Cat-Man_America

This needs a... Here is the front page of the HoustonCon '74 program. I have the rest scanned if folks want to see it. Let's just call this a teaser.

(worship) ...and that's from a Timely guy!

Thanks. I've just scratched the surface; whenever possible I'll add personal notes that present the whole convention and fanzine scene in context. For instance, here is the front & back cover of my copy of the first issue Squa Tront (Jerry Weist's awesome EC fanzine); both covers, art by Roger Hill, from 1967: The first issue of Jerry Weist's EC fanzine was top notch for a freshman effort and only got grander with each successive issue. After this initial effort, Squa Tront would sport covers by the original EC artists, including rarely seen oil paintings by Feldstein, Ingles, Krigstein, Davis, Evans, Craig, Kurtzman, Crandall and others. One issue even had FOUR different color covers. Jerry's layout design improved as well, and became amazingly inventive, to the point that Squa Tront bested professionally laid out periodicals sold on the newsstands. Whether intended or not, Jerry's publication always gave the impression of an artist's gallery quality presentation. There have been a lot of great fanzines published over the last 50 years, but there has never been another fanzine of this high caliber devoted to a line of comics; Squa Tront stands the test of time as a labor of love. While Jerry made his mark with The Million Year Picnic and Sotheby's auctions, this publication may be his most enduring legacy. If you can find early copies (while Jerry was still actively at the helm), Squa Tront is the ultimate EC art lovers fanzine.

speaking of which, the premiere is one month from today! i'm starting to get kinda stressed about it, as i have so many years of devotion to the character invested in the movie living up to it. after spidey 1, this'll be my most nervous lead-up to a movie. have had it for a few novels, the shining and the green mile stand out to me, but nothing like this. i'm sure tolkien geeks were all flutterry leading up the the first flick, too. Hey, if CA opens during ComicCon maybe a bunch of us can get together to catch an evening screening. (thumbs u I realize that it might be a little like cat herding (I herd relatively easily, other cats, ), but it is an interesting thought.

(thumbs u Oh my, indeed, Billy; ...I seriously doubt that there'll be anything that exciting in the upcoming CA movie!

The front cover to the DCon '71 progress report is both rare and of special interest to those fascinated with fan history. I think you'll see why it's so interesting while reading the promotional information about the hotel and reference to the previous year's Southwestercon. Note: Originally, Okla. City, Dallas & Houston had a rotating annual convention for the first 5 years of it's existence (it allowed hard working committees a little more breathing room for hotel negotiation and eased the financial stress as early cons were lucky to break even). The tri-city alliance broke down in '71, shortly after this Progress Report was mailed to early ticket holders, when both Dallas and Houston con-committees decided to throw their own competing summer conventions and OAF (the Okla. Alliance of Fandom) was effectively caught in the middle. Even though there were some ruffled feathers over this, both conventions fared very well and as a result the flood gates were opened for many more regional conventions. While the Southwestercon agreement effectively died, fans and dealers had more choices and could schedule in more conventions as their budgets allowed. Here is a link to photos taken from HoustonCon '71-'74 (and beyond)... http://netdevelopment.net/conventions/pic/more.htm And here then is the first page of the mimeo DCon Progress Report:

With things moving slowly on the boards tonight something is telling me to be DARING...

Rare 1940's GA science fiction, fantasy, horror fanzine (Hannes Bok cover)...

Wow! Classic Shores cover on a nice off-white paged high grade copy (that puppy would even qualify for an Atlas thread! ). Congrats! BTW, love those beautiful Schomburg covers on the #37 & 46 too!

Hell Yeah! I think I just had a religious moment looking at those books! Thanks! OK, since I seem to be on the right track, I'll post a few more for consideration... I'll admit it, I'm a perfectionist and scanning through CGC slabs isn't easy, but so far the results look pretty good. (thumbs u

Thanks Mike, mine too And thanks Todd for posting those pictures. Had a great time hanging out with you at the show. And congrats, again, on the addition to your collection Great photos and nice books! (thumbs u

Sweet! Very nice book! Great color and image (looks like a 9.2 or better from your scan)! Again, how is the page quality on that puppy?

...Should I take that as thumbs up on the quality of the scans? (thumbs u

Fresh Timely scans. Please forgive any repetition of comics you may have seen in earlier scans, I'm still working with my new scanner to get the best images that more accurately reflect the beauty of these books; thanks, and as always input is appreciated (thumbs u ...

Wintercon '75 Program (full, complete with ads from the era)... This Wintercon was held in Tulsa, in December of '75; a freak Tornado occurred the weekend of the con. With sirens going off dealers were seen scrambling to cover their tables (in some cases with their bodies!), but this weather anomaly missed the con hotel completely. Unlisted among the guests were Bernie Wrightson and Bruce Jones, who showed up on a lark (which is a large passerine bird that shows up at conventions unexpectedly) to visit friends Archie Goodwin and Al Williamson (Secret Agent X-9), along with their up-and-coming artist buddy Steve Lehiloha. Archie, Bernie, Bruce and Steve hung out in our suite most of the weekend when not looking for good restaurants. One of the weekend's highlights was an impromptu bowling excursion (judging from our scores, it was definitely Little Lebowski).

Stunning run; out of this world (literally)! Here's to your acquiring that one missing book and the upgrades you seek: Cheers!

VERY nice! What is the page quality like?

That's a real beauty, with a nice surprise! Congrats!!!

Nice one, Bill! It's a gas, gas, gas!

I appreciate the suggestion. I'm trying to limit the number of steps between my scanner and photobucket albums; photoshop isn't that intuitive for me, especially on my Mac. I thought the second image looked pretty good, but I'll go back and do a bit of cropping, as the thick polymer slabs tend to cast a bluish image when color corrected before scanning. Thanks again. (thumbs u

(thumbs u

You should change your display name to David-Gay-Weather. I've been accused of many things, but I'm a cunning linguist by nature.

WOW! I read through this entire thread and still haven't a clue as to why spanker-dude tagged me during his melt-down. Funny thing, in spite of occasionally teasing his cause celeb, I've been very kind to Mitchell Mehdy, even sent him helpful PMs, so I'm not sure what GGA had his chewable panties in a bunch about. Was I targeted by spanker-dude? I can only assume it because my name was mentioned in this thread. My knowledge of the nuclear reaction details is limited to discussions after the "Packback" thread had already become an event horizon. Since I came late to this picnic, if someone wouldn't mind sending me a PM with the particulars, it would be greatly appreciated.

The last page of photos from Wintercon '76... Top photo: Joe Vucenic, Robert A. Brown and George Evens at the autographing table, and Jerry Miller, California based art dealer. Middle photo: John Brewer and Kathy Harper (my art collaborator and significant other throughout much of the 70's) filling in at registration during lunch break. Bottom photo: Another shot of Cindy and Deana working registration. And the SF side of fandom... Here is one from my early ChickCons. In essence these were early '80s adult Relaxi-cons held at my home in the middle of nowheresville (aka Chickasha, Oklahoma) with friends from the SF and comics community from Tulsa, Norman (OU), Okla. City and Dallas. NOSFA stands for Norman Oklahoma Science Fiction Association. This posed group shot is composed of the early arrivals; my parties usually ended up with from 30 to 50 fans (mostly SF or comic), many staying through the weekend (no stinkin' badges required). Even though I'm pretty sure that I recall everyone's name here there are a couple I'm not absolutely sure about, thus the question marks: [back row, standing, left to right] Syd Henderson (NOSFA), Vicki M. (Chickasha), Claire's husband (OU philosophy professor), Claire Stevens (NOSFA), Mike Campbell (Chickasha), Nigel Sellers (NOSFA), Yours truly (from everywhere). [front row, seated, left to right] Renee Witterstaetter (Dallas, now NY, publisher, artist management, Eva Ink Publishing), unsure (?), unsure (?) If folks are interested in the 80's stuff I'll post more photos that include some of my SF fandom involvement as well as comics fanzines and major convention photos from the late 60's onward.

Very nice! Those colors really pop! (thumbs u