Comics Off-the-Rack - Your first Issues!

[THUNDERSTRIKE]

Man, I wasn't alive then but I wish I could go back and experience that. Comic book vending machines? That sounds awesome! Its so scary to think that I existed for only about 21 years…

I know, it was really weird... it was the one and only vending machine in a tiny local Jewel's store back around 1967 or so that I EVER saw... I never saw it ANYWHERE else before or after... maybe it was a prototype comic book dispenser of a sort that maybe just didn't work out... but it looked so cool, though... I never forgot it and I STILL remember exactly how it looked...

you youngster, YOU... you missed growing up in the PERFECT time in the early to late 60's, when all sorts of good s**t was happening at Marvel and when the Marvel universe first started and was growing and developing... those were REALLY primo years... Marvel had it's Silver Age magic from 1961 to 1969... and those were the years when I was in first grade up until first year high school...

ah, but here I go, I'm nostalgia-sizing again... t:

 

[Spider-Gnome]

Yeah, the vending machine doesn't sound familiar. Like you older guys, it was the old spinner racks at the the newsstand. It wasn't until the mid-80's that I saw a comic book store, the first of which I saw was Forbidden Planet in the city (That's New York City for those not in the NY Metropolitan area).

The three in a bag stuff I saw at drug stores in the magazine sections. Got a few Kamandi comics that way.

 

[Picard Sisko]

Oh, I love Forbidden Planet. I go there frequently to check out their collection.

 

[THUNDERSTRIKE]

Yeah, the vending machine doesn't sound familiar. Like you older guys, it was the old spinner racks at the the newsstand. It wasn't until the mid-80's that I saw a comic book store, the first of which I saw was Forbidden Planet in the city (That's New York City for those not in the NY Metropolitan area).

The three in a bag stuff I saw at drug stores in the magazine sections. Got a few Kamandi comics that way.

I remember back around 1974 or so, when I went to my local drug store to pick up the latest comics... I walked in and the comics shelves were all covered with magazines and no comics at all... so I asked the owner where were the comics... he said they weren't gonna sell 'em any more... needless to say, I was shocked and stunned after picking them up there for almost 15 years... I quickly went over to two other drug stores where I picked up comics, in case the other drug store had sold out of whatever I was looking for... those two places told me the same thing and THAT'S when I freaked... where was I gonna get my comics?... back then, there were no other sources that I knew about...

that was the time that I started working at I had to go into the city and THAT'S where I saw comics on newstands where newspapers and magazines and racing forms and classified ads magazines were sold... so for two years or so, I got my comics that way, until I saw my very first comic shop in the Downtown Chicago Loop... a pretty decent store run by two real pricks, Frank Kraft and his smarmy smartass second-in-command... and from then on back around '76 or so, that's how I got started with comic shops... he eventually folded and I've run thru several shops and now it's Graham Crackers comics just off Michigan Avenue in the Loop...

 

[Themanofbat]

In 1979 or 1980, I had been enjoying Micronauts since issue #1, and at the end of #37, it stated that the only way I could keep getting them was through "direct sales" only (or subscription). Ka-Zar & Moon Knight were the other books going that route... and I couldn't afford the annual fees, nor did I trust the postal system... so I stopped reading a book I loved... until the summer of 1982 when I walked by Johnson's Books... the first comic shop to ever open up in the area.... bought all my missing back issues...

 

[Spider-Gnome]

I remember back around 1974 or so, when I went to my local drug store to pick up the latest comics... I walked in and the comics shelves were all covered with magazines and no comics at all... so I asked the owner where were the comics... he said they weren't gonna sell 'em any more... needless to say, I was shocked and stunned after picking them up there for almost 15 years... I quickly went over to two other drug stores where I picked up comics, in case the other drug store had sold out of whatever I was looking for... those two places told me the same thing and THAT'S when I freaked... where was I gonna get my comics?... back then, there were no other sources that I knew about...

that was the time that I started working at I had to go into the city and THAT'S where I saw comics on newstands where newspapers and magazines and racing forms and classified ads magazines were sold... so for two years or so, I got my comics that way, until I saw my very first comic shop in the Downtown Chicago Loop... a pretty decent store run by two real pricks, Frank Kraft and his smarmy smartass second-in-command... and from then on back around '76 or so, that's how I got started with comic shops... he eventually folded and I've run thru several shops and now it's Graham Crackers comics just off Michigan Avenue in the Loop...

Wow, 76? I did not know they had comic book stores back then!

Yes, I started buying Spider-Man comics in 73 from a drug store/newsstand. Then, around 75, a newsstand opened in super market strip mall near me that I could ride a bike to with a friend and started to buy my comics there.

Also around the mid 70's, my friend and I stumbled into a store that we didn't know what it was. Anyway, my friend had went ahead further in the store and he came running back with a comic book in a clear bag with an outrageous price on it, probably something like $5.00. Anyway, I looked at it and I suddenly realized, Oh my God, it's an OLD comic book! Thus, I dubbed the store the old comic book store and began collecting back issues!

In the late 70's I started subscribing. I stopped getting comics for a bit in high school. Got back to buying when MJ came back and Hobgoblin appeared. Went back to subscribing.

Discovered Forbidden Planet when I was in college. I got the back issues I missed in high school. After college was when I started buying from nearby comic book stores, while subscribing to Amazing. Thing was, the comic book stores got the issues before I got them from my subscriptions.

With the reveal in the Clone Saga, I let my subscription run out. But, like a sucker, I still bought them from the comic book store hoping they would reverse it (which of course they did).

 

[THUNDERSTRIKE]

I remember if I wanted to get old back issues around the late 60's, me an my friend would hop on the bus and go into the city and take a short walk to the only back issue comic store around that we knew of... it was called Acme Book Store, located on Clark Street, just off of Hubbard Street... the place was owned by some lady named Sam LaChappelle, who always had her husky dog laying around along with her really OLD assistant named Noah, who we called Beetle-Brain... he actually looked like a Ditko-drawn Terrible Tinkerer character come to life, LOL... Sam actually had a metal nameplate on her desk in the store that identified her as a 'comicologist'... I used to get back issues of Amazing for anywhere between a buck and 10 bucks, no more... I filled a lot of gaps back in the first 25 issues or so at bargain prices... at least to ME, back then, they were bargain prices and in damn good shape... I remember one of the people that frequented the place was Roger Ebert, who was just a brand new reporter for the Chicago Sun-Times before he became famous as a film critic... eventually, the shop, which was in kinduva skid row area, closed up and Sam moved to California... that had to be around '73 or '74... man, I miss that place bigtime...

and yeah, Frank Kraft's comic shop was the very first of it's kind that I ever heard of back in '76 0r '77... when I first walked in that Friday afternoon after work, I just looked in, stared with a dumb look of awestruck on my face and just went "holy s**t... dayum... nothin' but NEW comics"... I was in hog heaven and from then on, my comics supply was assured... t:

but before then, there WAS one other source that I tried for about a year to get my comics and that was thru a mail-order place in Canada, I believe, called Styx, which sucked, as they placed bagged comics in a burlap bag and mailed it to you that way... needless to say, the comics you got were FAR from mint condition... grrrr... thank god for the coming of the comic shop back then...

 

[Will Nolte]

In the early 2000s I found the Death of Gwen Stacy ASM in fine condition at a pawn shop. Bought it for a buck.

In the Mid 90s just up the street from that pawn shop I first walked into Kingman's most famous Comics and Card shop, KJ's. I was looking for back issues. Found the original 3 part Carnage storyline that the shop owner hadn't priced yet. The owners wife was there and she said "well he hasn't priced them so you can have them for cover price." At that time those books were selling for pretty good money (it was just before Maximum Carnage started).

 

[Picard Sisko]

I want to travel back in time and buy all these rare comic books for their cover prices and bring them back to the future in mint condition.

 

[THUNDERSTRIKE]

I want to travel back in time and buy all these rare comic books for their cover prices and bring them back to the future in mint condition.

I'll be going back in time and picking up multiple copes of Action Comics #1, bag 'n board 'em right then and there and then it's back to the future in my '57 Chevy BelAir... t:

 

[Picard Sisko]

Imagine that horrible feeling of knowing you owned Action Comics #1 back in the day and threw it out?

 

[Nicko-Ray]

I want to travel back in time and buy all these rare comic books for their cover prices and bring them back to the future in mint condition.

Lol. Everyone's dream. Seriously. AF15, ASM 1-10. Geez.

 

[Picard Sisko]

Lol. Everyone's dream. Seriously. AF15, ASM 1-10. Geez.

I wish…

 

[THUNDERSTRIKE]

Lol. Everyone's dream. Seriously. AF15, ASM 1-10. Geez.

up until three years ago, I HAD those, but I hadda unload 'em cause my financial situation was in kind of a bad place...

 

[Nicko-Ray]

I wish…

I personally would like ASM #9, ASM #13, and Annual #1

up until three years ago, I HAD those, but I hadda unload 'em cause my financial situation was in kind of a bad place...

Dude I understand. I'm selling a bunch of my music stuff right now (I don't play much anymore anyway) due to finances. It's tough.

That's awesome you had them though.

 

[THUNDERSTRIKE]

I personally would like ASM #9, ASM #13, and Annual #1


Dude I understand. I'm selling a bunch of my music stuff right now (I don't play much anymore anyway) due to finances. It's tough.

That's awesome you had them though.

it was REALLY tough to give 'em up, as I had 'em since the late '60's, when I was doing the back issue thing back then to fill up and complete the beginnings of the collection...

I figure the next best thing to having the actual issues is having the ASM Omnibus Vol 1... somethin's better than nothin'...

 

[Nicko-Ray]

it was REALLY tough to give 'em up, as I had 'em since the late '60's, when I was doing the back issue thing back then to fill up and complete the beginnings of the collection...

I figure the next best thing to having the actual issues is having the ASM Omnibus Vol 1... somethin's better than nothin'...

Aw man. That's a bummer. Wow late 60s you collected them? Rad. I say you go get them again haha

 

[Themanofbat]

I'm still very fortunate to have ASM #1 to 700, with all the Annuals... as well as every other Spider-Man on-going... started collection in 1978.

The ONLY book I'm missing (and will probably never get due to escalating prices) is AF #15.

 

[Picard Sisko]

I'm still very fortunate to have ASM #1 to 700, with all the Annuals... as well as every other Spider-Man on-going... started collection in 1978.

The ONLY book I'm missing (and will probably never get due to escalating prices) is AF #15.

Well I have to applaud you for being so dedicated for collecting all of these issues of Amazing Spider-Man…

Did you collect other tie-ins as well? Spectacular Spider-Man for example?

 

[THUNDERSTRIKE]

Aw man. That's a bummer. Wow late 60s you collected them? Rad. I say you go get them again haha

what, sell those issues and get the money to help alleviate my financial situation and then go out and RE-acquire them?!?...

WHATTAYA, NUTS?!?...

when I first got those back issues around the late sixties, those issues only ran me from between a buck to ten bucks... I've seen those prices those issues command now... AW HELL NO...

seriously though, I WISH, but if I DID get 'em back again, I'd be defeating my own purpose of trying to get myself out of that financial hole... I get those issues again and I'm back in it again... I may have stabilized that situation by unloading 'em, but it didn't get any better beyond that, just made it more easier for me...

no thanks, the Omnibus will do quite nicely as having the next best thing to the originals...

 

[THUNDERSTRIKE]

I'm still very fortunate to have ASM #1 to 700, with all the Annuals... as well as every other Spider-Man on-going... started collection in 1978.

The ONLY book I'm missing (and will probably never get due to escalating prices) is AF #15.

Well I have to applaud you for being so dedicated for collecting all of these issues of Amazing Spider-Man…

Did you collect other tie-ins as well? Spectacular Spider-Man for example?

up until my selling those issues, I also had 'em all... Team-ups, Spectaculars, Webs, Tangled Webs, Webspinners, all of his other titles that I've forgotten about, as well as annuals, one-shots... pretty much the whole schmeer of books... I still have them, but it's that first beginning run of issues that I DON'T have any longer... it's heartbreaking when you collect an entire run of your favorite character's titles since the late sixties and then you're forced to give 'em up...

ESPECIALLY when it's those first cherry issues...

 

[Nicko-Ray]

what, sell those issues and get the money to help alleviate my financial situation and then go out and RE-acquire them?!?...

WHATTAYA, NUTS?!?...

when I first got those back issues around the late sixties, those issues only ran me from between a buck to ten bucks... I've seen those prices those issues command now... AW HELL NO...

seriously though, I WISH, but if I DID get 'em back again, I'd be defeating my own purpose of trying to get myself out of that financial hole... I get those issues again and I'm back in it again... I may have stabilized that situation by unloading 'em, but it didn't get any better beyond that, just made it more easier for me...

no thanks, the Omnibus will do quite nicely as having the next best thing to the originals...

Haha! But it would be pretty right if you had them again though. Despite if they cost $500-$1000 an issue. I get it.

How long ago did you sell them?

And man, $1 to $10?! Jesus. How was the condition on these?

 

[Themanofbat]

When I bought ASM # 3 to #20 in 1984, I paid a total of $250... $30 for the most expensive issue , which was #3...

 

[Themanofbat]

And THAT was a bucket load of money back then... my parents thought I was nuts...

 

[Nicko-Ray]

^ Gah that's awesome. I would spend that kinda money nowadays for those issues. Who wouldn't?