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Your narrator, the Leader
The Leader attended his favorite show of year, Pulpfest, 1-3 August 2024 held at the Doubletree hotel in Pittsburg-Cranberry, Pennsylvania. The Leader always enjoys talking to his dealer friends Mark Hickman, Ray Walsh, Tim Paxton, Timothy Kupin, Todd Warren, Bill Thade and Craig Poole. He especially enjoyed going to out to dinner with pulp and comic book dealer Tom Martin which is customary at this show. Some of his favorite people at Pulpfest are the coterie of aficionados associated with Men's Adventure magazines: Bob Deis, Wyatt Doyle, Eric Blackburn, Innes Weir and of course Jacqueline Pollen.
This year for the first time the Leader also participated in Pulpfest's usual Saturday night auction. He placed eight bids on science fiction art and reference books and lost them all except one: a high grade copy of Worlds Of Tomorrow by Forrest J. Ackerman. The Leader was also pleased to buy from Pulpfest promoter Jack Cullers with whom he had never done any previous business a collection of high grade pre 1970 science fiction paperbacks which is one of the Leader's collecting interests.
The Leader's only regret for for this year's Pulpfest was the absence of his dealer friend Tom Skemp who has been selling the Leader bargain priced magazine and fanzine merchandise the last two years.

Click here for Page 2 of the Leader's Report on Pulpfest 1-3 August 2024
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Thursday 1 August 2024
John McMahan
Pulp and comic book dealer John McMahan was in in his usual spot which is Gene Carpenter's old spot when he used to attend Pulpfest up until a few years ago. Here's John with some rare issues of artist Harvey Kurtzman's satire magazine Humbug. This magazine only lasted 11 issues through 1957-1958. Fortunately these magazines have been reprinted in a a two volume hardcover set so it's possible to read the stories without having to buy these original expensive issues. Kurtzman's next satire magazine from the 1960s Help hasn't been reprinted yet and probably never will be.
John McMahan
John with an expensive 1937 issue of the long running pulp The Shadow Magazine featuring its eponyomous crime fighting character who knew what evil lurked in the hearts of men. Also the Ziff-Davis comic book Amazing Stories #2, 1951. The cover painting is by Allen Anderson. One of the stories is drawn by famous pulp and comic book artist Alex Schomburg and another story is drawn by famous DC artist Murphy Anderson so this is a pretty good issue to have. The entire run of Amazing Adventures has been reprinted in hardcover by PS Artbooks if you can't afford an original copy like this one.
John Hood
This Burroughs Bibliophiles table is usually manned by Henry Franke and his partner Gary Buckingham but this year a dealer I have never seen before was taking their place, John Hood. Turns out Henry Franke was out in the hallway at another Edgar Rice Burroughs table which we'll check on soon.
Michael Kowal
Michael Kowal had the spot normally held by Tom Skemp but Tom couldn't make it this year. Michael was a good substitue for Tom with this impressive collection of Astounding Science Fiction pulps from the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s. After editor John W. Campbell took over the magazine in 1937 Astounding dominated the rest of the science fiction pulps with stories by big name authors Robert A. Heinlein, Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, Clifford D. Simak and so on. For the history of the changing format size of this venerable science fiction pulp see my brief essay from a previous Pulpfest report.
Michael is holding the Astounding September 1941 issue which has some special significance as explained in the next photo at right.
Michael Kowal
The short story "Nightfall" looms large in the development of Isaac Asimov as a major league science fiction writer. After 31 previously published stories to no great accalaim, Astounding editor John W. Campbell asked young graduate chemistry student Asimov to write a story about a planet whose people had never seen darkness before since the people had more than one sun which kept the planet in near permanent sunlight. Campbell loved the story and paid Asimov a bonus per word rate and put his name and the story on the cover of Astounding for the first time which catapulted Asimov in the big leagues of science fiction writers. Here's a brief excerpt from the Wikipedia entry on "Nightfall": In 1968, the Science Fiction Writers of America voted "Nightfall" the best science fiction story written prior to the 1965 establishment of the Nebula Awards and included it in The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Volume One, 1929-1964.
Timothy Kupin
I missed seeing ubiquitous comic book Timothy Kupin aka Koop at HeroesCon in Charlotte, North Carolina last June so I was glad to catch up with him here. Here's Koop talking with a customer. The Dare-Devil Aces is one of the few Wally Wood art books I don't have. I may pick it up someday.
Timothy Kupin
Here's Koop with art books on Frank Frazetta, Basil Gogos and Wally Wood all of which I have in hardcover.
Derek Woywood
Derek Woywood is the promoter of the Philadelphia Comic Con which Derek says is the longest running comic show in that city. I've never attended since it's to far to drive from Virginia Beach, VA for a one day show.
Here's Derek with a hardcover book on famous DC artist Carmine Infantino. I like Infantino but I don't like landscape format books like this one so I never bought it. I also like DC science fiction comic books like this The Brave and the Bold, #31, 1960 but can't afford the originals and it's unlikely DC will ever reprint them in color and hardcover. Derek's piece of Batman original art is by Dick Giordano.
I used to see Derek sometimes setup with Gene Carpenter at Pulpfest and other shows but I haven't seen him until now for about two years. He registered late for Pulpfest as a dealer so he couldn't be fit into the regular dealers' room. So they had him setup out in the hallway where he maintained a lonely vigil with only fellow comic book dealer Terry O'Neill for company for the three days of the show.
Henry Franke
Edgar Rice Burroughs expert Henry Franke had this large display in the hallway outside the dealers' room so as to sign up people for the Burroughs Biblilophiles' Dum-Dum Banquet being to be held Saturday night at a nearby restaurant. Henry had this new impressive sign shown at right of John Carter and Dejah Thoris of Mars from a Frank Frazetta painting. If you have any questions about Edgar Rice Burroughs ask Henry.
Henry Franke
Henry with this new Tarzan's Quilt Quest promotional item.
Click here for Page 2 of the Leader's Report on Pulpfest 1-3 August 2024
Click here for Page 3 of the Leader's Report on Pulpfest 1-3 August 2024