Back in 1969, my pal Bruce Shults, writing for THE DAILY O’COLLEGIAN newspaper on the Oklahoma State campus in Stillwater, did a story about me and my love for old comic books. This was, of course, decades before the rise of the nerd culture — propelled by the long-term popularity of TV’s BIG BANG THEORY, among other factors — and just the idea of a college boy collecting funny books was newsworthy.
Saturday, I’ll be returning to Stillwater, where I’m a guest at LexiCon, the free comic and pop-culture convention sponsored by the Stillwater Public Library. I guess I haven’t learned a thing in the 55 years since Bruce’s O’COLLY story ran, as I’ll be there to do a couple of presentations on — yep — comics.
The first one is scheduled for 10:30, where I’ll be telling some stories and giving some history about the beginnings of Oklahoma’s first comic-book collectors’ club, the Oklahoma Alliance of Fans. (Yes, the acronym is OAF.) As one of the founding members, and its first president, I was there from the beginning, and I’ll talk about what it was like to be a comics fan, as well as a fanzine contributor, in fandom’s ancient times.
Then, at 3 p.m., I’ll join one of the field’s top artists, Jerry Bennett, to explore the differences between the comics scene of the ‘80s and ‘90s, when the whole direct-sales phenomenon came along and you could actually go to a convention and have a Marvel editor look at your portfolio, with the way things are now for aspiring artists and scripters.
Both of these presentations are set for the Stillwater Public Library auditorium, as is a noon appearance by paranormal-thriller author Betsey Kulakowski. Like me, Betsey is on the Babylon Books roster, and I can tell you that she’s a terrific writer and excellent speaker.
So, if you’re around Stillwater this weekend, or you’re up for a road trip to one of the greatest towns around, stop on by for LexiCon. There’s all kind of other stuff going there besides our appearances, too; for all the details, check out visitstillwater.org/LexiCon
