Subcultural engagement for the 21st Century...
Barbelith is a new kind of community (find out more)...
You can login or register.

Underground > Comic Books >

Glasgow comic shops?

BlueThunderArmy

19:03 / 07.07.06

Can anyone recommend a good comic shop in Glasgow? I'll be moving out that way soon, and could do with suggestions. I've looked at the Comic Locator thing, but a few of those shops are out of business, and anyway I know some are bound to be better than others.

So who's got the best staff, hold-list discounts, etc? Thanks.

23:43 / 07.07.06

This is maybe better answered by Duncan or yawn but....

Forbidden Planet on Buchanan Street's the obvious first. You know the deal with FP, good for all the new releases, trade paperbacks and little figurines of half-naked Japanese anime heroines. No back-issue selection, but the bonus of maybe spotting Glaswegian comic celebrities *wink wink, nudge nudge annat*.

A1 down Trongate way. More or less the same deal as FP. Bit more room to manouver, less busy. Has a middling back-issue selection, though there's a shop a couple of doors down that's a specialist for that sort of thing. Staff seem nice enough, though I'm generally only in and out.

Futureshock is in the West End. But just....... don't. Great back-issue selection there, but it's as cramped and musty as a Gen13 reader's bedroom. The owner sits behind the counter like a spider. I'm not convinced it isn't his bedroom. Beware of being caught in his beard and forced into a life of eternal standing-orders.

Anyone add to that? Elaborate?

BlueThunderArmy

04:29 / 08.07.06

Thanks for the suggestions. I've heard of Forbidden Planet (think I went to one in Birmingham last time I was in the UK, for a Neil Gaiman signing), I think A1 is the one closest to my flat but that's not always the best to go on. There's a chain of stores in Chicago, where I'm living until September, that has a shop right by my work—but every time I go in there, I'm reminded why I don't go in there. So I don't mind a little trek for a better store.

Anybody else have some input?

15:28 / 08.07.06

A1 is basically a toyshop now. If you want comics from the last month, I'd just use FP, if you want backissues... Futureshock is really good. He'll try and get you to have a 'pull list' and destroy yr eyes with his jumpers, but either ignore or say no, rattle through the drawers and head.

15:31 / 08.07.06

Also, to my great disappointment I have never seen a 'celeb' in FP, let alone referring to themselves in 3rd person. I'd describe A1 and the football programme specialist which also stocks backissues down the road as in fact having 'poor' selections. And Adam Warren's run on Gen13 was really good.

17:05 / 08.07.06

There's Ivor Davis. Google for 'Red Hot Comics, Glasgow'. His industrial comic emporium is worth visiting I hear. Comics cost less. You can call him on the phone and order stuff and he'll mail it out to you. This isn't a shameless plug - I just get my comics from him without the cost or hassle. He's the guy who puts on the Comic Marts in Glasgow. Local luminary Frank Quitely was signing at the last one.

20:08 / 08.07.06

Yeah, the more I was thinking about A1 after posting, the more I was thinking it was shiter than I was making out. As for Futureshock... that's where I had my standing order for The Invisibles, bad experiences with the guy mean that I've only been back in once since then. But I can still see him...... from the window....... in my sleep.

Listen to The Falcon and The Grant.
They speak in truths beyond my ken, ye ken?

14:57 / 09.07.06

FP is all right: they have a good TPB selection and a pretty good selection of all the latest releases (perhaps not so much of the indy stuff), they're also on my way home from work which is pretty much why I go there. On the down side the staff are all pretty unfriendly, you occasionally get hassled for browsing and it can get horribly crowded.
While I'd like to recommend A1 (support your local comic shop and all) they are pretty much a toyshop. Pretty similar selction of new releases to FP but less TPBs (though in better nick than FP where they can be a bit battered) and a limited selection of back issues.
I've not been into Futureshock as it looks like a compendium of all the negative cliches surrounding comic shops. This coupled with various negative tales mean I stay away.

BlueThunderArmy

15:30 / 09.07.06

Sounds good. This of course isn't the biggest part of my move, but it is one of the few things I can do anything about right now, so I thought it would be good to sort it out, anyway. Thanks for the suggestions.