This one is really cool.
I realized when I got this booklet in the mail that if I had a time machine I would use it for purely selfish reasons. I don’t mean I would go back in time with a sports almanac and make an obscene amount of money betting on games or buy stock in companies destined to succeed. No, I would do things like go back in time and attend really cool conventions like this one.
I know. It’s weird. I don’t know what the Butterfly Effect would be by attending a convention you weren’t supposed to attend, so let’s be glad I don’t have access to a time machine.
The International Superman Exposition is one of those conventions. Superman’s 50th birthday in Superman’s hometown. If I am correct this was the convention where the very first Super Summit (the meetings Superman editors and creators would have to map out the next year’s worth of stories) took place which, to me, was history in the making. More than anything it’s an exposition all about Superman in the city of his birth.
I’m trying really hard not to totally geek out right now.
The contents of this booklet are interesting as well but there are no real visuals which is why I didn’t scan them. It starts with an opening letter from Neverending Battle, Inc., the non-profit group that organized the Exposition, stating the purpose of the exposition and some of the programming that will occur over the four day event. One of the neatest things about this “Who We Are” was seeing that not only was there going to be a giant Superman exhibit but it was also going to be the site of the 1988 Starfleet National Convention. So it was a Superman and Star Trek convention rolled up in one four day event.
After a schedule for the events of the exposition the booklet goes into the various workshops and panels that will be part of the show. There was going to be a Science Fiction track, a Comics at the Expo track and a Film-Video Program as well. This is followed by information on Neovention VII (a gaming convention that was going to be part of the expo), a break down on the 1988 Starfleet National Conference, how to set up exhibits and dealer’s tables, recommendations on how to get to Ohio with special rates for Continental and Eastern Airlines, membership information and hotel information.
I did a little digging into what actually went down at the Exposition and found this video from a local news station. The audio is only on one track but it’s the late Curt Swan and Jerry Ordway being interviewed so I can deal with it.
Again, I would have loved to have gone to this Exposition but I was 12 years old in June of 1988 and there was no way I was going to convince my parents to travel from Pennsylvania to Ohio. Getting this booklet was a real treat and I am glad I stumbled on it while searching eBay.
Now if I had that time machine I could do more than imagine what it was like but I don’t think that’s going to happen in the near future. Or the past. In the end it’s all wibbly-wobbly, timey-whimey.