1979: Atlanta Comics & Fantasy Fair

1979 was the year the AC&FF, or the ACFF, or what we'd later just call the AFF, well, they moved locations up I-85 to the popular Century Center location on Clairmont Rd, just north of the site of their first 1975 show.  

I don't personally have any materials from the 1979 show - I would have been nine years old at the time and while I would have loved to have been there, at the time I didn't even know it existed. So I've had to dig these images up from the depths of the Internet, and once again I'll ask anyone out there with some old convention flyers or program books or photos of Atlanta Comics & Fantasy Fairs past to take an afternoon and do a little scanning and send them .jpgs my way. 

The program schedule for the 1979 Atlanta Comics & Fantasy Fair was a folded newsprint poster that boiled the essentials of the convention down to a few pages worth of text and some illustrations by the guests. 

From the vantage point of 2019 we can enjoy the charming five-point list of rules, and we can nod approvingly at the lady con chair, which is becoming more common but in 1979 must have been a novelty.  Judging from the welcome message's references to "circumstances beyond our control," there must have been some pre-convention drama happening behind the scenes, and let me say that this is an aspect of fandom conventions that has not changed at all. 

The full spectrum of fandom entertainment circa 1979 is on display as the ACFF gives you, the attendee, a main events room filled with classic movies, SF TV favorites, vintage serials, and Star Trek, Star Trek, Star Trek. What's that? You note they're only showing the Star Trek Bloopers ONCE? Well, let's check out another, perhaps more accurate version of the 1979 schedule. 

Looks like the Friday night crowd demanded their Bloopers!  Apart from the enigmatic inscription "Century Center Hotel - No Money", this schedule also tells us when the dealer's room is open. I for one am appalled at how late this convention lasts on Sunday. By 5pm I am ready to shut these things down, but the 1979 breed of fan had a lot more energy, for some reason.

Here's the guest list - John Byrne was still a rising star drawing the X-Men, Howard Chaykin had yet to set the comics world on fire with his American Flagg, Gil Kane and Jim Steranko were legendary titans of the field, and Dave Sim was (a) still married to Deni Sim, and (b) just getting into the groove his 300-issue run of Cerebus The Aardvark. Dr. Kenneth Smith, the only guest to attend the first five Atlanta Comics & Fantasy Fairs, was years away from being insulted by gamers and leaving AFF in a huff, never to return, and Richard Meyers was right on the cusp of becoming completely infatuated with Asian martial arts cinema and becoming one of North America's experts in the field. 

The Cerebus piece on the back of the program guide is a wonderful example of exactly how the rest of the world saw Atlanta in the 1970s - Atlanta was the place where Gone With The Wind happened, and that's it. That's all. Nothing else. 

The Kenneth Smith program guide artwork also was featured on that year's T-shirt. 1979's show would set new attendance records for the Atlanta Comics & Fantasy Fair, and if they got anywhere near the 1800 attendees the program book was claiming, then by golly that was one crowded show because the Century Center just isn't that big.  1980 would see the convention move back to the Dunfey's Royal Coach which, for all its faults, at least had plenty of meeting space. 

Thanks to the Cerebus Fangirl Site for the program guide images! 

history of atlanta fandom conventions part 1

 

Hi gang, this is Dave Merrill. I'm one of the guys who started Anime Weekend Atlanta, which has now been a thing for almost 30 years. That's a long time. AWA didn't come out of nowhere, the people that started AWA were all veterans of many different Atlanta fan conventions, both as attendees and as staff. We were working from a convention template that others had built. We were borrowing ideas from conventions that in turn had borrowed them from others, who had themselves been inspired by earlier shows. 

So this post today is a look at what those earlier fan conventions looked like in Atlanta before AWA rolled around, in the years 1975 to 1995, a fundamental time in Atlanta fandom. This presentation about defunct conventions was originally a video presentation shown during COVID, when ALL conventions were temporarily defunct, but I believe any time is a good time to reflect on where we've been, and to think about where we're going.

Most of the images here have been sourced from all over the internet and I want to thank everyone who's taken the time to upload their old photos and scan their old program books. The background image is taken from a Channel 46 station ID slide, showing what Atlanta's skyline looked like back in the day.

 

History tells us the first fandom convention was the World Science Fiction Convention held in New York City in 1939. 200 SF fans showed up. There were authors and editors and artists and costumers. There was fan drama. There was a vicious feud between different groups of fans. All the ingredients of fandom were there. 

 

Interrupted slightly by World War Two, SF conventions kept happening - the Worldcon was held in a different city every year, while other regions and cities spawned their own local conventions. Until the mid 1960s fan conventions were mainly focused on literary science fiction, but two things happened at that time - the popularity of Star Trek built an entire fandom all by itself, and what we now call "boomers" grew up and got nostalgic for the comic books of their youth. Both the Star Trek fans and the comic book collectors would start their own conventions at this time.

As near as I can tell, Atlanta would get its first SF convention in April 1955 with "The Agacon" convention - get it, A GA Convention? -  which was that year's DeepSouthCon. Abbreviated as DSC, the convention was and is a travelling show, like Worldcon but for the Southeast. Atlanta would host the 1967, 70, 72 and 74 DeepSouthCon as “Agacons.”

 

The Agacon committee would put together events over the next few years including this 1971 comic book convention seen advertised in Atlanta’s counterculture newspaper The Great Speckled Bird, ask your grandparents about that one.

 

1975 is where things start to get moving. That’s when the Atlanta Comics & Fantasy Fair starts. This was the first Atlanta fan convention to try and bring everybody together under one roof, and also the first Atlanta con to survive for over two decades. The Fantasy Fair had all the ingredients of what we’d recognize as a con - costumes, vendors, a movie room, a guest lineup of artists, writers, editors and other creatives, and it all took place over a weekend allowing the kind of late night parties that were normal for SF cons but atypical for comic book shows.

The first ACFF was held at the Ramada Inn at I-85 and Monroe Drive, guests were people like Stan Lee, and it was a big enough deal that WAGA TV did a story about it.

 

artist's conception of the Ramada at Monroe Drive

DeepSouthCon would return to Atlanta in 1976, with guests like author Norman Spinrad, prolific artist Kelly Freas, and author L. Sprauge DeCamp, as seen here in this photo. 

 

Meanwhile, the Atlanta Comics & Fantasy Fair moved to a downtown Marriott with guests including Howard The Duck creator Steve Gerber.

 

 

Star Wars fever was about to take over the world in 1977, but the Atlanta Comics & Fantasy Fair didn’t know it yet. The convention moved to the Dunfey’s Royal Coach hotel at I-75 and Howell Mill - there’s a Wal-Mart there now. We’ll see more of the Dunfey’s as we go along, so stay tuned. Guests incuded DC Comics publisher Jenette Kahn and artists Neal Adams and Jim Steranko

 

In 1978 DeepSouthCon returned to Atlanta for what seemed to be its bi-annual visit - Jack Williamson was GOH, Bob Heinlein was rumored to be attending, but he didn’t show up. Attendance was 731. 

 

Stan Lee was back for the 1978 Atlanta Comics & Fantasy Fair, along with and artists Jim Starlin, Howard Chaykin, and Jim Steranko. The convention was back at the Dunfey's for a second year.

1979 saw the convention that was now being called the Atlanta Fantasy Fair move from one future AWA location to another, the Sheraton Century Center at I-85 and Clairmont Rd.

This was the year the AFF began publishing “Visions”, a magazine that showcased the artwork of guests and locals and doubled as the convention’s program book.

 

Guests John Byrne, Dave Sim, Gil Kane, and Howard Chaykin gave a talk on breaking into comics, the 1800 or so attendees might have enjoyed the amateur film contest, and this might be the first time the Star Trek Blooper Reel was screened, which would be shown at pretty much every convention from here on out for the next ten years. 

1980 might have been the start of a new decade, but the Atlanta Fantasy Fair went right back to the Dunfey's Royal Coach for another year of comics and fantasy. 

 

Right around this time Japanese animation was gaining traction among American fans, as seen in the spring 1980 issue of Fanfare, with an article about anime written by pioneering anime fan and author Fred Patten. The Japanese influence can be seen in this photo of an AFF Captain Harlock cosplayer, posing in the Dunfey's wood-paneled function space.

DeepSouthCon returned to Atlanta as “ASFiCon” - get it, "A S(cience) Fi(ction) Con"? - run by the Atlanta Science Fiction Society.

ASFiCon program book cover

 

Meanwhile, a new comic book convention known as the Atlanta Comic Con hosted up and coming artist Bill Sienkiewicz - pronounced "sin-kev-ich" - as a guest at their show at the Ramada at Monroe & I-85.

 

July 1981 saw the AFF again at Dunfey’s. This was my first AFF and it blew my mind, man. I still have the Visions program book, which featured comics by Lamar Waldron and Bob Burden which made me into a lifelong Flaming Carrot fan. Legend has it that this was the year an irate fan attacked the Dunfeys elevator doors with an axe.

ASFiCon returned in October for a second convention, this time unrelated to any DeepSouthcon. Meanwhile, something called "Dixie-Trek" was being sponsored that year by the Atlanta Star Trek Society, over at Oglethorpe University.

 

The AFF would step up to the big leagues with their August 1982 show, moving to the Omni downtown. Guests included Frank Miller, Ray Harryhausen, Will Eisner, and Philip Jose Farmer. I don’t know the exact attendance but they printed 4000 copies of that year’s Visions.

 

truly a different time in terms of smoking

One of the great things about this Visions is the two-page spread listing Atlanta fan organizations and gatherings put together by Southeastern fandom godfather Irv Koch.

 

This year’s ASFiCon in June would also be the 20th DeepSouthCon. Meanwhile over at Oglethorpe, Dixie-Trek was trekking right along.  And in November down at the Howard Johnson’s in Midtown it was time for the Atlanta Comic Con.

DSC program book cover

 

The AFF returned to the Omni and added the World Congress Center for their August 1983 show. Guests were SF author Ted Sturgeon, animator Chuck Jones, X-men writer Chris Claremont, and Elfquest artist Wendy Pini.

 

Also in 1983, the last Atlanta Comic Con was happening down at the Howard Johnson’s. The ASFiCon was having their fourth and last convention in April. Dixie-Trek at Oglethorpe University was still getting up to warp speed.

 

1984 saw a new Atlanta convention with Istacon, a SF convention that happened at the Riviera Hotel at Peachtree & Buford Hwy, with Anne McCaffrey as a guest. I believe that hotel was demolished within months of Istacon, which must have been a hell of a show. 

artist's conception of the Riviera

 

Meanwhile the AFF was settling in at the Omni / World Congress Center for their tenth show. Guests included Robert Bloch, Larry Niven, Forrest Ackerman, Al Williamson, Marv Wolfman, Bill Sienkiewicz. 

the Omni Coliseum part of the Omni/WCC complex, circa 1983

 

What most remember about the 1984 show was a big presentation about the upcoming film Buckaroo Banzai Across The Eighth Dimension, in which the promoters showed a sizzle reel and gave out Buckaroo Banzai headbands, a prized memento for any AFF veteran.

Also happening in the Omni in October 13-14 was a Creation Con, one of many Creation Cons held across the nation by the Creation group of for-profit events.

Creation Con Atlanta schedule

 

The Atlanta Comic Con might have ended but the Atlanta Comics Festival took its place as Marvel Comics editor Jim Shooter was roasted by fellow Marvel artists John Byrne, Bob Layton, Bob McLeod, Mark Gruenwald, and John Romita Jr. 

And continuing its five-year mission to explore strange new worlds, Dixie-Trek was still at Oglethorpe University with guests like Mark Leonard. 

 

Istacon had its second and final convention in March of 1985. That summer the Atlanta Fantasy Fair was at the Omni and guests included author Ted Sturgeon, artist Will Eisner, and future House speaker Newt Gingrich.

 

Dixie Trek '85 moved out of Oglethorpe and into the Northlake Hilton over by Northlake Mall for a May convention featuring Star Trek’s Majel Barett, Dr. Who Jon Pertwee and Dalek inventor Terry Nation as guests. 

 

Stay tuned for 1986 and beyond in the next installment of the history of Atlanta fan conventions! 

-Dave M