Lauderdale Comics’ Day at Pulp Adventurecon
Lauderdale Comics’ Day at Pulp Adventurecon
Yesterday, February 11, 2017, Lauderdale Comics set up a table and spent the day with movie, pulp, and classic tales enthusiasts at Pulp Adventurecon. On site were numerous vendors, displaying and selling vintage paperbacks, movie collectibles, old-time radio items, Golden Age Comics, vintage posters, and similar collectibles.
In attendance, signing autographs, was Golden Age comic great Allen Bellman! He worked at Timely Comics and Atlas Comics, and according to his website:
I was born in Manhattan and studied at the High School of Industrial Arts. I eventually became a staff artist at Timely during the Golden Age of comics. While still a teenager, I did the backgrounds for Syd Shores’ Captain America in 1942, and eventually worked on titles such as: The Patriot, The Destroyer, The Human Torch, Jap Buster Johnson and Jet Dixon of the Space Squadron, All Winners Comics, Marvel Mystery, Sub Mariner Comics, Young Allies and so much more.
My self-created back-up crime feature Let’s Play Detective. I also contributed to pre-Code horror, crime, war and western tales for Atlas. I worked in the comics field until the early 1950s.
After 18 years I moved down here to South Florida where I joined the art department of a major daily newspaper, The South Florida Sun-Sentinel. After that I went into photography. I won many nationwide photography contests, winning out more than 20,000 entries. Hundreds of my photos have appeared in hardcover books, have been on exhibit in museums in Florida and received great reviews in numerous newspapers. I still attend many comic books shows, and I am still available for commissions.”
The Con had many items to peruse and collect, and even free giveaways! The first 50 paying attendees received their choice of a bonus book, The Spider #5: Empire of Doom, The Spider #7: Serpent of Destruction or The Spider #8: The Mad Horde. Bold Venture Press published these editions over a decade ago, and they remain highly prized collectibles!
The Spider was created in the early 1930s, in the wake of The Shadow’s success. Early in the run, Norvell Page (under the house name Grant Stockbridge) gave The Spider’s adventures a unique hysterical quality. In many respects, he was the Lethal Weapon of the 1930s. For newcomers to the world of pulp fiction, this was a great introduction to one of the classic pulp super-heroes.
We will certainly be back in the future, and we hope our loyal fans will join us there next time!
