THIS PAGE UPDATED FEBRUARY 22 , 2016
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CELEBRATING 18 YEARS ON THE WORLD WIDE WEB !
It seems that everyone, including myself, wants to know who they're buying their comic books from.
I know that I do. Whether I'm sniping on Ebay, browsing another dealers online stock, or standing
in front of a table of longboxes at a convention, I always like to know the person selling me a
stack of comic books.
My name is Phil Prasco and I've been a comic book nerd all my life.
Maybe a little background is appropriate. I started out reading comics due to the influence of
my uncles. I have a plethora of uncles, and they all had a penchant for comic books. Not just on
mom's or dad's side of the family, but both sides. Mike and Rick on my dad's side, and Buddy,
Donald, and Billy on my mom's. Dad liked Gangbusters, and Mom's favorite is still Patsy and Hedy.
I was at 8 years old, the owner of several hundred tattered comic books. And some very old, and
today, very valuable goldenage and atomage comic books. That accumulation never slowed down.
Somewhere in the early 1970's I discovered that people like myself were trading, buying and selling
old comics. This had been going on for a long time, but I had my mind on other things, like
women and cars. Go figure. I started trading, buying thru mail order, and selling to fellow
comic book buddies that I had met in the Houston area. Then I discovered that there were stores
that sold comic books, great places like Uncle Roy's, Camelot Books, Nan's Comics, The Book Emporium,
Happy Trails, and other great places around our city. Lot's of great people, and still to this
day, lot's of good friends.
My partner in this venture, my wife of over 35 years now, Bobbie, found out about "the collection",
a few months before we were married. As we set up housekeeping, she had a little difficulty
understanding why "the collection" took priority over other things. Occasionally she still backtracks
and questions my sanity. Some things will never change. Oh !! and for Eric, John, and James, my surrogate
kids, you are some great young men, and I am proud to call you my friends for life.
We've been doing comic book conventions since 1981, traveling roadshows that we both enjoyed,
occasionally for different reasons. Our son Sean started hitting the road with us and several
dozen long boxes in the mid 1980s. He was a great scout, and would tour the convention halls
as Bobbie and I set up our displays, and would chase hot demand comics for me, and even dicker
with fellow dealers until they would give in and sell a comic to him, just to get him away from
their tables. Many a time someone would shout across the hall for me to come and get my kid !
We even had a brick and mortar comic book shop in the early 1990's. Presto Comic Book Company
of Pasadena Texas.
With the help of my wife Bobbie, my son Sean, and my brother Perry, we had a ball buying
and selling comic books for quite a while. We all had full time jobs, other than the comic
shop, and that is essentially the reason we decided to close the doors. The comic book market
was imploding, we had a good business model, but truth told, we had not learned all the
business fundimentals we needed to run a long term shop. We were kids with grand ideas.
Hindsight is wonderful, but all good thing must appearantly end.
I started selling comic books on EBAY in 1998, under the user ID of SPACECITYCOMICS.
I've sold tons of comics there, times have changed, and while EBAY is still the
grandest market place, I don't do much there anymore. I started my first online web domain
also in 1998, and still have quite a few online comic webshops. You can find links to
all of them on any of the hundreds of webpages on the webshops I own.
Today, I sell almost exclusively on the web. My face isn't known on the
convention circut as it once was. I'm older and commited fully to getting older in
a more comfortable endeavor. My full time job keeps me more than occupied with 60+ hour
weeks, and of course my family always comes first. But comic books are still my passion.
It became more than a driving hobby years back. Years ago I started selling comic books
so I could spend the profits on buying more comic books to read. I still do that today.
I like to brag that I have the finest OUR GANG / TOM AND JERRY comic book collection
in the world. All of them, every single issue ever printed. Most in near mint. Buy hey,
that genre is my joy, and like everyone else, it may or may not be shared by others. I
still love to see kids find the latest hot issue that makes them jump for joy, or the
older collector finally find that particular issue that has been evading them for years.
All the webshops I have are extensions of that joy, in all honesty, it costs more time
and money than you could imagine to keep six webshops stocked and content fresh on a
weekly basis. I'm not making money from this venture, again, the wife points that out
to me constantly, but as long as my fingers can still type, and my scanner doesn't go
on the fritz, I'll be here peddling comic books.
Enjoy, Phil
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