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Your narrator, the Leader
The Leader attended the Fayetteville Comic Con 26 and 27 April 2024. As always he is grateful to this show's promoter Keith Gibbs for giving him a free pass. The Leader was pleased to see once again his vendor friends Joe Martinez, Bryan Barros, Mike Zollo, Gerald Hogan, Chad Gray and Wes Flanary who always attend this show. The Leader was disappointed however at the absence of other vendor friends who were absent: Robert Cunningham, Jimmy Shirah and Robert Griffin. The Leader felt most keenly the absence of one of his favorite vendors, Banks Robinson, who went to another show this same weekend. The Leader's dismay at Banks's absence was partly ameliorated by the unexpected presence of another favorite vendor, Mario Russo, who rarely attends this show. Late Friday night the Leader and Mario had an enjoyable dinner at the Mash House where the Leader and his vendor friends always gather for dinner during this show. The Leader looks forward to seeing Mario again in May at the Tidewater Comic Con in Virginia Beach, VA.

Click here for Page 2 of the Leader's Report on the Fayetteville Comic Con April 2024
Click here for the Main Introduction Page to see the Leader's Reports on the Tidewater Comic Con, the Columbus Moving Picture Show and HeroesCon
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Dealer Setup Day Friday 26 April 2024
Crown Complex Main Theater
Crown Complex Loading Door
The huge loading doors at the back of the Crown Complex open Thursday morning for the hundreds of vendors to bring in their merchandise into the main exhibition hall. Let's take a look inside the exhibition hall as the vendors are setting up before the public gets here tomorrow.
Crown Complex Loading Door
As the vendors bring in their merchandise the Con's staff and volunteers wearing their green and white vests at the check-in desk attend to the many details involved in running a smooth show for the next two days.
Gerald Hogan, Chad Gray
At far left is the longtime owner of Trilogy Comics in my town of Virginia Beach, Virginia making a phone call of no doubt cosmic importance. At far right is his assistant Chad Gray. Chad lives in Roanoke, Virginia and always helps out Gerald at this show.
Chad Gray
Trilogy Comics stocks a lot of Japanese Manga books and figurines a few samples of which are shown at left.
Chad Gray
Chad with a play set of the Fantastic Four encased in a shiny metal box with art by Jack Kirby. Trilogy Comics owner Gerald Hogan is lurking in the background.
Andy Gentile
Andy Gentile of ACW Auctions pointing out the Tower of Fear, a big boxed collection of Universal Studio classic monster figurines.
Andy Gentile
Here's the front and back of the box of the Tower of Fear showing the Unversal monsters the Mummy, Frankenstein's Monster, Dracula, the Creature from the Black Lagoon and the Wolf Man.
The Lafayette Scale Modelers Club
Lanny Hainey, Stacy Lawson, Ray Lawson, Doug Willis.

I first met most of these members of this model making club at this show last October. They were back again this April with more interesting popular culture models and toys.
Joe Martinez
Joe Martinez used to setup next to his partner Gene Carpenter but since Gene has missed the last two shows Joe has taken over his entire space. Joe has some old comic books but mostly deals in toys and action figures some of which are shown here. The Marvel villain Mysterio first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #13, 1964.
Mike Zollo
Owner of Cherry-Pickers, Mike Zollo, usually attends this show and always has interesting inventory. He's holding a graphic novel The Crow which was made into a popular movie in 1994 which spawned a few sequels. The original 1994 movie has been remade and is scheduled for a August 2024 release.
Mike was the only dealer in the room with some pulp magazines. This handful of Western type pulps were in nice condition, much better than you usually see them. I'll be seeing tons of pulp magazines this August at my favorite show of the year, the Pulpfest convention near Pittsburg, PA.
Wes Flanary
Talented artist Wes Flanary specializes in painting mostly characters and creatures from horror and science fiction movies. At far left is one of his newest oil paintings, the Wolf Man from the 1941 Universal Studio movie.
Mario Russo
Veteran comic book dealer Mario Russo from Atlanta, GA sets up at many shows each year but not usually this one. I was glad to see he made it this year. He arrived late after most of the the other dealers had left for the day. So, it was only Mario and myself to have dinner together at the Mash House which my other dealer friends frequent with me when they are at this show. I last saw Mario at the Tidewater Comic Con in my town of Virginia Beach, VA last May 2023. After that show one night Mario and I had a profitable evening burning up the craps tables at the Rivers Casino in nearby Portsmouth, VA. If Mario makes it to the 18 May Tidewater Comic Con I'm sure we'll make another run at the Rivers Casino.
Click here for Page 2 of the Leader's Report on the Fayetteville Comic Con April 2024
Click here for the Main Introduction Page to see the Leader's Report on the Tidewater Comic Con, the Columbus Moving Picture Show and HeroesCon