Hibou

Sorry, where were we... (-66 hours : 50 minutes)

Ok. Without Phil Collins, I don't think Genesis survives after Peter Gabriel. Like I said.. this serves as my palate cleanser.

As I'm getting so very close to the end of this here, I need to go back and perform a little bit of house cleaning. I was sorting through some older photos on my phone in preparation for this last part and it occurred to me that I've left a few things out that I wanted to mention along the way but either forgot or got sidetracked. So with that... Intermission and House Cleaning Back in April of this past year, I found a copy of a book that I hadn't been searching for, but was. I know that sounds weird but what I mean is that there was a particular issue of The Shadow Magazine pulp that I had been looking for with no luck. When I saw that MyComicShop had a nice looking, but very low grade copy of a comic that featured the same cover. I may have overreacted (and overpaid), but I was very excited to put this book in my collection. And even though I haven't been actively searching through all my resources, as I was earlier this year, I still have not seen a copy of The Shadow Magazine : June 1st, 1936. This is a nice substitute even if it is missing the centerfold and perhaps one day, I'll find a cover-less copy. Shadow Comics Vol.1 #4 (1940) In addition to this book, within the same auction, was this book that I thought my wife would like as well. It's Illustrated by Johnny Gruelle (Raggedy Ann and Andy) from 1922... ... ... ... A few months later, once again through MyComicShop, I found these three pulps that looked like good buys at the time. Two of them with great Viking themed covers and the third with a specific advertisement I had hoped was inside. The Fantastic Adventures from June, 1951 features a humorous cover by Walter H. Hinton... And this Famous Fantastic Mysteries from June, 1952 features a great cover (and as I told Rob) looks to be the 1st appearance of the female Viking "Punisher"... Fran Castle? Again, I thought those were great buys at $40 for the two and there was another pulp I had to get, for another $40 and that was this Street & Smith copy of Love Story Magazine. At first glance, this might not be an attractive copy to spend $40 on, but it was what I was hoping was inside of this February 21st, 1931 issue that had me hoping my gamble would pay off. Once I got the book, I carefully leafed through it and was thrilled to see what was indeed inside... What was inside was a full page ad announcing the beginning of a contest that Street & Smith was going to hold, in order for their readers to basically 'create' what would eventually become the iconic look of a character known now from the radio. As the ad begins... "The contest has to do with The Shadow! Hundreds of Thousands have heard The Shadow. Shivers course up and down their spines when he announces Street & Smith's Detective Story Magazine radio program every Thursday evening (9:30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time) over the Columbia Broadcasting Network. But what does The Shadow really look like, and what type of man is he? Why this is important to me is because this was 2 months before the premier of The Shadow Magazine (#1) from April, 1931. As I've touched on in previous posts, during most of 1931 there wasn't an official 'look' yet for The Shadow and it took numerous clues left behind in Street & Smith's Detective Story Magazine for this look to finally start to materialize as was shown in the last issue of 1931... December. This is one the most riveting details surrounding the development of the character and it just occurred to me (as I'm typing this while watching Doctor Who and the Weeping Angels)... what if this is a bootstrap? So, here's something I hadn't even considered and now it gives me pause as to my earlier claims surrounding Bob Kane and Bill Finger... What if Bob Kane and Bill Finger, two teenage boys fascinated with The Shadow, entered this contest with an image (of The Batman) in their heads as they entered this contest and helped to form the image of The Shadow who would ultimately shape the image of The Batman To be fair, this would apply more to Bill than Bob as it's been shown that Bob Kane's vision of The Batman was more of a comical, circus acrobat. ... ... ... When my younger daughter came back from her studies in Japan, she brought back something for almost everyone in her immediate family. From her closest friends to her aunts. From her niece to her brother and sister. From her grandparents to my wife and then to myself as well. She was so thoughtful in this endeavor as she obviously spent a lot of time, contemplating something meaningful to each and every one of us. Like I've said (or maybe I haven't in public)... she's my Supergirl... my Wonder Woman. These are the two awesome items my daughter brought back for me. The first item is this awesome book surrounding this Marvel Cat (?) ... Now the second item, apparently created a large amount of stress for her which she had to tell me about. At this Japanese 'flea market', she found this Godzilla set of matchbooks. Yes, she knows my affinity of cigars and all things Godzilla but there was a slight problem here. How in the world to get this item through customs and half way across the globe in this new TSA reality? Well... she found a way. She dumped every single matchbox of their contents and transported only empty boxes! This thing is awesome and she completely understood that I could simply refill the boxes with 'domestic' matchsticks... she's a regular Nancy Drew! The back of these matchbook boxes would all form the image of a puzzle as was shown. ... ... ... Okay, this was my palate cleanser. Actually, let me get in one video in before I do the heavy lifting here. Who to choose? I think at this point, I'll pour a drink, consult with the (never televised) Mego Neptunian and seek additional counsel. ... ... ...

I guess that was kind of a commercial break with those few posts. Back to the trip back home from PulpFest... The next extended stop we made on our way back up was in Titusville, PA. There, we found a Goodwill with a Sav-a-Lot grocery store right next door. It was kind of connected within this type of mall or plaza. We found a couple of things in that Goodwill but nothing exceptional. I bought an avocado green, mid-century lamp to resell and my daughter found a couple of funny items for her college roommate. Afterwards, we quickly stopped in the grocery store and then left. On our way out of this town, we noticed signs for the next weekend advertising the Titusville Oil Festival. We kind of chuckled at that while wondering what actually makes up an Oil Festival. I looked it up and it sounds pretty quaint... arts & crafts, parade, antique car show with food, music, beer and wine. From Titusville, PA, I somehow found my way to Sugar Grove, PA and then ultimately to Jamestown, NY. Once we got back into NY, we stopped at a Tim Horton's to grab a bite to eat before we continued north to Dunkirk, NY. I had been to Jamestown numerous times through work and was familiar with this route now. It was the first time since Pittsburgh that I was now back in familiar territory but it was such a nice departure. From Jamestown, NY to Dunkirk, NY we were making very good time and unless there were construction or accident delays, we would be able to get back right when I was hoping we would, on this early August, Friday evening. Once we got to Dunkirk, NY, it was back to the boring NY State Thruway with their overpriced 'trendy' rest stops. The days of Dunkin' (Donuts), Burger KIng, McDonalds, etc. are just about a thing of the past now as these new structures they've built ($450 million), to replace the "outdated" ones now have choices such as Shake Shack, Apple Green C-Stores (where a sandwich and a coffee will cost you $22), Starbucks, Popeyes and Chick-fil-A (closed on Sundays... except NYS now wants to tell them to change their business model) Okay, sorry... end of rant. So, before we got to Buffalo, NY, I had to make one stop at one of my favorite truck stops in Western NY and that was at the Silver Creek exit off of I-90. The truck stop is actually in Irving, NY and is called the Native Pride Travel Plaza on one of the three Seneca Indian Reservations. I've been stopping here for many years now as this place has one of the best walk in humidors for cigars that I've seen throughout the state. There was a time where I would stop in here twice a week as it was on my dedicated route with my old employer but now, whenever I get out this way, it's a bit of a luxury for me. So yes, I had to stop here, not only to fill up on cheaper priced gas, but to grab a few cigars as well. https://www.nativepride.com/ After this stop, it's now around 4pm if I remember correctly. It's funny but whenever I write or mention Silver Creek, NY... my mind jumps to Stevie Nick's (Fleetwood Mac) song "Silver Springs". It's just one of those things, I guess. (-66 hours : 50 minutes)

Another quick note about the above post... One of my favorite Los Angeles Rams players was Jerome Bettis, nicknamed "The Bus". He was drafted by the (then) Los Angeles Rams in 1993 and played 2 seasons with them in LA. In 1995, the Rams moved to St. Louis and Jerome Bettis played one season there before being traded to... yes, the Pittsburgh Steelers. I remember being shocked and disappointed by this trade when it happened in 1996 but I continued to root for him and continued to follow his career. Additionally, I still have his Rams jersey I bought in 1994/1995 and I actually wore to a sports bar a couple of years ago. So, getting back on track to the trip back home from Cranberry Township, PA... I forgot to mention that after we checked out of our hotel, following my last minute breeze through at PulpFest, we decided to make one last stop in Cranberry and that was at a Target that was just up the road from where we were staying and close to where we would start to head north-east on our way home. We didn't spend a long time in there but I did pick up a 'souvenir'. When I saw this on the shelf, in with their pop culture collectible items, I just thought it was perfectly fitting and had to buy it.

I know the last entry about the Pittsburgh Steelers was a bit odd as it didn't really fit the rest of the story but it serves to further illustrate just how much of a positive impact this trip had on me. Based on my limited but valuable experience in this area of Western Pennsylvania, I felt like the city of Pittsburgh became a place that I could very much get used to. The history of the football team added to that feeling of course and simply the nostalgic views I have of professional football throughout the 70's and 80's solidified it. The LA Rams will forever be my #1 team but there have been years where I adopted 'secondary' teams based on various factors... mostly certain players. For instance in the 80's, I liked the Denver Broncos a lot because I was a huge John Elway fan and they were exciting to watch with the Three Amigos. Then, in the 90's I liked the New England Patriots a lot because of Drew Bledsoe, Ben Coates and Curtis Martin... that 'friendship' with the Patriots came to an end when Tom Brady took over and especially after the results of the 2001 Superbowl against Kurt Warner and the Rams. Some other notable teams I've liked or had an interest in, after the Rams of course, have been Fran Tarkenton and the Minnesota Vikings as well as Brian Sipe and the Cleveland Browns in the 1970's and then Dan Fouts and the San Diego Chargers in the 80's. So I guess this was a long winded (no surprise) explanation as to how it was seemingly so easy for me to adopt not only a new city but a new team to follow, after this amazing trip that my family and I were on. I'm jumping ahead a little here but interestingly, a couple of months after this trip, the Steelers played the Rams in Los Angeles. Ultimately the Rams lost but in a strange twist, it was the Steelers, after knocking off the Seattle Seahawks that put the Rams in the playoffs this year. Just weird all the way around... This was a nice distraction to write about.

I'll try again...

I just randomly came across this image and it was too good not to share...

Wishing everyone a Happy New Year... 2024

In conclusion for this night... a nod to my 80's. Amazingly, I have not seen this before but here is David and George, seemingly fraternizing together in this mid 80's performance. Two of my favorite performers, side by side. Oh... why not add vintage Gordan (Sting) and long haired Bono in with this to make it all the more awesome! (And please don't miss Freddy Mercury at 2:10)

(-76 hours : 8 minutes)

On the way back home to Central New York from Uniontown / Pittsburgh / Cranberry Township / Mars / Butler, PA... I found a strange development happening internally. I've been a life long Rams fan since 1974 but here I was in the heart of my youth's hated Superbowl... that of January 20, 1980. Superbowl 14. And here I was quickly growing fond of the Steelers franchise! A big part of this reason was my immediate reactionary affection for the city that I had never seen, as I now personally viewed it as the Industrial meets Metropolitan city of Pittsburgh, in coordination with the countless billboards I saw, that advertised the team. These billboards promoting the upcoming NFL season, featured the images of players that I knew and liked... George Pickens, TJ Watt, Kenny Pickett and Najee Harris. So, this was, in fact, part one of this process. Part two happened upon a lonely stretch of a rural road as we headed north, into NY, There were signs for a garage sale and eventually, once we found our way to it, I thought we should stop. There were a few vintage items we found of interest but then I found out that the "elder" of the sale was a life long Steeler fan, now in his 80's. I found his book that he was selling for $5 that highlighted all of the accomplishments from the sports teams of the city of Pittsburgh throughout the 70's bought it. He reminisced with me a little on those championship years the Steelers had... I didn't tell him that I was a lifelong Rams fan but it probably wouldn't have mattered. Within this book, published in 1980, there's a little write up about a certain University of Pittsburgh (Pittsburgh Panthers) football freshman by the name of Dan (Danny) Marino. Maybe better served as an episode of What If...? but yes, what if he had gone to the Steelers, instead of the Miami Dolphins, in the 1983 NFL draft and followed in the footsteps of Terry Bradshaw who played for them from 1970-1983? Anyways... It was this moment here, as we were walking back to the Jeep, that I told my daughter that I had just made a decision as if this were some big, monumental, life changing event. I told her that I decided that the Pittsburgh Steelers would now become my "secondary team", as she knows about the Rams. As weird as this was, it felt symbiotic, somehow.

(-80 hours : 3 minutes)

That trip home on that Friday afternoon couldn't have gone any better. I wanted to kind of take more of a scenic route up from Cranberry Township, Pennsylvania up to Dunkirk, NY (west of Buffalo, NY) before getting back on the boring NY State Thruway. I had told my family that I wanted to make a quick stop in Mars, PA to take some pictures of (the locals?)... the middle of this quaint little town. Once you're there, you can easily spot why this is a tourist 'must stop destination' while driving though Western PA. As we were leaving Mars, PA., we literally ran into my wife's greatest weakness... a salvage store. Of course I knew she wanted to stop in but I also knew that if we stopped here, we would be behind schedule by 2-3 hours and I really wanted to get home back in time so we could see our niece's play the next day, without being absolutely exhausted. That caused a bit of disagreement but it was somewhat alleviated a little bit later after I stopped in Butler, PA. There was a McDonald's there for us to get some coffee but even better, in the same plaza, was a really nice thrift store (St. Vincent de Paul Society Thrift Store) where we stopped in for about 15 minutes. We found a few really nice items in there, both to keep and to resell. My favorite finds were a 1930's Art Deco religious print (nicely framed) and a bunch of these 1981 football 5"X8" mini posters by Marketcom. With that stop now behind us, we continued to make our way north as we snaked through this scenic Western Pennsylvania route, on our way to Jamestown, NY and then up to Dunkirk, NY. which is right off of Lake Erie. Speaking of... this is a good spot to 'park it for the night' and leave off with a big favorite of mine from another departed talent from this past year. Find peace, Gordon.

And finally, the night cap for the evening.

And here we are... Thank you Rob.

That evening, back at our hotel, I had to tell my family about my incredible day at PulpFest. I couldn't have imagined it going any better. Of course by now we were all ready for an early dinner and fortunately there were many options right next door. My wife and daughter got some Indian cuisine while I settled for a very nice Chicken Philly. After our early dinner, I sat outside with my wife and enjoyed a cigar and a scotch. I told her that I was thinking about going back to one of the evening forums that were to be held at the show later on in the evening, but I was also pretty tired and a bit overwhelmed at the experience of it all. I decided that I would forego the late evening forums and perhaps I would just stop back in, when the show reopened that Friday morning and take one last quick look around before we headed back home. I thought that it would be nice to perhaps at least gather a few more pictures, seeing how my admission for the next day was already paid. I also knew that I wouldn't have a lot of time as I had planned that we would be back home that Friday night by 8pm Eastern. ... ... ... I awoke early Friday morning and proceeded to get ready and packed before my wife and daughter got up. I wanted to get a bearing on how much time we'd need for me to go back to the show for maybe an hour and then get back to our hotel, check out and go. After everyone was awake, we went to get yet another 'Continental Breakfast'. As you can tell, I was absolutely fascinated and thrilled by these as I thought these were a thing of the past based on my recent experiences. Afterwards, we headed back to our room and I was hesitating on whether I should go back or not. My wife encouraged me to go even though I had spent my budget already on this trip. I didn't think I would buy anything and that I would simply go in, maybe take a few more pictures and duck out. Sure. I got there that Friday morning shortly after the doors reopened for the day... I think I missed the opening by about 10 minutes. I quickly found the room of 'thrilling suspense, danger and adventure' and began to walk through once again. I thought to myself that it was a bit shocking as to how different it all looked now. All of the booths that were setting up, just 24 hours earlier, were now fully up and running and I quickly noticed that there was a lot more stock on the floor now. Great. I quickly thought back to all of the wonderful original art that I had seen on the day before... I went back to those vendors just to witness those amazing pieces one more time. I desperately wanted to go back to Anthony Tollin's table and look at those fantastic George Rozen sketches he had for sale but I knew that I would probably blow up my time schedule, in terms of getting back to our home by the time I initially wanted to. Needless to say, I reluctantly stayed away but I did find myself at a table which was not set up a day earlier when I was there. On his table was a piece that I was obviously drawn to. I paused and looked closely at it... the vendor told me that he thought it was a reprint. I asked if he had any information on it or where it came from... he simply replied that he couldn't remember. My central NY flea market persona kicked in and I asked him if he would take $50 for the piece. He agreed and even though I was now a bit more over-budget as I had originally planned, I felt that I had acquired (at the very least) something 'cool' that I hadn't seen before. I left PulpFest more than satisfied at this whole experience. When I got back to the hotel to pick up my wife and daughter, I popped open the back of the Jeep to show them why I guess I felt that this was the reason that I felt the need to go back on this Friday morning. I showed them this Shadow print / ad and they both thought it was really nice. I packed up the suitcases and bags, made sure everything was secure... checked out of the hotel and off we were. Headed back home... (-82 hours : 10 minutes)

.. thank you so much!

My head was in an absolute cloud as my wife and daughter picked me up from the hotel. I couldn't wait to tell them about what had just happened to me as we drove back to our own hotel. This late summer afternoon, as it dipped into the evening, couldn't get any better... I had a travel bottle of Scotch to match a nice cigar to enjoy later, as I thought back to this amazing day... along with a fantastic story to tell my family, along with these pictures of my wins from the day. ... ... ... I forgot to mention that Anthony Tollin allowed me to take a picture of his amazing sleeve tattoo which I'll post here without any added explanation as to why I loved this so much! (-91 hours : 30 minutes)

Upon getting this opportunity to spend a considerable amount of time talking to Anthony Tollin and hearing these first hand stories of his Shadow / Batman discovery, (for those that don't know, Bill Finger lifted the script for the 1939 issue of Detective Comics #27 from the November 1st, 1936 issue of The Shadow Magazine.) something else happened here. (Yes, Anthony Tollin and Will Murray did that! Just as I loved talking about Jack Kirby's Challengers of the Unknown #3 from 1958, preceding the Fantastic Four #1 by 3 years, this was even more incredible to me because, as I've tried to illustrate here, I strongly believe that if it wasn't for Walter B. Gibson's vision of The Shadow, no one would know the character of Batman... or even Wolverine!) There was a gentleman just off to Anthony's left that was quietly sorting through numerous pulps. As I noticed this, I assumed that it was another vendor looking to set up shop, as I tried to be courteous enough so not to disturb his endeavor. Soon enough, Anthony introduced me to 'his friend'. He introduced me to him, as he acknowledged his first name... "Dwight" "He's a huge Shadow collector and has an amazing collection!" (I had to paraphrase here... apologies.) Once he introduced me to him, that was my Holy S#I+ moment... I knew the name and of course, I knew that it had to be him. Yeah, this was Dwight ( @detective35 ) from this CGC board that has the most amazing Shadow / Blue Coal collection that anyone could hope to obtain! We talked for a few moments as I'm sure he cast me off as a crazed 50+ year old fan boy, as I'm certain that is what I was coming off as. I was just completely captivated by this experience that I somewhat, haphazardly, stumbled on to! As my discussion with Anthony Tollin was winding down, he sold me on three different volumes of his Shadow reprints which I gladly bought. Again, this whole experience itself was worth the price of the trip as well as admission.. not to mention that I had just secured my Shadow / Batman grail, mere moments before this encounter. It was right here that I had to stop in my tracks in amazement... recognizing just how lucky I had been from the Blue Coal discovery in Ashley, PA. to here, at this pulp show in Pittsburgh, PA / Cranberry Township, PA. Simply an amazing moment in time for me.

Post Christmas. I thought I could get through this without any setbacks but I seriously miscalculated. It's been a rough go at it... Tonight, I'll try to get back to this past August in order to finish up the PulpFest events and the ensuing nightmare that followed.

DoubleplusUngood -

It's officially Christmas on the east coast... War is over. Unfortunately, DoublePlusUngood. It is far from it... Still, we'll celebrate this Holy Day. Merry Christmas to my friends and family... both virtual as well as here and departed. I've been a huge fan of Sarah M. for many years now and this just seemed so proper to post!

It's Christmas Eve, 2023 - 10:14 pm EST (as I start this entry). This turned out to be a very nice day, albeit a bit stressful... for a number of reasons. We got together at my in-laws for our Christmas get together this evening. We were a bit anxious but the atmosphere was just right for us and it's always a good thing to spend time with your family. In a couple of hours it will officially be Christmas Day and another step closer to the end of this year. Speaking of Christmas get-togethers, I somewhat set up a tentative time where Rob and I can plan to have our annual Christmas extravaganza although I warned him in advance that my methods would be much subdued this year. I guess more on that later... Anyways, it's nice to have my daughter home for a few weeks and even though she doesn't believe in Santa anymore, the spirit is still alive when she's here for the holidays. I asked my dog if she believed in Santa and I didn't get a response. She did, however, ask me to play her favorite song (and certainly one of mine). I've often wondered why this is a favorite of mine and perhaps it's because of the inherent sadness of it. In another timeline, maybe only a hairsbreadth would separate the two and this could be me. Now who am I to not grant her that simple request on this silent night... of course I can accommodate that. She already thanked me with a 'yip' and a tail wag... (From Chiba, Japan, which my daughter now knows so well )

Very nice! A favorite of mine...