Comic Shop Review - Hypnotronic Comics, NY

Sometimes when you walk into a comic shop for the first time everything just looks right. When you first enter Hypnotronic Comics located on Staten Island, NY, you know you're  in one of those rare comic shops. The kind of shop that has old and new comics and toys, rare items along with the stuff you see everyday. The walls are covered in toys from days gone by.

Hypnotronic is the kind of comic shop where you know the owner puts great care into it and it's not hard to tell that they are collectors as well as dealers. If you have been buying comics for any length if time you know what we mean. If you are new check out Hypnotronics and you'll see what we mean.

Some of the items were just really cool to see, like the old Superman squeaky doll.

Or the They Live mask. Still Rowdy Roddy Pipers best work, well except for Wrestlemania 1.

So how is Hypnotronic Comics in way of huntability. You might guess already what we are going to say.

Comics- A nice selection of back issues ranging in price from $2 and up, most of the bins are $4 ans up. The up was some really good deals on key issues on various titles. Picked up two Old Justice League of America issues #121 and 147. They also had a wall full of new issues, all the titles you would want. Plus they have an old spinner rack, rarely seen in comic shops any more.

Toys - The best part of Hypnotronic Comics is their selection of toys, many older action figures and other items. It always impresses us when a toy store has carded toy biz figures from the early 1990's. they also had a box of old wrestling figures. If you collect toys you should take a trip here, it is walking distance from the Staten Island ferry and well worth the trip.

Other stuff - The shop also had a strong focus on horror related collectibles, many masks and statues. You can also get books (comic related), t-shirts, buttons, key chains, cards and almost anything else you would want.

Comic Shop Grade = A

For a small shop they packed a lot of comic and collectible punch. Reminded us of one of the old school comic shops, a mom and pop type store where care goes into everything they sell and do. The inventory was representative of items from all eras of collecting. They had the first tower of Funkos i have ever seen. Basically visit here when you get a chance, you are sure to find something to add to your collection.

Good Luck on Your Hunt!
#jointhehunt

Sci-Fi City - On the Hunt in Florida

Recent, we reviewed the Orlando based comic shop Sci-Fi City. As a follow up we wanted to look at the spoils of the hunt.
We have been on many hunting trips as we gatherer more and more treasures for our collection. We have rarely had as much success on a single hunt at a comic shop then we had at Sci-Fi City.

First off Sci-Fi City sells their back issues for cover price, which is awesome. We went through boxes of older comics which went as far back as the Silver Age, yes the Silver Age. For those older comics they round up to a $1.00

Jack Kirby
We picked up two issues Of Jack Kirby's New Gods. Issues #8 and Issue #9 are great examples of Kirby's work with DC comics. The story goes that Kirby had a falling out with Stan Lee so he moved to Marvels competition DC comics. DC gave Kirby free range to do what he wanted, so he created a new universe with all new characters. We are huge fans of Kirby's work adding two more issues to our Kirby collection for a buck apiece made this trip worth it for us all by itself. We did buy more.

Late 1980's/Early 1990's issues
We have made it pretty obvious in recent posts that we are huge fans of the comics that were produced during the late 1980's through the early 1990's. They were much lighter then they are today, and there was an infusion of comedy throughout comics, especially DC titles.

We picked up another Crisis Cross-Over, we are always on the look-out for Crisis Cross-over because Crisis is still our favorite large scale story arc. This one was the New Teen Titans #13, paid cover price $1.25.

Also picked up more of the Hawk & Dove run as we continue our way to completion. Hunted down issues 6-12 for $1.00 each.

We also continued to fill in X-Force picking up issues 4, 6 and 7,$1.25 each. We like Rob Liefeld art, always have, always will.

For us when we are hunting finding Annuals always presents a problem, not sure why but we never seem to be able to find them. Not true this time, we got as the 1990 Justice League of America Annual #4. Love the cover.

Finally our back issue search landed us a Punisher War Journal #15 guest staring Spider-Man. This is an early Jim Lee cover.

Variant Covers
We have really enjoyed DC comics title wide monthly variant covers. June was bombshell cover month. These variants come in much smaller quantities then the regular covers and are extremely difficult to hunt down. Finding a couple more and at cover price (some stores mark them up) was another score! We added Superman/Wonder Woman #9 and Earth 2 #24, my daughter is a big Hawkgirl fan. If you are interested in all the Bombshell covers we recently posted about all of them.

If you are in the Orlando Area take a trip to Sci-Fi City it is worth every minute of it, you will spend a bunch of money and time there.

Enjoy your hunt!
#jointhehunt

Wizard World - On the hunt in Philadelphia

Yesterday we spent the entire day at Wizard World Philadelphia, a comic book and pop culture convention. Wizard Worlds is held at the Philadelphia Convention Center and the show floor is HUGE! Vendors, artists and celebrities side by side on the same show floor.

We were there the entire day, I was hunting for comics and collectibles to add to the trophy room and the kids were getting autographs from Doctor Who stars Matt Smith and Karen Gillian, plus Darryl Dixon himself, Norman Reedus. And yes it was awesome. I quote "Best day of y life!"

The actual hunting part was okay, there were plenty of vendors selling all types of comics, toys and art. Prices were medium range, vendors attributed that to high cost of table space.

The spoils of the hunt

Hit the dollar bins first and some great success, found Superboy #148 and #149, bought issues had original cover price of .12, cover date June and July 1968. Both were in fine condition. These two to good to be true I actually had to ask the vendor if it was a mistake. He said they were new boxes they just bought and had not gone through the yet. SCORE! Moral, check dollar bins, there is hidden treasure there.

 Also picked up an X-Force #1 from the dollar bin. When this issue first came out it was a big seller. Written and drawn by Rob Liefeld and packed with superhero team action.

 

Another great dollar bin find that brought back some fond memories, Alpha Flight #1. John Bryne is one of my favorite artist and Alpha Flight was a big deal when it came out way back in 1983. Exploding from the page of X-Men, the team of mutants were like X-Men Canada. John Bryne at his comic best, great cover, great art and great story. An awesome find and a great re-addition to the collection.



Filled in some of the titles that I have been gathering, The Flash Vol. 2 #205 (Feb 2004) guest staring Batman. Justice League Europe #21, 23, and 26 (1990-1991) Only 15 more issues to go. Final Crisis: Rogues Revenge #2 and #3,(2008) Final Crisis by Geoff Johns and Scott Kolins starring the Flash Rogues, My favorite villains in the DCU.  Finally picked up another gem, I have begun collecting some older titles, Shazam #18 (1975) My first Shazam! comic, in fine condition and steal for $1 even if it is written for kids. Aren't we all just little children inside.

 



Also went to the variant cover bin, a regular stop on all our convention hunts, picked up three more The Flash New 52 issues #4, 5 and 7 each one was only $2.50. Variant covers contain art by different artists then the usual artist. #4 was done by Eric Basaldua, #5 by Gary Frank and #7 awesome Dale Keown art.



Finally the big bang of the hunt, The Flash #142 for $25. Adding another one of the Barry Allen Flash issues to the collection is always a priority for every hunt we are on but it is getting harder and harder to find any o my missing issues, only 40 left. Also came across a Flash #105 which will be highlighted in an upcoming post.

We left the con, after waiting till 9:30 to get an autograph from Norman Reedus   so it was pretty empty (see photo of floor). A fun day was had by all not the greatest hunting grounds but the best day of my daughters life.

Wizard World Philadelphia Grade = B-

More news on WW Philly, original commissioned art up next.

Good luck on your hunt.
#jointhehunt #comiccon #superboy #normanreedus #mattsmith #dollarbin