|
|
| Your narrator, the Leader |
|
|
The Leader attended the South Carolina Comic Con in Greenville 24 and 25 March 2018 for the second consecutive year. He enjoyed seeing his comic dealer friends Dave Hinson, Rick Fortenberery, Shelton Drum and talking again with Atlas artist Vic Carrabotta. The Leader also was pleased to have with him at this show some of his family who live in not faraway Anderson, South Carolina. |
|
| |
|
| Richard Evans of Bedrock City Comics. I last saw Richard at the Baltimore Comic Con in 2017. |
|
|
|
|
| Rick Fortenberry & Chris Foss |
|
| Veteran comic book dealer Rick Fortenberry promotes the Charlotte Comic Con and sets up at comic shows throughout the Carolinas and Virginia. I last saw him at Brett Carreras’s Expo Collectibles & Toy Show in Richmond, VA in November 2017. Rick wasn’t set up as a dealer at the South Carolina Comic Con but he was using Chris Foss’s booth as a base to mount buying raids throughout the show. Chris Foss of Nomad Comics & Collectibles is another long time Southern comic book dealer. I don't know him well and I haven’t seen him in several years. However, my friend Jim Frost told me that he heard that Chris bought the remainder of the R.J. Long collection in 2001. |
|
|
|
|
| Rick Fortenberry & Chris Foss |
|
| Here’s Chris with the science fiction pulp magazine Astounding Stories June 1936 with a cover illustrating the H.P. Lovecraft story “The Shadow Out of Time.” Price is $250. The only other Astounding Stories cover illustrating a Lovecraft story was the February 1936 issue featuring "At The Mountains of Madness." It's ironic that Astounding Stories that focused on hardcore science fiction instead of the dark fantasy that Lovecraft preferred published two Lovecraft covers while the pulp magazine Weird Tales that published many more Lovecraft stories published only one Lovecraft cover as far as I can tell: Weird Tales May 1942 with a cover of "The Shadow Over Innsmouth." |
|
|
|
| |
|
| Rick with two Atomic Age DC comics World’s Finest Comics #65 and #64, 1953, with the usual hefty price tags even for mid-grade copies like these. This DC title is a bit of an anomaly with its .15 cover price instead of the usual .10 cover price for most comic books in the 1940s and 1950s. I wonder why that was? |
|
|
|
| |
|
| Warren Brasmeister with the Atlas comic World Of Suspense #7, 1957. This title only lasted 8 issues. This #7 issue has a by cover by Carl Burgos who invented the 1940s era Human Torch. It also features a story by top Atlas artist Joe Maneely and two stories by former EC Comics artists Al Williamson and Reed Crandall who worked some at Atlas when EC folded. DC artist Bernard Baily also has a story in this issue. Hmm? Maybe I should have bought this issue instead of just taking its picture? |
|
|
|
| |
|
| I see Mario’s Comics from Atlanta, Georgia at lots of comic shows. I last him at Brett Carreras’s VA Comicon & Toy Show in Richmond, March 2018. |
|
|
|
| |
|
| Mario with the Marvel comic Tales Of Suspense #57, 1964 featuring the first appearance of Clint Barton aka Hawkeye the Marksman. As long as Marvel keeps making big budget movies about the the Avengers, this comic should enjoy continued price appreciation. Also, the Prize comic Frankenstein #22, 1952 with cover art by Dick Briefer. |
|
|
|
| |
|
| I first met David Burns from Granite Falls, North Carolina at last year’s South Carolina Con. This year in addition to comics David had some 1950s sexy paperback books. Like old comic books, they are rare and hard to find in really nice condition. |
|
|
|
| |
|
| Randy Taylor of TNT Comics with two Pre-Marvel comics Journey Into Mystery #61, 1960 and Tales To Astonish #31, 1962 both with monster mummy covers by Jack Kirby. |
|
|
|
| |
|
| Randy with an oddball science fiction comic Strange Journey #4, 1958. The cover logo “America’s Best” was one of many imprints of Farrell Publications known for publishing Phantom Lady and also Steve Ditko’s first professional comic book art circa 1953. |
|
|
|
| |
|
| Veteran comic dealer Shelton Drum promotes the annual HeroesCon in Charlotte, North Carolina which is the largest and one of the oldest comic book shows in the Southeast quadrant of the United States. As I told Shelton, if there was a Mafia of Southern comic book dealers he would be the Godfather. Here’s Shelton with two Atlas comics (without the Atlas Globe logo): Journey Into Unknown Worlds #8, 1951 and #36, 1950. The #36 has an earlier date since it was the from the first series of this title which only lasted three issues - #s 36, 37, 38. The second series started with #4 and ran up to #59. I was hoping Marvel would reprint Journey Into Unknown Worlds in the Atlas Masterworks line of quality hardcover books but that line was discontinued a few years ago.
|
|
|
|
| |
|
| Shelton with Atomic Age DC comic Action Comics #108, 1947 Golden Age Timely comic Marvel Mystery Comics #51, 1944. |
|
|
|
|
| Shelton Drum & Karla Marsh Southern |
|
| Shelton with his long time assistant Karla. |
|
|
|
| |
|
| Dave Hinson of Fort Mill, South Carolina is my favorite Southern comic book dealer. I’ve known him since circa 1992 when he used to set up at Larry Webster’s Pembroke and Lynnhaven Mall shows in my town of Virginia Beach, VA in the early 1990s. As chronicled in previous editions of the Leader’s Reports I credit Dave for helping me to get back into the comic collecting hobby when I arrived in Virginia Beach after a year serving in the Air Force in South Korea. I don’t get to see Dave often as he doesn’t do many shows in Virginia. I’m hoping he returns to the Tidewater Comic Con in Virginia Beach in May 2018. |
|
|
|
| |
|
| Vic Carrabotta is one of the few Atlas artists still alive. The only other artists who worked extensively for Atlas in the 1950s that I know are still alive are Joe Sinnott and John Romita. I enjoyed talking with Mr. Carrabotta at his first appearance at the South Carolina Con last year; He told me about meeting Marvel artists Steve Ditko and Jack Kirby way back in the day. He also knew most of the Atlas artists including the two big ones, Joe Maneely and Bill Everett. I’ve been a Marvel and Atlas fan nearly all my life and I consider it a rare privilege to be able to see and talk with a man who was part of Atlas and Marvel in those glorious years of the 1950s and 1960s. Here’s Mr. Carrabotta drawing a sketch for a customer of the Marvel superhero character the Thing from the Fantastic Four. |
|
|
| | | | | | |
