Robot Man Posted July 24, 2018 Author Share Posted July 24, 2018 Is John Wooley the one who did all of those cool comic auctions? I loved those. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BakerFanOne Posted July 24, 2018 Share Posted July 24, 2018 40 minutes ago, Robot Man said: Is John Wooley the one who did all of those cool comic auctions? I loved those. I believe that was Charles Woolley. Those were some cool auctions! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cat-Man_America Posted July 24, 2018 Share Posted July 24, 2018 (edited) 46 minutes ago, Robot Man said: Is John Wooley the one who did all of those cool comic auctions? I loved those. I think you may be mixing up John Wooley and attorney Eric Groves. Before I got into doing SF art auctions in the 80's I recall Eric had been an impromptu comic auctioneer at many the regional 70's comic shows. John Woolley went into the Navy in the 70's. After leaving the service in the late 70's John turned to reporting, cult horror movie reviewing and writing pulp fiction ...40's style detective thrillers... somewhat in the vein of Joe Lansdale (Joe's an internationally successful Fiction writer with lots of film creds). Both Eric and John have been involved in OAF activities to this day. Hope this helps! Edited July 24, 2018 by Cat-Man_America . telerites 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cat-Man_America Posted July 24, 2018 Share Posted July 24, 2018 1 minute ago, BakerFanOne said: I believe that was Charles Woolley. Those were some cool auctions! Was Charles Woolley a regional auctioneer? If he auctioned in the mid-west I may have attended a few of his auctions in the 70's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
N e r V Posted July 24, 2018 Share Posted July 24, 2018 (edited) John Wooley: http://www.okmag.com/2014/09/24/nostalgia-for-yourself/ If you read the piece I think the last couple of paragraphs fit a few certain posters here with their comments... Edited July 24, 2018 by N e r V Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hippiecop Posted July 24, 2018 Share Posted July 24, 2018 Thanks to you for the link- that was a very enjoyable article ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
comicjack Posted July 24, 2018 Share Posted July 24, 2018 Great read Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fett Posted July 24, 2018 Share Posted July 24, 2018 5 hours ago, N e r V said: Got to post a photo at least for historical purposes... OKLAHOMA ALLIANCE OF FANS FOUNDERS (FROM LEFT) JOHN WOOLEY, DAVID SMITH AND BART BUSH. PHOTO COURTESY JOHN WOOLEY. Bart looks like a puppy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cat-Man_America Posted July 25, 2018 Share Posted July 25, 2018 (edited) 3 hours ago, fett said: Bart looks like a puppy. He still looks like a puppy, just one who had a case of mange along the way... Edited July 25, 2018 by Cat-Man_America . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cat-Man_America Posted July 25, 2018 Share Posted July 25, 2018 David Smith circa 2011... John Wooley circa 2015... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robot Man Posted July 25, 2018 Author Share Posted July 25, 2018 On 7/24/2018 at 10:30 AM, N e r V said: Got to post a photo at least for historical purposes... OKLAHOMA ALLIANCE OF FANS FOUNDERS (FROM LEFT) JOHN WOOLEY, DAVID SMITH AND BART BUSH. PHOTO COURTESY JOHN WOOLEY. Is that a young Ritchie Evans on the far right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Superman2006 Posted July 25, 2018 Share Posted July 25, 2018 On 7/24/2018 at 10:58 AM, Cat-Man_America said: Yep, that was intentional. The Oklahoma Alliance of Fans was founded in 1967. I joined while attending my first convention, HoustonCon in 1969, recruited by Robert A. Brown and Bart Bush. Robert was a school teacher in Okla. City. Bart was our OAFzine editor who hailed from Muskogee (my best recollection). I served as President of the club from mid-1970 to '71 while in college. My home town at the time was Chickasha, Okla., about 50 miles SW of OKC. The OAFs monthly fanzine was initially produced via mimeograph, art produced by carbon copies. Yeah, those were different times, being a comic fan in those days was very oaf-ish. Multi-Con was part of a tri-city alliance to co-promote regional conventions sponsored by fan groups from Houston, Dallas and Okla. City. The first two conventions were in Dallas '68 (D-Con) and Houston '69 (HoustonCon). The third was Multi-Con '70. After that the alliance broke down as all three clubs wanted to maximize the increased interest in fan conventions by sponsoring their own annual summer shows. Multi-Con couldn't maintain that schedule because of the limited volunteer base required to produce major annual shows without burn-out, but for awhile we produced conventions every other year, most notably Multi-Con '70 and Multi-Con '72 along with smaller Springcons and Wintercons. D-Con was originally used as a springboard for a World Con '72 bid (World Science Fiction Con) which is a competition between cities not limited to the U.S., similar to sporting events like the Olympics. Dallas ended up losing that bid, but produced some well attended shows that fueled other conventions in Dallas called D-Con, Dallas Fantasy Faire and the American Nostalgia Convention. HoustonCon expanded every year after 1970 by taking advantage of the huge interest in Star Trek in those years. HoustonCon/StarTrekcon grew into a five day convention with five tracks of film programming, panels, artshows, auctions, etc., that held up well into the mid-70's. Okay, that was probably TMI, but what would you expect from an OAF! I wouldn't have guessed that you were in college before I was born. Looking good for your age - must be all that beer you consume! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cat-Man_America Posted July 25, 2018 Share Posted July 25, 2018 8 minutes ago, Superman2006 said: I wouldn't have guessed that you were in college before I was born. Looking good for your age - must be all that beer you consume! Among my jack-of-all-trades talents is that of an artist. Rumor has it that in Casa del Gato, hanging in a dark closet, is a self-portrait that bears witness to my accumulated debauchery. I would not contest this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimjum12 Posted July 26, 2018 Share Posted July 26, 2018 6 hours ago, Cat-Man_America said: Among my jack-of-all-trades talents is that of an artist. Rumor has it that in Casa del Gato, hanging in a dark closet, is a self-portrait that bears witness to my accumulated debauchery. I would not contest this. Is that the one they based the Dorian Gray story on ? GOD BLESS.... -jimbo(a friend of jesus) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cat-Man_America Posted July 26, 2018 Share Posted July 26, 2018 (edited) 1 hour ago, jimjum12 said: Is that the one they based the Dorian Gray story on ? GOD BLESS.... -jimbo(a friend of jesus) Your research is commendable. Edited July 26, 2018 by Cat-Man_America . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cat-Man_America Posted July 27, 2018 Share Posted July 27, 2018 (edited) As all stories must end, this is my final daft ...or rather draught... from San Diego 2018. Taken Tuesday by my celebrated spousal unit, this is the perfect parting shot... Edited July 27, 2018 by Cat-Man_America . Ken Aldred 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
batman_fan Posted July 27, 2018 Share Posted July 27, 2018 35 minutes ago, Cat-Man_America said: As all stories must end, this is my final daft ...or rather draught... from San Diego 2018. Taken Tuesday by my celebrated spousal unit, this is the perfect parting shot... How hard was it to get your head under those taps? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cat-Man_America Posted July 28, 2018 Share Posted July 28, 2018 6 hours ago, batman_fan said: How hard was it to get your head under those taps? No harder than an anteater getting to a colony of ants. walclark 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post blazingbob Posted July 28, 2018 Popular Post Share Posted July 28, 2018 (edited) On 7/23/2018 at 2:04 PM, Robot Man said: Well, SDCC 2018 is in the books. Again, I didn't attend. I'd be lying if I said I didn't miss it a little. But every year I miss it gets less and less. This year seemed to be a bit of a turning point from a vintage comic book experience. Torpedo show the week before was well attended by dealers and eager buyers that have given up SDCC as a place to buy vintage funny books. Several key and oldtime dealers were gone from SDCC this year. Mile High, Bud Plant and even Terry Stroud wasn't there I was told. Does it matter? Probably not to most but it is what they represent to this con is what is important. Bud and Terry have set up at EVERY one of them. Hell of a run! There were probably others missing I suspect. I know Joe V and Motor City gave it up a while ago. Who else wasn't there? I have seen the comic book related videos and wall shots. Lots of the usual books. Muliple copies of all the Marvel Keys, Batman 1 and most other big "pretty" books that we have all seen a million times. Other than "civilians" and the news media are we all still impressed with these? Not me, I didn't see a Suspense #3, Dynamic #8, Punch #12. Groups of Speed, Catman, Super Mystery, Four Favorites, MLJs, Centaurs, odd ball WWII bondage and war covers ect. didn't seem to be there. Not saying, there were none, I don't know, I wasn't there but I suspect these were in VERY short supply. All the big, pretty keys are supposed to attract the "whales" as Mitch so elequently puts it. Did the "whales" swim in and scoop up all these beauties? I'm sure some sold but I suspect, most of them went home with their owners. If you want an AF #15 it's a buyer's market. And I think that pool has shrunk substantially. Some one with deep pockets who wants one scanned the room, made a big purchase and went home. Can't be a whole lot of those people there. My question is for the dealers. If you want to tell us. How did you do? Sell any "big pretties"? How were your sales on lessor stuff? Were people in a buying mood? Would love to know the current state of the SDCC market. Are big cons dying? Anybody want to spill the beans? Mr. Bedrock? Bob Storms? G.A.Tor? Dale? Terry? I know you are all board members, were there and brought your best stuff how did it go for you? SDCC isn't dying, nor does anyone want it to. For a pop culture experience, it's hard to beat. If you have never gone, it is a bucket list experience. Just an assult to your senses at every turn. If you have the money, stamina, patience and luck to get in it is impossible to beat. But, if you are going for vintage comic books, box diving and spending lots of small money, I feel that ship has sailed. Prove me wrong. Of the three oldtime dealers that were gone from SDCC the only one of the 3 I missed was Bud Plant who still has an idea on how to sell books retail. Terry Stroud was not at San Diego because Terry seems to have an issue with showing up on time and responding to Freeman emails/charges. He waits until the last minute and the promoters finally had enough and sold his booth. Now there were a few guys who gave me the "Ahhh the poor Terry story" but business is business. If you want to show up on preview night or Thursday and expect to waltz in for free maybe its time to look at only yourself to blame for why you aren't at the show. As far as Chuck goes and having experienced the same thing since we also freight ship he finally had enough with the freight trucking load-in with San Diego and waiting for his pallets to be brought onto the floor. Again, having experienced this for a few years with freight load-in's myself we made some adjustments around the load-in issue. Chuck decided it wasn't worth his time/cost/effort and said goodbye. I know San Diego is marketed as the best show but do sellers have to save any of the books you list - I didn't see a Suspense #3, Dynamic #8, Punch #12. Groups of Speed, Catman, Super Mystery, Four Favorites, MLJs, Centaurs, odd ball WWII bondage and war covers ect. didn't seem to be there. Not saying, there were none, I don't know, I wasn't there but I suspect these were in VERY short supply. Why do I need San Diego to sell any of those? And why would I save them for a show when I could easily sell them on my website? Both of my shows were very strong, I sold a lot of big ticket "Pretties" as you call them. I also spent a lot of money at both shows. I'm sure there are a lot of dealers that were very happy with my purchases. There was a lot of business discussed in my booth these past 10 days. I sometimes wonder if buyers really know how hard it is to find quality books. The LA show for those who don't want to deal with the SDCC cost, crowds expenses etc was a Preview/Preview night for me. Nothing was held back on my end. Any buyer showing up at that show had first shot at what I brought. I had books walk up to my booth at the LA show, I bought a collection that was delivered to the show, I was relaxed at San Diego because the LA show give me some time to look at dealers books in a calm environment. From a seller perspective San Diego is exhausting. It is 6 straight days of hard work. I am on my feet 13 hours a day. I look at thousands of books all while competing with other guys doing the same. Those books you see on those dealers walls don't fall into their lap. They all work hard to get them. In addition you compete with the weekend warriors with no booth costs running around trying to buy the same material you are. As I've said before in previous "Death of conventions" if you are holding out for that "retail guy" who may buy your book when I'm standing there buying thousands of dollars of books good luck. Sales are not just made at a show, relationships are built and consummated after the show. I may sell a customer a $1K book but that $1K sale may translate into thousands across the calendar year. And while you think that the Whales swim in LOL I sold all of my FF #1's - 8.0, two 5.5's and a 4.5 over the course of 10 days. Not just at the show but while I was AT the show. I had one customer who came with his wife/2 kids to the show. He/they have never been to San Diego. They had a great time. My neighbor down the block bought 4 attendee badges for their daughter's 16th birthday. I bought my full dealer allotment of badges and attendee badges. If you as a dealer are not doing this you are contributing to the "We can't get in" problem that the promoters don't seem to care about. If everybody was helping customers who couldn't get in wouldn't this help alleviate some of the complaining? Bar stool/forum posting doesn't get things done. San Diego promoters aren't reading these threads going "Oh yeah, we are going to fix that". For some dealers conventions are just a way for them to put up their walls so that they can post their pictures for Instagram sales. Grow, change or die. It is ok to fawn for the old days but remember that businesses evolve. If San Diego goes the wayside I'm sure another promoter will capitalize on the opportunity. Edited July 29, 2018 by blazingbob originalisbest, jimjum12, shortboxed and 6 others 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimjum12 Posted July 28, 2018 Share Posted July 28, 2018 1 hour ago, blazingbob said: I sometimes wonder if buyers really know how hard it is to find quality books. Amen...…... GOD BLESS.... -jimbo(a friend of jesus) shortboxed and originalisbest 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
