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25th Annual Virginia Comic Con 29-30 October 2011

Your narrator, the Leader
The Leader attended the 25th Annual Virginia Comic Con held in Richmond, Virginia on 30 October 2011. He was accompanied as always by the other two members of the Tidewater Triumvirate, Jim Frost and Richard Delmer, plus an addition, Jim's consort Judy. The highlight of the show was the Halloween costume contest which provided a larger number than usual of people walking around in comic book character costumes. We were pleased to see a new dealer at the show, Wes Haganland from Ontario, Canada. The Leader enjoyed examining Wes's high grade Mylar enshrouded collection of comic magazines, fanzines and pulps and his cohorts Jim and Richard did some buying and trading with Wes. The Leader sadly noted the absence of dealer Shelton Drum but did enjoy talking with and tirekicking his old friend, Gene Carpenter. The Leader regrets that he took only a few photos at the show. Although he is a master of scientific wizardry, he does sometimes make technical mistakes, like forgetting to bring a backup camera battery. Some additional photos from Judy are provided to help compensate. The Triumvirate consummated its enjoyable visit to the Richmond show with the traditional stop at the way home at Sal's Italian restaurant in Williamsburg.

Tiffany N. Perry
Here's Tiffany as Dumb Bunny from the 1967 DC comic book The Inferior Five. She does some of her own sewing and she says some of her other costumes are White Tiger, the Scarlet Witch, and Lady Mechanika.
Dumb Bunny trying to use her limited mental capacity, but who cares about her brains anyway?
Guy Rose of Space Mountain Comics
Guy is the co-promoter of the Virginia Con in Richmond, VA and always has interesting inventory. Here he is displaying Marvel Mystery Comics #77 and The Mask #1. Guy recently acquired about 2,000 mostly Fiction House comic books, circa 1940-1955 from collector Albrey Talley. The Leader's companion Jim Frost has been cheerypicking this collection for the last few Richmond and Baltimore shows.
Gene Carpenter of All American Comics
Gene is one of the Leader's favorite comic dealers. Here's Gene looking over some of his lovely inventory. The Leader is forced to concede that Gene is one of the few comic dealers who can rival and frequently exceed the Leader's knowledge of old comic books.
Gerald Hogan & Gene Carpenter
30 year comic dealer veteran Gerald Hogan of Trilogy Comics in Virginia Beach, VA doing some horse-trading with 40 year comic dealer veteran Gene Carpenter. Even the Leader would have to think twice about challenging these guys to a comic book trivia contest.
Dan Fogel of Hippy Comix
This was Dan's first visit to the Richmond con. He is an expert on Underground comics and publisher of Fogel's Underground Comix Price Guide. Dan's holding Walter Koenig's personal copy of the Star Trek TV episode "Friday's Child." The Leader was intrigued by this item but was dismayed by the price tag.
The photos below courtesy of Judy

The Mighty Thor with his hammer flanked by a mermaid and Baby Doll from film Sucker Punch.
The Leader at Zeno's Books table asking his favorite comic con model, Sunny Stoudemire, about her adventures at the Dragon Con show in Atlanta last September.
Sunny Stoudemire as Alice In Wonderland
Some of Sunny's other costumes are Little Red Riding Hood and Supergirl.
Dumb Bunny with werewolf .
Some werewolves have all the luck.
Statuesque Lara Croft
This young lady dressed as Lara Croft from the Tombraider movie and video games is way taller than Angelina Jolie who played Lara in the movie. The lady's excessively large mammary glands were a topic of some interest at the show, so the Leader dispatched his emissary Judy to inquire about their authenticity. They're mostly styrofoam props.
Batgirl & The Riddler
A female Joker, 2 different size Batgirls and a modern movie era Batman.
The photos below courtesy of Wayne of Zeno's Books

Tiffany N. Perry as Dumb Bunny
Standing behind Dumb Bunny on her left is the the Leader's friend Richard Delmer at Gene Carpenter's table.
Sunny Stoudemire as Alice In Wonderland
Thor and Baby Doll