Warning: The worst comic shop week I ever had nearly made me quit

Tbh I had a week last October that was just brutal. I went to three different shops in Austin and every single one had a guy who wouldn't stop lecturing me about how I was reading the wrong runs. One dude at Dragon's Lair literally followed me for 15 minutes telling me I needed to drop Hickman's X-Men and switch to some obscure 80s series I'd never heard of. Then at another place, a seller tried to push a damaged copy of Saga #1 on me for $80 without mentioning the spine was split. I walked out empty handed and honestly felt like I didn't even want to collect anymore. What finally turned it around was a small shop off South Lamar where the owner just asked what I liked and handed me a stack of Image books without any attitude. Has anyone else had a run of bad shops that made you question the whole hobby?

3 comments

3 Comments

rosed3227d ago

Look I get it bad shops suck but are we really gonna act like some guy following you around for 15 minutes is enough to make you quit collecting forever? Thats just one dude being annoying not some systemic failure of the hobby. You could have just told him to back off or ignored him. And the damaged Saga thing is shady for sure but thats why you check books before you buy them. Ive been to plenty of shops with weird owners or pushy staff and yeah its frustrating but I just leave and move on. Honestly if that little stuff makes you question the whole thing maybe youre just burnt out on comics in general and looking for an excuse to blame the shops.

diana15525d ago

Always surprises me how ONE bad experience gets blown into "the hobby is ruined." @rosed32 makes a solid point - some dude being weird for a few minutes is annoying but not exactly a reason to pack it all in. Maybe the hobby isn't the problem, maybe it's just time for a break from comics altogether.

elizabeth22027d ago

Honestly though, not to be that person but Saga #1 didn't cost $80 even before the spine split. That book's been pretty steady around $40-50 for a while now. Sounds like that seller was trying to take advantage of you either way. Did you ever go back to that South Lamar shop?