Allen Bellman, born June 5, 1924, in the lower east side of Manhattan to Jewish immigrants from Russia, is an icon in comic book history drawing Captain America and Human Torch in the 1940′s.

Bellman’s Golden Age contributions are vast, continuing into the 1950′s, including crime, western and horror comics. In an interview with Comicartville he reflects on the release of the first Superman in “Action Comics #1″:

“I was in junior high school. On our lunch hour there was a candy store. I went in and paid 10 cents for the first Superman in ACTION COMICS. I remember there was a guy running towards you and Superman was holding up a car.

ComicArtville: That’s the one!

Bellman: I remember it clearly. There was nothing previously on the newsstands like that. I wish I still had it.

ComicArtville: It’s worth quite a bit of money. Even beat up it’s worth almost the price of a cheap car.

Bellman: Wow! I knew it was a collector’s item but I had no idea it was like that!”

Tampa will host a Comic Convention in February and Bellman will be among the creators. This creator, unlike his comrades, was there holding an “Action Comics #1″ after forking over a dime.

Bellman worked briefly on backgrounds in “Captain America” before starting on scripts, including “The Patriot” and “Marvel Mystery Comics” of the early 1940′s. Later at Timely, working as a “funny animal book” artist aka “animator”, Bellman transition into more comic strip artwork.

“I did illustrations for some of those pulps. I did them through Mel Blum”, Bellman continued, “Well as art director of the magazine line he also secured artwork for the pulps. I did these illustrations from home as a freelancer…Well it was extra money. Anyone would grab it. I remember one I did to accompany a boxing story in a sports pulp also.”

Seldom do comic book fans have the opportunity to interact with the creators from this era and Tampa should be excited for the opportunity.

The convention is Sunday, February 20th from 10am to 4pm. For more information see the convention’s website: http://www.tampabaycomiccon.com/index.html

My first effort at “blogging” before it was called “blogging” was a Pop Culture, Comic Book column at CrazedFanboy.com.

A lot sure has changed since these days.

Due to the support/pressure from my DOB comrades, Splash Page was resurrected to publish Pop Culture topics and the “State of the Nation” will continue to deal with politics and heavy issues.

Splash Page banner by Nolan B. Canova

The Desk of Brian recommends:

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