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Back Issues When You Were a Kid

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  • Marvelmania
    A Ray of Sunshine
    • Jun 17, 2001
    • 10392

    Back Issues When You Were a Kid

    How did you get any back issues when you were a kid? There were no stores at all around here that sold back issues then. My mother found a company out of one of my comics and ordered me a nice boxful. The companies name was Black Gold Comics. Not one of the larger ones you'll find advertising in comics but still I was in heaven! I remember making 2 more purchases from them. One my the things I remember most was going through their catalog and they had a Captain America #37 golden age comic for $42 and I thought they were out of their minds lol!!!!

    Any stories to share?
  • powersthatbe
    Persistent Member
    • Sep 27, 2010
    • 1959

    #2
    there used to be a guy who came to our mall once or twice a year during an antique and collectible(mostly sports stuff) showing and he brought a massive back issue collection of comics. Avengers was one book me and my brother were always looking for back issues to fill spots in our run.

    Comment

    • thunderbolt
      Hi Ernie!!!
      • Feb 15, 2004
      • 34211

      #3
      There was a once a year show in Peoria where I found a lot of Monster reprint comics from Marvel and stuff like Frankenstein, Deathlok etc
      You must try to generate happiness within yourself. If you aren't happy in one place, chances are you won't be happy anyplace. -Ernie Banks

      Comment

      • YoungOnce
        Career Member
        • Aug 29, 2007
        • 966

        #4
        1. Traded comics with school buddies and cousins.
        2. There was a used book store in town and my dad would take me and drop me off for an hour on Saturdays. In the back was a table with stacks of comics. You could trade books or magazines in and I'd bring in Reader's Digest, Redbook, Parent magazines and trade for Sgt Rock, The Witching Hour, Where Monsters Dwell, Ghost Rider, Batman Family, etc...
        3. A few times, I'd order catalogs from those places advertised in the comics and place orders with them. 8 to 10 weeks for delivery... jeesh!

        Comment

        • jwyblejr
          galactic yo-yo
          • Apr 6, 2006
          • 11141

          #5
          Yard sales mostly.

          Comment

          • rche
            channeling Bob Wills
            • Mar 26, 2008
            • 7383

            #6
            The only way I found old issues was in the Whitman 3-packs on the spinner racks in gas stations when my family went to visit relatives.

            Comment

            • Earth 2 Chris
              Verbose Member
              • Mar 7, 2004
              • 32498

              #7
              Mostly at the big outdoor flea market in the next town over. We had a "Burly Days" festival downtown and a guy set up each year for a few years with long boxes full of comics. Fist time I ever saw dedicated boards, bags and boxes. There were no comic shops in my area, that I knew of, anyway.

              Chris
              sigpic

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              • The Nawd
                Nawd your head for yes.
                • Feb 15, 2011
                • 339

                #8
                Yard sales and family friends mostly.

                Comment

                • Bruce Banner
                  HULK SMASH!
                  • Apr 3, 2010
                  • 4327

                  #9
                  Yeah, yard sales and also small stores that sold second hand books and stuff, mostly. Then in about 1983 I moved to a city that had a comic book store with a dedicated back issue section and I also started attending comic marts.
                  PUNY HUMANS!

                  Comment

                  • MRP
                    Persistent Member
                    • Jul 19, 2016
                    • 2036

                    #10
                    Virtually nonexistant. The only thing that came close were the polybagged three packs with issues from the past year or so of comics, or if a neighbor or friend of the family had comics in their house for kids or grandkids that outgrew them and gave them to our family for me. One time a local drug store chain had a huge lot of older comics (from about 2 years previous) that I think were an "off the back of a truck" special of stuff that was delivered when they originally came out but never got unbundled and put out for sale by the vendors and were technically returned for credit but never had their covers stripped and were "lost" before they were actually returned. They were 25 cent cover price comics and were being sold 5/$1 in a big unorganized bin (much like WalMArt throws their bargain DVDs in now). I got lucky and got to pick 5 one time when we were there (they were mostly Marvel reprint titles-MArvel Triple Action, Marvel Spectacular, Marvel Adventure etc. so they told even older stories).

                    The first inclination I had that older comics were even available anywhere was when I was 10-11 (circa 1979-80), just before we moved to a different state, when a couple of back issue dealers set up in the open square inside the local mall on a Saturday and my cousin went and told me about it and showed me the 3 comics he bought. I didn't actually see a back issue for sale until I was in high school and discovered a comic book shop circa 1983.

                    It's part of why I was so fascinated and interested in things like Origins and Son of Origins and the other Fireside Books, and late the Pocket Books collections that had reprints of older comic in them (as I put it, I was a very early adapter of the ide of trade paperbacks and collected editions and liked them even better than individual comics when I was a kid).

                    -M
                    "Opinion is the lowest form of human knowledge. It requires no accountability, no understanding." -Plato

                    Comment

                    • VintageMike
                      Permanent Member
                      • Dec 16, 2004
                      • 3376

                      #11
                      Early teens, we started getting comic stores so I would get them when I could. Some comic shows too. I actually convinced my parents to do the mail order thing once (don't remember from who) and was rewarded with a VF copy of Amazing Spider-man 43 that was as advertised. Still have it.

                      Comment

                      • Blue Meanie
                        Banned
                        • Jun 23, 2001
                        • 8706

                        #12
                        I was spoiled when it came to back issues. I started at 9 years old buying comics on a weekly basis back in 1978...had the good fortune of having one of the biggest/largest back issue dealers in New York literally a walk across the mall parking lot. The Batcave which later became Comic Heaven and then finally Long Island Comics. Some may know the name Comic Heaven from California or Texas. That was the brother of my original LCS shop. Also, back then we had probably 5 or 6 comic book shops on Long Island and cold just hop on the train and got to at least 5 - 10 comic shops in NYC. So yeah, I was pretty spoiled when it came to back issues.

                        Comment

                        • Brazoo
                          Permanent Member
                          • Feb 14, 2009
                          • 4767

                          #13
                          Once in a while if I was very lucky my mom would take me downtown to a comic shop like The Silver Snail and Dragon Lady — they were two of the bigger ones in Toronto and they had a bit of everything back to the golden age. I got my first Jack Kirby at Silver Snail — FF #60.

                          This would have been about 1982. There was convenience store in a small suburban mall near me that had back issues that went back a couple of years. I always wanted to do the mail order thing, but I never did and when I look back at the prices I kick myself.

                          Comment

                          • samurainoir
                            Eloquent Member
                            • Dec 26, 2006
                            • 18758

                            #14
                            I had to trade comics with the receptionist at the Doctor's office who encouraged trades to freshen up the selection there.

                            Flea Markets and used book stores were also a source until I finally got to go to Silver Snail in downtown Toronto around grade 7.
                            My store in the MEGO MALL!

                            BUY THE CAPTAIN CANUCK ACTION FIGURE HERE!

                            Comment

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