The Hidden Glasgow Forums

I had the whole set at one point - the only comic books I've ever owned, come to that - but they disappeared in transit somewhere.

When the Virginia Galeries existed.

I remember AKA in the Virginia Galleries very well. When they became A1 they also briefly had a shop on Great Western Road too. I also remember short-lived comic shops on High Street, the Argyle Market (City Centre Comics?) and Ruthven Lane.
Although not exclusively just for comics, there was also Obelisk Books in the Virginia Galleries, and the Book Exchange beside Kelvinhall underground as well as numerous stalls in the Barras. I'm sure I'll remember a few more.

Used to be a few in the savoy centre, also ruthven lane.

some of the early action figures i used to see displayed the comic shop windows were King Kong, Lone Ranger/Tonto, Godzila, and the Batmobile.

dexter wrote:Hi,
I'm a complete newbie first timer on this site. Does anyone remember a comic book shop on the Paisley Road near the toll in the late sixties?. It was called "Macs comics" I think, and it was demolished around 1968 or '69 along with the rest of the shops in that wee stretch of road, to make way for work being done on the Kingston bridge, or so I was told!! Harry Ramsdens was later built on the site. I'm a big comic book fan and I have fond memories of that shop.

I used to go to that shop in the late sixties. It was opposite (I think) the Kingston halls, then a library, now a Talbot centre. I also used to go to the shop in Govan Road just down from the cross. One of these shops would stamp their comics and you would get an extra penny of two when you traded them back in. My family is so fed up with my story of my lost Marvel collection that would be worth thousands now if only my parents hadn't lost it when moving house.

I still have copies of Electric Soup. Glasgows answer to VIZ! I often wonder if DC Thomson ever sued them over "The Broons" strip.

not the view for me,i still have the first thirty issues.i think only a thousand copies were printed f the first few issues.my old man used to buy us american comics as kids .richie rich,casper little lotta and little dot,they were from the shop in whiteinch i think.

PaulK wrote:

dexter wrote:Hi,
I'm a complete newbie first timer on this site. Does anyone remember a comic book shop on the Paisley Road near the toll in the late sixties?. It was called "Macs comics" I think, and it was demolished around 1968 or '69 along with the rest of the shops in that wee stretch of road, to make way for work being done on the Kingston bridge, or so I was told!! Harry Ramsdens was later built on the site. I'm a big comic book fan and I have fond memories of that shop.

I used to go to that shop in the late sixties. It was opposite (I think) the Kingston halls, then a library, now a Talbot centre. I also used to go to the shop in Govan Road just down from the cross. One of these shops would stamp their comics and you would get an extra penny of two when you traded them back in. My family is so fed up with my story of my lost Marvel collection that would be worth thousands now if only my parents hadn't lost it when moving house.

Pity you lost your collection. It could well have been worth a fair bit of money now, depending on scarcity and condition of the comics. The trend amongst serious investor/collectors in this country and the US nowadays is to have their comics professionally graded and "slabbed" by an independent appraiser such as CGC. Slabbing involves having a comic sealed in a heavy duty, chemically inert, plastic container which is almost bomb-proof, with info on the comic and it's condition printed above in a separate little box. The big drawback of course, is that you can never again hold the thing in your hands or even.. dare I suggest...read it, unless you destroy the container and quite possibly the comic also in the struggle to free it. I read recently that a slabbed DC "Showcase No4", graded 9.6 (out of a possible 10) sold for 190000 dollars in the states. Crazy stuff eh?

banjo wrote:not the view for me,i still have the first thirty issues.i think only a thousand copies were printed f the first few issues.

I have (or had - I haven't checked in the last decade) two or three of the first ten. There again, I had a half dozen of the (hugely entertaining) Meadowbank Thistle fanzine. And a membership card to the breakaway Hamilton Academical supporters club, HAFSWO.

Used to sell the Follow Follow at my wee stall in buchanan st in the early 90s... amoungst my regular customers were Ally Mcoist and Brian Laudrup that always asked me to keep them a copy so that they could read it while having a meal at their favorite Italian restuarant the caprise, which was a few doors along from my news Kiosk/stall.

dexter wrote:Another in Allison St and the best of the lot, "Arthurs books and comics" in DeCourceys arcade

The one on Allison Street is a hairdressers now, (if I'm remembering the exact location, that is), and ISTR being told or reading somewhere that Arthur now has an e-Bay store selling old comics.

dazzababes wrote:I also remember short-lived comic shops on High Street, numerous stalls in the Barras.

The one on High Street was called the Adventure Zone or something similar and was there in early 1994. There was a shop called Paul's Comics that was around Kent St/Gallowgate area at the Barras, maybe around the same time.

And there was also Stateside in the basement of the old Virgin shop in Union Street where I used to buy reprints of old EC stuff, I'm pretty sure this was about the same time too, 1994ish.

Funny how good my memory is for daft stuff but yet it takes me at least 3 goes to get the right entry code at the front door of my work every morning!


EDIT : Oh, and I've just remembered another couple : Read and Return in Mount Florida, at the junction of Cathcart and Clincart Roads. I can't remember if it was the hairdressers on the corner, or the Indian across the road, maybe someone will be able to remember?

And also, a wee shop in Springhill Gardens in Shawlands thats now Record Exchange, it was ran by a wee woman who had a huge alsatian kept well hidden behind the counter and would often fly into a wild temper if you got too close (the dog, not the woman). This was a great place to get cheap american comics until the wee woman got hold of a comics price guide book, then her prices sky-rocketed!

Goliath wrote:And there was also Stateside in the basement of the old Virgin shop in Union Street where I used to buy reprints of old EC stuff, I'm pretty sure this was about the same time too, 1994ish

That's the one I was trying to remember! I knew I had forgotten a city centre one from the 90's. I think Stateside had a chain of concessions after the whole Dark Knight/Watchmen popularity propelled comics and graphic novels into mainstream bookshops.

This was a great place to get cheap american comics until the wee woman got hold of a comics price guide book, then her prices sky-rocketed!

The Comic Book Price Guide had a lot to answer for. Suddenly you'd have market stall owners with dog-eared comics worth practically nothing trying to sell them at NM prices.

There was also Second Foundation in Candleriggs. I'm not sure but I think that shop went through a few names.

Does anyone here go to these Glasgow Comic and Toy Fair events i didn't even know they were in existence.

my late uncle used to give me dc comics which my cousin used to get he was the son of one of my aunties sisters and used to pass them onto my uncle to give to me sometimes i used to get three or four at a time
when i see the what they are worth nowadays i wish i had retained them and could have sold them on ebay
dont know what happened to them i think my dad threw them out