Atlanta Fantasy Fair 1987 photos

1987 saw the 13th gathering of the tribes under the banner of the Atlanta Fantasy Fair, meeting in downtown Atlanta at the Omni Hotel and the World Congress Center. Recently my pal Lloyd Carter, himself no stranger to the world of conventions (we started AWA together) unearthed a roll of film he shot at the 1987 AFF,  and he was kind enough to scan 'em in and send them my way. 

Here Star Trek's Nichelle Nichols entertains the AFF crowd with stories and songs from her days on board the Starship Enterprise. Somebody warn her not to do "Star Trek V."

Caroline Munro has faced interstellar villainy in "Starcrash", international intrigue in "The Spy Who Loved Me", the wrath of Dracula in "Dracula AD 1972", the forces of black magic in "Sinbad And The Eye Of The Tiger", and the lustful gaze of Adam Ant in the video for "Goody Two-Shoes." Here she meets what might be her greatest challenge in what I believe is Herb from the accounting department (No offense, guy - I know everybody looked kind of square at 1980s conventions).

Out of the nightmare realm of horror and special effects rises Tom Savini, here to disgust and repel and amaze in equal doses. At this point he had probably wrapped on "Creepshow 2" and was knee-deep in the "Tales From The Darkside" TV series. Not sure what his little buddy there was featured in, but he's definitely creeping me out. 

From the world of comics, DC editor Julius Schwartz lurks behind a table in the lower meeting rooms of the Omni, opposite the Marietta St. drop-off area where your parents would let you out of the station wagon. Schwartz rose from 1930s science fiction fandom to decades helming characters like The Flash, Green Lantern, Hawkman, Batman and Superman. 

Here Julie hams it up for the camera. Unfortunately, Julie's sense of whimsy extended to the occasional unwanted physical contact with female fans and pros, one of the reasons we use the irony quotes around the phrase "good old days."

Marvel editor Tom DeFalco, here shown in maximum 1980s cosplay, is no doubt thinking of how he spearheaded the Archie Digest line when he worked for Archie Comics in the 1970s, thereby ensuring children would continue to read comic books even after the rest of the industry would move to direct distribution for adult collectors. At this point in history DeFalco was in fact Editor-in-Chief of Marvel Comics, all part of his long-term plan to write the "Maximum Carnage" Spider-Man storyline.

I believe this is Louise and Walt Simonson discussing both Walt's groundbreaking work on Thor and Louise's groundbreaking work editing X-Men and X-Factor and writing New Mutants and Red Sonja, and how they both look forward to cameos in the Thor movie that will be made in twenty four years. The man on the right is unidentified at this time. 

Also in a similar World Congress Center exhibit hall is Tom DeFalco, Marvel writer and former EIC Archie Goodwin, and Unidentified Glasses-Wearing Man holding forth on an important topic. Let's say the Iran-Contra scandal. 

Of these two panelists,  I know one of them - superstar artist Bill Sienkiewicz seen on the right - is definitely dressed for the Atlanta summer, which would be great if he was outside. However, he's in a meeting room at a downtown convention facility, which means the AC is cranked and the temperature is probably sixty-five degrees, so he's probably shivering.  I don't know who the other fellow is, but I'm going to assume he worked for Marvel Comics in some capacity.  (Thanks to AFF veteran Scott W. for the Sienkiewicz ID!)

I wanna say the guy on the right is Elfquest publisher Richard Pini. and I have no idea who the guy on the left is. A balding white guy with glasses and a close trimmed beard? That's the face of the comic book industry in the 1980s. 

Looking at these photos 33 years later (!!) it's striking at how.... boring the attendees look. Everybody's in golf shirts or button-down business clothes. I know there were costumers (we didn't call them "cosplayers" back then) but they weren't as prevalent as they'd later become.  The cargo shorts and T-shirts that would be the American Male uniform had yet to take over.  In a few years, we'd see more young people start attending conventions and subsequently more graphic Ts, more skater shorts, crazier hair, and the sort of hall-costume culture we now take for granted would begin to be seen. But in 1987 things were still pretty square. 

I do want to thank Lloyd Carter again for these photos, and ask everyone two questions - 1. if you know who the unidentified people in these photos are, let me know, and 2, if you have any AFF photos or memorabilia yourself, please send those scans or pix my way at terebifunhouse@gmail.com, thank you!

Thanks to 7-Tardis-7 (deep in Center Neptune Gallifrey, no doubt) for the 1987 AFF lenticular pinback badge image!