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Your narrator, the Leader
The Leader with his traveling companion Jim Frost attended the Fayetteville Comic Con in North Carolina 20 and 21 October 2018. The Leader was glad to see his friends Gene Carpenter, Rick Fortenberry and a friend of Rick's, Banks Robinson, whom the Leader had only met once before briefly at the Tidewater Comic Con in 2016. The Leader also enjoyed seeing his dealer friend Robert Griffin.

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Saturday 20 October 2018
Gene Carpenter, Paul Zerman
Paul Zerman of AA Comics & Cards in Pennsylvania is one of Gene Carpenter’s associates that I had never met before. Here’s Paul about an hour before the show opened to the public all ready go. Gene is just starting to place his more expensive comics on his display racks. Most of the long comic boxes on the tables in front of Gene belong to AA Comics.
Polly Robinson, Banks Robinson, Jim Frost, Rick Fortenberry
I first met noteworthy comic collector and dealer Banks Robinson of Columbia, South Carolina at the Tidewater Comic Con in Virginia Beach in 2017. At that show Banks was setup in the same booth with Rick Fortenberry of Charlotte, North Carolina. At this show Banks and Rick had separate booths but they were next-door neighbors. The show still hasn’t opened yet but the Leader’s traveling companion Jim Frost is already scouting Banks’s wall comics for possible acquisitions. Jim travels with the Leader to shows a few times a year to replenish his inventory of Golden and Silver Age comics to sell on the Certified Guaranty Corporation (CGC) internet chatboards.
Jim Frost, Polly Robinson, Banks Robinson
Jim is scouring Banks’s comic boxes while Banks chats with a female customer. Notice the lady’s Spider-Man plastic handbag.
Banks Robinson
Here’s Banks with three of one of my favorite types of comic books: Pre-Marvels a.k.a Pre-Superhero Marvels or informally “monster books.” At left the Tales Of Suspense #28, 1962 is a sentimental favorite since it was one of the few Pre-Marvels I owned as a kid and so I usually photograph it when I see it at a show. Banks is holding his Tales Of Suspense #1, 1959 with cover art by Don Heck which is a comic I never managed to obtain and probably never will since it’s so expensive now. At right is Tales Of Suspense #16, 1961 with the usual eye-catching cover art by Jack Kirby.
Banks Robinson
Banks with two oddball comics: the Dell comic Private Secretary #1, 1962 with unknown cover artist (maybe famous paperback book artist Robert McGinnis) and the Charlton comic Marco Polo, 1962 with cover art by Sam Glanzman. Jim Frost bought Private Secretary so you will see it on the CGC chatboards.
Jim Frost, Gene Carpenter
Jim does most of his business with the Leader’s favorite comic book dealer Gene Carpenter at the shows and Jim spent most of both days at this show searching Gene’s comic boxes.
Gene Carpenter, Jim Frost
Gene and Jim conferring on some comic books. Notice the Marvel comic Fantastic Four #13, 1963 in front of Jim.
Rick Fortenberry
I haven’t seen important comic collector and dealer Rick Fortenberry since the Expo Collectibles & Toy Show in Chesterfield, Virginia last November 2017 so I was glad to see him again at this show. Here’s Rick striking a bit of a philosophical pose as he chats with a customer.
Rick Fortenberry
The Gunsmoke Western and Two-Gun Kid comics are Marvel Western comics from the early 1960s. All three have cover art by Jack Kirby. The Wyatt Earp Rick is holding is a Marvel comic from the 1950s when the company was known as Atlas. The cover art is by prolific Atlas artist Joe Maneely.
Rick Fortenberry
Rick showing off two rare Western magazines from Warren Publishing which was better known as the publisher of Famous Monsters Of Filmland and the b&w horror magazines Creepy, Eerie, Vampirella. Wildest Westerns only lasted six issues. Rick has here #2, 1960 with a John Wayne cover by EC artist Jack Davis and #6, 1961 with a Nick Adams cover by artist Basil Gogos who drew most of the issues of Famous Monsters Of Filmland.
Rick Fortenberry
Rick with the extremely rare magazine Trump #1, 1956. This satire magazine was created by Mad comic book creator Harvey Kurtzman for Playboy magazine publisher Hugh Hefner. Trump was a lavishly produced product with color illustrations by Mad artists Harvey Kurtzman, Will Elder, Jack Davis and Wally Wood. The magazine was too expensive for fledgling publisher Hefner to continue so he pulled the plug after the second issue. Harvey didn’t starve though. Hef gave him a job at Playboy drawing the “Little Annie Fannie" cartoon strip for many years. I have the second issue of Trump that I lucked into in an antique store many years ago but I’ve never found an affordable copy of this first issue. Fortunately the first two issues and the aborted never published third issue have been reprinted in hardcover book format in recent years.
Donald Gehl
I haven’t seen Donald Gehl since he moved to Florida over a year ago so I was pleasantly surprised to him see him at this show. I’ll probably see him again at the Tidewater Comic Con in Virginia Beach, VA in May 2019. The Daredevil #16, 1966 is the first time John Romita drew Spider-Man. Stan Lee knew that regular Spider-Man artist Steve Ditko was getting ready to quit Marvel and Lee was trying out Romita as a suitable replacement. When I read this comic as a kid I was disappointed when Daredevil was able to fight Spidey to a standstill. I explained to Donald that both Spidey and Daredevil each have a weapon; Spidey has his webbing and Daredevil has his billyclub. Spidey has his 'spider sense’ and Daredevil has his 'radar sense'. Both men are extremely agile and athletic. All those factors roughly cancel each other out in a fight. But, Spidey has superhuman strength whereas Daredevil dosen’t - so in a fight Spidey should mop up the floor with Daredevil. The Marvel Tales Annual #1, 1964 Donald is holding is one of his favorite comics he told me. This is the first time that Marvel superhero stories were reprinted. I bought the Spider-Man Annual #2, 1965 knew when I was a kid and had to wait a few more years before I could afford to buy the more spectacular and expensive #1 from one of my mail-order dealers.
Donald Gehl
Donald with Fantastic Four #11, 1963 has one of the more eye-catching early Marvel covers due the graduated color tone background. If memory serves I first saw this cover in the early 1960s at White Bluff Elementary School in my hometown of Savannah, GA. Every year the school gave a Halloween festival and featured a room that had a table piled with used comic books that students had donated to be sold. I didn’t buy this issue even for the affordable nickel price. I wish I could remember why I was so stupid that day.
Mario’s Comics
Mario’s Comics from Atlanta, GA sets up at a lot of shows and I sometimes see Mario at the quarterly VA Comicon in Richmond, VA. He always has some interesting Golden and Silver Age comics.
Mario’s Comics
Mario with the first three times that the Thing battled the Hulk. Fantastic Four #12, 1963 was the first time they battled (briefly) and this comic is also the first Marvel cross-over issue with the Hulk guest starring in Fantastic Four. In this first fight it wasn’t clearly established who was the strongest. I bought this exciting comic from one of my mail-order dealers, probably Robert Bell, in the late 1960s and I’ve never been able to afford to upgrade it. Fantastic Four #25, 1964 I know I bought from Robert Bell. My only disappointment with it was that Jack Kirby’s artwork was diminished by sloppy inking by George Roussos. In this battle it is clearly shown that the Hulk was definitely stronger than the Thing. Fantastic Four #112, 1971 I bought knew but I don’t remember anything about it. Nearly all Marvel books after Jack Kirby left Marvel in the early 1970s are consigned in my memory to a black hole of merciful forgetfulness.
Thomas Helms
Thomas Helms of Angry Comics And Games in Fayetteville, NC with Batman #133, 1960 and #116, 1958. I was never a big DC comics fan but I do like science fiction so these Batman comics from the late 1950s and early 1960s are of some interest to me. They feature lots of aliens and weird monsters and other science fiction themes. I can’t afford the time or money to collect the originals but when DC finally gets around to issuing reprints of them in omnibus hardcovers I will buy them. I have a long time to wait since the most current DC Batman omnibus reprints stories from the late 1940s.
Thomas Helms
Thomas with a CGC graded Incredible Hulk #1, 1962 for $7,000.
Steven Smith
Steven Smith with two early 1960s Dell comics from the TV series Rawhide with Clint Eastwood and Eric Fleming photo covers. Eric Fleming’s career was cut short when he died in a drowning accident. Clint Eastwood went on after the Rawhide TV series to become one of the biggest movie stars in history of the world.
Robert Griffin
I see Robert Griffin quite frequently at the VA Comicon in Richmond and the Baltimore Comic Con. He has only been a full time comic dealer for about three years he tells me but already has an impressive inventory of Golden and Silver Age comics. He here is in his dark sport coat and tie looking dapper as always.
Robert Griffin
Robert is holding Amazing Spider-Man #30, 1965. This issue features some of the Master Planner’s (Doctor Octopus) uniformed hirelings so it is something of a prelude to the next three issues which are now known as the famous “Master Planner Trilogy.” Old time Spidey fans consider those three issues to be the best of the 38 Stan Lee / Steve Ditko Spidey issues. Also, any person of normal intelligence and taste should recognize them as the best three Spider-Man comics ever done, period. If they don’t their sense of drama, story development and excitement is obviously defective. The Spidey #4 at left and #26 at right carry some extra nostalgia appeal for me. For the reason, click here.
Robert Griffin
Robert had some nice 1950s EC comics on his wall including this Weird-Science Fantasy #25, 1954. In the 1960s I was an obsessed Marvel fan but but I kept reading about the legendary and glorious EC comics from the 1950s in the Rocket’s Blast-Comicollector fanzine I subscribed to then. I finally decided to see what the all the fuss was about and so about 1970 I ordered my first EC comic from the mail-order price list of Howard Rogofsky. Rogofsky was infamous for overpricing comics and so I had to pay $12 which in those days was a lot of money for a comic book. The brittle spine split a few days after I read it and so I never ordered anything again from Mr. Rogofsky. But I loved the comic and spent the next several years collecting EC comics. The cover to this comic is by Al Williamson and depicts one of the most famous Ray Bradbury stories, “A Sound of Thunder.”
Butch Patrick
Butch Patrick played the child werewolf in the TV series The Munsters, 1964-1966. I didn’t watch it much when I was kid and have no special interest in it but I thought this large display of a replica of the Munsters family car and the large photographs on display here was interesting.
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