I’ve only worn a costume at a science-fiction or comic-book convention once. (Unless you count that time a friend of mine and I absconded with another friend’s Mister Miracle costume and wandered Madison Square Garden in the early morning until we were stopped by the police … but that’s a story for another day.)

The year was 1975. (At least I think it was 1975. But maybe you can help me out with that.) There was a panel at Phil Seuling’s July 4th weekend New York Comic Con on comics as art or how comics can get better, and the panelists were (if I’m remembering correctly) Jim Starlin, Howard Chaykin, maybe Al Milgrom, and … I forget who else.

When the audience filed in for the panel, I was standing on a chair near the back of the room looking as you see me in the photo below taken by Bruce Mittelman. That’s a double-handed broadsword hanging under my right arm, and a bunny in my hands that I occasionally impaled on the end of it. My make-up? Done by none other than (boy, I sure hope I’m not misremembering this) Jim Starlin.

After their initial statements and a little bit of discussion, once the panel was opened for questions, a stooge stood up and asked, “What about the Silver Surfer?,” whining and pleading for the hero to get his own comic. At that point, my job was to step down from the chair, grab the plant by the collar, and pull him kicking and screaming from the room. After which the discussion was supposed to continue on its lofty plane.

And that bit of theater was, as far as I can remember, the only time I ever wore a costume at a convention.

And now … here’s how you can help me.

Anyone out there have a copy of the program for the 1975 Seuling Con so I can see who was actually on that panel, as opposed to who I merely remember as having been on that panel? (It’s not part of the program book itself, which I still have, so it must have been printed on a separate flier.)

Who knows? I might even discover that this all took place at a Creation con instead!

Anyone?