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Started by Cat-Man_America,

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Cat-Man_America

Cat-Man_America

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I may have told this story before in an abbreviated form, but it bears repeating.

 

Back in '74 my buddy Bob Wayne (former publisher of the fanzine Tales from Texas) & I threw the wildest legal party ...by comic fan standards... then seen at a HoustonCon. The party was planned for a suite loaned to us by a fellow fan who'd promised to provide us with his room key, after which he disappeared into one of the con's many film rooms and promptly forgot about it.

 

HoustonCon/StarTrekCon was held downtown, at the Sheraton-Lincoln Hotel. During the early evening hours Bob and I dodged hookers, suspicious police officers and various Houston street denizens while trying to procure refreshments for the party. Bob was in full hippy mode; I'd recently cut my hair (to my regret given how gawd-awful geeky I looked back then), which made me the perfect front man for dealing with establishment types. Note: There's a shot of me (in a suit!) with Al Williamson from the same convention somewhere in this thread that bears this out. :blush:

 

As party time drew near desperation set-in when we couldn't locate the guy who'd offered us his room. Finally, I went to the front desk & pretended that I'd locked my key & wallet in the room. Fortunately, I was convincing enough that the desk clerk bought my story, handing me a spare. As soon as I unlocked the door guests started arriving; I acted as host and Bob served drinks. In addition to fans, we'd invited the featured guests of the convention, and to our surprise most of 'em showed up.

 

Eventually, the guy who'd promised us the room walked by with key in hand looking for his room. He stood at the open door a minute later slack-jawed. The only words he could utter were "You really did it!" I proceeded to introduce him to Walter Koenig, Al Williamson and about thirty other fans & celebrated guests who'd crammed into his room.

 

Here's Bob, retiring SVP of sales at DC Comics, with his ex-wife from that summer...

 

f5571add-5367-45a2-9360-fd1fd4c0944b_zps8350e00d.jpg

 

...along with the Bleeding Cool bio of his time with DC...

http://www.bleedingcool.com/2014/05/22/bob-wayne-senior-vp-dc-comics-to-leave-after-twenty-eight-years-at-the-company/

 

In July '74, I was invited down from Oklahoma and stay awhile with Bob & his wife in the Metroplex. If memory serves, we attended the Dallas Con and about a week later were joined by Lew Shiner and Ray Files (I think) to catch CSN&Y backed by the Beach Boys & Jesse Collin Young at a huge outdoor show at Texas Stadium in Irving. I recall Neil Young playing a blistering version of Ohio in honor of Nixon having just resigned from Office.

 

Alas, the stadium has since been demolished, CSN&Y are longer of tooth and the Cowboys Stadium is now in Arlington, TX.

 

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50YrsCollctngCmcs

50YrsCollctngCmcs

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Here are a couple of more shots I took back in the old daze ('74)... (:

 

Gil Kane:

 

9568b818-6dc5-4825-b661-9f48514ccba3_zpsaa7e9d4f.jpg

 

 

If you have old con photos, don't be shy, ...dig 'em out! :headbang:

 

Man, I wish I had brought a camera with me to those shows in the seventies but I was much more interested in the comics than taking pictures.

 

Gil Kane must have been making the rounds back then because I remember at a show in the early seventies in New York when I was about twelve or thirteen he came up to me and said something like, "Do you know I'm a professional, my name is Gil Kane." I'm not making this up and I could not have been less interested. I'm sure I was thinking, "Why is this middle aged guy as old as my Dad bothering me; leave me alone!" Anyway, I ignored him until he went away and I went back to comic hunting!!

 

Ha! Ha! Those were the days; no mobs of fans standing in line for autographs. The pros seeking out recognition from the fans instead!!

 

 

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Cat-Man_America

Cat-Man_America

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Man, I wish I had brought a camera with me to those shows in the seventies but I was much more interested in the comics than taking pictures.

 

Gil Kane must have been making the rounds back then because I remember at a show in the early seventies in New York when I was about twelve or thirteen he came up to me and said something like, "Do you know I'm a professional, my name is Gil Kane." I'm not making this up and I could not have been less interested. I'm sure I was thinking, "Why is this middle aged guy as old as my Dad bothering me; leave me alone!" Anyway, I ignored him until he went away and I went back to comic hunting!!

 

Ha! Ha! Those were the days; no mobs of fans standing in line for autographs. The pros seeking out recognition from the fans instead!!

 

 

How true! Here's one I took of Duncan Renaldo (The Cisco Kid) at the same convention...

 

fe8d4df6-2d25-4dda-9e89-a624cf2a57f1_zpsd478822d.jpg

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Robot Man

Robot Man

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Great photos Cat! I wish I took more photos but I spent most of my time buying as many funny books as I could and partying. I do remember Kirby and Lee sitting by the pool at the El Cortez signing autographs, drawing schetches and playing to their adoring fans. Great guys and times. I remember Kirby usually had a big cigar.

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Cat-Man_America

Cat-Man_America

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Great photos Cat! I wish I took more photos but I spent most of my time buying as many funny books as I could and partying. I do remember Kirby and Lee sitting by the pool at the El Cortez signing autographs, drawing schetches and playing to their adoring fans. Great guys and times. I remember Kirby usually had a big cigar.

 

 

 

Back then I lived in Oklahoma and attended college on a budget which pretty much limited my con-going to three cities (OKC, Dallas & Houston).

 

My first con was HoustonCon '69. Here's a Houston area fanzine from Nov. '69...

 

img_ComicForum8_FC_123.jpg

 

 

Eddie Edding's cover art.

 

An early science fiction illustration of mine is in the zine's portfolio section. :blush:

Let's just stick with Eddie's cover. lol

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Cat-Man_America

Cat-Man_America

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In memory of Jerry Weist, who passed away back in January of 2011, the cover of Squa Tront #1...

 

img_SquaTront1_FC_121.jpg

[font:Times New Roman]Roger Hill cover[/font]

 

Jerry's fanzine, devoted to EC's writers & artists, is the best fan produced zine ever published.

It improved with every issue, expanding into an amazingly well designed pro-zine,

eventually licensing astonishing paintings from EC artists (Feldstein, Ingles, Davis, Kurtzman, et al).

 

As a fan produced labor of love, Squa Tront has never been surpassed (IMO).

 

If there's interest, I'll scan and post other covers of early issues from my collection.

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Sqeggs

Sqeggs

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In memory of Jerry Weist, who passed away back in January of 2011, the cover of Squa Tront #1...

 

img_SquaTront1_FC_121.jpg

[font:Times New Roman]Roger Hill cover[/font]

 

Jerry's fanzine, devoted to EC's writers & artists, is the best fan produced zine ever published.

It improved with every issue, expanding into an amazingly well designed pro-zine,

eventually licensing astonishing paintings from EC artists (Feldstein, Ingles, Davis, Kurtzman, et al).

 

As a fan produced labor of love, Squa Tront has never been surpassed (IMO).

 

If there's interest, I'll scan and post other covers of early issues from my collection.

 

There is from me. (thumbs u

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50YrsCollctngCmcs

50YrsCollctngCmcs

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Fanzines are always of interest to me Cat.

 

This arrived yesterday and I look forward to going through it in detail this weekend

 

fanzinepriceguide_zps3f997823.jpg

 

Hey, how did you get mail on MLK day? I got my e-mail notice that my copy was coming and was hoping it would arrive this weekend but no dice. Hopefully it is in the mail today.

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Cat-Man_America

Cat-Man_America

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Back cover of Squa Tront's first issue (1967)...

 

35e2a9a5-707a-4990-9352-afbc123b81d9_zps4ae64576.jpg

[font:Times New Roman]art attributed to Roger Hill[/font]

 

Early Squa Tront shipping envelope (rare; withdrawn because of postal restrictions on size of art).

Limited stock was sold as special offer to subscribers...

 

a4be742a-4159-422b-86ef-473ae195f961_zps6047bad7.jpg

[font:Times New Roman]art attributed to Roger Hill[/font]

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Cat-Man_America

Cat-Man_America

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Here's the front cover of issue #3 (talk about Squa Tront taking things up a notch!)...

 

c3e594fa-73d0-4e61-8e9b-e5fe79dc9eaa_zps5c20283e.jpg

[font:Times New Roman]art by Al Feldstein[/font]

 

Heavy pebbled paper stock better than most newsstand publications. This was in 1969. :o

Jerry was already demonstrating how EC art deserved a place in the fine art market.

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ciorac

ciorac

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Fanzines are always of interest to me Cat.

 

This arrived yesterday and I look forward to going through it in detail this weekend

 

fanzinepriceguide_zps3f997823.jpg

 

Hey, how did you get mail on MLK day? I got my e-mail notice that my copy was coming and was hoping it would arrive this weekend but no dice. Hopefully it is in the mail today.

 

It was on my desk at the office on Monday. So it either came Friday after I left or came Monday UPS

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Cat-Man_America

Cat-Man_America

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Fanzines are always of interest to me Cat.

 

This arrived yesterday and I look forward to going through it in detail this weekend

 

fanzinepriceguide_zps3f997823.jpg

 

Hey, how did you get mail on MLK day? I got my e-mail notice that my copy was coming and was hoping it would arrive this weekend but no dice. Hopefully it is in the mail today.

 

It was on my desk at the office on Monday. So it either came Friday after I left or came Monday UPS

 

I'll have to order one of those puppies. (thumbs u

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