In my ongoing efforts to make old friends feel even older, I’m wishing Gerry Conway a happy 57th birthday by posting an image he helped bring into being 38 years ago, when we were both a heck of a lot younger.

The year: 1971. I was 16, while Gerry was a seemingly ancient and much older 19.

The place: The basement of the Times Square branch of Nathan’s.

The event: A standalone dealer’s room without any convention programming surrounding it, dubbed Nathan’s Con, and organized by Phil Seuling. It was a precursor to the Second Sundays Phil set up each month so we’d have a place to spend our money between his annual July 4th cons. (more…)

Yesterday was the 56th birthday of Gerry Conway, the writer who killed and then brought back Peter Parker’s girlfriend Gwen Stacy in the pages of Amazing Spider-Man—which makes this the right time to share another hidden bit of comics history.

When Gwen Stacy returned in the final panel of the May 1975 issue of Amazing Spider-Man, this is what readers saw in the published issue.

But what those who weren’t lucky enough to be working in the Marvel Bullpen at the time never saw was the alternate version originally handed in by artist Ross Andru. (more…)