The Super DC Convention

Convention
Name:	The Super DC Convention
Dates:	February 27-29, 1976
Frequency:	once only
Location:	Americana Hotel, New York City, US
Type:	fan-run with cooperation of DC Comics
Focus:	DC Comics
Organization:	Phil Seuling
Founder:	Phil Seuling
Founding Date:	1976
URL:
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The DC Super Convention (also called the DC Super Con) was the first and only DC convention held in New York in 1976. It was organized by Phil Seuling, already known for founding and running the New York Comic Art Convention (1968-1983) and had the full cooperation of the DC Comics publishing company who provided guests, produced the program book and hosted activities. The date - February 29 - was chosen specifically despite it being a leap year because it had been established as Superman's birthday.

Guests included Golden Age and Silver Age DC creators, with special guests Jerry Siegel, Joe Shuster and Sheldon Mayer.

The staff were a combination of fans and DC staffers:

Chairmen: Phil Seuling (fan) and Sol Harrison (NPP president)

Managers: Jonni Levas (fan) and Paul Levitz (fan on the cusp of becoming DC staff)

Treasurer: Arthur Gutowitz (DC accountant)

Publicity: Jenette Kahn (DC publisher)

Events & Exhibits: Midge Bergman (fan), Carl Gafford (DC), Jack C. Harris (recent fan-turned-staff), Kelly Harris (fan), Bob Rozakis (DC), Anthony Tollin (DC), Shelley Weissberger (fan), John Workman (DC).

Registration: Norma Levine (fan), Paul Messina (fan), Gary Arkin (fan).

Security: Mitchell Zykofsky, Ken Pisani, Warren Wolf, Howie Kustern, Allan Griman, Artie Galmitz, Ernie Flowitz, Spencer Leibman, K.C., Ron Jordan, Peter Schwartz, Rona Scala, Ravi Siriam and Larry Adler.

Program

Despite a last minute change of venue due to a strike of hotel workers at the Hotel Commodore, the convention opened on Friday with a dealer's room, radio room (for the playing of DC-related radio serials?), art exhibit, Superman memorabilia display, merchandise exhibits and cartoon showings, as well as autograph sessions. There was also a program of panels, talks and events for each day:

Day 1

4:00 p.m. - convention opens

4:00 p.m. - "How a Comic Book is Created" (until 6 p.m.)

5:00 p.m. - official welcome by Sol Harrison, convention co-chair and president of National Periodical Publications.

6:00 p.m. - Workshop in Comic Book Writing

7:00 p.m. - Auction I - Bargains and Oddities

8:00 p.m. - Art Exhibit, Radio and Memorabilia Rooms and Dealer's Room closed for the day.

8:00 p.m. - "The Educational Value of Comic Books"

8:00 p.m. - Film Program

12:00 midnight - convention closes for the day.

Day 2

10:00 a.m. - convention opens

11:00 a.m. - "Comic Book Scripting - Then and Now"

12:00 noon - "Batman: The Darknight Detective" - Panel Discussion

1:00 p.m. - Keynote: Sheldon Mayer

2:00 p.m. - "The Legion of Super-Heroes: More Heroes, More Fans?"

2:00 p.m. - "How a Comic Book is Created" (until 4:00 p.m.)

2:30 p.m. - Auction II - Artwork & Treasures

3:00 p.m. - Workshop - How to Draw Comic Books

4:00 p.m. - Costume Parade I

6:00 p.m. - Jerry Siegel & Joe Shuster, A Tribute

7:00 p.m. - Trivia Contest

8:00 p.m. - Art Exhibit, Radio and Memorabilia Rooms closed for the day.

8:00 p.m. - Film Program II (until midnight)

10:00 p.m. - "Tarzan and his Team" - Panel Discussion

10:00 p.m. - Dealer's Room closed for the day.

12:00 midnight - convention closes for the day.

Day 3

10:00 a.m. - convention opens

11:00 a.m. - "The Art of Storytelling"

12:00 p.m. - "Superman - The Man and the Myth" - Panel Discussion

12:00 p.m. - "How a Comic Book is Created" (until 2:00 p.m.)

1:00 p.m. - "The Golden Age & The Men Who Made It" - Panel Discussion

1:30 p.m. - Auction III - Junk & Jewels

2:00 p.m. - "Who Are Today's Heroes? A Personality Panel" - Panel Discussion

3:00 p.m. - Cartoons (until 7:00 p.m.)

3:30 p.m. - Costume Parade II

4:00 p.m. - "How a Comic Book is Created" (until 6:00 p.m.)

5:30 p.m. - Superman's Birthday Party

8:00 p.m. - all areas close, convention ends.

Program Book

The program book was a special issue of volume 3 of DC's prozine The Amazing World of DC Comics, edited by Paul Levitz with Carl Gafford, Jack C. Harris and Bob Rozakis as contributing editors. A scan of the entire program is available at Carl Cafarelli's blog.

Contents:

• Welcome from the DC Staff
• "DC Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow" by Anthony Tollin - a brief history of DC
• "Interview with 2 Supermen" by E. Nelson Birdwell - "interview" with the Earth-1 and Earth-2 versions of Superman
• "Super-Artists" - Superman art by Joe Shuster; Dick Sprang; Al Plastino; Wayne Boring; Jim Mooney; Kurt Schaffenberger; Nick Cardy; Curt Swan and Murphy Anderson; Neal Adams and Murphy Anderson; Ross Andru and Dick Giordano; Dick Dillin and Joe Giella.
• "Happy Anniversary, Hero" by Carl Gafford and Franklin W. Maynard - article on the various Superman anniversaries.
• "Siegel, Shuster & Superman" by E. Nelson Birdwell - article on the creation of Superman.
• "Superman 1940s: How Superman Would End the War" by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster.
• "Super-Heroes in Miniature" by Fred Schneider - article on comic character miniatures.
• Con Program
• "Comic Collecting: Hints for a New Hobbyist" by Paul Kupperberg
• "Superman 1960s: The Supershow of Metropolis" by Curt Swan and Stan Kay - comic strip
• Costume Party Capers by Jack C. Harris - article on cosplay and costume parades.
• For More Information - The Amazing World of DC Comics reference guide for articles on comics, films, animation, creating comic books, DC hero origins, and memorabilia.
• Superman's Photo Album - various photos from "live" appearances and movie stills
• Superman 1970s by Len Wein and Neal Adams - comic strip
• Advertisement - Phil Seuling's comic dealing business and the New York Comic Art Convention
• Autograph page.

Gallery

• 

  Program

• 

  inside front cover, with Twinkie the Kid wishing Superman a happy birthday, art by Vinnie Colletta

• 

  Convention Staff

• 

  Table of Contents

• 

  Title page for Paul Kupperberg's article on comics collecting; art by Carmine Infantino

• 

  Legion of Super-Heroes leadership ballot form, produced by DC Comics

• 

  DC questionnaire, produced by DC Comics

Convention Reports

Back in the olden continuity, Kal-El/Clark Kent’s birthday had been established as falling on February 29 (thank you, E. Nelson Bridwell), which occurs once every four years, so this three-day event, organized by NY Comicon promoter Phil Seuling at New York’s Hotel Commodore, was held on February 27-29 (Note: As Bob Rozakis points out in his comment below, the convention was moved at the last minute to the Americana Hotel due to a strike at the Commodore). Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster were guests, as were many other Superman creators, and much of the staff of DC Comics. (And lots of Twinkies. I mean bins and bins of the Hostess snack cake; ITT Continental Bakery was a DC advertiser, of course–where’s the Archives Edition of the Twinkies ads, DC?!–and they not only bought the inside front cover of the program book for a Vinnie Colletta drawn ad of Superman shaking hands with and accepting congratulations from “Twinkie the Kid,” but also supplied complimentary Twinkies for all.)

 

I was 16 years old, and the Super DC Con was my first comics convention. It's still the only big con I've ever attended, and I wish I could find more coverage of that weekend somewhere. (And if anyone is aware of such coverage, please let me know!) A recent issue of Back Issue magazine included a brief retrospective of that convention, but I would surely love to read much, much more. Someday, I'll try to recreate my own memories of the con for posterity: of my Dad and I taking the train from Syracuse to New York--the trip was a present for my 16th birthday--and being informed upon arrival at the Hotel Commodore that a strike had moved the convention over to The Americana; of learning at con check-in that DC publisher Carmine Infantino had been replaced by a woman named Jenette Kahn; of Dad leaving me free to fully immerse myself in the entirety of the convention experience without a chaperone (and his amazement that I didn't even want to stop for lunch); of meeting other fans; of meeting Superman creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, Batman co-creator Bob Kane, my writer-artist idols Denny O'Neil and Neal Adams, and legendary editor Julie Schwartz, among others; of losing to Richard Morrissey in a trivia contest administered by E. Nelson Bridwell; of the treasures of the dealers room; of the cavalcade of DC superhero films screened, including a fragment of Kirk Alyn in Superman, a 1948 serial then thought to be lost; of wearing plain clothes in the costume parade, claiming I was dressed as writer Elliott S! Maggin, who had written himself into a Justice League of America story the previous summer (afterward, Maggin shook my hand, laughing, saying that Jenette Kahn had just been telling him that his JLA appearance meant that DC now owned his name and likeness); the panels; the giddy thrill of participating in something I loved, surrounded by others who loved it just as much as I did; the satisfied train ride back home to Syracuse after the enchantment ended. I really need to write about all of that.

 

Despite a well-documented comedy of errors which plagued the three-day con, it proved a spectacular success, with a huge amount of vintage comics for sale, DC memoribilia displays, panel discussions, workshops and film festivals, ending with a celebration of Superman's birthday and a suitably-decorated cake. Indeed, it was the last time DC's golden age creators got to share the stage with their silver age counterparts.

In many ways, this was a precursor of the big comic cons we have today. It also attracted many Legion of Super-Heroes fans, giving DC the opportunity to ask them to elect a new leader for the Legion.