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Post by delmothesaint on Jan 17, 2015 22:27:55 GMT -5
You called it FunnyFarm? I called it the Bat Cave. I don't think it ever had a name officially but yes on 82nd between 3rd and 2nd and you had to walk down a few steps to enter the store. Run by John with an Italian last name. I too wound up going to Village Comics mainly but also stopping by Forbidden Planet and St. Marks Comics (both still open). And for various reasons, namely price and boredom, I whittled down my comic buying to the point where its now at zippedy doo. The NuZippedy Doo Actually it was called FunnyFarm. I still have one of their plastic bags and it says "FunnyFarm" on it. His name was John Carreno. Still trying to track him down as I've since run into former employees who have no idea what became of him. Forbidden Planet is a shadow of its former self. |
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Post by Ish Kabbible on Jan 17, 2015 23:59:14 GMT -5
I don't think John is still alive. He was an alcoholic and came down with a severe degenerative muscular condition. He hardly was able to speak and was pretty much bedridden that last time I heard from him in about 1995 or so. He was living somewhere in Greenwich Village. He was being taken care of by some family members
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Post by Calamas on Jan 18, 2015 0:03:39 GMT -5
Al Schroeder III has a couple of unique distinctions. The first--and most important--is that he met his wife through the letter columns of the Julie Schwartz Superman titles. I remember her signing a couple of letters post-marriage as Barb Schroeder but her maiden name escapes me. Secondly, Schroeder suggested a “concept” that Martin Pasko built a story around--something regarding how the world was fooled into seeing something other than Superman in a pair of glasses when they looked at Clark Kent. Those details also escape me. As is often the case, time and memory. I do remember him posting on rare occasion at CBR.
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Post by delmothesaint on Jan 18, 2015 18:36:49 GMT -5
I don't think John is still alive. He was an alcoholic and came down with a severe degenerative muscular condition. He hardly was able to speak and was pretty much bedridden that last time I heard from him in about 1995 or so. He was living somewhere in Greenwich Village. He was being taken care of by some family members Sorry to hear. He was always cool with me at his store. Gave me a free copy of Cockrum's Futurians graphic novel because it was my birthday when it came out. |
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Post by Ish Kabbible on Jan 18, 2015 19:48:49 GMT -5
I don't think John is still alive. He was an alcoholic and came down with a severe degenerative muscular condition. He hardly was able to speak and was pretty much bedridden that last time I heard from him in about 1995 or so. He was living somewhere in Greenwich Village. He was being taken care of by some family members Sorry to hear. He was always cool with me at his store. Gave me a free copy of Cockrum's Futurians graphic novel because it was my birthday when it came out. Getting this thread back on track, Delmo might have been the last of the great letter hacks. I recall seeing his name from time to time in various books thru the 90s. DC and Marvel probably discontinued their letter columns while he was still active. Delmo-any info you can share with us? Start/end dates or other statistics. Any anecdotes? I would think you would make an interesting interview subject |
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Post by AceyBecey on Jan 19, 2015 20:53:39 GMT -5
Wendy Pini, under her maiden name, had a letter published in the Silver Surfer, and Richard Pini wrote her and years later the two married and produced Elfquest. Wendy and Richard shared the story about that letter when I interviewed them last year at Emerald City Comicon: Richard: When I was 19 I was a fan of Marvel and I read all their titles. And there was one series, the original incarnation of Silver Surfer. Issue number five was published in 1969. There was a letter in the letters page, when they had letter pages, from one Wendy Fletcher, and they included her address. It was a really nice letter. It was thoughtful and philosophical, but it was also obviously from a girl. In 1969 there was what, four girls reading comics in the country? So I was a freshman in college, and a geek, and this was MIT which was all guys. Here’s a girl, she likes comics, she’s smart. I’m gonna write her a letter. Turns out at least a couple hundred other guys wrote letters to her. Here's the letter she sent:  |
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Post by delmothesaint on Jan 19, 2015 21:58:33 GMT -5
Sorry to hear. He was always cool with me at his store. Gave me a free copy of Cockrum's Futurians graphic novel because it was my birthday when it came out. Getting this thread back on track, Delmo might have been the last of the great letter hacks. I recall seeing his name from time to time in various books thru the 90s. DC and Marvel probably discontinued their letter columns while he was still active. Delmo-any info you can share with us? Start/end dates or other statistics. Any anecdotes? I would think you would make an interesting interview subject I know my last letter appeared in an issue of ASM a few years ago, when both Peter Parker and I were unemployed. I know there was a time when my name was on a list of letterhacks that Marvel was blacklisting as we were too negative or some such. I heard about this as a high school classmate Dean Haspiel was visiting the Marvel offices with fellow classmate Larry O'Neil(Denny's son), and saw the list on a bulletin board. I used to draw on the envelopes I sent my letters in, in the hopes of attracting the eye of whoever dug through the mailbag. I was told by a few editors that they liked my envelopes. I submitted a few characters to the '80s version of Dial H for Hero and two of them were chosen-Twilight, who appeared in the 1st issue of the new version, and Miss Muscle, who appeared in a story when the feature was a back-up in The New Adventures of Superboy.  |
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Post by hondobrode on Jan 19, 2015 22:31:44 GMT -5
Wendy Pini, under her maiden name, had a letter published in the Silver Surfer, and Richard Pini wrote her and years later the two married and produced Elfquest. Wendy and Richard shared the story about that letter when I interviewed them last year at Emerald City Comicon: Richard: When I was 19 I was a fan of Marvel and I read all their titles. And there was one series, the original incarnation of Silver Surfer. Issue number five was published in 1969. There was a letter in the letters page, when they had letter pages, from one Wendy Fletcher, and they included her address. It was a really nice letter. It was thoughtful and philosophical, but it was also obviously from a girl. In 1969 there was what, four girls reading comics in the country? So I was a freshman in college, and a geek, and this was MIT which was all guys. Here’s a girl, she likes comics, she’s smart. I’m gonna write her a letter. Turns out at least a couple hundred other guys wrote letters to her. Here's the letter she sent: and a couple hundred other guys wrote her too ! I've seen the pics from when she toured in the 70's with Frank Thorne as Red Sonja. She was smokin in that iron bikini ! |
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Post by chadwilliam on Jan 19, 2015 23:20:46 GMT -5
Al Schroeder III has a couple of unique distinctions. The first--and most important--is that he met his wife through the letter columns of the Julie Schwartz Superman titles. I remember her signing a couple of letters post-marriage as Barb Schroeder but her maiden name escapes me. Secondly, Schroeder suggested a “concept” that Martin Pasko built a story around--something regarding how the world was fooled into seeing something other than Superman in a pair of glasses when they looked at Clark Kent. Those details also escape me. As is often the case, time and memory. I do remember him posting on rare occasion at CBR. Superman 330 "The Master Mesmerizer of Metropolis!" One of those ideas that I would likely have resented if it had been referenced anywhere but in this sole issue, but at the same time it was a very clever idea that played fair with the way Superman's world had been presented to us since at least the Silver Age. Based upon the long established fact that Superman was capable of super hypnosis coupled with the also already asserted fact that Clark Kent's glasses were created from kryptonian glass from the rocket he came to Earth in, Schroeder came up with the inventive idea that Superman exerted a subliminal suggestion (that he himself was aware of only on a subconscious level) to those around Clark that Clark was a frailer and older person than he should have appeared as "Superman with a pair of glasses on". There were a few holes in this story (ie. how could Superman's Clark Kent robots duplicate this effect) but the idea and story in which it appeared was just so clever, earnest, and fun that in my opinion, it was worth it.
Interestingly, I only discovered a little while back that Cary Bates used to submit cover ideas to comics. At least one of them were used and it was a biggie - Superman 167 featuring the first team-up of Luthor and Brainiac.
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Post by Calamas on Jan 21, 2015 15:51:30 GMT -5
. . . Interestingly, I only discovered a little while back that Cary Bates used to submit cover ideas to comics. At least one of them were used and it was a biggie - Superman 167 featuring the first team-up of Luthor and Brainiac.
From his Comics Feature interview back in 1980:  |
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Post by badwolf on Jan 21, 2015 15:59:43 GMT -5
Ah, for the days when you could just write letters to people and it wasn't seen as creepy or stalkerish.  |
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Post by junkmonkey on Jan 21, 2015 18:19:56 GMT -5
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