1939 NEWSSTAND PIC TIME MACHINE JOURNEY INTO THE PAST 18 18

[goldust40]

roy at houstoncon 1979. another cigarette and watch those ashes!

 

Great pictures, please post more. Wonder what the price was for that Superman 2 that guy was casually holding.

[jpepx78]

 

Great pictures, please post more. Wonder what the price was for that Superman 2 that guy was casually holding.

looks like a superman 4 under that 2.

 

 

[DCman]

man reading superman 62 while getting a massage or a medical exam in 1950.

 

This might become skypinkblu's new screen backdrop, what with the good looking half-naked man and all

 

thats from a movie. the doctor is the actor who played Bernstien in Citizen Kane.

 

Everett Sloane. My guess is this picture is from "The Men" starring Marlon Brando

 

That's crazy, I just watched the Twilight Zone episode The Fever in which he starred.

 

[MrBedrock]

bb-gun: thanks for the mention of roy's memory shop which led to a treasure trove of many old pics from HoustonCon and other cons in the 1970s! houston looked like a hotbed of comic fandom back then. i think i saw MrBedrock in a few photos. there must be some pretty good stories from back then.

I don't think there is a photo of me at any of the HoustonCons. I was there but must have managed to hide from the camera pretty well.

 

here's a few pics from that site:

roy bonario reading all star 17 at roy's memory shop 1971.

 

ken donnell & kirk alyn looking at action 63 at houstoncon 1971. roy's booth in back with cool one-sheet posters.

 

roy at houstoncon 1979. smoking in the dealers room!

Roy Bonario opened the first comic store in Houston and is really the grandfather of fandom in these parts. He is still around and comes by the shop any time we have one of our infrequent golden age collectors meetings. The guy talking to Roy is Drew Caldwell. He is still collecting, though mostly 35mm films these days. He does have a great collection of All Star comics.

 

roy at houstoncon 1979. another cigarette and watch those ashes!

The guy smoking is Walter Irwin. He had a huge Archie collection which he sold in the mid '90s. He passed away about eight years ago. Eric Anderson is standing in the middle. He still comes to the HCCA get-togethers though he doesn't actively collect. Glenn Kessler is standing to the far right. One of the greatest guys in the world, Glenn owned Happy Trails Comics and helped me get my start in retailing.

willie patterson at houstoncon 1979. was there 3 copies of silver streak 6 or are those alan light reprints?

silver streak 7, showcase 4, trapped! and other books. imagine the chaos if cigarettes triggered the sprinklers above.

i'm sorry i got side-tracked when bb-gun mentioned roy's memory shop...

I was working at Camelot when this picture was taken, and was working the table at this show - though obviously I was out shopping for comics when this pic was taken. Willie managed (and eventually owned) the store. The guy to his left is Harold Starbuck who ran the mail order dept. and later sold quite a bit through the CBG. He is also still in Houston but not very active in fandom.

 

 

 

 

[markseifert]

Awesome info Mr. B. I hope you're planning to do a book about TX fandom with all of this knowledge someday. (thumbs u

[MrBedrock]

Awesome info Mr. B. I hope you're planning to do a book about TX fandom with all of this knowledge someday. (thumbs u

It's fun to swap stories but a book would be a chore. For one thing, to make a book work you have to include the bad with the good. Some of that stuff can be painful and unpleasant. I worshipped the ground that Willie Patterson walked on when I was a kid. I bought many of my first golden age books from him before working at Camelot with him through the late '70s. He was an important mentor to me in the world of collectibles. In 1981 Willie, Roy, G.B. and I took a road trip to Memphis for a western movie convention. I was still in high school. I got to meet Lash Larue there. We all had a blast. After college I worked for Willie for a couple of years before heading out to open my own comic shop. During that time I started realizing that some of his life views were extreme. I never paid much attention to it when I was younger. Turns out he was a closet Klan member. And in his mind all of his problems were someone else's fault. He eventually showed his racism to the world during the Gary Graham protests at the Huntsville Prison. Willie Patterson made the front page of The Houston Chronicle holding a sign that read "Let The ****** Burn". He didn't even have the balls to use his own name, identifying himself as Willie Ray.

[nearmint]

I worshipped the ground that Willie Patterson walked on when I was a kid. I bought many of my first golden age books from him before working at Camelot with him through the late '70s. He was an important mentor to me in the world of collectibles. In 1981 Willie, Roy, G.B. and I took a road trip to Memphis for a western movie convention. I was still in high school. I got to meet Lash Larue there. We all had a blast. After college I worked for Willie for a couple of years before heading out to open my own comic shop. During that time I started realizing that some of his life views were extreme. I never paid much attention to it when I was younger. Turns out he was a closet Klan member. And in his mind all of his problems were someone else's fault. He eventually showed his racism to the world during the Gary Graham protests at the Huntsville Prison. Willie Patterson made the front page of The Houston Chronicle holding a sign that read "Let The ****** Burn". He didn't even have the balls to use his own name, identifying himself as Willie Ray.

 

Great excerpt for the back cover. (thumbs u

[MrBedrock]

willie patterson at houstoncon 1979. was there 3 copies of silver streak 6 or are those alan light reprints?

silver streak 7, showcase 4, trapped! and other books. imagine the chaos if cigarettes triggered the sprinklers above.

BTW, those aren't Alan Light reprints. And on the bottom row at the far right, in the glare, you can barely make out an Action 1. I remember that book very well, a solid fine unrestored. As for the Trapped, those apparently were very rare at one time. Somehow Camelot acquired a large lot of them, maybe 75-100 copies. They trickled out over the years. I still have copies show up at the store every once in a while..

[adamstrange]

I don't think there is a photo of me at any of the HoustonCons.

As long as the payments continue to arrive on schedule I see no reason why that would change.

[Transplant]

BTW, those aren't Alan Light reprints. And on the bottom row at the far right left, in the glare, you can barely make out an Action 1. I remember that book very well, a solid fine unrestored. As for the Trapped, those apparently were very rare at one time. Somehow Camelot acquired a large lot of them, maybe 75-100 copies. They trickled out over the years. I still have copies show up at the store every once in a while..

That's what a Texas education will buy you folks.

[adamstrange]

Awesome info Mr. B. I hope you're planning to do a book about TX fandom with all of this knowledge someday. (thumbs u

 

[ciorac]

willie patterson at houstoncon 1979. was there 3 copies of silver streak 6 or are those alan light reprints?

silver streak 7, showcase 4, trapped! and other books. imagine the chaos if cigarettes triggered the sprinklers above.

BTW, those aren't Alan Light reprints. And on the bottom row at the far right, in the glare, you can barely make out an Action 1. I remember that book very well, a solid fine unrestored. As for the Trapped, those apparently were very rare at one time. Somehow Camelot acquired a large lot of them, maybe 75-100 copies. They trickled out over the years. I still have copies show up at the store every once in a while..

 

what was the asking price for the Action 1?

[MrBedrock]

willie patterson at houstoncon 1979. was there 3 copies of silver streak 6 or are those alan light reprints?

silver streak 7, showcase 4, trapped! and other books. imagine the chaos if cigarettes triggered the sprinklers above.

BTW, those aren't Alan Light reprints. And on the bottom row at the far right, in the glare, you can barely make out an Action 1. I remember that book very well, a solid fine unrestored. As for the Trapped, those apparently were very rare at one time. Somehow Camelot acquired a large lot of them, maybe 75-100 copies. They trickled out over the years. I still have copies show up at the store every once in a while..

 

what was the asking price for the Action 1?

At that show, if I remember correctly, it was $4000. Willie ended up hanging onto it for a few years. It sold in '86 through Glenn's store to Mark Wilson for $12,000. I'm sure it was cleaned and restored as that was Mark's forte in those days.

[G.A.tor]

willie patterson at houstoncon 1979. was there 3 copies of silver streak 6 or are those alan light reprints?

silver streak 7, showcase 4, trapped! and other books. imagine the chaos if cigarettes triggered the sprinklers above.

BTW, those aren't Alan Light reprints. And on the bottom row at the far right, in the glare, you can barely make out an Action 1. I remember that book very well, a solid fine unrestored. As for the Trapped, those apparently were very rare at one time. Somehow Camelot acquired a large lot of them, maybe 75-100 copies. They trickled out over the years. I still have copies show up at the store every once in a while..

 

what was the asking price for the Action 1?

At that show, if I remember correctly, it was $4000. Willie ended up hanging onto it for a few years. It sold in '86 through Glenn's store to Mark Wilson for $12,000. I'm sure it was cleaned and restored as that was Mark's forte in those days.

[kryptonitecomics]

Still one of the best threads ever started on these forums....just super stories and pictures even if I wasn't actively collecting back then....hey at least I was old enough to be collecting in the late 70's

[Cat-Man_America]

Awesome info Mr. B. I hope you're planning to do a book about TX fandom with all of this knowledge someday. (thumbs u

 

 

+ 1 (thumbs u

 

One of these days I'll upload some of surviving photos that I took during that era. There are many faces that folks would recognize, others may be spotted and properly identified.

 

BTW, the book idea is fascinating ( Mr Bedrock), even if not seriously contemplated at present. If such a project were to go forward I'd love to be part of it though or at least contribute. Yes, I realize that some aspects might have to be toned down to protect the innocent as well as the guilty and folks interviewed (when possible) to set their records straight, but I can imagine such a book appealing to more folks than just the die-hard comic fans here.

 

It would be 'kewl' gathering tales of SW fandom (those suitable for print) and historical data on the rise and fall of HoustonCon as a driving force in fandom (the biggest comic convention in the country at one point, if memory serves) even before SDCC.

 

My personal involvement goes back to the short-lived tri-city alliance days (Houston, Dallas & Okla. City) and the Okla. Alliance of Fandom (OAF).

[sfcityduck]

Not sure if these photos from LA Public Library database have been posted before:

 

 

 

 

[sfcityduck]

Can't tell if that is a comic in the background:

 

 

[sfcityduck]

Anyone seen this one?

 

[Scrooge]

I wonder what the horoscope says about Gemini ...

 

Great find. Thanks for posting.