So, where should I buy comics in London?

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I've just returned to town, after living in Toronto for a few years -- are there any new or decent (or cheap) places that have sprouted up since then? Or is it still just the axis of Mega City/FP/Gosh?

― Chuck_Tatum (Chuck_Tatum), Thursday, 29 September 2005 10:50 (twenty years ago)

Gosh Comics by the British museum. Oh wait, you already know it.

where is Mega City?

I think there is some place out in Camden as well, yeah.

― DV (dirtyvicar), Thursday, 29 September 2005 10:53 (twenty years ago)

Mega city is the one in Camden

― Mark C (Markco), Thursday, 29 September 2005 10:53 (twenty years ago)

Of course Forbidden Planet has moved. Not very far, but is now on Shaftesbury Avenue.

― Pete (Pete), Thursday, 29 September 2005 11:22 (twenty years ago)

I do all my shopping at Mega City and FP, I'm afraid. The new FP does have an enormous selection, even bigger than the old one. Oh, there's quite a good shop on Charing Cross Road, quite near Trafalgar Square, but I can't remember what it's called.

― chap who would dare to thwart the revolution (chap), Thursday, 29 September 2005 11:25 (twenty years ago)

that wld be comic showcase

my friend once said that Forbidden Planet = supermarket, Comic Showcase = corner shop, Gosh! = boutique, which is still roughly accurate, i think

― Ward Fowler (Ward Fowler), Thursday, 29 September 2005 12:15 (twenty years ago)

i'd love to support the little man against the corporations, but the sad truth is, convenience is just a little more...convenient, so i buy my vegetables at Somerfield instead of the local grocer and i buy my comics at the FP megastore. yes, i feel the burn of shame, but you learn to live with it.

as an aside, i made the mistake of looking at the graphic novels section of Borders Charing X Rd after failing to find something in Gosh!, and i've seen better condition books at car boot sales. it was a disgrace.

― Lee F# (fsharp), Thursday, 29 September 2005 13:25 (twenty years ago)

What's the mom and pop store, then?
I guess I'm going to have to do my browsing at FP and my buying at Gosh!
Perhaps we should have a FBSCATAP (fancing buying some comics and then a pint) sometime...

― Chuck_Tatum (Chuck_Tatum), Thursday, 29 September 2005 15:14 (twenty years ago)

Gosh is the best. It opens on sunday and everything, for christ's sake!

― DV (dirtyvicar), Thursday, 29 September 2005 15:21 (twenty years ago)

I've got a real soft spot for Mega City. Maybe that's because it's only twenty minute's walk from my house. Also, it smells slightly musty like a comic shop should.

― chap who would dare to thwart the revolution (chap), Thursday, 29 September 2005 15:27 (twenty years ago)

I use Gosh because a) my dear old friend (and Ward Fowler's) TL works there, and b) it's five minutes walk from where I work. I've been more or less friends with the owner of Showcase for well over 20 years, so approve of that too.

I just went into Gosh today and bought a vast amount of comic pages, what with the two Showcase Presents volumes, among other things.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Thursday, 29 September 2005 19:31 (twenty years ago)

Aside from the holy trinity of FP/Gosh/Mega City and Comic Showcase, theres Orbital, right beside Centrepoint on Charing X Rd.

I like the Notting Hill Book & Comics Exchange for picking up cheap back issues and Graphic novels/tpbs. It also sells books that are neither sci-fi nor fantasy, which is a plus.

Lee F OTM about Borders Comic section, but the same applies to Waterstones on Piccadilly - I can never figure out how bookshops organise their Graphic Novel sections - randomly? By the spine colours? Its not alphabetically...

― David N (David N.), Thursday, 29 September 2005 23:08 (twenty years ago)

They probably assume comic readers don't know their alphabet.

― chap who would dare to thwart the revolution (chap), Thursday, 29 September 2005 23:13 (twenty years ago)

I used to work at a independent book store in Toronto, where I was "in charge" of the graphic novel section. Almost every week, I would assidously alphabetize the graphic novel section -- I mean, even the fucking humour and children's board book sections were alphabetized -- and every time, some other clerk in the store would screw it up by facing Acme Novelty and P Craig Fucking Russell's Fucking Ring of Fucking Nibelung (which we only ever had volume 2 of, for some reason.) Not that it was our fault all the time. I remember selling more copies of Mein Kampf than Persepolis.

― Chuck_Tatum (Chuck_Tatum), Thursday, 29 September 2005 23:20 (twenty years ago)

Re: "What's the mom and pop store, then?"

I'd say 30th Century Comics to that, albeit it's way the heck out in Putney.

― David Simpson (David Simpson), Friday, 30 September 2005 10:03 (twenty years ago)

Comic Showcase went kind of rubbish after it moved to Charing Cross road, though, didn't it?

― DV (dirtyvicar), Friday, 30 September 2005 10:08 (twenty years ago)

comic mart this sunday btw, at the royal national hotel off russell square

― Ward Fowler (Ward Fowler), Friday, 30 September 2005 10:51 (twenty years ago)

do they sell comics on the tube?

― Ian John50n (orion), Friday, 30 September 2005 13:18 (twenty years ago)

30th Century is part-owned and part-run by one of my best and oldest friends, so I wholeheartedly recommend it! I don't get out there often myself, sadly.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Friday, 30 September 2005 15:12 (twenty years ago)

Hi y'all! This is Ronald from Singapore. I have a trip to London coming up and looking to stock up on back issues of 2000AD, Judge Dredd, etc. Anyone can advise me where I should go? Will only be in a London for a few days. Thanx!

― Ronald Hee, Tuesday, 4 October 2005 05:30 (twenty years ago)

Mega City has a good selection of 2000 AD back issues. It's near Camden Town station on the Northern Line, about fifteen minutes from Central London.

http://www.multimap.com/map/browse.cgi?pc=NW1+7HJ

Try Forbidden Planet also

http://www.londontown.com/LondonInformation/Shopping/Forbidden_Planet_Megastore/5d6c/

― chap who would dare to kill all the threads (chap), Tuesday, 4 October 2005 10:35 (twenty years ago)

The regular comic fairs at the International hotel are a good bet.

― Pete (Pete), Tuesday, 4 October 2005 11:31 (twenty years ago)

the comic shop in Spaced was filmed in a real comic shop in Richmond iirc (although i think they've relocated since). anyone have any details? have about a dozen backissues that are bugging me and i've done the Gosh / Comic Showcase / FP / Comicana / Mega City run multiple times to no avail. (i always visit comic showcase first because they remember me from one trip to the next)

what about backissues online? none of them are particularly obscure (Promethea #31 for instance, 3 issues of 100 bullets, one Hellblazer...)

― koogs (koogs), Saturday, 8 October 2005 10:39 (twenty years ago)

try the beguilign and the silver snail in toronto, they both do mail order (they'll certainly have the promethea)

― Chuck_Tatum (Chuck_Tatum), Saturday, 8 October 2005 11:55 (twenty years ago)

Thanks to those that replied my earlier post. Back from London with 199 comics in my bag! Went to Gosh and picked up a few recent back copies. Went to Comicana which had a huge stock, and picked up several older ones. The biggest hit was at Orbital, which had a lot of QC/Fleetway comics going for a song! They also have some old 2000ADs going cheaply, but I already had those issues. Anyone looking to sell or trade, I'd be happy to chat with you. Happy readin', all!

― Ronald Hee, Thursday, 20 October 2005 07:10 (twenty years ago)

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