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| The biggest name guest at the show was Marvel Bronze Age writer Gerry Conway. He is best remembered as the writer whose story in The Amazing Spider-Man #121, 1973 featured the shocking death of Peter Parker’s girlfriend Gwen Stacy.
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| The death of Gwen Stacy upset a lot of Marvel fans and stirred quite a controversy at the time. Read the letters pages in the comics following #121 if you don’t believe me. I asked Mr. Conway about the rumor that the story was written and published without the knowledge of Marvel editor Stan Lee. Mr. Conway told me he cleared the story with Stan Lee in advance; no writer at Marvel could make such a big move without the boss's permisson. I asked Mr. Conway who started the rumor and he said (jokingly, I think) that Stan probably started it. |
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| David and Guy Rose in Guy's booth. I see Guy at the quarterly Virginia Comic Con in Richmond which he co-promotes with Brett Carreras. At last year’s Tidewater Con David was setup as a dealer in his own booth. He told me he was done with being a dealer and was just going to stick with being a collector.
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| David Buckley, Donald Jones, Guy Rose |
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| Here's David with a CGC graded 4.5 Incredible Hulk #1, 1962 ($13,000), Guy’s partner Donald with a CGC graded 4.0 Superman #2, 1939 ($3,800) and Guy with All American Comics #61, 1944 ($1,800).
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| Donald Jones, Nick Sortino |
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| Donald Jones of the planet Earth showing off his Superman #2 with some help from Kal-El of the planet Krypton (Nick Sortino of Virginia Beach, VA in his day job.) |
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| I see veteran comic dealer Harry Hopkins at the Virginia Comic Con every quarter and other shows in the area. I’ve known Harry since the 1980s when we were stationed at Norton Air Force Base in San Bernardino, CA. |
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| Harry showing off two 1950s Batman Detective Comics. |
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| Mark Overby of Black Dog Collectibles with a Captain America print by Golden Age Timely comic book artist Alex Schomburg. The print is about 30 years old. |
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| Veteran North Carolina comic dealer Rick Fortenberry along with an old friend of mine David Hinson promotes the Charlotte Comicon. Rick also sets up sometimes at the Virginia Comic Con and was at last year’s Tidewater Comic Con for the first time. After the show Rick, his assistant Danny and I went out to dinner in Virginia Beach and after I took Rick and Danny on a brief tour of the Leader’s Lair to see the rare posters, paintings, girlie magazines and comic books entombed there. We only scratched the surface and the Leader hopes to show them more after next year’s show. |
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| Rick had some interesting Atlas horror comics at this show. Here’s Uncanny Tales #1, 1952 ($90) and Strange Tales #11, 1952 ($300). |
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| Rick with Atlas horror comic Astonishing Tales #9, 1952 ($90). I’ll next see Rick at the Virginia Comic Con 25 June. |
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| Supposedly there were a few different Batmobiles at the show but this is the only one I saw. |
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| Like me, Keith Mitchell has been reading comic books for over 50 years. We both frequent the same local comic book store, Zeno’s Books in Chesapeake, Virginia. Here’s Keith with The Mighty Thor #126, 1966 with the famous battle between Thor and Hercules and Journey Into Mystery #103, 1964 with the first appearance of the Executioner and the Enchantress. I should see Keith again at the Virginia Comic Con in Richmond on 25 June. |
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