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| Gene Carpenter and Jim Frost |
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| The Leader and Jim Frost do their best to follow comic book dealer Gene Carpenter around the show circuit. They last saw him at the Virginia Comic Con in Richmond last November and nailed him again at this Williamsburg show. Here's Jim as usual perusing one of Gene's comic boxes looking mostly to find specimens of Jim's favorite comic book genre, 1950s Atlas comics. |
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| Jim Frost and Gene Carpenter |
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| Although Jim prefers Atlas and Silver Age Marvels he considers buying any comic that he thinks he may be able to resell for a profit. I am a bit surprised however to see him looking at Bambi Comics ! |
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| Jim proudly displaying Gene's high grade copy of Superman #100, 1955. |
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| I'm always jealous of Gene's world class comic book inventory, especially when he shows me a book that is in better condition than the one I already have. I have a long history with Tales Of Suspense #37, dating back to 1968, as explained here. This pre-Marvel book's cover is by Jack Kirby as usual but the inside story the cover is illustrating is drawn by Steve Ditko. Ditko's usual story in the pre-Marvel's was five pages and followed the first story in the book which was usually drawn by Jack Kirby. In this case the Ditko story is 13 pages long and is the first story in the book, making it the longest Ditko story in all of the pre-Marvels. |
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| Gene showing off two Dell photo cover comics based on two excellent John Wayne movies, Rio Bravo and El Dorado. Both movies were directed by Howard Hawks with El Dorado largely being a remake of the more famous Rio Bravo. |
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| Sam Austill and C.P. Lockhart |
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| Sam and C.P. always set up at this show and always have a big selection of Western comics like Roy Rogers, Gene Autry and so on. These guys have the most delightful weatherbeaten faces. If you're going to buy Western comics you should buy them from guys who look like real cowboys. |
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| I see Chuck at this show every year and for the last two years at my favorite show as well, the Mid-Atlantic Nostalgia Con in Maryland. Chuck always has nice Western comic books and movie posters. Here is here with an insert of a good Western movie starring Kirk Douglas and Anthony Quinn, Last Train From Gun Hill, 1959. I have a regular DVD copy of this and have been waiting for it to be released on Blu-Ray. |
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| I first met Michael a.k.a. U.S. Marshall, the Hyco Kid two years ago at this show. The Kid tells me his Colt 45s are real, from about 1901, and not the usual replicas seen at Western shows. I'm glad this one isn't loaded. |
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| I see Gary Williams of Mechanicsville, Virginia at this show every year and I saw him once at the Virginia Comic Con in Richmond two years ago. He sells replicas of Western clothes and guns and sometimes dresses up as Indiana Jones. The bullwhip he has here is from his Indiana Jones costume. Gary told me the yellow handled replica Colt pistol is one of a small number of replicas made from the original Colt pistol that John Wayne used in many of his movies. Gary had a nice collection of Bowie knives at this show. |
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| At the mercy of Gary and the Hyco Kid! |
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| Gary Williams, Lewis Forro, Michael J. Lair |
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| I first met David Hawk of Norfolk, Virginia two years ago at this show. He is an expert on many areas of popular culture and lectures at shows on two of his favorite characters, Zorro and Dr. Who. I'm a bit envious of him having met the legendary Forrest J. Ackerman a few times and getting an autograph from Ray Bradbury before he died last year. |
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| Billy McCrary of Florence, South Carolina had a display table full of 16mm film cans, a screen and a projector to show 16mm prints of old movies. The Leader heartily approves of 16mm film as he was a 16mm camera operator for the U.S. Air Force in the 1980s. |
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| Martin Grams promotes my favorite show of the year, the Mid-Atlantic Nostalgia Con in Hunt Vally, Maryland. He also sets up at several shows a year and I see him at this Williamsburg every year. Marty specializes in selling rare, esoteric DVDs. The kind of stuff you can't buy at Wal-Mart and Best Buy. Here is with a giant DVD collectors' box of all five seasons of the 1950s The Lone Ranger TV series. I asked Marty about Donna Douglas of The Beverly Hillbillies attending his show this September and he told me she had died after agreeing to do the show. I was also disheartened to learn from Marty that after three years of chasing Clint Walker of the Cheyenne TV series Walker finally decided he was too old to fly to the East Coast to do any shows. Marty did get some great news at this show however. While having lunch with him and Gene Carpenter at my favorite restaurant in Williamsburg, Sals, Marty got a phone call confirming that Lee Majors of The Big Valley and The Six Million Dollar Man would be at the Mid-Atlantic Nostalgia Con in September. Majors has only done two previous collector shows and is a big draw, so Marty really pulled off a big coup by reeling in Majors for his show. |
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| Marty also had a display table with movie and TV related books for sale, some of which he has written. For my money, Marty's best book is The Twilight Zone which has the most extensive documentation on this legendary TV series ever presented. |
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| As the show was winding down on Thursday I rounded up as many people as possible for this group shot. From left to right: Michael J. Lair, Gary Williams, Lewis Forro, David Hawk, Martin Grams, Jr., Gene Carpenter. I hope to see all these great folks at next year's show! |
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