buhdge

Longtime fans of Marvel and DC comics should get a kick out of these items from the buhdge archives.

Back in my college days, I joined FOOM, or The Friends of Ol' Marvel, a club for fans of Marvel Comics. I got a pretty nifty membership kit in the mail, which included an issue of FOOM magazine and the membership card you see here. It's survived pretty nicely, given that it's 33 years old.

I used to go to a lot of comics and sci-fi conventions back in my high school and college days. One such gathering I went to with a few friends was the first (was there a second?) Mighty Marvel Comic Convention, held at the old Hotel Commodore in New York City in late March of 1975.

In those days, all of the hot comic artists and writers were very approachable for autographs, and nobody charged a cent. I got the autographs and sketches shown at the convention's autograph tables. Dig the original drawings of the Hulk by the great Herb Trimpe and Joe Sinnott. Particularly cool is the sketch of Deadman by none other than the great Neal Adams, perhaps my favorite comic artist of all time. All three men were as nice as they could be to this young comics fan. Pretty cool, huh?!

Alan Haber