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| Berkeley 1988 - 1989 |
Of all the comic shops I've ever been to the one that stands out as my all time favorite hands down was Comics & Comix on Telegraph Avenue in Berkeley California. I discovered it by chance in the mid 80s and ever since whenever I was able to get my father to take me there it was always the high light of that weekend. It's the only comic shop I've ever been too that had two floors. The first floor had all the new comics, books, magazines, toys and lot's of anime models. I still have all my
Star Blazers (Space Battle ship Yamato) model ship sets that I bought there. The upstairs had all the back issue boxes including a large number of 3 for $1 comics which was how I got introduced to many Marvel characters and titles like
Nova and
Kobra (DC). I also got a shit load of
Shogun Warriors and
Godzilla issues on the cheap from those 3 for $1 racks and I know I was able to get many of the Rom tie-in issues from the back issue boxes. I wanna say at that point I already had the entire Rom run leading up to where the series was at that point. Can't remember when was the last time I went to Comics & Comics before it eventually closed but it was probably shortly after that photo of me (on the right) and my buddy was taken.
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I did a Google search for anything about Comics & Comix a couple nights ago and came across this photo. I don't know any of those people but I do know that photo was taken on the first floor because of all the anime models in the back ground like I said they had a ton of those there. Also, I couldn't help but notice that awesome poster on the left hand side. God I love the 80s, Marvel was the shit back then. Now it's just shit.
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| Back cover stamp for 3 for $1 comics |
About a year ago I picked up a copy of
Incredible Hulk #256 from a comic shop in Fremont I was checking out. Talk about a blast from the past as I looked it over and discovered these stamp imprints all over the back cover. And they say time travel is just a thing of fiction, I beg to differ.
And now back to the present. This part of the posting is for all you people who think I'm being too mean and too critical of Marvel these days. In the last 13 years marvel can't seem to settle on what spaceknights are supposed to be or look like. We've seen everything from manga styled exo-skeletons to clone trooper look alike type spaceknights and finally the classic style (all too briefly!) just prior to Galador's destruction last year. And with the latest issue of Nova we get these chumps . . .
These are the "Disavowed of Galadoria" (thanks Gary). Or in other words a just a couple of hired goons. Here's a good question, if you were a semi-immortal self sustaining cyborg that can't eat, drink or fuck what the Hell value does money hold for you? Oh how the mighty have fallen both when it comes to the spaceknight order and to Marvel Comics
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SeQWfVf01_k
Those are Los Brothers Hernandez in that pic! Writer/Artists of one of my all-time favorite comic book series Love and Rockets. They basically started serialized indie comics in the early 80s (as opposed to the Comix stuff by people like Crumb).
ReplyDeletePersonally, I love ROM, but I want the memory to remain untouched. I don't want ROM to come back. There is no way it would be done justice. I would just like the license stuff to be cleared up so folks who want can get the issues in collected trades.
thanks for the tip on that archival photo. as for a hypothetical return of Rom i think there's some wiggle room for something provided the right writer was working on it. even if we're just talking about a brief appearance here and there of him as Galador's Prime Director. or maybe having him don some kind of armor to fight along side the current generation of spaceknights for when some serious shit goes down? or i could see him commanding some kind of Galadorian starship and appear in that capacity.
Deletebut it's a moot point and i don't blame you one bit for your cynicism as you can see i still have good reason to have nothing but contempt for marvel's handling of Bill Mantlo's legacy when it comes to nearly all things Rom. thanks for dropping by and sharing your thoughts that sort of thing helps motivate me to keep writing new posts.
Ahh yes the galadoria spaceknights from glorole. bla.. they really missed on this one plus making them wimps. Whats the point.
ReplyDeleteComic shops from the 80s were always the best but never stayed open where i lived. Then in 1992 my local shop was tates comics in south fl.they moved their location a block down the road twice in the many years to were it still thrives today. Its a mega shop today with more young people then i could beleive still into comics. Every toy line from back in the day is for sale with all the new and back issue comics on the ground floor.the stairway up and the second floor is all orginal art by artisits for sale. A very cool shop.
Got to give Gary some mega props for the pic two posts back. The comic 3 pack bag with ROM. Wow that truly took me back to the start of ROM for me.
during my visits when my mother was living in St. Petersberg in FL. I used to go to this comic shop in a near by town (Seminole) called Emerald City. this was back in the mid and late 90s but that was a real close runner up to Comics and Comix as far as comic shops that had an insane selection f back issues and rare collectibles.
DeleteI have heard of that place. Being that shop i mentioned is still open since 92 i would have to say its my fav shop. They have a infamous wall of shame for theifs and even the the sports almanac prop from back to the future ll on the wall. Insane toy collectibles and insane back issues too. Though i wiped most of the rom back issues they had sonetime ago. Hee hee.
ReplyDeleteWhoa, the Hernandez brothers! Lucky dog being there. I know enough about their stuff to their true indie legends before that term was popular.
ReplyDeleteThx for sharing some memories of lil' Shlomo.
You look like a hooligan leaning on that wall outside the shoppe! Hahaha- where is Silent Bob?
ReplyDeleteNice memories, man... Glad I got ya thinking about your old LCS with my post. Comics are awesome. The whole experience they provide- it's like no other...
that's a good one with the Jay and Silent Bob reference.
DeleteI was born in the late 80's so I did not get to experience stuff like that so It is cool to hear about your old shop. I started reading comics in the mid 90's where I would go to shops and spend my birthday/christmas and allowance money. I never had very much money so I couldn't afford the new comics so I stuck to the dollar bins which is where I first discovered all those great books like ROM and Nova. Although because of finding some old Nova books I did read New Warriors pretty faithfully.
ReplyDeleteIt's also interesting to find out you spent some time in Florida. Florida has been my home for my entire life and I currently reside in Tampa which is just a stones throw from Seminole.
You are so right Marvel has not been really great since the 80's. And that is really to bad.
ReplyDeletei probably should have mentioned that Marvel did still had some stuff going for it in the 90s too but yeah your comment pretty much sums it up. thanks for stopping by.
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