As a kid I bought mine at the local Fay's Drugstore. Road my bike the 2 miles every Wednesday.

Geoff, where in PA did your grandmother live?

William:

King of Prussia -- I was born in Norristown, moved to NJ in 1976 -- and thank God for that!  Spared me a life as Phillies fan and worse yet, as an Eagle Fan!  Instead I was blessed to be in the home of the Yankees and Football Giants!

Now I have a pull list.  I like the guy who owns the shop -- he's a good egg.  But the mystery of what I'll get is mostly gone.  And I miss that.
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I know what you mean. Now I pre-order everything so there is really not much of a surprise there, I know exactly what I'm getting. But that's why I always love to go into a comic shop with no lists and just look around and see if I find something that seems interesting.

Hey, Ed, ever go to the Lil Peach convenience store in Springfield?  I used to live by there and that's where I used to get some of my earlier comics, right off the spinner rack.  They had a couple of arcade games there too so sometimes I'd hang out there for a bit, buy a comic and a candy bar (though back then they were almost the same price) and then go home.

My first comic store was in a mall and they were good guys.  They knew I was on a very limited budget and make recommendations to me about what to pick up.  I was also into the comic cards back then.  On my birthday, they'd usually drop a few freebies in my box for me.  A cool thing when you're a broke 12-year old.  I had a hellacious store after that one closed, I won't go into it too much.

The one I'm at now is wonderful.  While I do have a pull list, every now and then they'll put something into my box that they think I may like.  I'm not obligated to buy it, but they usually put in some good items, plus I have a couple of "specialty" purchases that they accomodate.  Specifically, I'm a fan of the Thorgal series. I had two of the English language books when I was a kid but couldn't find any others for years.  Now that Cinebook is releasing them in English, my store orders them for me.  Plus they have a kids section and does decent business with kids.

I miss that, too. The nice thing about pull lists is that I never have to worry about missing a book I want. I know I've told my childhood story about missing out on Amazing Spider-Man #200 and the consternation that caused me, so knowing I'll get my books is a good feeling.

On the other hand, I miss just showing up and seeing what's there. That was a lot of fun. I picked up a few duds that way, but I also got some great comics, too.

I've missed out on a few comics also.  Plus I've learned the hard way about keeping them in better condition.  I had some "Amazing Spider-Man" issues that got mangled and years later when I went to buy copies of them, seeing the 60-cent cover price and seeing what they go for now; I really kicked myself for that!

I like to browse at my lcs also, they have a nice selection of some indy books.  It's hard to pick up too much outside of my pull list since what I'm browsing are usually the "this will change everything" event tie-in books.

Plus I've learned the hard way about keeping them in better condition.

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So have I. Sorry to hear about the Spider-Man issues but a similar thing happened with my father's Conan issues. I really thrashed them and now some of those early issues are over a hundred bucks or so; sure, it wasn't a fortune but it  still is some money. Now I am extremely careful with my collection.

I think I remember Sim's, I had some family that lived out near East Longmeadow and that was one of the routes we'd take to get there.

Neighborhoods sure have gone downhill.  I blame the loss of the spinner racks. ;-)

Plus back then we could take a "chance" on a new comic for the price.  Nowadays, it's too much out of my pocket.  I liked being able to have $5 and get 3 comics and still have some money leftover for a slice or two of pizza at the mall.  Nowadays, forget it.