In memory of Bart Bush and OAFCON’s future. 1 1

[Yellow Kid]

Bart was a great guy and loved comics.  I always hate to lose a friend like him.

[Ghoste99]

On 9/4/2020 at 3:02 PM, fett said:

hey guys wasn't Planet Comics in Norman originally over at Campus Corner or thereabouts? If not Planet what was the name of the store? Too many years ago.  

If I remember correctly, in the early to mid-80's, Southside Comics and Science Fiction, run by Steve (Richter, I think is his last name) was on Campus Corner and Bart had Metropolis on Hal Muldrow Dr. (Someplace, I still have a brochure of Bart's Metropolis store.) I think the Southside Comics store became Planet Comics and Science Fiction shortly before they moved over to the location on Main St across from Norman High School, around the time they merged and Bart came on board. The former location of Southside/Planet on Campus Corner went on to become Cookies 'n Cards that was owned by Nancy Russell.

[Cat-Man_America]

If anyone hasn't seen this, here's the Tulsa World article on Bart's passing...

https://tulsaworld.com/entertainment/books/bart-bush-fandom-pioneer-and-oklahomas-first-comic-shop-owner-dies/article_e70fc1c0-eeba-11ea-8de4-9f93baa0d97f.html

A reunion photo I took some years back of several of OAF's founding members...

Bart Bush, Larry Latham and Robert A. Brown

Edited September 7, 2020 by Cat-Man_America

[mtlevy1]

Sad day - Bart sold me my grail back in 2006

[fett]

On 9/6/2020 at 7:23 PM, Ghoste99 said:

If I remember correctly, in the early to mid-80's, Southside Comics and Science Fiction, run by Steve (Richter, I think is his last name) was on Campus Corner and Bart had Metropolis on Hal Muldrow Dr. (Someplace, I still have a brochure of Bart's Metropolis store.) I think the Southside Comics store became Planet Comics and Science Fiction shortly before they moved over to the location on Main St across from Norman High School, around the time they merged and Bart came on board. The former location of Southside/Planet on Campus Corner went on to become Cookies 'n Cards that was owned by Nancy Russell.

 thank you  thats the one 

[Cat-Man_America]

On 9/6/2020 at 7:23 PM, Ghoste99 said:

If I remember correctly, in the early to mid-80's, Southside Comics and Science Fiction, run by Steve (Richter, I think is his last name) was on Campus Corner and Bart had Metropolis on Hal Muldrow Dr. (Someplace, I still have a brochure of Bart's Metropolis store.) I think the Southside Comics store became Planet Comics and Science Fiction shortly before they moved over to the location on Main St across from Norman High School, around the time they merged and Bart came on board. The former location of Southside/Planet on Campus Corner went on to become Cookies 'n Cards that was owned by Nancy Russell.

There was another bookstore on Campus Corner run by Mike Madden.  He carried some comics or comic related books, but that store predominantly focused on SF hardcover books & paperbacks and university text books.  The name of that bookstore still eludes me even though I visited it while in Norman many times.  Since you remember other shops and proprietors on Campus Corner from back then amazingly well, perhaps you or someone with a better memory than mine at the moment can recall it.  Here's another photograph of Bart with Mike Madden and his wife that from an OAFcon several years ago...

[Ghoste99]

1 hour ago, Cat-Man_America said:

There was another bookstore on Campus Corner run by Mike Madden.  He carried some comics or comic related books, but that store predominantly focused on SF hardcover books & paperbacks and university text books.  The name of that bookstore still eludes me even though I visited it while in Norman many times.  Since you remember other shops and proprietors on Campus Corner from back then amazingly well, perhaps you or someone with a better memory than mine at the moment can recall it.  Here's another photograph of Bart with Mike Madden and his wife that from an OAFcon several years ago...

I think your memory goes back further than mine, actually and I think the history is probably a combination of what we both remember. According to an article in The Oklahoman, Mike Madden opened Bibliofile Books near Campus corner in 1978, started carrying comics and opened Southside Comics in south Oklahoma City in 1985. I remember a Southside Comics that became Planet on Campus Corner and remember the Bibliofile Books name, but I don't know if he changed the name of Bibliofile Books or if he opened a separate Southside store on Campus Corner. I'm guessing Steve was running the Norman store as manager, maybe? From '83 to '88, I was driving to Norman from small town Lexington for my weekly comicshops run and sometimes popping in to the record shop that was on Campus Corner (Shadowplay Records, I think), so some of that history is before my time. I don't recall ever going to Bibliofile, but I did go to the Book Stall store a lot, though. I think Book Stall was on Main St when I started shopping at it, then moved to Gray St and they had a small collection of back issues with the more expensive ones kept behind the counter. In the late 80's I moved to Norman and hung out and worked on Campus Corner through the early 90's and remember other shops and proprietors from that time period much better. Now, I'm curious about Bibliophile Books. I'll have to ask some friends who will know more about it than I do.

Bart's store, Metropolis, was my favorite of all of them from that time, though. He had a fantastic assortment of... well, everything, really! New and old comics and pulps (I bought a Doc Savage pulp from him there. Sold it back to him years later, then bought it back from him at OAFCon a couple years back. Lol). Movie and comics posters and original art (I remember he had a beautiful golden age Superman page framed on one of the walls) and an amazing selection of some manga and Japanese model imports - I bought a model of Space Battleship Yamato from him but really wanted the Mach 5 with metal buzzsaws! A lot of the stuff he carried, I would never have gotten to see, otherwise. It was a small shop but a world of wonders!

[Cat-Man_America]

At this point I’m thinking that it wouldn't be a bad idea to continue the thread as a tribute to Bart, the OAFzine, past OAF-cons, Multicons, Springcons, Wintercons and the evolution of fandom in Oklahoma generally.  

If anyone has photos, videos or stories that add to this history, please feel free to share them with the forum.  The Oklahoma Alliance of Fans was an active collectors club with elected offices that existed for well over a decade and has endured in a less formal capacity for over fifty years. 

I’m pretty sure that Bart would look fondly upon carrying forward nostalgic memories of the club...

 

Edited September 11, 2020 by Cat-Man_America
added images