PopKulture

I think the Black Hush cover is a top ten.

Additionally, when you think Weird Tales, you could have ten Brundage covers on the list! And there are some St. John Weird Tales that might qualify, and everybody seems to like the Fox Weird Tales covers now as well. Add to that the Magic Carpets by Brundage, and the snake cover from Strange Tales and the list is already getting crowded. I can think of a half dozen Amazing Stories bedsheets that are candidates, and then add Science Wonder Stories and you start to scratch your head. Throw in Spicy Mystery and Horror Stories and Terror Tales and a few Mystery Tales and so on. For me, it's impossible!

Honorable mentions, cuz I just plain like them:

Boy, is that a road we really want to go down?? I think it's even tougher (and more subjective) than a top ten covers for comics. I think you'd have more variability. There are very few pulps that have covers that most collectors would agree are classic - great covers, sure, but tastes vary widely. You just don't have the equivalent in pulps of Superman14, More Fun 54, Detective 31, etc. And then you have that whole "iconic versus classic" thing going on. I would argue that the cover to the Spider #1 is iconic in the same way Action 1 is iconic but perhaps not classic - at least not in the sense 'classic' is used in comics. I would argue that the Amazing Stories with the first Buck Rogers is more iconic than classic, as it's not even Buck pictured on the cover. Point being, I have what I consider a very modest pulp collection. These are just a few scans from my collection that I have at the ready, and I could post another few dozen of an ilk caliber. And just look how cool some of these covers are!! The only one of these that there might be consensus on is the All Detective, and I doubt it would crack a top 20 list:

Who's arguing??

He was the guest of honor last year. He comes to the show often, but I don't think he was there this year. He'd be a hard guy to miss, as he always draws a crowd. People hang around as he tells stories and the crowd just grows. Talk about a colorful and interesting past...

I understand the Dell and Gold Key photo covers are hot again - but probably just the #1's and in higher grade.

You're welcome. Having seen what pulps you post, I think you'd find yourself right at home.

Great selection, right? Definitely something for everyone with every genre represented. They take down the wall books each evening, so the selection varies day to day. On Friday, I commented how interesting it was to see Mickey Mouse Magazine number one (yes, the one from 1935!) on the top row with the Marvel Preview mag featuring Star-Lord. What a contrast.

You know, I'm not 100% sure, so I'd rather not guess. Dwight might know if he stops by. It's an impressive spread. Rarefied air certainly.

I'll post a few more shots later in the week, but I know I didn't take as many pics as previous cons. The gallery is open to all attendees who generously choose to share their treasures, so it's really just a peek into any number of people's collections. As with anything, there are a few big fish that predominate given the year however.

Hmmm... they never make it easy, do they? Seems like there's a need for a comic show syndicate meeting like in the Godfather movies where this stuff gets planned out better. For parallelism, instead of passing around a plate of diamond rings and Piaget watches, it could be Operator 5 rings and Hopalong Cassidy watches.

Then we probably just missed you. There's always an auction both Friday and Saturday nights at the con, so a lot of people clear out and head back to the hotel. We lingered this year, but not long enough it seems. I don't know if going forward Doug plans on making Windy City coincide with C2E2 of it just happened by chance, but hopefully we'll have another chance to meet someday. I have done Roundtop a few times, but not for years - who knows?

Gary was indeed in attendance, but as I mentioned earlier, he had no comics, only paperback and pulps. I bought a nice Captain Future from him and some really nice Beacon Library PB's, as well as a stack of Dell mapbacks. We were chatting and eventually the conversation turned to ashcans and he was telling me some of the history of their discovery. Truly interesting, and another great guy to sit and talk with. Gary shared one interesting observation with me: he said he noticed paperback collectors don't want to spend more than ten bucks! Well, he's right: there is a little resistance at that price level. I speculated that it was because there was never that explosive infusion of outside money into the hobby like when George Lucas and Steven Spielberg hit collectables in general or Nic Cage and later Hariri comics...

I was at a dinner party hosted by a local publisher and fan and I overheard someone say you might show up. I believe it was perhaps Roger..? Anyway, I was looking forward to meeting you. I kept looking around the room for a tall guy... Roger is a really great guy and a sincere pleasure to talk to, and although I had seem him over the years at the con here, I never knew he was so active back in the early days of fandom til I started reading some of the older threads with all the Texas and Oklahoma boys reminiscing, especially about OAF (or whatever it is called)!

Great material for sure, as related to paperbacks, but there are still boxes of books under many dealer's tables with one or two dollar books. I bought a dozen or so Popular Library's for a buck a piece that looked really nice. This Midwestern boy has never been to the Glendale show or SDCC, but I would tend to agree with your assertion about fans who actually read their wares!

There really is a great cross-section of stuff there which I tried to hint at in my report. There's something for everyone, really. Reading copies of Hammett - Yakimas for advanced collectors. Definitely a small crowd, and I was one of the younger guys twenty years ago and I'm still one of the younger guys now, grey hair n all, so, yes, a lot of older fans. There were a few younger guys in the room - and gals - and I'm guessing a lot of them start out hunting comics and wind up being lulled to the dark side in time. I didn't meet Catrick, but I bet I saw him if he was there. Jamie Graham being a local guy occasionally sets up at Windy City, but he wasn't there. I don't know if he was at C2E2. Terry used to come as well, so it's not like you don't see killer comics in the room from year to year. Gary C. was there, but he only had pulps and paperbacks, no comics. I say "only" but I'm glad he did as I was able to upgrade a few Beacon pb's and early Avons.

Thanks to everyone for the kudos! It was fun putting together this report, and I know I'll enjoy peeking back at it as time rolls on. As it was my first time, I tried earnestly to be polite about photographing people's stuff and mentioned that I might post the pics here. Several dealers like Gary C, Roger H, John H and others were in attendance but didn't seem to be in their booths when I did my laps camera in hand. I'm glad it's a three day show so that you have time to just chance upon a booth and catch some great stories from around the country.

For those of you who seek some extra glimpses of the Windy City con, there's a thread on the main page. I hate that photosuckit ate the first 96% of so many threads that we are now posting on page 278 of, so I plopped my pics into their own cozy bubble of a thread. I'll post some pics of my meager treasures later in the week, though I mostly bought paperbacks I have to say...

Thanks, Mitch! Fred Taraba and Grapefruit Moon were there as well as several others. There's a dealer list along the left margin at the website: http://windycitypulpandpaper.com/home/

I'm going to wrap with this picture of the art gallery. This year had so much Kelly Freas it made my head spin. Maybe I'll post a few individual snapshots later on, but the little can lights you see in some of the zoomed out photos do make it tough to take pictures of the works with glass frames. Like I'm complaining, right? Many kudos to Doug, Deb, John and everyone else for making this happen. And happen. And happen... Your hard work is appreciated. p.s. Robot Man, you should've warned me how long these reports actually take!

I'm guessing this was a sweat mag cover, but I forgot to ask. Super cool either way!

A few more shots. My buddy John always has a fun assortment of art, mags and books, like this display case that begs a closer look. Wild Town and Reform School Girl, anyone?

Previous post be damned. When I fall backwards into my very own copies of DD Finds Pirate Gold and MM Outwits the Phantom Blot, I promise to reform my evil hoarding ways and devote my time to soup kitchens and the like as there will be little point to waking up early to hit the flea. Purdy. Real Purdy.

A few close-ups from Gene's booth. Wait, what is that drek peeking out in the middle there?? This is a golden age thread: get lost.