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| ComicLink is one of the oldest comic book internet auction companies. The Leader has sold a few comics there in the dim past. The ComicLink folks always have the best audio-visual displays and fanciest equipment at the show. At left is Jon Signorelli looking over some comic books to be consigned on ComicLink. The books' consignor is at right: Jon Evans, Col, USAF (Ret). |
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The Leader once had an earlier incarnation as Lewis Forro, TSgt, USAF and was stationed at Norton Air Force Base (AFB) in San Bernardino in the 1980s. Then Lt Col Evans was stationed there and I vaguely knew of him but didn't know he collected comic books. Circa 1992 I was stationed in South Korea. Lt Col Evans came to visit briefly and it was then that I discovered he was a fellow comic book collector. When we both left the Pacific Theater we were stationed at Langley AFB, in Virginia. John and I got together from time to time and went to a few comic book conventions together. Our most notable trip was to a show in Manhattan at the Jacob Javits Center in the dead of winter 1993 during a blizzard. I slid my car off the icy road and Jon set us right again; nothing stops two dedicated comic fans from their appointed rounds. I first saw this issue of Weird Tales August 1934 with the Conan the Barbarian story by Robert E. Howard at Jon's house circa 1993 and was impressed by how clean and glossy the cover was. Jon Signorelli estimated the current value of this pulp at about $200.00. I lost track of Jon for several years when he moved to Florida but was delighted to see him briefly at last year's Baltimore Con. Jon told me then he had moved to the Northern Virginia area after retiring from the Air Force. It was nice to see him again at this year's show. I'm a little sad to see him selling his comic book collection but all things come to an end.
Update: I visited Jon in his home in Silver Springs, Virginia on 13 March 2015 and he told me the Weird Tales shown here sold for $450.00. He sold nearly his entire collection through ComicLink but he still has his CGC graded Amazing Spider-Man #1. |
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| Marty is a prolific writer of nostalgic popular culture books. He also promotes the Leader's favorite collector show, the Mid-Atlantic Nostalgia Con in Hunt Valley, Maryland. Marty was attending the Baltimore Con this year for the first time to promote his upcoming show in September 2014. I don't get a chance to talk to Marty much at his own show since he is too busy but we had a nice chat at this Baltimore show. He told me about plans for upcoming celebrities at his 2015 show and offered some consolation for Clint Walker, star of the 1960s TV show Cheyenne having to cancel two years in a row. Marty says he hope to have Walker at his show in 2015. Here Marty is showing off what I consider to be his best two books: The Time Tunnel and The Twilight Zone. |
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| Heroes Aren't Hard To Find |
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| Shelton Drumm promotes the Heroes Aren't Hard To Find comic convention in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Leader sees him at the Virginia Comic Con in Richmond, Virginia a few times per year in addition to this Baltimore show. Here's Shelton with a mid-grade copy of Journey Into Mystery #51, 1959. I bought a lower grade copy of this book back in the antediluvian 1960s in Savannah, Georgia. I liked it because of its cool scary robot cover by Russ Heath and its even cooler story by Steve Ditko. Shelton's copy isn't suitable for an upgrade for me which is just as well. I saw a high grade copy at the Baltimore show a few years ago but the price was $700, out of my buying range now days. |
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| Heroes Aren't Hard To Find |
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| The biggest hit movie of this summer of 2014 is the Marvel movie Guardians Of The Galaxy which brought more copies of this obscure, previously forgotten 1960s title out of the shadows into the limelight. Here's Shelton's about Fine copy for $350. |
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| Chris Klem of Nebo, North Carolina was the only dealer with some nice old science fiction movie posters. I'm not a big fan of Japanese monster movies but I do remember seeing Rodan, 1956 in a drive-in theater in my hometown of Savannah, Georgia in the early 1960s. All I basically remember about it was Rodan was killed by an erupting volcano at the end. |
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| David T. Alexander & Eddie Wendt |
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| David T. Alexander of Tampa, Florida and I have a long history together. In the early 1980s I visited his store and home in Studio City, California. I remember his house had a large basement full of old comics and magazines. I bought a few mid-grade copies of some pre-Marvel science fiction comics. World Of Fantasy #19, 1959 is the only one I remember for sure. I bet David doesn't remember that but the Leader's memory is nearly flawless. I later upgraded that copy but I still have the copy I bought from David; the Leader rarely sells anything. Later David moved to Tampa, Florida. I did a few telephone deals with him for some Humorama digest magazines when I moved to Virginia Beach, Virginia in the early 1990s. The last time I saw him in person was circa 1998 when I was set-up as a dealer at a collector's show in Baltimore. David was attending an Overstreet Advisor's conference in the city and stopped by the show. He bought a rare magazine about the 1960s TV show Bonanza from me, despite my refusal to give him a discount. I was very pleased to see him again after all these years at the Baltimore show and enjoyed talking with him about old times. |
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| David Alexander with a copy of the rare, high demand Space Western #44, 1953. The Indexer's Notes on this book's entry in the Grand Comic Book Database tells you why you want to own it: "Cowboys, Nazis & Martians!" I bought a large collection of mostly Dell Western and Funny Animal comics at the Hillsville, Virginia flea market in 1997 and found a decent mid-grade copy of Space Western #44 in the collection. I had never head of the book but I could tell from the esoteric cover with cowboys and Nazis on Mars that it was the weird type of book collectors liked. I was setting up at the Tyson's Corner show in those days and put in on my wall display. The book drew a lot of attention and comments but for a while nobody wanted to pay my price. Before long however a friend of Dave Wulf named Ray, who I usually sold science fiction paperbacks to, stood transfixed at my table staring at the book. He didn't want to pay my approximately $200 asking price but I couldn't refuse his offer to trade $500 worth of his comics for it. I don't think I've seen another copy of this book until this 2014 Baltimore show when David had a copy on his wall display. |
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| David T. Alexander & Eddie Wendt |
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| David Alexander and his assistant Eddie Wendt looking over Ernie Gerber's The Photo-Journal Guide To Comic Books. |
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| Daniella Frazetta of Frazeeta Prints 4 U is Frank Frazeta's granddaughter. I last saw her at the Virginia Comic Con in Richmond, Virginia in 2014. Daniella is holding a print from the Frazetta cover to one of the harder to find Ace paperbacks from the early 1960s, The Secret People. But not so hard to find to keep the Leader from having a copy. At this year's Baltimore show she gave me the welcome news that the Frank Frazetta Museum in Pennsylvania operated by her uncle, Frank Frazetta, Jr. was finally open. The Leader will soon start making plans to visit there to photograph its art treasures. |
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| Here's lovely model Zoe DiGorgio dressed as the wooden monster Groot from the current movie Guardians Of The Galaxy. That's Rocket Raccoon perched on her shoulder. Being a fan of 1960s pre-Marvel science fiction comics, the Leader remembers Groot from Tales To Astonish #13, 1960. However the Leader summarily dismisses all comic books after 1977 so how Groot joined the Guardians and the significance of Zoe's flower is a mystery to him. |
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| The Leader doesn't usually photograph guys in costumes but he always makes an exception for John Arroyo as the Red Skull who he first met at last year's show. John has the scariest Red Skull costume I've ever seen. |
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| Here's John angled to clearly show his Nazi SS lightening bolt insignia on his collar and the SS death's head insignia on his lapels. On his left arm is his Hydra arm band. The Red Skull was definitely not an equal opportunity kind of guy. |
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| Gene Carpenter & John Knight |
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| Here are two of nature's noblemen: The Leader's favorite comic book dealer, Gene Carpenter on left, with his assistant at this show John Knight of Incline Village, Nevada. John Knight and I go back a long way together after a fashion although John didn't know it until I saw him again at this show. I first met him in the early 1980s at the San Diego Comic Con. At that show I was referred to him by a mutual dealer friend, Ron Pussell now also of Incline Village but who in the 1980s was living in Southern California as was John in those days. Ron said that John had a Cosmic Aeroplane pedigree copy of Captain Science #5 at the show so I went over and bought it from him for $200. John didn't remember this when Gene Carpenter introduced us at this year's Baltimore show but as always, the Leader's memory is nearly infallible. Although Gene is the Leader's favorite comic book dealer the Leader does not know all of Gene's early comic book history. I was surprised to learn that in the early 1970s John Knight and Gene were living in Maryland and John was setting up at comic book shows a few years before Gene who was still in college. John hired Gene to help him at some of the shows. I never suspected Gene had a mentor. I thought he sprang into the world as a fully developed veteran comic book dealer. |
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| Gene Carpenter & John Knight |
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| John Knight showing the Leader's favorite comic book dealer, Gene Carpenter, the contents of two mysterious cardboard boxes... |
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| ... and here is part of what was in John's boxes. Some nice copies of some rare monster magazines. Of course these copies for sale are only duplicates. The better copies are back home in Incline Village. In the background is Gene Carpenter poking around taking his time getting set up on the first day of the show. |
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| George Mihalik, Lewis Forro, David Alexander |
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| Here's three grizzled comic book veterans at David's table about closing time on the second day and my last day of the show. I enjoyed these last few minutes of this year's show talking to George and David about mutual friends and the days of old gone by. |
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