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OAFCON Report with Pics from Oklahoma City today

Started by The Troll King,

30 posts in this topic

The Troll King

The Troll King

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Ok, so I decided to drive up to Oklahoma City today because I found on comicbookconventions.com that there was this strange little con happening that was NOT allowing bronze or modern books into the place. OAF by the way stands for "Oklahoma Alliance of Fans".

 

I thought, what the hell, I'll drive up and check it out. At the worst there might be some junky books there and I had no idea what to expect.

 

I looked over the list of dealers and "guests" if you can really call them that and saw some names that most of us are familiar with. Names like, Bob Beerbaum, Bud Plant, Eric Groves, and many other old time dealers that have been in the business a long time.

 

This con is put together by Bart Bush and Robert Brown and here's what I learned from Bart.

 

OAF has been meeting one way or another for 41 years now. :o

Dealers don't pay for tables... they have to be INVITED. This is to protect the types of things being sold in the room.

Lastly... these guys LOVE comics and pulps!!

 

It was very refreshing to see a group of people getting together for nothing more than the love of comics.

 

I was there most of the day and it never was too crowded but the selection of books was OUTSTANDING.

 

Eric Groves, although a little pricey has DEAD ON grading and some serious key books. In one stack alone there was the following:

 

Daredevil 1

Giant Size X-men 1

X-men 94

ASM 129

Sub-Mariner 1

Batman 3 (which was at least VF)

Batman 12 (which looked to me like it could be a top census book if slabbed)

and an X-men 1

 

Granted I know some of those are bronze age but I think they allow a few exceptions when the majority of your stock is golden.

 

That was just one stack and there must have been probably another 400 books that he had.

 

Pulps were everywhere in all grades and price ranges. With my love of pin-up art and GGA I could easily see myself getting into pulp collecting. I did buy a couple which wll be posted further down in the thread.

 

It seemed that there was a running joke amongst the crowd that Beerbaum is an overgrader. He did get teased about it several times but with this group of guys it was all in good fun.

 

I did feel slightly out of place though as for the majority of the day I, at age 36, was probably the youngest guy in the room!

 

Buddy Saunders and his wife were there buying up books. I did speak with him briefly and unlike Chuck he never remembers me from the dozen times I've spoken to him at cons.

 

I gotta say though, it may have been small, but OAFCON is (no longer) a well kept secret in Oklahoma City! I had a feeling that I was easily accepted in to what seemed like a private little "secret society" of all these old-timers.

 

I really had a great day!

 

My pictures are to follow with some info about Jerry Weist also (as he was there too!)

 

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The Troll King

The Troll King

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In this pic... notice the Moon Over Miami poster?

 

This was Robert Brown's table and he put the posters up just to "show-off" as he told me he didn't have any intention of selling them.

 

After you look at the picture click on the Heritage link below it to see what the same poster sold for in March of this year.

 

 

100_0824.jpg

 

 

http://movieposters.ha.com/common/view_item.php?Sale_No=693&Lot_No=64902&src=pr

 

 

 

:o

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The Troll King

The Troll King

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Ok, for this next piece... first a little background info for those of you who don't collect magazines and haven't followed Warren history.

 

When Jim Warren wanted to do a new magazine he, Forrest Ackerman and Tom Sutton got together and started coming up with concepts for a new character. Creepy and Eerie had "horror hosts" and for their next magazine Ackerman and Warren wanted a new "host" and they wanted her female.

 

That character would become Vampirella! In the first several issues of Vampirella Magazine Vampi is only seen as a "host" to the spooky and scary stories within. Much like the Crypt Keeper or Elvira.

 

Tom Sutton who was a Warren artist staple at the time was called in to draw this new magazine and Warren started discussing what this new character should look like. Brainstorming, Tom drew concept sketches based on the ideas being tossed around that day.

 

Initially Tom would not only do the interior but also the cover of Vampi #1 and as some of you probably know. Jim Warren rejected what Tom created to be the cover but saved it and it was eventually used for the first Vampirella Annual.

 

Now, Jim Warren knew that another one of his staples in his artist group was Frank Frazetta. No further explanation needed there... so based on Tom's concept sketches Frank set out to create the iconic cover that we know today.

 

The next image is one of Tom Suttons concept sketches from that meeting with Jim Warren. I purchased this from Jerry Weist who was kind enough to give me many more details of the story I just related above. Jerry got this straight from the horses mouth, Tom Sutton and Jim Warren, while they were still alive.

 

TomSuttonVampiConcept.jpg

 

 

Here's a darkened version so the detail shows better as it is sketched on vellum

 

TomSuttonVampiConceptEnhanced.jpg

 

 

 

Now... those of you who are faithful... will notice STRIKING similarities between the pre-publishing concept sketch above... and Frank Frazetta's finished piece which can only lead to one conclusion, that Frank worked off of Tom's concept sketches! :acclaim:

 

Vampi1.jpg

 

:cloud9: :cloud9:

 

:gossip: eat your heart out Gene! :baiting:

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Shootydog

Shootydog

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I was there today as well. Wandered around a bit and ogled all the pretty things. I asked Wyll of All Star Comics here in OKC whether this would continue to be a yearly thing and he said it was likely. This is sort of a test and they wont break any records but I think with word of mouth such as this it might grow to something. Definitely the most GA and SA books Ive seen in one room. I for one did not see any modern books at all.

 

Wish I had known you were coming. I would have said hello.

 

I was the big guy in the dragon Tshirt walking aimlessly about.

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Shootydog

Shootydog

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I was wearing my red Marvel 1975 convention shirt

 

We should meet up next year.

 

You coming down here for WWTx next month?

 

Had planned on it but decided not to make the trip to WWT this year.

 

Unfortunately I'm not into GA or SA books but the pulps are amazing. I will definitely show up to OF next year. I was turned on to the show by my LCS. He sent me an email and told me about it. This is the first year they have opened it to the general public.

 

I was sorely tempted to stay and bid on the Batman posters. Any idea what they went for?

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The Troll King

The Troll King

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I was wearing my red Marvel 1975 convention shirt

 

We should meet up next year.

 

You coming down here for WWTx next month?

 

Had planned on it but decided not to make the trip to WWT this year.

 

Unfortunately I'm not into GA or SA books but the pulps are amazing. I will definitely show up to OF next year. I was turned on to the show by my LCS. He sent me an email and told me about it. This is the first year they have opened it to the general public.

 

I was sorely tempted to stay and bid on the Batman posters. Any idea what they went for?

 

The batcave one went for $65 and the black and white one didn't sell at $50.

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Larryw7

Larryw7

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Wow, all of that movie memorabilia is fantastic. This looks like my kind of show. I don't think there's anything like this in the Philly area.

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Shootydog

Shootydog

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I must say I also felt very welcome but at the same time very overwhelmed at the amount of comic knowledge in that room. I will definitely make this show next year. No reason not to since its just 10 minutes from my house and the entry fee was $5. A fine way to spend a saturday afternoon.

 

 

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