I finally realized why my local shop guy keeps boxes of old $1 comics behind the counter

Was at Comic Kingdom in Arlington last weekend picking up the new Moon Knight issue. Old guy behind the counter sees me digging through the dollar bin and just nods. Then a kid comes in maybe 10 years old with his dad, asks for something with Spider-Man. The guy pulls out a whole stack of 90s Spider-Man books from under the counter and gives them to the kid for free. Said he keeps them for kids who come in. Been going there for 2 years and never noticed that box before. Anyone else have a shop that does stuff like that?

2 comments

2 Comments

felix_lane9915d ago

Right, so this guy is basically running a covert operation to hook kids on comics like it's some sort of underground drug ring. "First taste is free, kid.

kaiharris15d ago

That guy at Comic Kingdom sounds like a real one. My shop in Portland, Heroes and Villains, does the same thing. There's this older dude named Rick who keeps a milk crate under the desk full of old Valiant and Image stuff from the 90s. I've seen him pull out a whole run of early Savage Dragon for a kid who was into TMNT but couldn't afford the turtles books. He just handed them over and said "come back when you finish those." It's so cool how these guys look out for the younger collectors instead of just trying to squeeze every dollar out of them. Makes me want to support shops like that even more.