I was recently gifted a box of comic treasures (comics, magazines and a few oddities) from an old buddy. I’m having so much fun looking through it all. One wonderous rarity from this box was the program book from the 1979 Creation Con.

Right now, we’re in the midst of planning for ITHACON #49. (It looks to be another fabulous event, and if you want more info or tickets- you can do that all here. ) One of the things we’re working on right now is the program book, so I was particularly interested in this vintage one. Program books from cons are kind of like a snapshot of the show, or at least the planning of the show. A quick glimpse at the program book helps you understand all the work that goes into the event.

Creation Con was founded in 1971 by Adam Mailin and Gary Berman, two teenaged fans. It was a first great introduction to a series of traditional comic conventions. They went on to produce hundreds of shows over the years. Today, they focus on fan conventions for properties liked Supernatural or Star Trek and shows for enthusiastic niche audiences, like vampire fans.

In this  1979 program booklet there are so many fascinating things to see. Things like:

• The credits page giving props the Registration Team consisting of family and friends.
• The welcome note/letter from the EiC, actually from both the founders, called “Creation Convention.”
• A fan designed graphic with the convention’s name.
• A long Neal Adams interview, where the popular artist talked about forming a Guild (sort of like a Union-lite) for comic artist and his own goals for Continuity Associates.
• A photo with Will Eisner and Jim Shooter
• A Jimi Hendrix back cover ..by Thomas Yeates. I sure do enjoy his Prince Valiant every Sunday.

I know this might be a little too “inside baseball”, but wouldn’t it be cool to go back in time and visit this convention with today’s knowledge of what conventions and this industry will grow into? If you tried to explain to anyone at the 1979 show, they wouldn’t have believed you.