My first was Future Dreams in Portland, OR. I still have some of their bags and boards. I shopped there in the early '90s and found out about the Portland Comic Book Show there. I remember buying the last issue of Transformers from them because the grocery store didn't get it in. Turns out that issue had a super-low print run cause they lost the license.

The Book End in Stockbridge, GA. They sold second-hand books, too. Only comic store within 30 miles of me. At the time.

At the time, Future Dreams was the only direct-market shop in all of Portland. Dark Horse hadn't yet started their Things From Another World chain. (I believe DH called it Excalibur at first. That was my second comic shop.)

It was a stationery store (called "The Stationery Store" ) in Brooklyn. Huge wall of comics that I was too little to reach the top of.

You once tried to ask for a discount, but they wouldn't budge!

Odyssey 2000, formerly on Barrington Street in Halifax, N.S. Before that I got my comics off the spinner racks in a pharmacy, a candy store and a corner convenience store (Green Gables) in Dartmouth, N.S.

Oh yeah, before Future Dreams, my mother picked up Transformers and Power Pack at the Safeway grocery store. I almost missed out on Transformers #50 because it was giant-sized and cost a whole dollar.

Comics, Ink in Jackson Michigan.

I went to some place in San Angelo, Texas. It fewlt incredible to a kid buying stuff off the rack for years.

It was the SING Food Store across the street from the church I attended in Stone Mountain, Georgia. It was one store of an early convenience store chain. Every comic I bought from age six to ten was off their spinner rack. I started subscribing to comics in the sixth grade, but still made impulse purchases at SING on Wednesday nights. The first "comic shop" I went to was in Tucker, GA; a used-bookstore called The Book Nook. I wasn't able to go there regularly, though, so I kept subscribing to comics until I was about 17 and got a car. By then the Book Nook had become Titan Books and Comics. At one point, there were 7 or 8 "Titan" stores in the Atlanta area; now I think there are just a couple. The one I used closed when I was in college, and in the 20-odd years since, I've used 5 or 6 different stores in 3 different states. At one point, I used a mail-order service called Westfield Comics when I was living far away from civilization in South Carolina.

I have fond memories of many of the people that I knew in the various stores I frequented over the years, but none can match the sense of wonder I felt every Wednesday evening as I looked through the spinner-rack at the SING Food Store.

Lodestone Comics...it occupied the upstairs of a building that looked like a barn. It was only open on Wednesdays and weekends, and on weekends, the downstairs was a flea market. That was how I first happened upon the place - Dad was checking out the flea market, we wandered upstairs, and that was where I became a collector, buying FF#259 (by Byrne).



It was run by two guys, Ivan and Rod. I later learned that Ivan's day job was as a water-meter-reader, when he stopped by our house to check it.

I didn't really have one as youngster. The first ones I regularly visited were at the flea market, circa 1982. At the indoor, mallish part of the flea market (you know, next to the headshop) there was always several guys trying to make a go of it in comics, with a selection of back issues, and direct-only titles.

Graham Crackers Comics in Naperville, IL. It was this two-story jobber on the corner of Washington St. and Chicago Ave., and it was glorious.

Today, Graham Crackers is the biggest chain in Chicagoville (if not Illinois) with nine locations, including my current LCS about 5 miles from my place. They no longer have that original shop, though...and to add insult to injury, you know what stands in its place now?

A Barnes and fucking Noble. [sigh]

Anyway, it may be worth noting that the very first time I drove solo once getting my license at age 16, I headed to my girlfriend's house. Trip #2 was to Graham Crackers Comics. Make of that what you will.

I like Barnes & Noble.

Well, then.

Frank won't ever say what his problem is with Barnes and Noble. You might think he doesn't like big box bookstores, but he likes Borders. Go figure.

Are you kidding? I believe I've been quite clear about this, over the years.

Go do some searching, as I'm pretty much done talking about the specifics these days.

B-But...aren't they the same? Well, Borders does generally have a larger selection of movies and CDs, but surely that can't be the reason.

Nope, not there. You've been snarky like this every time it comes up.

It doesn't matter -- you couldn't possibly have a good reason to categorically condemn B&N while praising Borders.

It's quicker to say, and therefore more efficient.

You bagged a babe, then you bagged your comics. Makes sense.

B&N is a little closer to me, and I get a discount every time with the card rather than relying on Borders' sporadic coupons. Therefore, B&N is better.

Haven't been able to go to either in awhile, as we've been paycheck to paycheck.