Yeah, that's another reason I preferred DC. There were some titles I didn't get the concluding issue to until 10 or 15 years later, when I was in high school or college!
I found my first comic store in 1979 (Starship Enterprises, in Fort Lauderdale), right after I turned 16 and got my first car, and it was the only comic shop in South Florida, and similarly, it was about 20 miles away from me, impossible to visit until I had a car. I remember bike-pedaling before that (in 1975-1976) to 7-11's all over my area when I couldn't find an issue I missed, for missing issues of the "Bat-murderer" story in DETECTIVE 444-448, and other series.
There were great series like Starlin's WARLOCK that looked really good to me, but I didn't read until I had access to back issues, where I could finally read them in their entirety. That's actually one reason I've always favored back issues over new books, because then I can go and buy the whole series, vs. buying a whole series issue by issue, and then having it be cancelled before the conclusion is ever published!
