NEW YORK COMIC FEST is June 14! Fred Van Lente will be there! Here’s his own favorite con memory from childhood!
By FRED VAN LENTE
My dad used to drive me to these paleolithic cons in the suburbs of Cleveland, in damp ballrooms that smelled like old cigarette smoke. I was looking for a complete run of Avengers #16-200, the “replacement” Avengers like Scarlet Witch, the Vision and Black Panther being my particular favorites. I fell well short of 184 total comics, but it didn’t matter, it was great bonding time between me and my dad, particularly because we didn’t share that many interests.
That’s what I loved about con-going when I was 13, 14, 15. Once I learned to drive, my dad and I lost that connection which was kind of a bummer, but spelunking through back-issue bins to find a bargain or an obscure missing link to the collection — I’ll always cherish that.
I got the whole Kree-Skrull War before I ran out of gas, that was kind of a crowning achievement.
Come meet Fred Van Lente — writer of the Secret Files of Project Sky, Brain Boy and co-writer of the forthcoming play King Kirby — at the NEW YORK COMIC FEST on June 14. TICKETS HERE. His latest Project Black Sky story is getting quite the buzz.
