of a mom-and-pop comics store a couple miles or so from my house. Being without wheels of my own, I often found it simpler and faster to make the walk every Wednesday -- uphill, both ways! -- rather than take three transit buses miles out of the way to get there. I also remember occasionally having to evade vicious dogs. A trick I learned from my brother was to climb onto the roof of a nearby car; the animal was not adept enough to follow and eventually (eventually) would get bored and go away.
I usually got the new comics I was interested in, and two back issues of Weird Western Tales featuring Jonah Hex and then two back issues of Jonah Hex after the feature graduated to its own title, and two back issues of Our Army at War featuring Sgt. Rock, until I caught up with the then-current run. I even still have those comics.
I went back to that spot a couple years ago, but it was long gone. There is a pretty nice comics store on the same street a couple miles up the road that has a bargain basement of $1 comics, plus half-off graphic novels. pulp novels and other stuff. I only go there occasionally because my wallet can't take it if I go more frequently.
Some years later when I lived in Syracuse, New York, I sought out and found a comics shop called Dream Days and was a regular customer. Then when I lived in Orlando, Florida, I sought out and found a place called Enterprise 1701 that was more than just comics. Tomorrow, I'm going to a celebration for my current regular store in Washington, DC., Fantom Comics, which is marking 20 years -- and yes, that means I've been a customer about that long.