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Your narrator, the Leader
The Leader attended the Virginia Comic Con at the Raceway Complex in Richmond on 27 October 2018. The show was two days but the Leader only attended for the first day. He hadn’t been to this quarterly convention in several months and was glad to see his friend Guy Rose and his associates Michael Lantz, Donald Jones and Juliio Crespo again. His favorite comic book dealer Gene Carpenter was there also as usual.

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Click here for the Main Introduction Page to see the Leader's Report on the Fayetteville Comic Con
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Gene Carpenter
Gene Carpenter arrived about two hours before the show opened at 11:00 a..m. to early bird buyers. He’s set up these comic book display walls so many times I imagine he could it in his sleep if he had to. The lady looking through Gene’s boxes is Linda Redmond who always attends this show and I sometimes see her at the Mid-Atlantic Con in Maryland. It’s nice to be able to look through the dealers' boxes even before the early bird buyers get in the door.
Guy Rose, Donald Jones
Here’s veteran comic book dealers Guy and Donald about an hour before the show opens all set up and ready for action. Guy associate Michael Lantz is out of camera range and another Guy associate Julio Crespo had to run home for a few minutes.
Guy Rose, Donald Jones
Guy talking with some customers. After Gene Carpenter, Guy had the most impressive display wall of Golden and Silver Age comic books at the show.
Guy Rose
Guy with two comics off his display wall: the DC comics Star Spangled Comics #91, 1941 and Batman #77, 1953.
Guy Rose
Guy showing off four of his early 1960s Marvel comics, The Amazing Spider-Man #s 5, 23, 7 and laying in the foreground, 21. I’ll never get tired of admiring Spider-Man comic books with Steve Ditko covers.
Michael Lantz
Michael Lantz always sets up in or near Guy Rose’s booth at these shows. His great uncle was cartoon animator Walter Lantz, the inventor of Woody Woodpecker. Michael has here a nice copy of The Fantastic Four #6, 1962 and The Avengers #9, 1964 featuring the first appearance of Wonder Man. Marvel had to change his name to Power Man in response to a possible lawsuit by DC Comics for copyright infringement on their character Wonder Woman.
Michael Lantz, Guy Rose, Julio Crespo, Donald Jones
Patrick Godfrey, Matt Seymour
I had never seen Patrick Godfrey of Velocity Comics in Richmond, VA and Matt Seymour at this show before. Patrick told me he was setting up at this show after an absence of 12 years. They had some interesting Silver Age comics on their display walls. Let’s take a closer look at the Fantastic Four #1 on Matt’s wall…
Matt Seymour
Matt with The Fantastic Four #1, 1961 and #3, 1962. The #3 issue is the first time the Fantastic Four started wearing their blue costumes. It is also the first time the logo “The World’s Greatest Comic Magazine” appears on the cover. In all the later issues the logo appeared over the title. It was presumptuous of a little company like Marvel that been nearly bankrupt a few years earlier to use this logo for one of their new fledgling comics. But, it wasn’t long before the logo came true.
Patrick Godfrey
Patrick with Journey Into Mystery #100, 1964 and The Fantastic Four #52, 1966. This #52 issue has the first appearance of the Black Panther and has been much in demand lately due to the popular recent Marvel movie.
Tommy Donovan
Tommy Donovan of Richmond Comix always sets up at this show. He has here three high grade issues of the Warren Publishing magazine Comix International, #s 1, 4, 2 from the mid 1970s. The first issue contains all Richard Corben art. I bought that issue new in 1974 and regret selling it for next to nothing at one of Bob Cook’s comic shows in York, PA in the late 1990s.
Christopher Lloyd
I’ve been seeing this dealer at this show for a long time but never had a chance to talk to him until now. The Fantastic Four #45, 1965 contains the first full appearance of the Inhumans. One of the Inhumans, Medusa had been in earlier issues and another member, Gorgon, had appeared in #44. One of these years Marvel will make a big budget movie with the Inhumans and this issue will sky rocket in value like #52 did.
Mark Overby, Rudy Mitchell
Mark Overby of Black Dog Collectables frequently sets up at this show and I sometimes see him at the Tidewater Comic Con in Virginia Beach.
Rudy Mitchell
Mark and Rudy had several of my favorite type of comic, the late 1950s and early 1960s Pre-Marvels. Journey Into Mystery #51, 1959 has a eye-catching cover by DC artist Russ Heath. The “Robot On The Rampage” story inside is drawn by Steve Ditko. I have my mail-order copy of this I bought in the early 1970s and I've never been able to afford to upgrade it. World Of Fantasy #16, 1959. The “Prison 2,000 A.D.” story is drawn by Jack Kirby. I have high grade copies of all the issues of this title with Jack Kirby / Steve Ditko art except the #15 which has always eluded me. I’ll nail it one of these days. Strange Tales #79, 1960 has a striking cover by Jack Kirby with inking by Steve Ditko. I have my old mail-order copy of this and I also managed to upgrade it to a higher condition back in the 1980s. In 1995 the fanzine Comic Book Marketplace ran a series of articles “My Five Favorite Covers.” I nominated this issue as one of my favorites. The article is here if anybody wants to read it.
Mike Fonseca
Mike Fonseca of Collector’s Attic always sets up at this show. Mike had this nice copy of The X-Men #42, 1968. Despite the hyperbolic cover blurb, the death of Professor X wasn’t for real. I don’t remember the gimmick, but he returned very much alive a few months later.
Gene Carpenter, Jim Montgomery
The Leader’s favorite comic book dealer Gene Carpenter talking with a customer. Behind Gene is Jim Montgomery who sometimes sets up with Gene. I used to see Jim back in the late 1990s when I was setting up at shows in the Washington D.C. and Baltimore, MD area.
Gene Carpenter
When it comes to the dealer with the most and the best Golden and Silver Age comic books at this show, Gene Carpenter is usually the 500 pound gorilla in the room. Here he is with three examples that help make him that: the Ziff-Davis comic Crusader From Mars, #2, 1952. The Avon one-shot comic Space Thrillers, 1954 rated Rare (scarcity index 7) by Gerber’s Photo-Journal Guide and Scarce by Overstreet Price Guide. Leave it to Gene to have a comic like that. The DC comic Mystery In Space, #2, 1951.
Gene Carpenter
A few minutes before closing time a collector came by Gene’s table with this poster for sale. It appears to be derived from Incredible Hulk #140, 1971 about a monster named Psyklop in a sub-atomic world the Hulk visited. The story was written by Roy Thomas based on a plot from science fiction writer Harlan Ellison. I didn’t see Gene pay the owner but I saw him place the poster inside his booth so I don’t know what he is going to do with it.
Gene Carpenter
We began with Gene setting up for the show and we end with him breaking down his wall books after the first day. Farewell Gene and the Leader will see you again at the Williamsburg Nostalgia Fest on 8 November.
Click here for the Main Introduction Page to see the Leader's Report on the Fayetteville Comic Con