mknight
Fearless Defender
Posts: 34
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Post by mknight on Jan 15, 2014 15:55:02 GMT -5
But what annoys me the most is that something will be missing and they're SOLD OUT!... This is exactly what was happening to me, not on the list? Sorry, sold out! Thats why I went to Midtown. I can get on board with supporting your local comic book shop but not if they aren't supporting me I agree. And wouldn't you know, just went by the comic shop a little while ago and one book was missing from my pile! Grrrrrr.....
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Fugazi
Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.
R.W.S
Posts: 56
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Post by Fugazi on Jan 15, 2014 17:28:37 GMT -5
It sounds people have a real range of experiences from their respective LCS. Living in the Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill area, we have an embarrassment of riches with five dedicated comic shops in the area that I know of. What is even better is that two of these shops tend to have competing sales.
I actually used to have a subscription at two shops in the area, but recently changed it to just one due to budget. Each shop has its own strengths, with one shop in Chapel Hill doing a great job of collecting back issue runs on many titles and offering great deals, as well as featuring all-ages books. Another shop between Durham and Chapel Hill organizes an excellent comiccon, has a fantastic back issue selection, and often has creators do signings, like Kelly Sue DeConnick. Basically if you’re a comic book fan, you could do a lot worse than moving to the Triangle!
Hey I'm from NC too. I live in Pinehurst. I've been to Capitol Comics and it was AWESOME! The only problem is its like 1h20m drive for me so I think its cheaper to pay $3.99 shipping online then drive there and back.
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Post by drocat on Jan 15, 2014 17:39:21 GMT -5
I LOVE my LCS (Vault of Midnight in Ann Arbor, MI).
It's within walking distance (literally half a block from where I work) and all the people there are awesome. They all know me by name and care about books I have in my pull list. For example: Today I walked in to check my box and when the girl pulled out my pull list she saw that my copy of the awesome Sex Criminals #1 variant cover was in and said "Oooo guess what weeee have for youuu. I know you've been waiting for this" because of a conversation I had with her two weeks ago. It's a really big store with a lot of customers but they all still try and remember you.
They are also younger (because of AA being a college town) so they are all really close to my age. I love going in there and talking with them about everything from comics to movies and music. I am going to be really sad when my girlfriend and I finish school and I'm no longer able to go to the Vault. It is hands down my favorite place to hang out.
They even do "Nerdy-Flirty Speed Dating" on Fridays, which is probably great fun. They have game nights and parties sometimes. It's all just great fun.
AND did I say that it was a block away from my work?
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Post by PaulWrites on Jan 22, 2014 16:42:16 GMT -5
Well I take it all back! As of Feb 1st the comic shop I use will be halting weekly orders, and refereed the user base to pulling our lists direct from eBay. Any mail order comics shops in the UK you guys could recommend? Bagging & boarding with paypal payments would be a bonus frankly?
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Post by wjohnson22 on Jan 22, 2014 20:28:06 GMT -5
I LOVE my LCS (Vault of Midnight in Ann Arbor, MI). It's within walking distance (literally half a block from where I work) and all the people there are awesome. They all know me by name and care about books I have in my pull list. For example: Today I walked in to check my box and when the girl pulled out my pull list she saw that my copy of the awesome Sex Criminals #1 variant cover was in and said "Oooo guess what weeee have for youuu. I know you've been waiting for this" because of a conversation I had with her two weeks ago. It's a really big store with a lot of customers but they all still try and remember you. They are also younger (because of AA being a college town) so they are all really close to my age. I love going in there and talking with them about everything from comics to movies and music. I am going to be really sad when my girlfriend and I finish school and I'm no longer able to go to the Vault. It is hands down my favorite place to hang out. They even do "Nerdy-Flirty Speed Dating" on Fridays, which is probably great fun. They have game nights and parties sometimes. It's all just great fun. AND did I say that it was a block away from my work? Your local shop sounds awesome. As I posted before, there are a lot of great shops in the Triangle area of North Carolina. In my limited experience, college towns seem to have great comic shops. Would others agree?
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lukeman8610
Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Energy blast huh?!? Here's one from a PRO!
Posts: 59
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Post by lukeman8610 on Jan 23, 2014 9:09:29 GMT -5
See I find that I'm very lucky I have 3 LCS. My primary one is End Zone Cards and Comics in Clearfield, UT they have a large part of my hold and are always nice I do tend to know more about what's coming out then they do but they focus more on the gaming then the comics. My 2nd store is Heebeegeebeez in Layton, UT they also tend to be a little knowledgeable in comics again they focus more on collectables and cards. And lastly the newest store I go to is the Nerd Store in West Valley, UT, the best part about this is its right next to my work and I tend to spend my lunches there talking with the owner Charles. He by far out of my comic shops is the most knowledgeable.
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Post by thephantomwelshman on Jan 23, 2014 11:10:34 GMT -5
Well I take it all back! As of Feb 1st the comic shop I use will be halting weekly orders, and refereed the user base to pulling our lists direct from eBay. Any mail order comics shops in the UK you guys could recommend? Bagging & boarding with paypal payments would be a bonus frankly? www.thecomicbookstore.co.uk is really good, all bagged and boarded and whenever Ive ordered from them, it arrives the next day. You can use paypal as well.
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Post by joestate on Jan 23, 2014 11:12:09 GMT -5
Generally I just buy digital, but I have some very good shops around. I like to go to Bridge City Comics because it's a pretty nice store and they are pretty friendly. I haven't actually had any poor experiences with any shops out here. I've heard some negative things about Excalibur comics from a friend (about how the guy there was the incarnation of the Simpsons comic book guy), but I have never actually gone there so I can't vouch myself.
Bridge City is pretty great though, they try and get writers/artists to come in for signings. When batman '66 first went to print they had Jeff Parker in, I know they've had more since then, nobody I can remember off the top of my head though. They also have a small section for local/indy comics as well, portland is very good about supporting local talent.
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Post by DaPonte04 on Jan 23, 2014 11:23:46 GMT -5
I have at least 2 shops to choose from, luckily all within the same bus route. I've been going to my primary shop, Conspiracy Comics in Oakville, Ontario, since the New 52 started. I'm fortunate not have a pretentious shop owner like I have seen some people mention. The staff is really friendly and the store has a wide variety of titles to choose from. The only complaint I have is that they always, always forget to add titles from my pull list for week so I have to make sure I have my list of the weeks books on my iPod. Unfortunately, due to the declining Canadian dollar the store has implemented a price hike of 25 cents on top of cover price. I wouldn't mind if I was only getting several titles, but with all the great stuff Image is coming out with and the interesting new Marvel titles releasing in the coming weeks, it certainly adds up. I'm sticking with the shop because I've been going there for so long and enjoy the staff, but I just hope the new pricing is temporary.
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Post by PaulWrites on Jan 23, 2014 12:10:42 GMT -5
Good man, I'll check them out cheers.
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Post by Jig2punishet on Jan 23, 2014 15:49:17 GMT -5
Considering the nature of what their selling and the people they attract, comic shops in general are pretty dismal places in the UK. There where 3 comic shops in Liverpool when I started picking comics up and the smallest/indie run one was by far the best, they really helped me develop my understanding and appreciation of comics - this was pre-internet so it really was the only place a guy could get some comic orientation! They used to have artists and writers in semi regularly which I thought was all part of it the LCS experience, man how I wish the other shops in Liverpool shared that outlook. Unfortunately the indie place went out of business which just left the two chain stores. I took up a pull list with Forbidden Planet for years before switching to Worlds apart. I found both shops pretty miserable to be honest, and I was dishing out a lot of money to these guys and they could barely be fucked to serve people! Anyway, I eventually went mail order with Forbidden Planet (based out of Scotland I believe) and never had a problem, their pull list and advance order and so on was great my only gripes where the monthly deliveries I was getting resulted in me not getting my books on time. After a few months I would routinely have to buy in bags and boards, which was quite time consuming and expensive I'm sure you obsessive bagger guys can relate too. Anyway there came a time I couldn't commit to more than a week by week basis because money was tight, but pushed me into finding an awesome shop. I had been picking variants up from an store on eBay and approached them about an ongoing deal for my weekly orders; A Place In Space - whom I can not say enough good things about. I'm a mail order customer of their's getting weekly shipments, all my stuff comes bagged and boarded in A1 condition and they never come up short on the titles and variants I require. I love it, I send them a list Monday, clear my invoice Tuesday and there usually here Friday. It would be hard to switch to another supplier having had such solid service for the last several years. Though a part of me would like to pick the books up on release day, the thought of dealing with those shops and going back to bagging and boarding my own stuff holds zero appeal. I don't miss my LCS's in the slightest. My only regret is the smaller store that shut down way back when, if they could of crawled into the internet boom it might of been a different story as they had a truly awesome back catalogue and very friendly knowledgeable staff.
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Post by PaulWrites on Jan 24, 2014 8:36:48 GMT -5
Ended up pre-ordering all of February's pull list from Disposable Heroes their service seems pretty much what I was after and the pricing seems fair enough. For the last few years I've been getting my comics week to week, it was a shock when i saw how much the month is going to cost lol.
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Post by othersummersbrother on Jan 27, 2014 2:26:43 GMT -5
This past December I severed my near 4 year patronage of my LCS. In that time, they gave me no discounts...none. I had a pretty healthy pull list ($35-$50) weekly but that wasn't enough for any employee to even learn my name. This despite using a credit card which displays my name. And I would bring them cookies and tamales during Christmas time...still the cold shoulder.
I am a firm believer in buying locally, but the prices for online services like DCBS, coupled with an apathetic staff at my LCS left me no recourse but to end my buying from my shop. It wasn't easy, but if your local shop isn't willing to take care of their locals, they don't warrant locals.
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Post by procrastronaut on Jan 27, 2014 8:04:35 GMT -5
For the last few years I've been getting my comics week to week, it was a shock when i saw how much the month is going to cost lol. I recently had to switch to picking comics up monthly as well - bit of a shock to the system My LCS owner saw me coming in on Saturday and asked if I'd brought a trolley to carry them lol
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Post by PaulWrites on Jan 27, 2014 9:38:01 GMT -5
For the last few years I've been getting my comics week to week, it was a shock when i saw how much the month is going to cost lol. I recently had to switch to picking comics up monthly as well - bit of a shock to the system My LCS owner saw me coming in on Saturday and asked if I'd brought a trolley to carry them lol Haha well I hope for your sake they come bagged and boarded, that monthly hustle can get time consuming.
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