Wither the traditional comic mart?

One of the bonuses of living in the US Midwest is that you’re never far from a comic mart. (Mrs B does not agree with this sentiment). Thanks to the chaps at the  “epguides” site, a schedule is published of all upcoming marts in Illinois and surrounding states, so with a full tank of petrol it is possible to find a mart open on any given Sunday.

The thing about these mid-America marts is that they are patronized by local dealers and customers from rural areas ; the prices are reasonable and dealers are willing to negotiate on price.

So today being a particularly bright, sunny and warm day - clear blue skies - I headed off to Rockford, Illinois for a gander at what was on show. The mart was held at the VFW (Veterans of Foreign Wars) hall - (the equivalent of the British Legion) - and when I arrived there were probably 50 customers and 12 dealers.

Punters at today's mart

I took a quick snap as I entered, and it struck me (not for the first time) that most dealers and customers were getting on in years. Including me. Casting my mind back to the Seventies, and attending the Lyndhurst Hall mart in Kentish Town, London, I think that everyone then was still of a similar age - just that we were all youngsters. The last time I went to a Sunday Lyndhurst Hall mart was January 6th 1976 ; the only person of my current age then was my Dad, who had come up to London with me for the day.

I don’t believe that the Comic Mart as an event has changed one whit in fifty years. Just comics in card board boxes on trestle tables, and mainly blokes with lists searching for elusive Silver Age and early Bronze-Age comics. As the years go by, will this type of mart survive, or wither on the vine? I believe it is already part of a bygone age.

In the end , I picked up only one comic; a nice copy of Brave & Bold #67 caught my eye - the first team-up of Batman and Flash - for $18.   This issue was the first American comic I ever had. You can read about it here.  

It crossed my mind “This is where I came in; perhaps a good point to stop.”

© Ian Baker

A look back at Weird Heroes

Weird Heroes #1-#4

Since the demise of the adventure pulps in 1949, there have been infrequent attempts to resurrect the genre of outlandish tales for succeeding generations. While a few short-story based pulps survived (Astounding stories , Ellery Queen, Alfred Hitchock Presents) (?) continued regardless, it was the success of the Doc Savage reprints by Bantam starting in 1964 that first rekindled interest in adventure pulp heroes, and reprints of the written adventures of The Shadow, The Avenger, Tarzan, G-8 and others swiftly followed.

As the 1970s dawned, there was also an interest to rekindle the higher quality end of the pulp market, either through reprints or through attempts to develop a new kind of pulp which took advantage of a climate of looser mores, the acceptance of SF as a mainstream genre in popular culture, and the availability of a new generation of comic book artists for spot illustrations. The new generation of writers had been pulp readers in their adolescence, and so were drawn to the challenge of reinventing the genre.

The period of this “new pulp” renaissance lasted for just over a decade, starting with Byron Preiss’s Weird Heroes in 1975, and probably ending with the demise of New Black Mask quarterly in 1988.

Weird Heroes was an experiment, in the words of editor Byron Preiss, to create a New American Pulp. Back in 1976 I managed to procure two copies from DTwAGE. Recently I have managed to collect the other issues. There are 8 issues in total, featuring a mix of short stories and full-length novels. The authors embrace a wide spectrum of talent, from old hands like Philip Jose Farmer to young turks like Harlan Ellison.

I bought my original issues at a time when I was avidly following the work of Harlan Ellison, had a new interest in the old pulps, had a burgeoning interest in movies and SF and Crime TV shows, and so Byron Preiss’ book, with illoes by hot comic artists, hit all the right buttons.  

Weird Heroes #5-#8

The pages below highlight Neal Adams’ artwork contribution the New York Review of Bird, a story featuring a thinly-disguised Harlan Ellison in his alter-ego of Cordwainer Bird, meeting an aged version of the Shadow.

The experiment lasted only 8 books, but they are worth tracking down to read something that really tried to stretch the envelope of graphic storytelling in the mid 1970s.