Interview with Don Price of Son of Houston-Con: Part 1

When I saw there was going to be a Son of Houston-Con IV for 2019, I knew I'd be going. I thoroughly enjoyed the 2017 edition and wrote about it. Not only did I get a chance to chat with the organizer, Don Price, but I got to meet Roy Bonario. He was the owner of Roy's Memory Shop, a fixture in the Houston fan community for decades.

But I didn't really have a chance to capture my conversation with Mr. Price. I know we talked about the early days of the original Houstoncon and the fan community here in Houston, but I didn't write down anything. Historian though I am, I can't memorize everything.

Cut to 2019 and the news of the upcoming con. One of my SF book club members emailed me last week asking if I'd be up for attending Son of Houston-Con IV. I said I already was and I sent him the link to my 2017 review. I mentioned I was interested in interviewing Price. I had a list of questions. I shared the list with him, and he made some tasteful additions. Then, literally throwing the Hail Mary pass, I emailed Mr. Price asking if he'd be willing to conduct a written interview ahead of the convention.

Bingo! He said yes. But I didn't expect the treasure trove of knowledge I got in return. Seven pages worth of content.

So much wonderful content that I am breaking it down over three days, starting today. Tomorrow we discuss the Son of Houston-Con conventions he has put on (this is the fourth), the challenges involved and the 2019 guests. Friday is a special treat as Mr. Price writes about fandom in Houston over the past sixty years.

But we start today with Don Price's origin story, what it was like attending that first Houstoncon back in 1967, and the other thing that takes up his time. Hint: it isn't comics, but it's so much cooler!

Note: Son of Houston-Con IV (2019) will be held this Saturday and Sunday, 7-8 September, from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm at the Wyndham West located at 14703 Park Row. Tickets are only $5.00. Here is a Facebook link with more information.

My Motto is: “These ARE the good old days!

What is your personal origin story?

I am an Air Force brat. My dad was a B-17 combat pilot in World War II and he stayed in after the war as a career. By the time I came along—the last of four sons—he was flying the hydrogen bomb for Curtis LeMay’s Strategic Air Command. I got to crawl around “His” B-47 and sit in his pilot’s seat and see the safe where the launch codes were stored.

When did you get into comics? What attracted you to them? What were the titles that you grew up on? 

My brother, Mark, gave me a stack of comics when I was around 7 or 8. There were some I really liked: Amazing Spider-Man and Fantastic Four. Then I got shuffled off to Baytown during summers, where my grandmother lived. There was Will’s Pawn Shop with tremendous piles of comic books for half the cover price. I really started to fill in some gaps in the collection then. I also got my first electric guitar there, but that’s another story.

What was fandom in Houston like in the 1960s? 

I was introduced to the Houston Comic Collector’s Association by an elementary school friend. It was already established by the time I got there, but the early meetings were at a Methodist Church (which is still there) on Gessner at Memorial. Then they moved to the downtown YWCA and my mom drove me to a few meetings there. When I heard about conventions I was beside myself with excitement.

How did the original Houstoncon begin?

In 1965, the first meeting of the Houston Comic Collectors Association was held. With only word of mouth, a small but dedicated group of people showed up, including Larry McMurtry. Fandom in Houston was born.

The first official Houstoncon occurred in June 1967 at the Ramada Inn on I-45 and Allen Parkway. Like a justice league of comic enthusiasts, a group of store owners and collectors, including Roy Bonario, Mark Schooley, Jerry Poscovske, Early Blair, Jr., and Glenn Kessler, hosted the convention. Numerous collectors arrived, including some from Dallas, Oklahoma, and California. There was a screening room where western and science fiction movies were shown all night long. For only a dollar, 124 fans attended the first Houstoncon and fandom in Space City had a name.

Do you remember any of the movies? 

All of the movies shown were classics and you have to remember this was BEFORE videotape or any other kind of video on demand. So they ran movies like “Sherlock Holmes-The Hound of the Baskervilles” and serials. I remember “Mighty Joe Young,” the sequel to King Kong. The first time I saw “Island of Lost Souls” was at a Houstoncon.

There were usually two screening rooms and it was a toss-up to decide WHAT to go see. Usually they were different genres. One might be screening 40s and 50s cowboy movies and the other monster or Sci-Fi movies. And they would screen a cartoon or a Three Stooges short just to break things up. And the screening would continue until way past the dealer’s room(s) closed. The movies were shown with the projector clattering away in the back of the same room with just rows of folding chairs.

I remember getting out of a movie around midnight at Dunfey’s Royal Coach Inn (on 59 near Bellaire Blvd. Picture here.) and getting on my bicycle to ride home and heading the wrong way out Westpark. I had the books I had bought in some sort of shopping bag and when I realized I hit at end of Westpark at Fondren and had to turn around retrace my trek I just laughed.

How did someone go about getting an actual reel of film? Was it Channel 39 or something else?

There were dealers in old 16-mm films the same way there were comic book or record dealers. I remember seeing stacks of them at Roy’s Memory Shop.

Channel 39! One of the big three channels BEFORE there was more than just 2, 8, 11, and 13 would run great movies Saturday during the day and then again later Saturday night BEFORE the midnight sign-off. That was my introduction to Laurel and Hardy, the Marx Brothers, W.C. Fields and Basil Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes.

Did you have access to the 1940s-era serials of Superman, Captain Marvel, Captain America, etc.?

This is your BEST question yet! Another EVENT that a lot of early fans fondly recall was Earl Blair arranging to screen the entire Captain Marvel serial in one sitting at University of Houston’s Loft Theater in the E. Cullen Building. It went on until after midnight and it was amazing how many of us were there.

Do you remember some of the other properties involved? Star Trek had just finished its first year. Was there an immediate love Star Trek? 

Yes! But there was no video tape or cable or re-runs. So it was a treat when an episode could be shown at a convention. Harlan Ellison wrote one of the best episodes ever and he came to an early Houstoncon. Ellison, unfortunately, thought that Star Trek had butchered his story so he was not the most gracious guest. But I was too bashful to even approach him to discover how obtuse he was.

What process did people use to keep, store, and protect comics in 1967? Were the comics bagged at this time? 

Stacks of loose books in cardboard boxes was the order of the day. Comic books were not bagged at these early shows. It had not been invented yet. The great unwashed public would go fingering through piles of books with no more concern than you would with your grandmother’s stack of Readers Digests.

When you organized the first cons, was there a sense of a fan community or did you feel like you were putting something on for your friends and just hoped other would enjoy as well?

During the early years fans tended to gravitate around shops or book stores that sold back issues. Northside Book Emporium was sort of a full range bookstore, but it was too far away for me. The place to be was Roy’s Memory Shop when he opened up on Bissonnet. It was a triple threat because he sold comics, movie posters as well as 16mm prints, and rare records. On Saturdays they would screen movies in the backroom and it was a big deal when I was invited back to watch movies.

In the early Houstoncons and comic collecting, before the Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide was published, how did vendors and sellers go about determining what something was worth? 

Setting a price on comics was by gosh and by golly—what the market would pay and what the seller would let it go for. I remember paying WAY too much for a Fantastic Four #2 from a neighborhood kid BEFORE I knew about the HCCA. I paid $12 for it and it had tape on the spine. But not having access to fandom at that point, it seemed like the only way I would ever see it again. It turned out all right because I traded it for more a few years later, but who could know, at that point?

One of the legends was the night Ken Donnell paid Glenn Kessler $100 for a copy of Batman #1. We were all shocked that a comic book could cost $100 and thought that Ken must be mad!

In an email to me, you mentioned you fly a World War II trainer in Wings Over Houston (and other events). How did that come about?

My Dad was a B-17 pilot in World War II. I am writing a book about him because he had a really rough, and therefore interesting, time. He was on two of the most famous BAD raids to Schweinfurt, Germany, [on 14 October 1943] where the 8th Air Force lost 20 percent of its forces and the survivors were so shot up they had to slow down and rebuild the 8th Air Force. So I inherited my Mom’s eyes and didn’t go military. But I learned to fly locally and the next thing I knew I was a member of Lone Star Flight Museum.

Then I learned the Commemorative Air Force (CAF) had a B-17 project that was in trouble. Somehow I became the Wing Leader and we got it flying again, with the help of MANY great volunteers! That kept the plane in the Houston area, because it was in real danger of being “re-assigned” to any other unit that could get the job done.

Then I bought a 1944 Fairchild PT-26 military two-seat trainer. It was Royal Canadian Air Force, but the US Air Corps used them too. I proudly fly my plane in the “Trainer Parade” at Wings Over Houston every year I can keep it and myself flying.

Continue to Part 2.

Chuck E Con 2019: Bigger, Better, More Emotional

Like any good sequel, Chuck E Con 2019, a convention focused on Chuck E. Cheese, the pizza-loving mouse, and his pals was bigger, better, and more emotional.

In 2018, Matt Rivera, a longtime Chuck E. Cheese (CEC) fan since he was a boy, saw a gap in the CEC fandom. There hadn't been a convention since 2013. Seeking to fill that void, Rivera created Chuck E Con, an event where memorabilia could be on display, live shows performed in costume, and fans of the franchise could mingle, meet, and just talk all things CEC. My boy and I attended last year's convention, so when this year's gathering was announced, it was inked on our calendar for months.

If you read my review from the 2018 edition, you'll see how much everyone involved enjoyed the experience. But this year's con was much better. And it starts with the venue.

Old Town Keller and the Keller Roundhouse

I'm not sure how Matt and his friends decided to move across the Dallas/Ft. Worth metroplex to the suburb town of Keller, but it was a fantastic idea. Old Town Keller is an updated area running along the railroad tracks. Likely it was the original downtown of Keller itself, and, like many small towns, it had fallen on hard times. Now, as its website mentions, it has rejuvenated the small town feel and updated it to a pedestrian-friendly shopping area with small shops and wonderful restaurants. In the mix was the Keller Roundhouse, a rentable venue for any sort of activity.

The entire area was awesome! When we all arrived and found a place to park, there was zero need to drive anywhere else. Right outside the Roundhouse was an open-air seating area where folks who were attending the convention could sit and talk. Everyone seemed to walk to the various restaurants and have a meal or two. We had great BBQ in Roscoe's Smokehouse on Friday night and a good chicken sandwich at The Station Patio Icehouse right next door to the Roundhouse. Starbucks was a mere three-blocks away. Heck, there was even Empire Toys, a new and vintage toy store that actually sold original trading cards from the 1989 Batman movie. Yeah, I bought a pack. No, I didn't chew the gum.

All this is to say that Chuck E Con 2019 was made even better by its location.

The Convention Itself

The events of the convention lasted two days, Friday and Saturday. After a meet-up at a CEC location in White Settlement, Texas, the convention kicked off in the Roundhouse. The same group of friends ran the 2019 version, including Matt, Emily Sullivan, Brandon McMillan, and Jacob Goldberg, and they upped their game this year. The interior was laid out very nicely, with all the memorabilia along the two side walls with the stage up front. Rows of chairs lined the main area, enabling fans and parents to while away the time chatting when there wasn't a live show up front.

Being Recognized

Attending the second con was like old-home week. It was great seeing again the parents and kids whom my boy and I saw last year. And for my son, who served at a cameraman, recording all the events, being recognized was a thrill. Almost as soon as we came in the door, fellow fans came up to him and said hello. I got to say hi to the parents and other folks I recognized from last year. It was a warm and welcoming environment.

The Fraternity/Sorority of Parents

Speaking of the parents, it's a special parent willing to attend Chuck E Con with their kids. Some fans live in the Metroplex, but we drove up from Houston. That wasn't the farthest trek by far. A trio drove over from Birmingham, Alabama, while an entire family flew in from New York. I met a young man who flew from Florida and another from Georgia. Another family drove two days south from Colorado. Safe to say that fans of CEC came from everywhere, and there were still some my son knew who could not make it.

I got to meet and chat with a dad who was also fan. He and his family are from Colorado and he's actually purchased a complete vintage animatronic show that he plans to install in his basement. Speaking of the animatronics, I met a young man who enjoys buying old robots that do not work and restoring them. He brought one to the con to show. According to his mom, she thought it might have been a scam, but when the giant box arrived at their house, she knew it was real. It was this young man's birthday on Saturday, so he got feted by Chuck and his pals with the birthday song. Pretty darn special.

The Guests Were Amazing

Speaking of special, Matt secured some VIPs to the con this year. Matt Daniel works in CEC Entertainment. He focuses on the videos you see in the stores as well as some voice-over work. He arrived on Friday and sat for an interview session and meet-and-greet.

Saturday brought out the big names. Jeremy Blaido is the voice of Jasper T. Jowls, Chuck's canine pal. Jeremy caused a stir among the folks in the room when he arrived, but it was nothing like that of Duncan Brannan. You see Duncan was the long-time voice of Chuck E. himself. If you were a fan or went to the stores during the 1990s and into the 2000s, Duncan's voice was the one you heard. Heck, my boy does an imitation of him. When he arrived, it was fun to hear the ripple of recognition associated with "Duncan's here" filter around the room. His Q & A with Jeremy was the highlight of the entire con for me because every question I had as a casual CEC fan--mostly about the voice-over work in particular--they addressed. I nearly--and should have--walked up and got a picture with them. Missed opportunity.

Emotional Moments

There were a few emotional moments at the con I wasn't expecting. One of Duncan's answers revolved around favorite moments while being the voice of Chuck (and a certain purple dinosaur). He talked about visiting hospitals with sick kids as being one of the more humbling experiences he's done. If he and his work can bring joy to folks in their darkest of times, he said, then his work is well done. As a parent, just imagining my own kid sick and having someone like Duncan lighting up their day, well, it got to me.

But nothing like later on Saturday evening. During one song, the dedication went out to the members of the fandom who are no longer with us. There was a couple who showed up in the evening and even my boy didn't know who they were. Turns out they were the parents of a special fan who lost his battle to cancer. After the special song, each of the characters walked up to these parents and gave them a hug. It got to me, big time. I cannot imagine the loss of a child, but I hope they know that their son will live on in the CEC fandom for years to come.

A Wonderful Experience

I'm far from a die-hard CEC fan although I do pick up bits of detail along the way. I'm just a parent accompanying his kid, but I enjoyed the convention quite a bit. I loved seeing these fans and parents again. I enjoyed walking around Old Town Keller, just killing time between shows with my boy. I liked the familial vibe of the entire weekend.

Every property has its fandom. I'm a comic book, Star Wars, super-hero movie geek, so I certainly get the CEC fandom. I'm just so glad that the fandom, and especially Matt and the rest of the folks who run Chuck E Con are working so hard to create such a great convention.

Looking forward to 2020.

Son of Houston-con: An Old-School Comic Convention

It’s not everyday you get to meet a man who helped open your eyes to a larger world.

About a month or so ago, I was in my local Bedrock City Comics store to see if they had any of the old western pulp magazines featuring Texas Ranger Walt Slade as written by Bradford Scott. They did and I bought one. On the checkout counter was a flyer for something called “The Return of Son on Houston-con.”

Now, longtime comic readers will note the checkerboard along the top edge

reminiscent of DC Comics from the 1960s. That alone caught my attention and intrigued me. Other than Comicpalooza back in May, all the other comic conventions were cancelled or postponed this year, so I was more than happy to see what this con was about. And for $5 for two days? It was almost like theft.

The other thing that lodged in my brain was the venue. It was a hotel. The first conventions I attended here in Houston back in the late 70s and early 80s were in hotels. Nothing against the way cons have evolved over the decades—with the expansion of what’s on sale to the cosplaying—but there was something cool about a small con. As I walked into the hotel last Saturday, I held hope that the con would be a throwback to the cons of old.

And I was rewarded.

Son of Houston-con was entirely held in two, non-contiguous rooms. One room featured toys. I bypassed that room when I first got there because I want to see the comics. They were there, all in one not-too-large room. Bedrock was there and much to my happiness, owner Richard Evans brought all his pulps! Naturally, I snatched up the remaining Thrilling Western titles featuring the adventures of Walt Slade. (I discovered an interesting story, “The Sun Rises West,” and read it first; here is my take.) I also gravitated to the dollar boxes of another vendor. Slowly, I made my around the entire room, reveling in all the vintage material, including this, a program from Houstoncon ’71. What the cover doesn’t reveal is that Kirk Alyn, the first live-action Superman from the 1940s serials, was the featured guest.

After a walkaround of the toy room—which had an original Six Million Dollar Man 12-inch action figure and the Evel Knievel scramble van—I was just about to leave when a man asked if I had enjoyed myself. I said yes, very much. He wore a name tag so I started asking him questions about the folks who organized the event. Turned out the name on the tag was the same name on the original flyer: Don Price. Very graciously, he told me a bit about the history of the original Houston-con back in the day—he attended that 1971 show; turned out the program was his—and the comic book collecting community here in Houston.

And then he dropped the name Roy.

Immediately my mind reacted. “You don’t mean the guy who owned Roy’s comic shop on Bissonnet?” [Right near Murder by the Book for folks who know where that shop is located.] Price said yes and offered to introduce me to him.

Now, for the younger folks who read these posts, y’all know there is such a thing as a comic book store. Throw in digital and there’s a myriad of ways to get every comic you want. But back in the day (gosh I sound old) the only place to get comics were spinner racks at grocery stores, drug stores, and convenience stores like U-Totem, 7-Eleven, or Stop n Go. And if you missed an issue, especially one with a cliffhanger, well you simply missed an issue.*

My grandfather who lived near Roy’s Memory Shop (that was the official name) would always drive me around to the various convenience stores in his neck of the woods. One day, I saw a shop with spinner racks near the front window. Not only that, his painted sign featured the Human Torch. What must this store be?

I walked in and it was nirvana. This was a store whose sole purpose was to sell comics and memorabilia.

 For a kid who devoured comics, this was heaven. Every time I visited my grandfather—probably once a week—he would take me there. It was in Roy’s Memory Shop I learned what day comics were released and was able to ensure I didn’t miss an issue. Once I learned stores like Roy’s Memory Shop existed, I never had to worry about comics again. I found one in Austin when I was in school there, another in Dallas, and again back in Houston with Bedrock City and The Pop Culture Company.

All of that is background and prelude. Mr. Price introduced me to Roy Bonario last week. I am an adult now, but some of my childlike wonder at discovering his store returned when meeting the man himself. I was able to tell him how much his store meant for a young kid like me and thousands of other kids over the years. He began talking about past Houston-cons, the business of collecting, and how much fun he had in talking with fans over the years. It was quite a moment.

Have y’all ever had a chance to meet your “Roy” and tell them how much what they did meant to you? I’ve had one other moment like this. It was up in Denton, Texas, and I was attending The University of North Texas for grad school. It was an evening class in the history building and we were all hustling to get to our lectures. A man, older than me, was walking in the lobby and his face was instantly recognizable to me. It was George King, my 10th grade world history teacher. He was the one responsible for igniting the fire of history within me. I had the opportunity to remind him who I was (he said he recognized me), why I was there, and that he was the one who flipped on that history switch.


*World’s Finest Comics #246 was one of the comics I bought from a spinner rack at a Stop n Go near my grandfather’s house. The lead Batman/Superman story was a cliffhanger. I scoured all those convenience stores for #247 but never found it. Many years later, guess where I found #247?

You don’t really need me to answer that, do I?

RTX/SGC 2016 Convention in Austin

I’m used to comic book and SF conventions. The people who attend are, by and large, my people. I’m one of them. But an internet/gaming/YouTube convention? I’m more of a bystander, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t have a blast at the RTX/SGC convention in Austin over the weekend.

According to the website, “RTX is a three day gaming and internet culture event hosted by Rooster Teeth!” The con was held at the Austin Convention Center (ACC), one block north of Town Lake. I graduated from The University of Texas at Austin but I never had cause—or knew about—the ACC. Man, is it huge. And packed with a lot of people. The percentage of cosplayers was not as high as Comicpalooza in Houston, but they were still there. Most of the attendees were folks with ages ranging from teenagers to upper twenties. I saw a decent number of younger kids with parents in two and some folks more my age without a young chaperon, but, by and large, this seemed to be a young person’s con.

That being said, the first area you see right inside the main doors was the retro arcade games! Asteroids! Tron (very glitchy)! Donkey Kong! Pole Position II! Star Wars! <—this was the original Star Wars vector graphics game which I still know how to play and win. That made my day.

Two YouTubers were the big draw for me and my boy. Jirard the Completionist is a dude who, as his name implies, completes a game every week.

ProJared is another reviewer/game player who is highly thought of here at my house.

Both are funny guys. We attended both panels on Saturday. Now, what that means is that we sat in line at 1pm, attended the Completionist panel at 2pm, got back in line at 3pm, and then saw ProJared at 4pm. That may sound…interesting…but being in line at a con like this can actually be fun. You start up conversations with folks and share stories. The Completionist picked 8 audience members to come up and play a Super Smash Bros. tournament. ProJared’s experience doing stand-up comedy was on full display. Both panels were a lot of fun.

The weekend was not without its challenges. As soon as we got to Austin, the transmission in my dad’s van decided to stop working. Enter: tow truck. Enter: Toyota dealership. Enter: Enterprise Rent-a-Car. Enter: being 4 hours late to the start of the convention. Ugh! But…that delay enabled us to be at the exact right spot for us to meet the Completionist and ProJared just walking around the convention floor! So we got our photos without having to wait in any lines! So it all worked out.

Conventions. Love’em. Love the people and the vibes.

Oh, and I found myself on TV.

Comics Cavalcade

Over the weekend, I went to SpaceCity Con here in Houston. It’s something of a Memorial Day tradition. Typically, the convention is Comicpalooza but that’s been pushed back to Father’s Day weekend. And, yes, before you ask, I’m going there as well.

I’m to the point in my comic book collecting where I gravitate towards the dollar bins. At conventions like these, there were boxes and boxes of comics that are bagged, boarded, and sealed for all time. Those don’t hold my interest anymore. For me, comics are, as they always have been, to read. Because my interests are so varied, I like to sample a lot of different books, even ones that weren’t on my radar back in the day.

The best thing about dollar bins is that, for the most part, they are un-alphabetized, un-bagged, un-boarded, and just shoved in a box. As a result, you literally have to go through book by book looking at the titles, smelling the old paper, pulling out titles that might interest you, and then subdividing said large stack of books into something small and manageable. Now, I’ll leave it up to you whether this spread is manageable or not, but for me, it’ll get me through the first month of summer… or until Comicpalooza!

The Batman titles there on the left are good selection of mid-70s material. The writer for the flagship title is David V. Reed. I haven’t read the Detective books yet. Overall, I was very pleased that I was able to locate a good number of books from 1976 that celebrated the Bicentennial now 40 years gone. That particular title there of Action Comics, when that bad guy is his hitting Superman into 1776, I had seen that cover for a long time and was finally was able to locate it. The Superman title second from the bottom—and the Wonder Woman title—both both look different. They are Pizza Hut collectible editions from the mid-70s. They are reprints from the 50s—which is what I really thought they were—but still fun reading.

Column three has got two sets of titles. There is the Master of Kung Fu which I have heard lots of good things about. Evidently it began as a typical title to capture the early 70s kung fu craze but morphed into a sort of superspy storyline. Shang Chi, the master himself, is the son of Fu Manchu. Back in the 70s, Marvel had the rights to Fu Manchu and used them. Ever since, those rights have lapsed. Thus these titles rarely get reprinted. This particular run, issues 83 to 87, is a single storyline, late in the run, but I figured it would be good chance to read and see what it was like. The Star Hunter stuff was DC’s answer to Star Wars. I have a fondness for cheesy space opera. Back in the day, I bought the debut issue, but never read or located any more. I found these four issues and picked them up. They’re not in order so I will be looking for the others come Father’s Day.

The comics in column three are random. A couple of Bicentennial ones down there on the bottom, each numbered with a special black-and-white number in the upper right-hand corner. When I do peruse the dollar bins, I try to find books that are thicker to give me more content and, most importantly, complete stories. Thus three of those titles in column 4 are all giant size. Ironically, that World’s Finest issue that cost a dollar back in 1979 also cost me a dollar in 2016.

I was lucky to find some Shadow books. The one down there on the front I liked in particular because that was when Denny O’Neil (of Batman fame) took up the title when DC got the rights to write stories about the character. The artist was Frank Robbins who was never one of my favorites — he did the Invaders for Marvel comics and that was my first taste of how cover art and interior art could be different. The modern titles I had never read or never heard of. Ironically these are from 1987 when Denny O’Neil was the editor of the Batman titles. I don’t think he had anything to do with this run, but it is a complete four issue set. The one there on top is a Shadow annual.

The titles on the last column are even more random than the others. A couple of Jonah Hex issue, one Man Wolf (I’m not too familiar with this one, but the creature in question is transformed, I think, by a gemstone from the moon), issue 1 of the Logan’s Run adaptation, and a big annual of Christmas stories from 1997. And, yes, I won’t read that one until December. That Rampaging Hulk title you see is the collection of the black-and-white stories from Marvel magazine back in the mid-70s. Marvel tried their hand at more adult content using the larger magazine format that wasn’t subject to the Comics Code. When the TV show became a hit, Rampaging Hulk was transformed to Hulk! and became color. The Essential titles are all black-and-white reprints typically of color comics, but since this collection were originally in black-and-white anyway — and it only cost five dollars whereas the standard original book cost at least double that amount — how can I pass it up?

That’s my haul from SpaceCity Con 2016. I’ll be reading and reviewing these periodically throughout the summer. Let me know if you have any history with any of these titles as I’d be curious to know if y’all read these books back in the day or even now.

Apollocon 2009

Over at SF Safari, I've started blogging about Apollocon 2009.

Enjoy.