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Your narrator, the Leader
The Leader with his traveling companion Jim Frost attended the Virginia Comic Con in Richmond on 13 July 2019. The Leader had not been to this show in a long time. He had to miss the March show since it conflicted with the South Carolina Comic Con that he preferred to attend. The Leader was happy to see at this 13 July show in Richmond his dealer friends that he had last seen 14-15 June at HeroesCon in Charlotte, North Carolina: Rick Fortenberry, Banks Robinson, Josh Almond and Chris Rigo none of whom make it to the Virginia Comic Con regularly. On the way home after the show the Leader and Jim made their customary stop at Sal’s Italian Restaurant in Williamsburg.

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Saturday 13 July 2019
Gene Carpenter
I hadn’t seen my old friend and the Leader’s favorite comic book dealer Gene Carpenter since the Virginia Comic Con in December 2018. Here’s Gene conducting his time honored practice of putting up his Golden and Silver age comic books on his display walls before the show opens to the public. The comic boxes with the 50% off signs belong to Gene’s partner Jim Montgomery who sets up at this show with Gene. Jim fills the tables with his inexpensive comics and Gene fills up the display walls with his fabulous inventory of expensive comics. Gene was so busy at this show I barely had time to talk to him. I will be spending more quality face time with him at the longer and more leisurely Pulpfest convention in Pittsburg this coming August.
Guy Rose, Julio Crespo, Jim Frost
Long time collector and Virginia Comic Con co-owner Guy Rose talking with Jim Frost who always does business with Guy at this show. I had just seen Guy and his associates Donald Jones and Michael Lantz at the HeroesCon in Charlotte, North Carolina last June. None of us have been to HeroesCon in recent years. Julio Crespo is also a Guy Rose associate but he didn’t make it to HeroesCon. That’s Julio in the background showing his original artwork to some potential customers.
Guy Rose
Guy with three Atlas comic books: Sherry The Showgirl #5, 1957, Journey Into Mystery #33, 1956 and Marvel Tales #136, 1955. The JIM #33 is a better than average issue with one story each drawn by top Marvel artist Steve Ditko and top EC artist Al Williamson. I bought the only copy I have of this comic personally from Chuck Rozanski of Mile High Comics in 1977. The U.S. Air Force sent met to technical training school in Denver, Colorado and I visited Chuck’s comic stores on weekends as chronicled here in addition to pillaging all the other comic books in Colorado I could find. At one of his stores in Denver where I first met Chuck he took me down to a small basement and showed me a small group of Atlas or Pre-Marvel comics that I bought and still have.
The CGC graded Playboy #1 magazine at left is a reprint owned by Guy’s associate Donald Jones. Several years ago Playboy issued this reprint since most people can’t afford the 1953 original. All it did was complicate the market since lots of people can’t tell the difference and when they find the reprint they think they are buying the original at a bargain or if they inherit the reprint they think its the original and want thousands of dollars for a cheap reprint. The quick way to tell the difference is the original has two staples and the reprint has three staples.
Julio Crespo
At this show in recent months Julio has been selling his personal comic collection and high grade Marvel 1970s magazine collection. The Savage Tales magazine in the foreground has a Neal Adams cover as did some other early Savage Tales magazines. The Tales To Astonish #77, 1966 concludes one of my favorite Marvel extended story lines which had been running since Tales To Astonish #60. All those previous issues had been drawn by artists I like such as Steve Ditko, Bob Powell and John Romita. The #77 started a new story line and had art by Bill Everett whose 1960s superhero art I’m not excited about. The original art Julio is showing off here is one of a few pages he has by artist Dan Brereton.
Rick Fortenberry, Banks Robinson
I’ve been seeing a lot of these two veteran traveling comic dealers lately. I last saw Rick and Banks at the Savannah Mega Con and HeroesCon in June. I’m sure I’ll see them once or twice more before the year is out.
Rick Fortenberry
Rick with some of his Atlas and Pre-Marvel comic books that I like so much. Marvel comic book publisher Martin Goodman had an obsession with the word “Men” or derivatives of that word like “Man, Male and Stag” and used them as titles or parts of titles in many of his comic books and magazines.
Banks Robinson
Banks with five examples of a Pre-Marvel title Tales Of Suspense. At top left is #28 with the four-panel cover that I like since it was one of the few Pre-Marvels I had as a kid in the early 1960s.
Mike Fonseca
Mike Fonseca always sets up at this show. I last saw him at HeroesCon in June where he was sharing a booth with Guy Rose, Donald Jones and Michael Lantz. Here Mike has a nice copy of Superman #164, 1963 with a Lex Luthor cover by Curt Swan. Mike also moderates the Facebook comic book collecting group Comic Book Party!.
Josh Almond, Chris Rigo
I last saw these two North Carolina comic dealers at HeroesCon in Charlotte last June. Josh and Chris set up at lots of comic book shows and I should see them again before the year is out. Here they are showing off some of their Silver and Bronze Age comics.
David Steele
David Steele of Richmond, Virginia is a dealer I never knew about until I walked by his booth and his display of comic book covers and production cover proofs caught my eye. Some of the items you see here are cover proofs which is a comic book cover the printer runs off as a sample to see if the colors are going to print correctly. Some of the other items including the 1950s Atlas and early 1960s Pre-Marvels are duplicate covers that the printer had left over after all the comic book pages were bound inside the cover. Note that these extra covers have a white margin extending beyond the artwork that would have been trimmed off when the comic was bound. These type of items are extremely rare and I didn’t ask David where he got them. Like many old time collectors, he probably bought them years ago and has had them squirreled away all these years. Also notice in the upper left corner the Detective Comics and Horrorific pages. These are extra pages from Ernie Gerber’s The Photo-Journal Guide To Comic Books that Gerber sold separately when his book came out in the early 1990s. You don’t see these often either.
Natasha Lewis
Natasha Lewis is the daughter of Bob Lewis who is the long time owner of the Richmond Bookshop. Natasha is posing here with some girlie related original art her dad recently acquired. The two large b&w full page cartoons are from the Humorama digest magazines published by Marvel Comics publisher Martin Goodman in the 1950s and 1960s. Much of the Humorama original art survived and it pops up at comic shows now and then. Original art dealer Anthony Snyder of Anthony’s Comic Book Art always has a large amount of it when he sets up at comic shows.
Derek Woywood
Derek Woywood is the promoter of the long running Philadelphia Comic Con. I used to see him at set up as a dealer at the Tyson's Corner comic show in the DC area in the late 1990s. He frequently travels with Gene Carpenter and I will see Gene and Derek next at the Pulpfest convention in Pittsburg in August. Derek is posing here with a rare convention pamphlet for Houstoncon in 1973 that has an autograph by Kirk Alyn who played Superman in the 1940s movie serials.
Gene Carpenter
The Leader’s favorite comic book dealer schmoozing with his customers. Notice all the exotic and wonderful Golden and Silver Age comic books on Gene’s display walls.
Gene Carpenter
Gene explaining some details of the back cover of a comic book to an attentive and curious potential customer. Jim Frost is in the background in Gene’s booth taking a brief break from perusing Gene’s inventory. Whenever you find Gene at this show, Jim is usually not far away.
Banks Robinson, Jim Frost, Rick Fortenberry
Although Jim does most of his business with Guy Rose and Gene Carpenter, he also pays a visit to other important vintage comic book dealers. Here’s Jim in Banks Robinson’s booth hobnobbing with Banks and Rick Fortenberry.
Keith Mitchell
Keith Mitchell is a comic collecting veteran who lives near my town of Virginia Beach, Virginia. I sometimes see him in Wayne Zeno’s comic store Zeno’s Books in Cheseapeake, Virginia where I buy all my current comic related books and magazines. I also sometimes see Keith at this show and the Tidewater Comic Con in Virginia Beach. Keith is showing off here his latest acquisition, The Silver Surfer #4, 1969. Everybody agrees that this #4 issue with the usual John Buscema cover and interior art where the Surfer visits Asgard and battles Thor is the best of the original Silver Surfer comic run. Keith is standing in front of another side of Gene Carpenter’s booth with some more of Gene’s choice vintage comic books on display.
Rick Fortenberry, Keith Mitchell, Banks Robinson
Late in the show Keith stopped at Banks Robinson’s booth to check out Banks's comic book offerings. The Leader's Report will fade out now and leave these three old timers to do their thing.