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Shelton Drum of Heroes Aren't Hard To Find in North Carolina is one of the largest comic book dealers in the South. He always has lots of interesting Silver and Golden Age comics.
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| Heroes Aren't Hard To Find |
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Shelton Drum and his assistant Carlin with some nice old comics: Captain America, The Yellow Claw and The X-Men.
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Underground cartoonist Denis Kitchen had a guest with him at his table this year: Frank Thatcher billed as the "oldest living underground cartoonist (maybe)." The Leader asked Mr. Kitchen about this claim and was told that Mr. Thatcher had some of his work published in the early 1960s before the more famous underground cartoonist got started.
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Ted VanLiew of Superworld Comics with three cool 1950s issues of the Avon sci-fi comics Strange Worlds. The comic on the left has a Gene Fawcette cover. The other two comics have covers by Wally Wood.
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Mike Carbonaro a.k.a. the Prince of Pop Culture has been in the comics and collectibles business for a very long time. The Leader sees him at Chiller Theater in New Jersey form time to time in addition to this show. Mike has here two very expensive comics graded 9.0 by CGC: The X-Men #1 and The Avengers #1 both from 1963.
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The owner of Big Planet Comics in Washington D.C with two big posters of Silver Age Marvel comics that the Leader likes: X-Men #9 and Tales Of Suspense #49.
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Andrea Fluty of Comic Relief with some nice collages of Marvel and DC comic book characters.
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Harley Yee of Harley Yee Rare Comics is another veteran dealer who sets up at lots of comic shows. Here is he showing off a CGC graded 5.0 copy of the popular Superman #14, 1941.
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I never met Paul McSpadden before. He told me the Balitmore Comic Con was the only show he sets up at. I noticed his booth because he had some interesting non-comic book science fiction related material, like the big "Space Happy" coloring book he is holding. I was wearing my City T-shirt with images from the famous novel City by Clifford D. Simak. Mr. McSpadden was a fellow Simak fan and we got to talking about Simak's other best known novel, Way Station. I also described for Mr. McSpadden the painting I had done for me based on Simak's last City story, "Epilog," which was published in the John W. Campbell Memorial Anthology many years after the regular City stories. I guess one day the Leader may have to get a Way Station T-shirt too.
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As a kid many years ago I did like reading the Phantom in the newspaper Sunday section. Little did I know that one day I would meet one of the world's most accomplished Phantom collectors. Pete's been reading the Phantom newspaper strips and comic books since the early 1950s and collecting the Phantom since the early 1970s. He says there are only two or three other collectors in the world that have collections comparable to his. I've met Pete at the Baltimore Con off and on for many years and always ask him what new Phantom collectibles he has acquired. This year he told me he had recently written the introductions for two new Phantom hardcover books by Hermes Press.
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George is a long time friend of mine who I met in the late 1990s when I used to set up as dealer at the Tyson's Corner comic show in Northern Virginia. I once bought a small collection from George at that show which had some nice Edgar Rice Burroughs paperbacks and some rare 8" x 10" glossy photos of Frank Frazetta. George is one of the few people accepted into the Leader's Lair. He spent one night at my home several years ago looking over with me my Mile High pedigree comics and original Steve Ditko artwork. I encouraged George at this Baltimore show to meet me on 19 September at the Mid-Atlantic Nostalgia Con which I always attend. I hope he makes it.
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As always I've saved the best for last. Gene Carpenter of All American Comics is the Leader's favorite comic book dealer and we cross paths at many shows. I'll be seeing him on 19 September for a show we both like, the Mid-Atlantic Nostalgia Con. Here's Gene showing off some of his fantastic inventory, two issues of the EC Picto-Fiction magazines from the mid 1950s.
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I'm not familiar with the work of Ken Bald but he was a Timely and Marvel artist from the old days and the Leader likes that so here he is.
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I did like John Buscema's art on The Silver Surfer in the 1960s and Conan the Barbarian in the 1970s. However his brother Sal Buscema was never a favorite of mine since he did most of his work for Marvel in the 1970s which is of less interest to me than the Marvel of the 1960s. However, the Leader's lack of interest in Mr. Buscema had no impact on the line of fans waiting to get Mr. Buscema's autograph.
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I was not aware of Marvel artist Alex Saviuk's work but Pete Klaus introduced me to him. The Leader has no interest in recent day or johnny-come-lately comic artists but when Mr. Saviuk revealed he had been a Spider-Man artist for 26 years that was enough to make the Leader's cut and so he took his picture.
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The Hulk stories in Tales To Astonish in the 1960s are some of the Leader's favorite Marvel comic stories. I was less impressed with Herb Trimpe's long run on the Hulk in his own book from 1969 onward. However to be fair to Mr. Trimpe, he was faced with the proverbial "hard act to follow" when he took over drawing a character previously drawn by Steve Ditko, Jack Kirby, Bob Powell, John Romita and Bill Everett. If he couldn't match those gentleman, Mr. Trimpe did have a competent, acceptable style of his own and brought no dishonor to the Hulk during his years on the book. Like Mr. Buscema, he had no shortage of fans waiting in line to get his autograph.
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I enjoyed Marvel 1970s artist Jim Starlin's flashy artwork on Captain Marvel and a few years ago had him sign a copy of the famous graphic novel The Death of Captain Marvel. Here's Mr. Starlin posing with his most famous creation, Thanos, the warlord of Titan.
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Krisin Hughes as the super heroine She-Ra from the 1980s cartoon series and more recent DC comic books.
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This model wouldn't give me her real name and preferred to be called by her stage name of Gunka Cosplay. The Leader isn't versed in modern day pop culture so he had no idea what that name may mean.
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I didn't get this model's real name either but she said her character's costume is Harley Quinn from DC comic books and cartoons.
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Here's model Brody Williams as the Batman villainess Poison Ivy.
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Here's a model who said her first name was Coosie. She said she was portraying a character from the video game "World of Warcraft."
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The Leader prefers to concentrate on photographing babes, not guys, but this Red Skull costume with Mr. Arroyo inside was so striking and scary he had to make an exception. This costume wasn't used in the recent Captain America movie and in the 1940s and 1960s Marvel comics he usually wore a green jump suit of sorts. I liked Mr. Arroyo's idea of using a German uniform with the SS insignia on the collar. Not clearly shown but he is also wearing a Hydra armband which the Red Skull was the leader of in Marvel's 1970s Bronze Age. The SS and Hydra combined; how evil can you get?
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Late on Sunday afternoon when the show was almost over this huge Iron Man costume appeared at the show and slowly lumbered along causing quite a commotion. Whoever was inside did stop to pose for photos and the Leader, as he was on his way out heading back to his hotel, quickly snapped this photo.
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