Click here for the Main Introduction Page to see the Leader's Report on the Pulpfest convention 2026.

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Saturday 12 September 2026

Ed Piper Ed Piper (at far left) always manages show promoter Brett Carreras's booth for him since Brett is usually doing other things at the show. However, Brett does appear in this photo. He's at the opposite end of the booth from Ed evaluating some comic books the fellow in the Captain America shield shirt was looking to sell. Across the aisle at far right is dealer Jimmy Montgomery (black cap) in his booth next to Gene Carpenter's' usual spot. In the next photo let's take a look at that "Captain Marvel" comic I see on the third shelf from the top of Brett Carreras's display wall.	Ed Piper Ed is holding Marvel Super-Heroes #13, 1968 featuring the first appearance of Marvel's version of Captain Marvel and Carol Danvers who later became a female version of Captain Marvel. Captain Marvel had first appeared in Marvel Super-Heroes #12, 1967. This new title took over the numbering of Fantasy Masterpieces which ran for 11 issues before changing to Marvel Super-Heroes. After appearing in two issues of Marvel Super-Heroes Captain Marvel got his own comics starting with this #1, 1968 issue. The title ran until #62, 1979. Captain Marvel died of cancer and stayed dead in the graphic novel The Death Of Captain Marvel !982 by Jim Starlin. The X-Men #26, 1966. Routine issue with nothing special about it. The X-Men #27, 1966 with the return of the Mimic. The Mimic was a mutant named Calvin Rankin who had the ability to absorb the powers of anybody near him, similar to the Absorbing Man and the Super Adaptoid. He first appeared in The X-Men #19, 1966.	Stephen Su Stephen Su bantering with some customers.

Stephen Su Stephen holding Superman #233, 1971 and Superman #181, 1965 both with covers by Superman's best Silver Age artist, Curt Swan. Also, the Dell comic Around The World In 80 Days 1956 from the movie of the same name. If this movie ever comes out on Blu-Ray disc I will buy it. Marvel Super-Heroes #18, 1968 featuring the first appearance of the Guardians of the Galaxy. There wasn't anything special about this comic until Marvel released the movie Guardians of the Galaxy in 2014 causing the price to increase substantially. The Guardians have continued to appear in movies and TV shows so I imagine the price is still high. Marvel Tales #4, 1966. The first two issues were Marvel Tales Annual. This title and Marvel Collector's Item Classics were the first two titles to reprint Marvel's early 1960s super-hero comics. These reprints were only a few years old in 1966 but Marvel still had the audacity to call them "classics." Detective #349,1966 with an uncommon Batman cover by Joe Kubert. Most of the Batman comics in this period were drawn by Carmine Infantino and other artists. Kubert was better known as the artist on DC's war comic Our Army At War with Sgt. Rock. Beware The Creeper #1, 1968. When Marvel's famous Spider-Man and Doctor Strange artist Steve Ditko left Marvel in 1966 he returned to Charlton Comics that he had been working at before and during his Marvel tenure. But Ditko also did some work at DC including this title. The Creeper first appeared in Showcase #73, 1968. He only lasted six issues in his own title drawn by Ditko but continued to guest star in DC comics drawn by other artists for many years and in recent years he has appeared in animated TV shows. I suppose it's only a matter of time before he shows up in a live action DC movie.	Ike Jones Ike Jones is an old timer dealer I've known since we used to set up at the Tyson's Corner comic show in the Washington DC area in the late 1990s. Here's Ike with The Amazing Spider-Man #26, 1965 featuring the first appearance of the Crime Master. This villain didn't didn't make much of a dent in the Marvel Universe; he was killed in issue #27. This #26 issue and I have a long history together as recounted here. Like most Marvel fans, the "Master Planner Trilogy" in The Amazing Spider-Man #31-#33 is my favorite Spider-Man story. But, my second favorite story is these #26 and #27 issues. The Amazing Spider-Man #27, 1965 is another fun issue with the first appearance of the Molten Man, a spooky black cover and we get to see Peter Parker graduate from high school.	Dan Fogel Dan Fogel is the author of Fogel's Underground Price And Grading Guide. I've never had any interest in underground comics but I do like the legendary artist Wally Wood. Here's Dan with two examples of Wally Wood art books.

Brent Ward I had never spoken with Brent Ward before but he's a friend of Gene Carpenter so I wanted to take his picture. Here's Brent with The Fantastic Four #13, 1963 featuring the first appearance of the popular Marvel character, the Watcher. Also, The Fantastic Four #18, 1963 with the first appearance of the Super Skrull. The alien race of the Skrulls in the Andromeda Galaxy had been pestering the Fantastic Four since issue #2.	Mike Fonseca Mike Fonseca owns an interersting Facebook page about comic book collecting Collector's Attic Of Virginia. Here's Mike finishing a transaction with a customer.	Mike Fonseca Mike with two DC Superman comics Action Comics #320, 1965 and Action Comics #300, 1963 both with covers drawn by Curt Swan. I bought the first Superman Silver Age Omnibus hardcover several months ago and the second volume is coming out this month. Hopefully, these Superman reprint omnibus books will continue reprinting stories up through the mid 1960s so I can read these nice old Silver Age Superman stories without having to buy the expensive original comics.

Julio Crespo Julio holding Fantasy Masterpieces #3 and #4, 1966. The #1 and #2 issues are in the foreground. Since I became a Marvel comics fan in the mid 1960s I've also been a fan of what I call the Pre-Marvels.These were the comics from 1958 to 1961 containing science fiction and fantasy stories that Marvel was publishing before beginning to switch over to super hero comics with Fantastic Four #1, 1961. Some of the Pre-Marvel titles were Strange Tales and Tales To Astonish. The first time Marvel reprinted any of these stories was in Strange Tales Annual #1, 1962 and #2, 1963 that whetted my appetite for more of them. There were no more reprinted Pre-Marvel stories until Fantasy Masterpieces #1, 1966. I can still remember being at Mr. Woo's 7-11 store in Savannah, GA where I was flipping through the stack of newly arrived comics and spotting this Fantasy Masterpieces #1. I was tickled by the inside front cover that had a large photo of Stan Lee holding a comic book and talking about the artists like jack Kirby and Steve Ditko who were featured in this issue. After issue #2 the title continued reprinting Pre-Marvels but the first half of the book and the covers reprinted Marvel Golden Age stories that I wasn't much interested in. After #11 the title changed to Marvel Super Heroes that featured a new super hero story (Captain Marvel, Spider-Man, Medusa, Ka-Zar etc...) and the remaining stories were super hero reprints from the 1940s and 1950s.	David Vollbach David Vollbach owner of Fredricksburg's Greatest Comics with the EC science fiction comics Weird Fantasy #18, 1953 with cover art by Al Williamson and Weird Fantasy #21, 1953 with cover art by Al Williamson and Frank Frazetta. After Marvel, ECs are my favorite comics. I started collecting mostly EC's science fiction comics in the early 1970s when they were still affordable. I put together nearly complete runs of Weird Science and Weird Fantasy. By the late 1970s the prices were getting higher but fortunately at the same time publisher Russ Cochran started releasing his hardcover reprint books The Complete EC Library. So I quit trying to chase down the expensive original comics and just bought the reprints. Check out all those nice looking Marvel Silver Age comics on David's display wall.	The Leader

Click here for the Main Introduction Page to see the Leader's Report on the on the Pulpfest convention 2026.