If you need a little razzle-dazzle, just come to ol' Novaya and I can hook you up. I got what you want. Meet me out back at my car. I've got 'em all.

Seriously, though, I could never find Dazzler back-issues in my hometown until this one store opened. Here in Chicago, I can get anything I want. Once I literally cleared out my LCS' Dazzler back-issue collection, and next week it was magically replenished.

And cons seem to be useless for this particular hunt. Everyone brings their high-grade books. Readers? Why bother taking up the space?

My real pleasure? quarter bins at the comic shows. I spend hours pouring through the quarter bins trying to plug holes in my collection and experimenting with new titles. I bought a 75 issue run of Cerebus from the quarter bins (and bought the majority of the other issues there as well!). I bought almost 300 issues of The Avengers over the years from quarter bins. Green Arrow, Batman, Alpha Flight, Justice League. You name it, I have bought it for a quarter.

Then there are the real gems. The ones you cannot believe you stumbled on. Conan #3 (yes, vol.1) for 25 cents. Green Arrow #101. 25 cents. The entire Barry Ween. 25 cents an issue. Those are the days you just can't believe your luck!

So, ebay is good for things that you must have and are willing to pay for. But things you are willing to hunt for? Make mine quarter bins!

garbonzo

I don't actually mind the Essential format, so there's lots of stuff I get that way and never think about looking for it again. (I had kind of an awed moment when I realized that the next volumes of Defenders, Avengers, and Daredevil will pretty much be the last replacements needed for every Marvel book I owned in the 70's. The thought that I would someday own a library of those stories in book form would have boggled my high-school self.)

But there's plenty left over to dig for... though I'm really shocked at some of the things getting collected now. One of the reasons I decided to grab all the Marvel Premiere and First Issue Specials at that last show I went to was the certainty that there were no reprint volumes coming, but now I'm not so sure. I thought the same thing about Rampaging Hulk and THAT one's on deck at Marvel. I was amazed Godzilla and Nova each got an Essential, and now DC's Secret Society of Super-Villains and Hercules Unbound are getting Showcased? Certainly I'm delighted and I'm first in line for those books... but still, my initial reaction was basically Huh-wha?

I live in Montreal where there used to be at least a dozen comic book shops in the 80s when the direct market boomed. Places like Komico, Captain Quebec (on Décarie boulevard), Nova Bookshop... They each used to have a huge inventory of back issue. You didn't need a pull list in those days, if you missed an issue from the racks, you were pretty sure to get it in the bins. Sometimes I would hear good things about a series that I hadn't tried yet and I could still get the first few issues for just a bit more than the cover price. I got full runs of Doug Moench and Bill Sienkiewicz's MOON KNIGHT, John Byrne's FANTASTIC FOUR, Frank Miller's DAREDEVIL this way (althought in the case of this last one, it was a "hot" series after only a few issues and I had to pay a substantial premium to get back issues).

Nowadays, they are maybe 3 or 4 comics shops in Montreal?
Comics have jumped from less than a dollar each to about $3 a pop (often more!), so dealers don't carry an extensive inventory anymore. If you don't have a pull list and you miss an issue or want to try something you missed the first time around, your best chance is to hit Ebay or another internet venue. Comic book shops mostly buy the minimum numbers needed to fill their client's pull boxes. It has become almost impossible to try out a new series unless you pre-order it (remember the times when you could pick up a comic book on the rack and go through a few pages to see if it was good?). This must be why today's new titles have such a hard time getting new readers.

Also, there was a time when there was a Comic Book Show (convention) every few months in Montreal. These shows filled many rooms in the hotel where it was held with sellers and dealers from MOntreal, Ontario, USA... There was a wide variety of dealers, some carried old stuff, some new stuff, some cheap stuff... If you had the patience to go through all of them you were pretty sure to find what you were looking for. It was exciting to go to these, seeing so much great stuff that I had never seen before! There was so much choices and variety that I didn't know where to start. No matter how much money I carried on me when I went to a show, I always left with just barely enough money for the bus back home. I always carried an empty back pack (that carried only my price guide and my want list) when I went in, and it would be be bursting at the seams in comics when I came out! And most of the times I would be carrying an extra plastic bag or two that couldn'T fit in my pack!

The last couple of times I went to one of these shows (1 or 2 years ago?), there were probably less than a dozen dealers. Most carried the same stuff: the new "hot" titles. 2 or 3 dealers might carry overpriced golden and silver age stuff. And a few comic shops trying to get rid of their crappy dollar bins stuff. It was a depressing experience and a wasted afternoon. I don't think I spent more than $10 (I had at least a couple of $100s in my wallet) and went back home with my backpack pretty much as light as when I came in.

A lot of people don't like Ebay and the internet for hunting down comics. Of course, the experience is not the same. It is certainly not as "sensual" as when you can see with your own eyes the vibrant colors, smell that great old comic book ink and aged paper, sift through those bins with your own finger tips... But for collectors that aren't living in New York, or San Diego or other big cities with big comic book conventions, Ebay is now the best way to get back issues, if not the only way. Plus, they are often great deals on great stuff, more obscure stuff than any single dealer can carry, etc.

Still, I wish I could experience the thrill of the hunt again...

More specifically though, after having collected comics lightly and with lapses due to lack of interest or money since I was 8, (I'm 22 now) my discovery of online comic shops and eBay about 2 years ago has led me to become a serious comic collector. When I first started buying comics, there were several comic shops nearby, all with back issue sections. Now there are only 2 comic shops in my city, neither of which possess a back issue section, replaced by action figures.

I generally now buy runs on eBay and fill in the gaps through buying from a comic shop site. Using this method, I have collected complete runs of the 80's Doom Patrol, Shade the Changing Man, Robinson's Starman, Uncanny X-Men back to 140, and more else than I want to remind myself of. Oh, and winterteeth, I bought a copy of Weird War III to add to my now-complete Excalibur collection just one week ago.
I've now started buying up Kirby stuff from the 70's - I have an almost complete run of his 2001 series. Give eBay a try again, I have got some ridiculously good deals at times.

I've swayed at times between buying issues and buying collections but seem now to have swayed decisively to issues. There does still seem to be something special about the whole thing. I agree the internet has changed the way comic collecting works, but not necessarily in a bad way, as I can now purchase directly from the states, since back issue availability is often poorer over here in the UK.

I'm not quite that bad anymore, buying a lot of my stuff in trades these days. But every so often a comic comes along that just eludes me like crazy, putting me back on the hunt. My current obsession is Ms. Tree #48 from Renegade Press. The only issue of the entire Collins/Beatty run I'm missing...

Good luck.

I'm not happy about it either, but it happens.

Ebay, yeah, I got a few titles rather cheap, but I don't like the Ebay experience so I've quit.

As far as back issues, I really enjoy reading complex stories and great characterization. You can still find this now, but it was so common place back then. I like seeing the evolution of comic art as well, I can appreciate how far artists have come in the last three decades.

Comic Swap still existed, last I checked, but I've never physically set foot in it, myself. One day...

But yes, I too love back issues dearly. There was a small comic show nearby recently and I finally completed the full run of Sleepwalker by nabbing #2. And I finished off DeFalco's Thor run... now for his Thunderstrike! Mwahaha! And I'm inching ever closer to my goal of owning all the Giffen-era Justice Leagues.

I also learned there is nothing better than finding the first appearance of the Green Team in a quarter bin. Unless it's OMAC #8. Hoo-ahh.

Maybe the glorious back issue bin is dying out, maybe the comic shop is an endangered species... whatever. The search continues.

Now, I'm setting my sights on Daredevil HCs.