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| Your narrator, the Leader |
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The Leader attended the Old School Comicon at the Virginia Commonwealth University in downtown Richmond 13 January 2018 with his traveling companion Jim Frost. This show was promoted by Brett Carreras who operates the regular quarterly VA Comicon at the Richmond Raceway that the Leader and Jim always attend. Once a year Brett likes to put on a traditional pure comic book show for just the comic book vendors with no guests, seminars or COS players to distract the customers from buying comic books. |
| Click on any image below to see it much larger with more detail. |
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| Heroes Aren’t Hard To Find from Charlotte, NC had the most tables at the show. The owner, Shelton Drum, usually attends what Richmond area shows he can in person but this time he sent his emissaries instead. Here’s his warehouse manager Seth Peagler with two expensive Atlas comics: Journey Into Unknown Worlds #8, 1951 and #36, 1950. The #36 has the earlier date since it is actually the first issue of this title which was renamed from an earlier Atlas comic. I was looking forward to reading reprints of Journey Into Unknown Worlds which dealt more with science fiction instead of the usual Atlas horror, but Marvel cancelled its Atlas Masterworks hardcover reprint books a few years ago. |
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| Seth with two more Atlas comics: Venus #10, 1950 and #12, 1951. The first nine issues of Venus was a more traditional romance comic except for the female protagonist being the Roman goddess of love. With the #10 issue the stories switched over to science fiction and horror. The Atlas Masterworks hardcover volume from a few years ago did reprint the first nine issues of Venus, carefully avoiding reprinting the later sci-fi / horror stories people actually wanted to read. |
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| Robert Griffin frequently sets up at the VA Comicon shows and I also see him at the Baltimore Comic Con. Check out Robert with this The Phantom Stranger #14, August 1971 with cover art by famous DC artist Neal Adams. Interestingly, the swamp monster on the cover looks similar to Marvel’s Man-Thing swamp creature; also, the Phantom Stranger #14 swamp monster story was written by Len Wein who co-created DC’s more famous swamp monster, the Swamp Thing. Robert’s label says that this Phantom Stranger #14 predates both the Man-Thing and the Swamp Thing. Going by just the comic cover dates, this can’t be true. The Man-Thing first appeared in the Marvel b&w magazine Savage Tales #1, May 1971 and Swamp Thing first appeared in the DC comic book House Of Secrets #92, July 1971. Both those appearances predate August 1971. |
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| Robert had the nicest batch of EC comics at the show. The cover artists on the four comics shown here from left to right are Jack Kamen, Graham Ingles, and Johnny Craig. Robert also makes the best looking labels for his comics. |
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| One of Robert’s customers checking out The Amazing Spider-Man #33, 1965 which was the conclusion of the now legendary “Master Planner Trilogy” which many fans consider the best Spider-Man story of all time. |
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| Speaking of the “Master Planner Trilogy,” here’s Tommy Donovan with the second issue in that storyline, Amazing Spider-Man #32. This issue had the most physically exciting action cover of the three issues. |
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| Mike Fonseca of Collector’s Attic in Mechanicsville, VA with a copy of The Avengers #7, 1964 with a Jack Kirby cover and story art. |
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| Bill Smith was setup with Zeno’s Books of Chesapeake, Virginia where I buy most of my hardcover comic reprint books. Bill is one of those elusive, low profile collectors who has a huge collection of comic books and pulps salted away. Bill doesn’t sell on the internet but he does occasionally travel to shows with his friend Wayne Zeno of Zeno’s Books to sell a few items from his collection. Bill said this Strange Tales #115, 1964 wasn’t for sell since it had a Dick Ayers autograph, but he said I could take its picture. He’s holding a rare EC pre-Trend comic Picture Stories From The Bible, 1946. You don’t see these too often. EC fans use the term “pre-Trend” to describe the comic books published by EC publisher William Gaines (or his father Max Gaines) before William Gaines started his line of horror, crime and science fiction comics that he called the New Trend. |
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| All the comics in this booth belong to this show’s promoter Brett Carreras but Marlin runs the booth for him since Brett is too busy running around the show or helping Eric Hurd man another set of tables with comics that Brett and Eric own together. Here’s Marlin watching a customer pursuing one of Brett’s boxes of comics. |
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| Marlin with some issues of one of DC’s science fiction comics, Strange Adventures, all from the early 1960s. After EC and Atlas, my favorite type of science fiction comics are these DC titles like Strange Adventures, Mystery In Space, Tales Of The Unexpected. Marvel at least for a few years paid its old Atlas science fiction stories some respect by reprinting many of them in the Atlas Masterworks hardcover books before they were discontinued. DC has rarely bothered to reprint its old science fiction comics properly in color and in hardcover book format. All DC has done so far is put out cheap softcover b&w reprints of Mystery In Space and Tales Of The Unexpected with one major exception: DC did recently release a nice hardcover Omnibus of all the Adam Strange stories from Mystery In Space. |
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| Guy Rose, Julio Crespo, Michael Lantz |
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| Brett Carreras’s longtime partner Guy Rose is a fixture at most VA Comic Con shows along with his associates Donald Jones and Julio Crespo. Sometimes Michael Lantz sets up in Guy’s booth as well. The prize book here is Guy’s copy of Thunda #1, 1952 which is the only comic book drawn entirely by Frank Frazetta. Michael is holding his copy of Fantastic Four #45, 1965 featuring the first full appearance of the Inhumans. Two of the Inhumans, Medusa and Gorgon had appeared in earlier Fantastic Four issues but it wasn’t until #45 that Triton, Karnak and Black Bolt joined them. |
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| I was pleased to see veteran collector Keith Mitchell at this show since I hadn’t seen him in several months either at a show or at Zeno’s Books where we are both customers. Keith is holding a copy of The Flash #175, 1967 that he had just bought from Robert Griffin which features the second Flash vs. Superman race. They had first raced a few months earlier in Superman #199, 1967. |
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| It’s late Saturday afternoon and the show is closed but the dealers still have to break down their booths, pack up their vans and trucks and make the long drive home. |
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| The Leader’s favorite comic book dealer Gene Carpenter was trying to break down and head home as well but Gene is always willing to pause a moment for pictures. Here he is with two science fiction comics with the obligatory sexy babe on the cover: Planet Comics #54, 1948 and Flash Gordon #3, 1950. |
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| Gene Carpenter, Jim Frost |
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| Gene is almost finished breaking down but as usual he still has some more hobnobbing and possible deal making to do with the Leader’s traveling companion, Jim Frost of Williamsburg, VA. |
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| Gene Carpenter, Jim Frost |
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| Jim showing Gene one of the books that he had bought from Robert Griffin. It’s The Rifleman #10, 1962 known for as Robert’s label at the top of the comic says “The most infamous innuendo cover in comics history!” |
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