Scenes from the Life of an Amatuer Comic Book Collector (16)--Easter in Allentown

Allentown, Pa., is famous as a place people need to get away from. In both the movie and Broadway stage version of 42nd Street, Peggy Sawyer hails from this hamlet. When she tells Julian Marsh "Show business isn't for me, I'm going back to Allentown," he erupts "I'm giving you the chance to star in the biggest show Broadway has seen in 20 years and you tell me Allentown???" Rose in Bye Bye Birdie and both Frankie and Johnny in Terrence McNally's play Frankie and Johnny in the Clare de Lune are also escapees.

So where else did I spend last Saturday but in said burg? My friend Diane was visiting her mother for Easter weekend and I was visiting my folks in Consohocken near Philly. Conveniently, the Merchants Square Mall was hosting the Great Allentown Comic Con that day. I drove the hour to visit, met Diane and her mom at the mall, shopped for comics, then we had lunch at the IHOP--I had the strawberry pancakes with scrambled eggs, hash browns, and sausages--and we had the guided tour of Allentown. Highlights include the diner where President Obama had lunch last December and they saved the remains of his food for weeks, and the building where they hid the Liberty Bell during the Revolutionary War figuring no one would look in this hick burg. But I kid because I love, as Krusty the Clown says.

The comic con was actually a comic show with about 15 dealers selling their wares and maybe about 100 attendees, five of whom were in costume. Why do they always come as stormtroopers from Star Wars? There is always one table where they sell for half-price and I find it right away, spending over $70. I did find another table where they had really good stuff from the early to late 1960s with no covers and pretty beat up for only $1 a book, so I bought seven of those including two Mystery in Spaces with Adam Strange stories I have in the DC Showcase Adam Strange collection, but two absolutely beautiful sci-fi back-up stories with fantastic art by Murphy Anderson--The Answer Man of Space and The Trojan Whale of Space.

Here are the comics I bought:
Action 349 (coverless), 389
Adventure 385
The Atom 25
Captain America 102
DC Showcase 41 (Tommy Tomorrow of the Planeteers)
Detective Comics 301, 360, 443
The Flash 161
House of Mystery 163
Jimmy Olsen 79, 80, 106, 127, 130
Journey into Mystery (with Thor) 119
Lois Lane 27 (coverless)
Metal Men 37
Mystery in Space 73, 76 (both coverless)
Strange Adventures 122, 140
Superboy 132, 156 (giant)
Superman coverless giant spotlighting Lex Luthor with first seven pages missing, 230
Superman Family 165
Thor 133, 137
World's Finest 148, 181, 203 (last two coverless)