Tom Fagan’s 1972 New York Comic Art Convention report

Posted by: Scott    Tags:  , , ,     Posted date:  November 13, 2008  |  5 Comments


As I wrote in my remembrance of Tom Fagan, who passed away last month, he often mentioned me in his con reports back in the day. I just came across one such report in a copy of the 1972 fanzine Ragnarok, published by my friends Mark Collins and David Simons. (Note the spiffy Marie Severin cover.)

RagnarokCoverMarieSeverin

The issue included (along with an extensive Marie Severin interview, the reason for the cover) Tom’s write-up of that year’s New York Comic Art Convention, organized by the legendary dealer and con-runner, Phil Seuling.

It was the first one of those cons for which I got a hotel room (along with Mark and David) rather than being a daytripper, and it seems as if, based on Tom’s report, that I took full advantage of my presence there, and acted like a wild man, for he mentioned my doings multiple times, at one point dubbing me “irrepressible.”

I present the four pages which contained Tom’s report below.

What I found most interesting about this article was that there was one incident I’ve completely forgotten, which I copy out here typos and all:

If you were present at any of all 5 days of the Convention, you may have memories like these:

…

National Lampooner’s Michael O’Donahue and Shaun Kelly concluding their talk with, “What no bombs, no rocks, no…? …and Scott Edelman gleefully rising to the occasion, water pistol in hand while Al Shuster screams Don’t SAY that. The panel gets even by “letting him have it” with a pitcher of ice water. Scott crashes to the floor, wet, while the rest of the Ragnarok staff try to wring themselves out.

You’d think I’d remember being doused with ice water by two of the National Lampoon‘s most important writers, Michael O’Donahue (responsible for the controversial feature “The Vietnamese Baby Book”) and “Sean” (not “Shaun”) Kelly (who later became the founding editor of Heavy Metal), but sadly, that memory can no longer be accessed.

I hope that this is not a sign of things to come!

Here are all four pages of Tom’s con report:

TomFaganConReport1 TomFaganConReport2

TomFaganConReport3 TomFaganConReport4

And if anyone out there knows whatever happened to Mark Collins and David Simons, please let me know! I lost track of them decades ago.





5 Comments for Tom Fagan’s 1972 New York Comic Art Convention report


Robert Nason

Dear Scott,

I not only have that issue of Ragnarok, but I was at the 1972 convention as well. If memory serves, I was working on the staff in return for free admission and a free hotel room, to. My high school friend and fellow fan Eli Friedman got me the gig, and Eli wound up being one of the editors of Ragnarok # 3 with the hilarious cover by Barry Smith of Conan giving the reader the finger.

Perhaps you remember me — I had long hair, a quick tongue, and was very annoying. I attended a bunch of Phil Seuling’s conventions in the early to mid-seventies, as well as the Lunacons and Torcon II. Anyway, I certainly remember you!

    Scott

    I think we ALL had long hair, a quick tongue, and were very annoying back then! Is there an old timey photo of you online anywhere so I can see what you looked like those days?

Robert Nason

There’s a black-and-white photo of me flying a kite on the SUNY/Purchase campus around 1974 posted in the photos section of my Facebook page. I not only have the long hair but I’m attired in the ridiculous clothes of the period as well.

Incidentally, I had a longish letter in Paul Levitz’s ETCETERA # 2, under the somewhat pretentious name Robert A. Nason. In the letter I take issue with Tom Greenione’s article in the previous issue, in which he praised Kubert’s TARZAN and slammed Roy Thomas and Barry Smith’s CONAN, arguig that thel latter take “unnatural liberties with the comics medium.” I gave a full-throated defense of Thomas and Smith, prompting Tom to respond with a promise to address my points in full in an article in the next issue, which he indeed did. His article upbraided me on not uderstanding what comics are “supposed to be.” But he did manage to persuade me that I was underrating Kubert, though I still think the Thomas/Smith CONAN is a high spot in the history of comics.

By the way, I was at the 1972 EC Fan-Addicts Convention, and cherish my program book full of autographs and drawings by the EC gang. Marie Severin did a sketch of me and Wally Wood did an excellent drawing of himself. That was unquestionably one of the best conventions I ever attended. But I can’t find my button!

Robert Nason

I’m envious! (But I’m still hoping it will turn up in some box up in my attic.)