Only in a Local Comic Shop
How do you get your comics? Online subscription service, a pull list at a LCS, or old fashioned walk ups are all fine ways to keep your comic monkey fed. I hate to admit I use all three methods. Each has its benefits and I figured the best way to get the most is to keep all three going. My hardcover purchases are always made online to get the best discount available and I don’t have to lug the tomes home from the store since delivery is part of the online experience. My Amazing Spider-Man Omnibus was almost half off cover price at Discount Comic Book Service and all fifteen pounds of it were delivered to my doorstep. When I want to talk comics with other comic geeks I make sure I have a few dollars to drop on Wednesday when I visit Gary’s Comics in Morgantown West Virginia. The staff and customers are like a family with Gary at the head of the table. I have gotten great recommendations and a few back issue runs to get me caught up with a current title. I make sure to take a late lunch on Wednesday’s just so I can escape to Gary’s and geek out for 30 minutes. Finally I have a pull list at my local comic shop in San Francisco. Sure I could consolidate but then I might miss something. I mean how many people get to buy their comics on both coasts each week?
If I were just concerned about the money I’d go online for everything but there are some experiences that can only happen in a comic shop. Today my fiancee Stacey and I went to our local comic shop to pick up my pull list and the new Buffy issue. The store owner James was in the process of planning for an upcoming artist appearance. Later this month J.H Williams III (http://www.jhwilliams3.com/wp-content/plugins/falbum/wp/album.php?show=recent) will make an appearance at Isotope Comic Lounge. There he will display and sell pages that include Batman issues 667-668. I just read these books yesterday and while I am still trying to figure out the Grant Morrison story the art immediately blew me away. I thought it was different and rich, that was until James asked if would like to see the original pages. For the next 25 minutes Stacey, James and I carefully examined each page and panel. My appreciation for the artist is twenty fold now. The amount of effort and detail that went into these pages was breathtaking. J.H. Williams inks himself and he also plays with white overspray, water colors, and red splatters on his pages. I can only imagine how much these pages are worth. We were having a deeper connection with the issues now that the actual pen strokes were at our fingertips. Stacey rushed to read the finished comics once we got home and now she wants to follow Batman each month.
We must have looked at over $10,000 worth of original art today. We discussed and studied it page by page. This experience could only have happened in a local comic shop. James and Gary each provide their comic community a place to meet and share. Special events and local flair make these shops special. None of this would have been possible via mail order so please be sure to support your local comic shop whenever possible. It’s about more than the books; it’s about the community too.
Sean Wheatley has been reading and collecting comics for over 35 years. Send comments and suggestions to: Seanwheatley1@earthlink.net