Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, March 16, 1992 TAG: 9203160079
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BEN BEAGLE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
She is a part of the "X-Men" strip, these gentlemen being a band of mutant superheroes, as many comic superheroes are today.
But these mutants are more striking than Billy Batson, who used to yell "Shazam" and turn into Captain Marvel - although Captain Marvel was not all that unusual himself.
The convention is sponsored by Roanoke's B&D Comics and Mystery Graphix Press and organized by Jack Slattery and Vijay Mistry, both 27, who are in business for themselves at Mystery Graphix - which publishes a $2.50 book called "Midnight Screams."
When he is not in the comics business, Mistry manages the Thrifty Inn. Slattery works for Glidden Paint and Wallpapering.
Slattery is a comic-book follower with some credentials. He has been collecting them for 16 years and writes and draws Mystery Graphix comics.
Mistry is interested in the comics "because of the art behind it . . . the way it's drawn."
Terry Baucon of B&D Comics has some interesting statistics on comic books fans.
They range in age from 8 to 45, and as they get older, they tend to get more serious and obsessed with the comics.
Ninety-five percent of comic buyers are men - a statistic Baucon said she can understand because comics are "geared more for action" and thus "really are not something that appeals to women."
But, she said, the comics industry has begun "actively attacking the female market."
It is developing story lines, she said, "rather than just a big fistfight."
The convention will be Sunday at Quality Inn in Salem. Dealers' fees and admissions will finance it - and it will offer a Ninja demonstration at 2 p.m. by Bujinkan Dojo, a martial-arts school in Roanoke.
Comic-book artists, including Slattery, also are on the program.
Among them also will be Chuck Wojtkiewicz, who drew the cover of the current issue of "Midnight Screams."
In this issue, drawn and written by Slattery, a girl called Kristina and Father Sean O'Brady are figuring ways to defeat the Dark Baron again.
And, in another strip, there is Toxic Tommy, a former fraternity man whose brothers put toxic waste in his drink and left his personal appearance much the worse for it.
The second edition of "Midnight Screams" is marked "mature readers," although the language is mild and the women no more provocative than Sheena, queen of the jungle, was years ago.
The violence, especially the way Toxic Tommy operates, is more severe, however.
Superman, who himself came from outer space, also will figure in the convention.
A 1946 Superman comic book in mint condition sells, by the way, for $280.
by CNB