The Silver Snail Presented Steve Leialoha

I don't really recall how many guest appearances,

by comic book artists of the day, 

that Ron Van Leeuwen held before he moved the

Silver Snail to 367 Queen Street West.

I know that he had a joint appearance of 

Dave Sim and Gene Day

in 1981, at 323 Queen Street West,

because I have a flyer announcing it.

There is only a date, December 5th,

but the illustration of Cerebus and Shang-Chi is dated 1981,

so I am probably safe in assuming that was the year.

The image below is from a Blog by Molly Frick aka Richardson.

I hope she won't mind me borrowing it until I can add a scan of my own copy of the flyer.

cerebus_shang_chi_1981.jpg  

Once Ron and his crew arrived at the new digs,

there were a lot more appearances, mostly due to the

new manager of the store,

Mark Askwith.

Mark was a wizard at enticing guests to the store and he had an amazing ability to pick up on the best of the new talent

that was coming along at the time,

Just ask Neil Gaiman.

Under his managership, the Silver Snail became a mecca for the comic book fans of the day and the guest appearances multiplied.

One of the local artists, who had a special relationship with the store, was Ken Steacy.  He designed the new robot logo and did the art for the store bags and such, just shortly before and during his work for Marvel Comics, in Marvel Fanfare.

This a "long walk around the park", to get to the in-store appearance of Steve Leialoha.  Who, at the time was probably best known as an inker over the pencils of people like 

Frank Brunner, on Howard the Duck and

Jim Starlin, on Warlock.

The poster for his appearance at the store was a little different,

instead of a piece of his artwork, it was decorated by a photograph of a maquette of the man himself, standing on top of issues of the comic books he had worked on.

The maker of the maquette was credited as being,

Joan Thornborrow.

Until I was preparing to write this post, it had never occurred to me to track her down, so imagine my surprise, when I discovered that she is now (and has been for many years) known as

Joan Thornborrow-Steacy! 

It all seemed to fit together.  When I had visited with Ken in 1990,

long after he left Toronto, in the mid 1980s and relocated to beautiful British Columbia, he had a bedroom in his home dedicated as the Steve Leialoha Room.  When I asked why, he explained that they were very close friends and that Steve had helped tremendously with their relocation.

I hope that the two of them are still as close as they used to be, so many things change over time.

One last image.

I took this photograph of the young Steve Leialoha,

at the WorldCon that was held in Brighton, England, way back in the autumn of 1979.

Steve and fellow artist, Frank Brunner were guests at the big Comic Convention, held in the summer of that 

same year, at the Hotel Metropole in the NEC grounds, 

Birmingham, England. 

Vaughn Bode's Cheech Wizard, in the flesh... more or less!

In the late 1970s, several guys that I used to see,

on a saturday,

when I went to the comic shops of Birmingham,

made the pilgrimage to the mecca of

comic book collecting known as 

Phil Seuling's Comic Art Convention.

According to it's Wikipedia page,

the event was first held in 1968 and continued to be

an annual gathering, until 1983; with some added wrinkles of history, that you can read elsewhere.

Getting back to the point of this post, one of those

intrepid travellers, took the photographs displayed below.

I wish that I could remember who it was but time has wiped away any clue to his identity, which is a shame, since I would like to credit him.

Those of you who view the images in their larger state will notice the lettered show cards on the display.

I have Googled many variations on Harvey Weintraub, who I assume was either the builder or the owner and Junkwaffel Express but to no avail.  It was so large and so well done that I thought that I would find some mention, somewhere, even if it was only another photograph of the same display.

Given the cult status that Vaughn Bode and Cheech Wizard have, I was surprised to find that there doesn't seem to be any mention of this display anywhere on the Internet.  So, perhaps I will be adding something new to the collective history of Fandom. 

Berni Wrightson & Michael Kaluta in Birmingham, England, 1979 : Pieces of the Past

On a wet and windy night in the autumn of 1979,

I got to share the company of Berni Wrightson and Mike Kaluta,

in a lightly attended book signing for 

The Studio.

Arranged by the Andromeda Bookshop, 

Rog Peyton & Company,

and held in a small and intimate venue, 

a wine bar, at the lefthand end (as one faced Andromeda) of

Summer Row, in Birmingham, England.

Jeff Jones was there too but he never left the far corner of the bar and the woman he was talking to.  A great shame, since I would have liked to have had the opportunity to talk to him but at least he was there.  The fourth member of The Studio, Barry Smith, this was before the Barry WINDSOR Smith days, had apparently refused to leave London!  At least, that is what I was told at the time and so, he wasn't there at all.

Berni and Mike were the best,

they chatted away, answering questions and being very polite and charming.  It was a magical night.

Rog Peyton got a Wrightson sketch for the cover of his next Andromeda Catalogue and I believe, that Berni was actually drawing it as the photograph below was taken.

When I find that cover again, I will post it here too.

The master of "feathering",

Berni Wrightson 

as he looked that day.

Here it is, as promised, the sketch that

Berni was drawing when the photograph,

above, was taken.

For those who delight in the details,

Berni dated the sketch and that ties 

my "wet and windy night in the autumn of 1979",

to the 23rd of October, 1979.

I guess that my memory isn't as faded as I thought!

The Shadow was never drawn as well as it was by

Michael Kaluta

although, he has drawn a lot of stories and beautifully, since 1979.

Thanks go out to 

Rog Peyton,

a wonderful man and much under-appreciated by

the much younger me.

Andromeda Publications or The Silver Snail publishes comics.

After making the post about

ANDROMEDA

and how the distribution arm of the Silver Snail empire had reused the name that Ron Van Leeuwen had previously used for his venture into publishing...

I present to you the covers of those books because they deserve to seen, in a larger format, than the few tiny images of them that I have been able to find on-line.

John Allison painted this cover in 1976

and together with Tony Meers, drew the main feature.

I have tried to find him by searching the Web

but so far, I am not having any luck.

Where are you today Mr. Allison?

Speaking of people that I cannot find.

Don Marshall painted this cover and contributed

stories inside too.

I have to admit that I love this cover and Don's use of colour in all of the examples of his art that I have.

Paul Rivoche,

young and full of energy, painted a terrific adaptation of

Exile of the Aeons and this wonderful wrap-around cover too.

I actually had the opportunity to chat with Mr. Rivoche

at the TCAF back in May of this year.

He is still a Toronto based artist and still tremendously talented too.

Okay, this cover is a total oddity because I have absolutely no idea who, Ramy Bar-Elan, the cover artist, is!

A search of the Web turns up nothing more than we already know, that he painted this cover but who was he and why was he asked to do the cover of this issue?

Another great use of colour on this cover,

John Allison does it again.

Tom Nesbitt got to show what he could do with this cover assignment and he turned in a great one!

I love the way he subtly changed the style of the title lettering and gave it the feel of the fairyland style characters in the background of the illustration.

I believe that I have actually located Tom Nesbitt.

Computers are a wonderful tool and when coupled to the Internet, anyone can be an amateur sleuth!

Judging by the style of his drawings,

http://tnanimation.blogspot.ca

is the place to find him on-line.  Physically, he says that he lives in West Vancouver, BC, Canada

and turns his skilled hands to a variety of artistic pursuits.

This was Franc Reyes baby and he is still very much active in the Animation Industry.  In fact, just a couple of years ago, he put out an art book, Visual Concepts, that showed a cross section of his work in animation.

Don Marshall, with his usual palette of beautiful colours,

did this cover but the lead story is the interesting thing here 

because it was written by

Ron Van Leeuwen and George Olshevsky.

Yes folks, the owner of The Silver Snail and the guy who put together the original Marvel Comics Index,

moonlighted as writers!

This, the third and last of the Arik Khan sagas,

is graced by a cover from the hands of Tom Nesbitt.

Tom also got the lead story in this issue, also from the talented pens of Ron Van Leeuwen and George Olshevsky.

All of these books saw the light of day before 1980!

Arik Khan #3 is dated June 1979 and

Andromeda #6 is dated November 1979.

Ron Van Leeuwen is now retired, having sold The Silver Snail to George Zotti, the former manager of the store and  Mark Gingras, his financial partner, in 2011.

The store had to move to a new location, at the intersection of Yonge Street and Dundas Street,

here in Toronto and they continue to serve the city's comic book collectors.

George Olshevsky,

lives in San Diego, if Wikipedia is correct and continues to be a cataloguer, only now it is dinosaurs and polyhedra

that keep him busy.

Andromeda Publications the Distribution Company

Ron Van Leeuwen had published a couple of Underground to Ground Level comic books back in the late 1970's with the titles of The Fantastic World of Arik Kahn and Andromeda.

The Fantastic World of Arik Kahn was a vehicle for the Filipino 

artist Franc Reyes who had been living in Toronto since 1976.

It was a Sword and Sorcery story, with an exotic oriental flavour and very well done.  I believe that Franc was already doing work for DC comics at the time, drawing stories for Tarzan, Weird War, Ghosts, House of Mystery, House of Secrets and Unexpected.

Franc Reyes went on to work as a designer in the Animation Industry and his credits are respectable.

Rock & Rule

Mulan

Tarzan

Brother Bear

as well as many others.

Andromeda, on the other hand, was a Science Fiction anthology and it contained work by many talented Toronto based artists.  Interestingly, this incarnation of Andromeda is officially Volume 2, because a previous publisher, Bill Paul of London, Ontario, had already issued a tabloid fanzine of the same name.

Bill Paul was a well known fan publisher and he also put out several issues of his flagship title, Media5, in the same tabloid format.

Which featured the early works of such people as Dean Motter, Ken Steacy, Ronn Sutton and even a memorable portfolio of drawings by the young Terry Austin.

The reason for all this preamble, is to segue into a photograph that I rediscovered in my files the other day.

The staff of the Andromeda Warehouse as they were in 1989.

I could name several of them without help, but Tom Stormonth and Brian Morton helped out with a few that I couldn't remember.

We haven't named them all yet but here is a list of the ones we remember:

Front Row, Left to Right

Manuel

Owen Baird

Barb Higgins

Alison Kent

Tim James

Craig Bryson 

Second Row

Tom Stormonth

Ron Van Leeuwen

Dennis Connolly

Shane Kenny

on the far Right Stuart Young

Third Row

Judy (Judi?) Brown

Jim Brigham

Girl in Red Pants?

Uli Havermann

Karen

Grimacing Guy?

Fourth Row

Scott Spence

Brian Morton

Fifth Row

The two guys on the left at the very back??

The guy on the right, wearing the cool shades, is 

Sven Patrick Larsen.

Where are they all today? I wonder.

   

Ty Templeton the Amazing Young Man

One of the people that used to work for the Silver Snail

was a charming young man named William P. Marks;

who spent a lot of the time smiling and chatting with the customers.

I think that it was Ron Van Leuween or Tom Stormonth who

dubbed him "Smiler" or some such nickname.

William was an entrepreneurial sort and he joined forces with another young wunderkind of Toronto fandom, Kevin Davies, on the last four issues of the Fanzine turned Magazine, "Miriad".

Art by Kevin Davies

Art by Kevin Davies

Art by Kevin Davies

That was back in 1981.  The magazine and the publishing partnership fizzled out after their fourth issue together (#7) but it led to Bill's next publishing venture, "Vortex Comics".  Which in turn led to him publishing the cult hit comic, Mr. X and later on, Howard Chaykin's "Black Kiss".

Courtesy of Dean Motter .com

Not forgetting, Chester Brown and his contribution,
 "Yummy Fur",
which was not my cup of tea but garnered a lot of critical acclaim in it's day.

That eventually led to my seeing the early artwork of the incredibly talented and very young, Tyrone Templeton.

Ty was something else back then, charming, witty, talented and handsome... overwhelming in a lot of ways and a conversation with him was often akin to being slapped in the face, repeatedly, with a wet fish, by the whole cast of Monty Python!

At least, that is how I often felt.

Anyway, Ty was a regular member of the ebb and flow of the Silver Snail regulars and I watched, in awe, as his skill with pencil and ink continued to improve.

That brings us to the oddity that I present below.

I have a vague but persistent memory of actually receiving this flyer from Ty himself, while milling about in the foyer of the Snail.

I didn't attend.  I'm a lot of things but a party person I am not, invite me at your peril!

I would be interested to know if anyone else managed to hang onto one of these flyers or am I alone in this?

That's it, time to call in the cat and head for bed.
See you all next time.

The Silver Snail at 323 Queen Street West, a little History.

I was twenty years old, living in Birmingham, England and making plans to visit relatives in Toronto, Ontario, for the very first time.  I was already a comic book junkie and had been for at least seven years but I had never been to North America, the Promised Land of Comic Collecting!

It was the summer of 1977 and in the pages of the Overstreet Price Guide for that year, I found a full page advertisement for the Silver Snail.  I knew that, once in Toronto, I had to visit the store and discover the untold treasures awaited me there.

As it happened, in the twenty or so days that I was in Canada, I visited the store three or four times and came away with priceless things like the missing issues of Charlton's/John Byrne's Doomsday Plus One... amongst other things.

More to the point, looking back, it was the first time that I met Ron Van Leeuwen, the owner and his girlfriend/wife Uli Havermann.  It was also the first address of the Silver Snail,

321 Queen Street West, Toronto.

Being young and stupid, I neglected to take a photograph of the store and I really wish that I had done because it would be wonderful to look at it today. 

Although I didn't have any plans to emigrate to Canada at the time, within two years I was doing just that.  I landed in Toronto on the last day of January in 1980 and very soon thereafter made my way downtown to visit "The Snail".

That first visit was a trifle confusing and I thought, at first, that the store had been renovated.  For a start, I was sure that the check-out counter had been on the left, as one came through the door and yet, here it was, on the right.  Of course, once I spoke to Ron, it became clear that he had moved his business into the store next door,

we were standing in

323 Queen Street West, Toronto

the second home of the store.

It took me another two years to get around to actually photographing the new address but in the winter of 1982 into 1983, I was about to return to England for a visit and I wanted to show

 my old collecting buddies where I got my books from.

Otherwise, I wouldn't be able to show you this :

and here is the beautiful business card, for this incarnation of the store, painted by the talented and at the time, very young, Paul Rivoche :

It may not seem like very much to be excited about but to a lot of people, this store was Mecca and we all visited it regularly; new comic books or not, just to hang out.

I don't think that I ever told Ron, at least not in so many words, how much he and his store meant to me.  I'm sorry that I didn't because I should have but I was young and thoughtless.

With that in mind,

THANK YOU RON

for all the good years

and the good memories.

This one is dedicated to Mike Bothelho

of Toronto's Comic Book Lounge

and his enthusiasm for the history

of the comic book shops of our city.