c/comic-book-fans

Comic shop loyalty cards: worth it or a trap? My local shop in Portland pushed one hard last week

Last week my shop, Cosmic Owl in Portland, tried to get me to sign up for their $50 annual loyalty card that gives 10% off trades but excludes new issues. I said no because I only buy maybe 6 floppies a month, so that's like $72 in savings max, but they also have a free punch card for every 10 back issues you get one free. Three years ago I had a card at a shop in Seattle that changed their terms after 4 months, and I lost about $35 in credit. Feels like these cards are built for the weekly pull-list crowd, not casual folks like me. Anyone else find their local shop's loyalty program actually worth it, or do you just stick to dollar bins and ebay? How do you decide which deals to take?

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margaretrivera•4d ago

Why does nobody talk about reading books out of order?

Started at issue #45 of a run last week in Portland and realized the recap pages spoil half the plot anyway, so I went back and read #30-44 after. Does anyone else skip around to match their favorite artist's arc instead of the actual story order?

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barbarab56•4d ago

Found an old letter in a back issue that blew my mind

I was digging through a long box at a flea market in Austin last month and picked up a run of Fantastic Four from the early 80s. Tucked inside issue 256 was a handwritten letter from a kid who wrote to Marvel asking why Galactus didn't just eat the planet whole instead of using that crazy machine. The editor actually printed a reply explaining the whole history of the cosmic balance thing, and it made me realize how much thought went into even the silly stuff. I never knew Marvel used to publish fan mail with real answers like that, not just the one-liners. Now I check every back issue I buy for loose letters or notes, you never know what you'll find. Has anyone else ever discovered something hidden inside an old comic that totally changed how you saw the story?

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spencer_moore39•5d ago

That older collector's advice about bagging twice was wrong

A guy at my local shop in Austin told me to double-bag my Silver Age books to keep them flat, so I did that to my 1968 Spider-Man for about a year. When I finally took it out for grading, the inner bag had left a crease line right down the spine that wasn't there before. Has anyone else gotten storage tips from longtime fans that ended up hurting more than helping?

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torres.jason•11d ago

Hit 500 trades in my box today and it hit different

Ngl, I've been collecting since 2009 and my long box finally crossed 500 issues this afternoon. Counting them out to reorganize by character, I realized half are just Batman variants from the last 4 years. Has anyone else hit a random milestone like this and suddenly questioned their whole pull list?

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barbara278•12d ago

Found my old comic shop in Philly still has that 90s vibe

Went back to Bob's Comic Cave on South Street after 7 years away, and the place still smells like old paper and dust. They had a whole bin of $1 back issues from 1994, I snagged 12 X-Men books I never owned. The owner remember me by name, that never happens at the big chains. Does anyone else have a shop that feels frozen in time like this, or am I just getting old?

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richardknight•16d ago

My long box reorganization took 4 hours and humbled me fast

Last weekend I finally tackled my long boxes after 3 years of just stuffing new pulls in wherever they fit. I figured it would take an hour, tops. Four hours later I had piles of duplicates, three copies of the same issue of Saga, and a bunch of #1s I forgot I even owned. The worst part was realizing I had zero system for separating keys from filler, so I was digging through everything just to find one book. I ended up sorting by publisher first, then alphabetical, which felt obvious after the fact. My back still hurts from sitting on the floor, and my wife asked why I looked like I ran a marathon. Has anyone else had a reorg session that took way longer than planned, and did you actually stick with your new system after?

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taylor_flores•17d ago

The con floor argument that flipped my whole pull list

Was at the Midwest Comic Expo in Chicago last month and overheard two fans debating the current run of a book I'd written off years ago. One guy had the actual issues and was showing how the artist's panel layouts told a parallel story to the dialogue, which I never noticed when I skimmed it digitally. I used to think print vs digital was a money thing, but after seeing him flip pages and point out the gutters, I realized the pacing just hits different on paper. Now I'm back to grabbing floppies for anything with a complex artist, and my wallet is crying, but the reading experience is way better. Anyone else had a physical copy change their mind on a series they'd dismissed?

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the_uma•21d ago

Spent $60 on a graded comic that came back as a 9.6, not the 9.8 I bid on

I bought an eBay lot last month that had a flashy pic of a 9.8 slab, but the fine print said 'see photos for details' and the label was tiny. Paid $60 plus shipping, opened the box, and the case clearly showed a 9.6 with a spine tick I missed. Anyone else get burned by blurry auction photos before, or do you usually demand a close-up of the cert number first?

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aaron_ellis42•23d ago

Rant: Thought I knew variant covers, got schooled hard

Spent three weeks hunting a 2016 variant at three different shops in Portland, only to realize the one I had was the second print. The bar code is different and I never checked. Anyone else get burned by a reprint pretending to be a first run?

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clark.lily•23d ago

Bagged my comics wrong for 12 years, mylar was the wakeup call

I found a 1991 X-Men #1 in my longbox that had turned yellow around the edges, even though I kept it out of sunlight in a closet. Turns out those cheap poly bags I bought in bulk off eBay let in acids slowly, and I never knew until I compared it to a raw copy my buddy Mike had stored in a mylar sleeve. How do you store your keys and graded books, and has anyone else had a silent discoloration surprise after years of thinking you were doing it right?

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terry_bailey35•24d ago

That shop owner's advice about back issues killed my collection value

Guy at Two Minutes to Midnight Comics in Phoenix told me to bag and board everything with Mylar to protect it, but after 5 years those boards put weird pressure lines on my covers and a grader docked me 20 points on a key issue. Has anyone else seen Mylar damage from storing too tight?

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loganburns•25d ago

Kid at my shop said Doctor Strange dies in issue 6, I almost lost it

I'm a pull list regular at this shop on 5th street, and this 12 year old walked up to the counter last Tuesday and told the owner that he read the whole run online and knew how the arc ended, spoiling it for the three of us waiting in line. The owner just shrugged and said spoilers don't matter anymore because everyone reads digital first, but I've been buying physical issues for 14 years because I like the surprise each month. Am I the weird one for thinking a printed comic should still have its plot twists protected, or is that kid just the new normal?

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finley_bennett28•28d ago

That 3 year run of variant covers finally broke my wallet

Back in 2022 I started collecting every variant cover for a single Batman title. By month six I had 14 copies of the same issue, and I spent around 60 dollars a month on just that one book. Last month I sold the whole stack at a half price comics event in Portland and got back maybe 40 percent of what I put in. The store owner told me, "Variants only hold value if you buy the rare ratio ones, not the common ones." Now I only grab a variant if it has a cool artist or a limited print run under 500. Has anyone else dumped money into variant chasing and then had to clear out a long box because of it?

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charles_coleman•28d ago

Appreciation post: the 1987 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comic run that nobody talks about

Was digging through my long boxes over the weekend and counted out 31 issues of the original Mirage run I have, and realized how much darker that first arc is compared to the cartoon. I had no idea the Turtles actually fought the Shredder to what seemed like a straight up death in issue #1, and the tone is just brutal next to the Saturday morning version. How does everyone else feel about the gritty era of Eastman and Laird's work, and is there a specific issue that made you see the turtles differently?

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caseys30•1mo ago

Just had an amazingly bad comic shop week

Grabbed a short box from my local shop for $40 and half the books had water damage I didn't catch until I got home. 3 issues I was stoked about are totally ruined. Has anyone else ever gotten burned on a mystery box that looked like a steal?

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cole_davis47•1mo ago

Switched from weekly pulls to trades only after my LCS guy gave me the math

He showed me how I was spending $45 a month on single issues that I'd just bag and forget, versus getting a whole storyline for $20 in trade. Now I wait 6 months and grab the collected editions, saves me space and cash.

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elliotr39•1mo ago

Why does nobody talk about how fandom gatekeeping has gotten worse in the last few years?

I used to chat about Batman runs with strangers at my local shop in Detroit, but now when I bring up a classic like Knightfall at a comic convention, some guy in his 20s jumps in to quiz me on obscure 90s issues. It happened three times last summer and it just kills the fun of sharing a hobby. Has anyone else noticed this shift or am I just visiting the wrong tables?

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sam_wood60•1mo ago

Ran into a kid at the dollar store who knew more about Silver Surfer than me

I was grabbing some tape at the Dollar General on Broadway last Saturday when this kid, maybe 10 years old, saw my old Surfer t-shirt. He started talking about the Glen Rune run from the 90s, knew all the details about the Klyntar symbiote origin. I told him I've been reading comics since 1987 and he still corrected me on a Thanos issue from 1991. Has anyone else had a moment where a younger fan reminded you how deep the lore really goes?

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knight.diana•1mo ago

Three years of hunting finally paid off with a $5 flea market find last week

I've been digging through dollar bins and garage sales for a specific run of early 90s X-Men books since 2019. Last Saturday at the flea market in Portland, I spotted a box under a table with a faded "all issues $1" sign. Rifled through it and found issues 10 through 16 of the 1991 X-Force series, all in near mint condition. The guy only charged me $5 for the whole stack because he said he "just wanted them gone." Anyone else have that one hunt that took years but finally paid off at a random spot?

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black.amy•1mo ago

Hit 200 issues in my pull list without noticing - now my wallet hurts

I was organizing my long boxes last night and counted 200 issues across 8 series. Didn't realize I'd been grabbing Power Rangers and Immortal Hulk every month for over a year. That's like $800 I sunk into floppies without thinking about it. Anybody else let their pile creep up on them like this?

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brooke71•1mo ago

Appreciation post: That worn-out comic shop in Portland where I spent my teenage summers

I drove by Atomic Comics on Hawthorne last weekend and noticed they finally replaced that old faded X-Men sign out front that's been hanging there since the 90s. It got me thinking about how the place used to smell like old paper and dust, and how the owner would let me dig through long boxes for hours without buying a thing. Does anyone else have a shop that feels more like a time capsule than a business?

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thompson.robin•1mo ago

That moment at the comic shop when a teenager corrected my Silver Surfer knowledge

I was browsing back issues at Golden Age Comics on Broadway last Tuesday, and this kid maybe 14 years old overheard me telling the clerk that the Surfer first appeared in Fantastic Four. He didn't say anything to me directly, just whispered to his friend something about the Surfer being in a solo book before FF #48. I looked it up on my phone right there and he was right - there was a 1968 Silver Surfer #1 that came out before that FF issue. Made me realize how much lore gets mixed up in my head after 20+ years of reading. Has anyone else had a younger fan school them on something they thought they knew solid?

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the_riley•1mo ago

Overheard a kid at the comic shop say 'why would I buy a physical copy' and it got me thinking

I was flipping through the new bin at my local shop last Saturday when some teenager asked his friend that. In my experience, there's something about actually holding a comic, the smell of the paper, the little ads in the back, that you just don't get on a screen. I get it, digital is convenient and cheaper, I use it for some stuff too. But I wonder how many younger readers are missing out on that whole community feel of flipping through stacks in a shop. Has anyone else noticed a shift in how new fans consume comics versus the old guard?

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cole_robinson•1mo ago

Finally hit 100 long boxes in the collection today

Walked into the spare room and counted again just to make sure, didn't realize I'd crossed triple digits. Has anyone else had their storage space suddenly get way smaller than they planned for?

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