How you obtained your comic books as a kid?

[HardyGirl]

A) They were given to you
B) Subscriptions
C) You bought them yourself at a corner store, news stand, etc.

Discuss...

[Wolverine1969]

Great thread! I got mine (had them bought for me) from the local drug store on the square in my home town. There was a standing rack that I picked them from.

[The Toyroom]

Usually a newstand (shout out to LaGatta's, Manning's, Sanzone's) or a drug store (Carls). Carls had a spinner rack of polybagged 3-packs. Loved the Marvel but shied away from the DC because the majority of the time they had the "Whitman" label. (You weren't cool if you read Whitman DC).

Also got coverless comics for a dime a piece at the corner store near my great-grandmother's house. Aw yeah, black market funny books!

[bgrimm77]

I used to buy mine at Shur Fine variety , also a strong supporter of Marvel titles , and ChildWorld. ChildWorld carried D.C. , but they were also the Whitmans

[toys2cool]

got my first ones at a flea market then a local shop

[Blackkryptonite]

like toys2cool, I got my first comic at a local flea market. Good times.

[StrangeVisitor]

The whole thing started when my Grandmother gave me a bunch of comics that been my Aunt Beth's....without her permission. Beth had already read all these issues of The Fantastic Four, Thor, & Sub-Mariner (among others) and they were a few years old, besides she'd be heading off to school soon. Now they were mine, ALL MINE! HAHAHAHA!
Soon, when we went grocery shopping at Myer's Food Rite or the drug store I now had something new to ask for besides Ugly Stickers & candy cigarettes: COMICS! Kamandi? CanIgetit? World's Finest? CanIgetit!? Uncle Scrooge? CanIgetit?!! Astonishing Tales? GIMME!
At recess in school, I'd get together with friends Kevin & Tom and we'd dump a pile of comics out of our bookbags, see what the other guys had, maybe do a little swapping. Hulk for Shanna? No way, she's a girl! Gimme Iron Man!

[BlackKnight]

7-11 ..., and Trades I got from Family and Parents for X-mas' and Bdays,.. later on, I dunno where they got them... then when I was about 14, we moved here,.. and then there was always a Comicshop somewhere's ...

[kingdom warrior]

Classic Newstand underneath the Elevated trains in Brooklyn.......If you ever see the movie Ghost with Demi Moore the scene where the Demons come out of the ground to get Willie Lopez.....That's my old neighborhood the Newstand was off to the side from that......

It was run by an Italian couple who were fond of me and every Saturday they held my stash of books. In 78 I had an accident and needed 24 stitches in my leg. When they heard I got hurt and couldn't come by he personally delivered a giant stack of comics for me to read while i healed from my injury.....

[megalomaniac001]

My first comic was bought for me by my mom at the local grocery store. It was GI Joe #1 (I still have it in way less than mint condition!) Soon, I would stop by the comic rack at the local grocery store and buy my own. My first superhero comic was Fantastic Four. It was printed sideways, and caught my eye. After that, I was hooked. I had a couple of subscriptions, but they always came damaged. I eventually found a record store that had a comic rack. They had the comic shop editions and would get the new issues before the grocery store. By the time they closed (darn CD's!) I was driving and found a comic book shop that received the majority of my allowance for many years.

[Werewolf]

Got them at a grocery store.

[bleit1701]

I got mine from Drugs stores at first, later at a local book store. They had two spinning racks. Early on I had a subscription to Superman, Superboy & the Legion and Worlds Finest. It was so exciting to get them in the mail. I can still tell which ones they are from the subscription crease.
We were camping at a place that had a general store type place in it. They had Phantom, Ghost Manor, that type of stuff. It was my first exposure to them so it was a cool find.
There was also a party store near by that had the coverless comics.
Eventually I found the Comic Book Price guide and through it a local comic shop. You know what he had there? Boxes and boxes of old comics! Blew my mind. What a concept. They were unbagged and he wrote the price in pencil on the back covers. Still have them and so I know which ones they are too.

Good question. Thanks for the memories.

[Sideshow Spock]

My friends and I used to ride our bikes over to the local comic shop, which was barely big enough to fit five people in at one time. We got to be friends with the owner, and he had our "bags" waiting for us on release day. Great kid memories.

He pointed us all towards the first edition of Eastman and Laird's TMNT when it came out. I think he only got in about 10 of them, and my friends and I accounted for half. We couldn't believe how cool it was.

Several years later, when I was a senior in HS, I sold my edition back to him to help pay for my senior prom. I think I got about $70 for it. Then a year later, the TMNT cartoon hit.

Oops.

[david_b]

AH.., nice thread idea.

I lived on a farm, so it was taking trips into town for grocery shopping with my parents, so other than there, they used to take me on 2-3wk road trips across country, so basically at ANY gas station, I'd run in and search. Typically mangled to some degree, but such gems in the early '70s like Spidey and FF.

Shortly later, moving into town, a local small bookshop/antique store, a pharmacy store, and Shopko (Wisconsin, remember..). Shopko used to sell them in baggies of 3 for 49cents or so, but most of the bags were always open, so you had to do the ol' switcheroo for the best titles.

It's how I got my Spiderman 122.

That small bookshop was funny..: It basically had antiques and old store stock in the back. Untouched boxes of Foreign GI Joes (I was only into Captain Action then.., IF I HAD ONLY BEEN INTERESTED..). I'd be in there WEEKLY to get the latest comics, typically I'd show up when the opened, while the new arrivals were still bundled in string, just off the truck, and I'd stand there waiting for them to cut open the bundle (pushy lil' kid, I know..).

One time I was scoping through a comic and one of the elderly owners came up and said 'This isn't a library, y'know'.., which really irked me, since for regular customers, I was probably one of the few.

It's funny now, but the place folded within a year or two anyways. This was 1973.. Wonder what happened to all that old GI JOE shelf stock??

david_b

[thunderbolt]

Tyner's Drug Store, Toluca Illinois.