Each day of this past weekend was split between the Baltimore Book Festival and Baltimore Comic-Con, and while that first event felt forward-thinking, the second was all about the past. Not only did I wander a dealers room in which I recognized every comic published or piece of original art created before 1980 or so, I also managed to catch up with seven people I’d worked beside during my time as a professional in the field.

And some I hadn’t seen in more than thirty years!

My nostalgia ride began with artist Ramona Fradon, whose work I’d loved as a child on titles such as Metamorpho and Aquaman.

Here we are posing with a copy of House of Mystery #273 opened to a story of mine which she drew in 1979! Not only was it a thrill to work with one of my idols, I couldn’t and still can’t imagine any artist more perfectly suited for that particular story. (more…)

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?

I’m celebrating Jim Starlin’s birthday by dipping into my collection of comic-book convention sketches and posting yet another drawing done back when I was an annoying teenager (as opposed to an annoying adult). This one was done in the early ’70s, probably 1971.

The sketch is of Jim’s fanzine superhero, Doctor Weird, Master of the Macabre, who appeared in Star Studded Comics starting in the mid-’60s.

At the time, Jim was just starting to make the move from fanzines to working in comics professionally, while I was still a fan only. Six years later, in 1977, by then a comics professional myself, I had the misfortune of taking over as the writer on Captain Marvel following Jim’s acclaimed run … which meant that I had to open a lot of hate mail!

Happy birthday, Jim!