Saturday, February 7th, 1976

Things seemed to go my way most of the day.

Got a money order for HOT STUF' today. I got almost all of the DEATHLOK's I missed and two Spideys I needed as well as a bunch of others. Also HUSTLER and DICK TRACY. Mom got me HELEN REDDY'S GREATEST HITS. I managed to catch all the right buses right away.

Andy confirmed the reports of Gerber and everyone else's firing! I really wish Gerber hadn't been included, particularly since I just met him at the Con!

Stayed up late to see Siegel and Shuster on WEEKEND. Also saw Neal Adams on there (what a personality!). They had scenes from the TV series, the serials and the Broadway play as well as an interview with the producer of the new SUPERMAN movie. Also learned that Siegel and Shuster weren't as short-changed as they sound. They only got thirty bucks for ownership but they were paid a lot more for a number of years before they brought suit against NPP.

Finally saw Peter Cushing on SPACE: 1999!

NOTES: In those days, unless you had a checking account--which I didn't--one had to write a money order for everything you sent for through the mail. What I was ordering here, HOT STUF' was a slick pro-zine which actually ran a number of issues (a rarity) with some great art and covers.

The DICK TRACY mentioned here may have been the one-off DC Treasury Edition that came out in 1975 although why I would just be getting it I don't know. Tracy was one of my earliest newspaper comics heroes and was also in cartoons when I was very young. It was one of my dad's favorite strips and we would later read the various Tracy reprint books and mags of the eighties together.

DEATHLOK is a human cyborg character created by Rich Buckler, now an online friend. I was obsessed with Deathlok fro a while this year and was constantly drawing his unique, modern look.

HELEN REDDY'S GREATEST HITS? I think mom was getting that as much for herself as for me. I liked some of Ms. Reddy's songs (PEACEFUL comes to mind) but hardly a big fan.

I was very naive when it came to the Siegel and Shuster case, a very complex case which, if you weren't aware, is STILL in the courts today with the Siegel Estate winning some major victories in recent years!

Siegel was a great idea man but not a very good writer in my opinion. He would write most of the Mighty Comics superheroes of the mid-sixties in a faux-Marvel style. I almost got to meet him in 1988 but he reportedly took ill and had to bow out of the Con I attended.

Having admired Neal Adams' comics art for years already and having just heard at the Cincinnati Con about his efforts to help other comics artists, his appearance here with Jerry and Joe made him look every inch the handsome, stalwart hero to me. I would later meet folks who worked with him during this period and get a slightly more realistic picture.