Scenes from the Life of an Amateur Comic Book Collector (18)--A Pro at Two Cons

It's been too long since my last blog post. A lot has been happening--there was a major event I had to organize for work followed by one of my collegues taking a long vacation, then me getting a sinus infection, etc. But enough whining. There were two bright spots--Big Apple Con Oct. 2, followed by Comic Con on Oct. 9. Last year, these two cons threatened to be held on the same weekend this year, but Big Apple Con backed off on that game of chicken and was a week earlier. Holding it in the Penn Plaza made it seem small compared to last year's huge event at Chelsea Piers. There was the usual washed-up celebs selling their autographs and photos to make their Medicare payments--Lee Majors, Adam West, Burt Ward, all three of the Brady boys, one of the kids from Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, Richard Anderson, Majors' co-star from 6 Million Dollar Man, even Oscar nominee Mary McDonnell.

The comic book pickings were pretty lean, I hoped a lot of dealers were waiting for Comic Con the following week. There was one dealer from Virginia who has some good deals with lots of Silver Age books at about $4-$5. One guy had plenty of stuff for $1; it was all Bronze Age and I was able to fill out the Fantastic Four holes.

The following week I got to Comic Con at the Javitz Center and there had to be at least 20,000 people. There weren't as many people in costume or as many interesting panels as previous years. I did see some repeat costumed people, like the same Batgirl, Black Canary and Green Arrow as at last year's Big Apple Con.

My friend Diane was there and she turned out to be a MacGyver when her sandal broke and she fixed it with a paper clip. The only celeb we saw was Carroll Spinney who plays Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch on Sesame Street.

There were plenty of familiar superheroes including lots of Catwomen, Supermen, and Spidermen. There was one guy who had a giant inflatible TARDIS from Doctor Who on his head. But the coolest outfits had to belong to two fellows we encountered once we left the con and started to head to Ninth Ave. in search of a restaurant. They were Unemployed Man and the Master of Degrees, promoting their own graphic novel (pictured above). I asked if the guy in the college grad gown if he was supposed to be Mastermind, a villain from Justice League of America # 28 The Case of the Forbidden Superpowers, who dressed in a college cap and gown to denote his superior brain.

There were lots of great buys at Comic Con and I didn't spend any more than $3 on a book. I did buy Action #368 without realizing I already had it and that the copy was damaged with a rip through all the pages. On top of that I thought I was going to pay $1 for it, but the dealer said "That's a $2 book, it wound up in the $1 box." I should have said, "But it's in the $1 box, so I should have it for a buck." Too late now. The highlights were finding lots of Jack Kirby Capt. Americas, and some good Jimmy Olsens and Lois Lanes.

Scenes from an Amateur Comic Book Collector's Life (6)--Big Apple Comic Con

I am one sick ticket. I spent Saturday at the Big Apple Comic Con which has recently been bought by Wizard Entertainment and moved from the Pennyslvania Hotel (or whatever it's called now) on 34 th Street all the way down to the ass-end of the West Side on Pier 94 at 12th Avenue. I had a lot of fun. Previously the Big Apple cons were crowded into this one floor at the hotel with dealers and a few second-tier celebs selling their autographs (Bill Daly, Larry Storch, Mason Reese, etc.) Now the event has exploded with panels, talks, video game demonstrations, and literally dozens of celebs. It still doesn't approach the big Comic Con at the Javits Center or the Star Trek conventions I used to go to all the time, but it's a definite step up. (the pix are of two convetion-goers--the Golden Age Green Lantern I've seen before at Comic-Con. The blue alien is from a Star trek Episode. I said to her as she was eating, "Are you a Tellerite?" "No, an Andorian" Both species were on the episode Tower of Babel. Side note: my friend Lydia gave me some Star Trek episodes she got a garage sale. This episode was not on them, but it did have Court-Martial, one of the best ones. Thanks Lydia. Lots of other costumed conventioneers, but not as many as one would see at comic-con)

The day started with two Q&A sessions with Star Trek people: Kate Mulgrew and Brent Spiner. Both were funny and glad to meet their fans. I told Spiner I thought he was fantastic as John Adams in 1776 at the Roundabout a few seasons back.

Then I hit the comic dealers and went bat-shit crazy, buying 41 old comics. Actually that's not so bad. I didn't spend more than $5 for any one book and some I got for as low as $1.

Here's the haul: 2001: A Space Odyssey #7 (Jack Kirby art)

Action #380 (Superman and a really good Legion of Super-Heroes feature)

Adventure #392 (Supergirl)

Atom #9

Blackhawk #237

Capt. Johner and the Aliens No. 1 (formerly a second feature with Magnus Robot Fighter)

Detective #292 (coverless)

House of Mystery #160

Jimmy Olsen #48, 51, 73, 96, 101, 117

Journey Into Mystery #116 (Kirby)--with the Mighty Thor before he became the mag's title character

Legion of Superheroes 273

Lois Lane #25, 35, 46, 62, 80. (#62 looks like a real winner with Lois and Superman running against each other for senator, just like that time Greg and Marcia ran against each other for student body president.)

Magnus Robot Fighter 6 (the earliest one I've ever found)

Metal Men, 17, 25, 27

Strange Adventures 131, 151, 152, 231 (the last is a 64-page giant. I wasn't sure if I had it, but I didn't)

Superboy 121

Superman 171, 177 plus Superman Annual 4

Superman Family 176

Thor 138, 140, 153, 171 (all by Kirby)

World's Finest 163, 185

In between buying binges, I visited the autograph area were celebs were selling their autographs and photos. I didn't buy any (at $20 a throw), but it was fun to see Mickey Dolenz (my sister's favorite Monkee), Nichelle Nichols, David Hedison (Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, the handsomest man on TV in the 60s, now totally white-haired and still handsome), Bruce Weitz (Hill Street Blues, who I once interviewed for Theater Week magazine), Carol Cleveland of Monty Python, and of course Julie Newmar, the original Catwoman. I was standing by her booth and said hello. I said "You know I was looking at Youtube and you can find the What's My Line episode where you were the Mystery Guest. That was when you were in The Marriage Go Round on Broadway." She smiled and said "Thank you." Another surprise--Pete Rose was selling his signature too, but for a lot for than Julie Newmar or Todd Bridges.

The whole day was like going into a tunnel and escaping reality, emerging in this alternate universe were the DC and Marvel worlds, Star Trek and Star Wars were all real. Well, back to reality--or reality TV anyway. In future blogs, I'll deconstruct the comics I bought.

Riding the Subway with Mr. Sulu

Friday morning I was riding the subway to work and George Takei, Mr. Sulu from the original Star Trek series got on at 42nd Street. I wasn't sure if it was him since he was wearing dark glasses, but as soon as he started talking to the man with him--I assume it was his partner whom he married in California before the hateful Prop. 8 was passed--I recognized his voice.

"We need to get off at 8th Street--NYU," he said. That was my stop. I figured I would say something to him when we all left the train so he wouldn't have to deal with all the people in the car who would recognize him.

I had a perfect reason to say hello other than just "I'm a big dorky Trekkie fan." About 23 years ago I was a volunteer guest escort--no, not that kind--at a sci-fi convention where Takei was a guest speaker. At the time I was a member of UNYT—The New York-based Doctor Who fan club. Yes, I admit it, God help me. I forget what the initials stood for, but it was a variation on UNIT, the United Nations Intelligence Taskforce that dealt with extraterrestrial stuff in the Doctor Who series. Anyway, the group was involved with organizing this event which took place at the Ethical Cultural Society on the Upper West Side. Also in attendance were the second Doctor Who (Patrick Troughton) and the fifth Doctor Who (Peter Davison) and some British horror movie queen named Caroline Munro.

I wound up serving as George’s guest escort when a friend of mine who was coordinating speaker relations grabbed me at the convention—it was called Infinicon—and told me Sulu’s original guest escort failed to pick him up at the hotel. It turned out the guy overslept. What would I have to do?, I asked. Here’s his schedule, she said, all you have to do is take him from event to event. First he gives his talk and question and answer session, then he signs autographs for an hour, then take him to lunch, there’s a talent show tonight, then tomorrow a special luncheon for people who have paid extra. So I said okay. He was a lot of fun and it was great to be with him as people on the street recognized him.

I haven’t been to one of these things in a long time. Comic Con and the other comic-book conventions I’ve been to aren’t really the same thing; they are too big or they don’t concentrate on intimate interaction between stars of old sci-fi shows and the fans. I used to go all the time. During the course of my convention-going, I met or saw most of the crew of the original Enterprise, most of the Doctor Whos, several of his companions, Jonathan Harris (Dr. Smith from Lost in Space) and Judy from the same show, Joyce Randolph from the Honeymooners, Dawn Wells from Gilligan’s Island, some cast members from V and Blake’s Seven, Adam West (the original Batman from the 1960s series which was my favorite TV show), and Chewbacca from Star Wars.

It would be fun now to go to one, but these days the cons are either enormous media whore shows like Comic Con with little interaction or they are rinky-dink things with D-List people like wrestling stars or Mason Reese (the former commercial child star who looked like a tiny old man) or Larry Storch or Bill Daly from I Dream of Jeannie, The Bob Newhart Show, and Match Game sitting at tables and selling their autographs from $10.

When the train got to 8th Street, Takei and his partner were not making to get up. But I had to in order to make it to work. Should I tell him “I was listening in and heard you say you should get off at this stop”? Instead I just shook his hand and said “George, I just wanted to say hi. Twenty years ago, I was your guest escort at a convention.” He smiled and said “Is that right?” The doors were opening and I said “It’s nice to see you” and left. He was still on the train. There’s wasn’t time for me to say “I thought you wanted to get off here.” So I am guilty of making George Takei miss his stop, I guess he wasn’t a very good helmsman. Get it?