Back when I was in college, Roger Stern didn't live far from me (his wife was a chemistry professor) and you'd see him around the local comic book shop all the time. In addition, because this was when he was a big deal at Marvel, whenever they had the local convention, you'd get a fair number of Marvel's "big guns" at time.
Roger Stern is one I've always wanted to meet. His AMAZING SPIDERMAN 224-250 and DOCTOR STRANGE 46, 48-73 runs are both modestly outstanding, true to the Lee/Ditko runs, but wonderful expansions as well. From eveything I've heard, he's an exceptionally nice and modest guy despite his popularity and the quality of his work.
I think an advantage you had at your local store is it was just two or three hours outside of New York City, so a lot of that talent was local to you.
Similarly, Pat Broderick, Mike Zeck, Bob McLeod, Michael Golden, Martin Nodell, Will Eisner, Sheldon Moldoff, Mark Sylvestri and Kevin Maguire were local for me, and therefore came to local stores and shows more than other creators not in the area.
