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| Zeno's Books of Chesapeake, VA |
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| Wayne Ehrmann (in blue shirt) is the owner of the Leader's local comic book store and always sets up at this show. He is talking to his assistant Sunny Stoudemire with his other assistant Tony Jones wearing a Fin Fang Foom shirt. The Leader immediately paid Wayne the final payment owed on a high grade House of Mystery #129 comic book that he had bought at Wayne's store a few days before the show. |
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| Sunny Stoudemire with Jimmy Olsen #10 |
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| A few days before the show Wayne bought a small Silver Age comic collection. A friend of Wayne's, Bill Smith, bought several books the same day Wayne acquired them and the Leader bought the House of Mystery #129 that Bill inexplicably passed on. Wayne brought the rest of the comics to the show, including this early Jimmy Olsen comic book with Jimmy as a Tarzan like character. |
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| Guy Rose of Space Mountain Comics |
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| Guy is the co-promoter of the Virginia Comic Con. This Journey Into Mystery #112 from 1964 is a favorite of comic fans since it features the first battle between the Hulk and Thor. The Leader remains content for now with the high grade copy of this book he bought from John Verzyl in the mid 1980s. The Journey Into Mystery #63, 1960 is a typical example of one of the pre-superhero Marvel comics which is one of the Leader's favorite comic book genres. |
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| Guy Rose and Shelton Drum |
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| Guy conferring with another comic book show promoter, Shelton Drum of Charlotte, NC. Shelton owns the Heroe's Aren't Hard To Find comic store and promotes the largest comic book store in the Southeast, HeroesCon, held every summer in Charlotte. |
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| Shelton Drum with two cool Avon sci-fi comics,Strange World's #3 and Captain Science #4. |
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| The Leader first saw a copy of the Avon comic Strange World's #3, 1951 on a visit to Redbeard's Book Den in 1982. The #3 is the best of the Strange World run since it has stories drawn by many of the EC artists. The Leader wanted Redbeard's copy then but couldn't afford it. He wants Shelton's copy now but he still can't afford it. The Leader had much better luck with the Captain Science #4, 1951. He bought the Cosmic Aeroplane pedigree copy from Redbeard on that 1982 visit. In 1988 he bought from John Verzyl of Comic Heaven the Mile High pedigree copy. The Leader considers owning two of the finest pedigree copies in the world of this book to be sufficient compensation for not owning Shelton's copy. |
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| Marc Nathan is the owner of Cards & Comics Collectibles in Reistertown, MD. Marc also sponsors the Baltimore Comic Con which is the largest comic book convention on the East Coast. Marc returned to the Virginia Comic Con this February after a long hiatus. The Leader remembers Marc from the early 1990s when both of them used to set up at the Tyson's Corner comic show outside Washington D.C. The Leader hasn't done much business with Marc but he did enjoy buying seven Silver Age Marvel and pre-superhero Marvel comics from Marc at the Virginia Comic Con in 2009. |
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| Harry is the owner of Fandata Computer Services which has been publishing the Fandom Directory since 1979. Harry and the Leader go back a long way. The Leader firs met him in the early 1980s at the San Diego Comic Convention. The Leader and Harry at that time were living in the same town of San Bernardino, CA and serving in the military of the planet Earth's most powerful nation-state, i.e, they were both members of the United States Air Force. After meeting at the con, the Leader wrangled a visit to Harry's house where he bought a few Silver Age Marvels. The Leader has no written records from that time period but he remembers one of the books was a Sgt. Fury #16. The Leader and Harry's destinies were still intertwined when they both retired from the Air Force and ended up living within 150 miles of each other in Virginia. In 1998 the Leader met Harry at the Sci-Con show in Virginia Beach and he bought from Harry nice copies of The Avengers #5 and #7 and Strange Tales #106. While at Harry's house in San Bernardino the Leader admired Harry's framed up page of original art from The Amazing Spider-Man #23 with the Green Goblin battling Spider-Man. Harry informed the Leader at this current Virginia Comic Con that he had sold that page some years ago for $27,000. |
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| Harry Hopkins with The Incredible Hulk #6, 1962 |
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| The Leader did admire Harry's expensive copy of one of his favorite comics, The Incredible Hulk #6 which is the only one of the six Hulk comics drawn entirely by the Leader's favorite comic artist, Steve Ditko. Jack Kirby drew the first five issues. The Leader couldn't afford Harry's copy but he took some solace from the fact that he has owned a high grade copy of this book since the early 1980s. He bought a VF/NM copy then for $165 from John Verzyl on one of his frequent visits to John's store in Alhambra, CA. Although the Leader's knowledge of Marvel / Ditko lore is quite immense, he does not know everything and was pleased to learn from Harry that Roz Kirby told him at a San Diego Con that Ditko was assigned to draw The Incredible Hulk #6 when Jack Kirby was incapacitated with a cold. |
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| Tony Jones with Gene Carpenter |
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| Tony Jones is Wayne Ehrmann's primary associate and travels with him to all of the comic shows that Wayne sets up at. The Leader and his friend Richard Delmer both admired Tony's Fin Fang Foom shirt and upon returning home the Leader on Richard's request called Wayne and ordered two of these shirts for Richard. |
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| Gene Carpenter of All American Comics is the Leader's favorite comic book dealer as has been noted in many previous Leader's Reports from his comic show visits. Here's Gene showing off one of his many rare finds, a copy of the Charlton comic Teen Confessions #31 from 1964. The Leader normally holds in mild disdain Charlton comics and does not collect them unless they have stories drawn by Steve Ditko. However the Leader does like the Beatles which are featured on the cover, so he concedes this comic to be worth collecting. But as usual he couldn't afford Gene's price. |
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| Gene's massive inventory of rare merchandise frequently evokes in the Leader some bittersweet memory from his long years of collecting. Here's Gene doing that again by showing off this rare Jim Warren magazine Comix International #1, 1974 completely drawn by Richard Corben. The Leader bought this issue and the #2 new way back in 1974. The Leader likes Corben art but is not a dedicated fan of Corben so he sold his Comix Internatinal #1 in the early 1990s while set up as a dealer at one of Bob Cook's comic shows in York, PA. Now of course he regrets his decision, but not enough to spend the money to rectify it. |
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| Jim Frost & Gene Carpenter |
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| The Leader does not buy much at the comic shows anymore but he does receive a vicarious thrill from watching his friend Jim Frost wheeling and dealing the way the Leader used to in ages past. At every show he attends with the Leader, Jim manages to work some trade / cash deals with Gene Carpenter. Here Jim is holding a pre-superhero Marvel monster book, Tales To Astonish #33, 1962. Jim didn't get this one but he did bring home a nice #7 currently for sale on the CGC comic board. |
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| Jim Frost, Gene Carpenter, Sunny Stoudemire |
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