Collector and convention promotor Mitch Hallock has been a fan of comics since he was a little kid. Building on advice from his father, he has created a collection of thousands of comics since the early 1970s. As a fan of conventions, he also runs the TerrifiCon at the Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, CT.

Recently, Hallock spoke to Scoop contributor, collector, and Overstreet Advisor Art Cloos. The pair discussed Hallock’s history in collecting, conventions, the current market and current con scene.

Scoop: Mitch, it’s a real pleasure to have you sit down with Scoop to do this interview.
Mitch Hallock (MH): Great to be here Art.

Scoop: So, do you remember your first exposure to comics?
MH: I do. I can remember superheroes always being part of my life growing up in New Haven, Connecticut. I can close my eyes and see my dad at the counter of Liggett's drugstore grabbing two comics off the spinner rack and bringing them back into the car. I was wondering what he had bought. He handed them to me and said, “read these and don’t throw them away.” They were a copy of Detective Comics and Amazing Spider-Man. I just turned 50. So, this was around 1971 or ’72.

Scoop: Were you collecting or just reading them in the beginning?
MH: I was reading and collecting them from the beginning. My dad had comics in the early ’40s. He saved them all, and when he went to the Marines in 1957, my grandmother threw them away. So, he said to me, “don’t throw them out.” So, it’s his fault that I have 40,000 comics in this house.

Scoop: Did you have a favorite company or title in those days?
MH: I have to tell you, he would buy me Batman and the Shadow and they scared the heck out of me. I liked Spider-Man way more and became a Marvel fan. But I would read anything I could find ‒ Casper, Richie Rich, Charlton Comics, Hulk, Superman ‒ anything. I would keep my books in a blue suitcase and lug it around to my cousins’ house and we would sit on the porch and read them. I can remember riding bikes to the 7-11, getting a slurpee and some comics. That was summer to me.

Scoop: So, you were saving them pretty early on?
MH: Yes, I was collecting comics and knowing words like radioactive in kindergarten and talking about the Hulk. Then I was watching Buck Rogers serials on Channel 9 on Saturday morning and playing with the hose and pretending it was a raygun. I was a total nerd from day one.

Scoop: I loved those old movie serials and still do today. When did you discover comic conventions?
MH: I would see ads in the comics for conventions in the mid-1970s and thought that was an amazing thing and wished I could go. New York City was about 90 minutes away on the train but it was like the moon when you were a kid. So, when there was one in New Haven, I ran to it. It was one room. There were dealer tables full of comic books. I was in heaven. It was at a con in New Haven I met legendary artist Wally Wood. I didn’t know who he was at the time, but I soon learned all about him.

Scoop: Very cool. I met George Pérez at a Seuling comic con before he turned pro. Shows how old I am. I think he was the first creator I ever met but I don’t think he remembers me from back then today, though we have met since. Do you remember who ran those New Haven shows?
MH: Funny you should ask. I was just talking with another con producer, Jim Talbot who ran Boston Comic Con, yesterday. As we were talking about cons I mentioned that Wally Wood con and he was there too. This was late ’70s. He said it was run by a fellow named Hal Kinney, who ran cons in Connecticut for years.

Scoop: Now, did comics follow you into high school or did you step back from them for a time as many collectors and dealers who have talked to us here have said they had happen to them?
MH: No, I never stopped. You see I could draw, and wanted to be a comic book artist. So, I always kept drawing and reading comics. I planned on working at Marvel one day, or even nearby Charlton. So, in high school I drew and drew every night and wanted to go to art school. In fact, my mother bumped into artist Mike Zeck who lived in New Haven right near my comic shop and asked him to call me and tell me how one became an artist. Sure enough, the phone rang one night and Mike Zeck talked to me for about 2 hours. So, to answer your question, I never stopped collecting since I was 5. That’s 45 years of comics being a part of my life.

Scoop: Did you have friends who were into comics in high school?
MH: Yes, I did. My pal Al Pallotto, who I knew from grammar school. We would actually write and draw our own comic strips on loose leaf notebook paper. He had Mr. Smith and Bozzy, the lopsided Cat. I know it was weird. And I did Crusher comics based on that wrestler from Amazing Fantasy #15. He was a wrestler-superhero. Besides him, we also wrote Hulk versions too as that was a big TV show at the time. But he and I would race to the comic shops to get copies of X-Men and Spider-Man.

Scoop: Very cool. I actually stopped for a while due to post graduate school tuition bills but I could not stay away.
MH: It’s an addiction but a good one.

Scoop: Indeed, it is. Now was there a point where you began to sell comics?
MH: I only sold one comic in my life. GI Joe #1 for $30. I wasn’t a fan of the cartoon or comic, but I picked it up because I liked Herb Trimpe. But I was at my shop and the owner heard me mention that I had it and hated it. So, he bought it.

Scoop: I have never sold a comic except when I upgraded or bought a double. Where did you go to college?
MH: I went to Paier Art College where I had artist Frank McLaughlin as a teacher. Then I left there for Southern Connecticut State University in New Haven alongside Ron Garney and future Spawn actor Michael Jai White. While there I was the newspaper cartoonist for 4 years. I even got a chance to work at Marvel in 1993. However, I turned it down because I was getting paid more in Connecticut as an art director.

Scoop: Frank is a great guy. I have a Batman #194 cover recreation from him. What came after college?
MH: After college, I became an art director, then a marketing director producing catalogs, ads, trade show booths, TV and radio commercials, you name it I did it.

Scoop: So, art has always been a big part of your life?
MH: Absolutely. I always wanted to be John Romita, Sr., Norman Rockwell, John Byrne, Gil Kane, or Don Martin, and [Michelangelo Merisi de] Caravaggio. That’s a combination of artists, isn't it?

Scoop: Oh my gosh, do you have any idea how much I like Caravaggio? We were at the Met exhibit in the ’80s. Still have the catalog around here somewhere and, yes, it is quite the combo.
MH: He was amazing in his use of light plus he was a hot head and unfortunately that lead to his early demise. But he was a genius.

Scoop: Now, let’s talk about how about you got into promoting comic conventions. How did the first one come about?
MH: I was involved with publicity for a convention prior to producing and organizing one in 2012. So, when an opportunity to produce and organize something I loved came my way I jumped at it. I was asked if I could put my use of advertising to help get the word out. I called around and got my radio friends to advertise it and then sent a press release out on the wire and had ABC’s Nightline pick it up and they came up from New York City to film a segment. So, it was a lot of fun.

Scoop: Which show was this?
MH: It was called ComicConn in North Haven in 2010.

Scoop: What was the next step?
MH: In 2012 I created a new limited liability company called Big Fedora Marketing, because I have a big head. I produced and organized a con in Trumbull where I live at a Marriott Hotel. That had 3,000 attendees. Then the next year it had 5,500 people coming in. Next it moved to a hockey arena with 13,000 people showing up. After that in 2015 I produced a comic con at Mohegan Sun casino and unveiled the name TerrifiCon, the Terrific Comic Con!

Scoop: Allie and I were at two of the hotel shows and liked them a lot. We enjoyed the arena show too. It was at one of the hotel shows that we first met up with Christie Marston and her dad and have become good friends with her since.
MH: Owen and Christie are great folks.

Scoop: Very much so. Now what do you see for your show over the long-term?
MH: Well, unlike other cons I focus on comics. I want to keep TerrifiCon the premiere comic creator focused event in the North East. That has always been part of my programming because deep down I am a fan and this is the dream show I always wanted to go to as a kid. As a showrunner and producer, I keep it focused on the folks who have been thrilling fans around the world with heroes for over 80 years. Plus, no matter how big it gets, it will always have that intimate atmosphere, where fans can talk to writers and artists. It’s not a pop culture show with wrestlers, horror, or the like. Any guest who is there has to have a connection to comics. The Mohegan Sun is making a new Expo center in 2018 and we will expand, plus I am already talking to new guests.

Scoop: Is the comic convention scene getting too crowded?
MH: I think it’s getting diluted. Cons that say they are “comic” ones have lost their way, in my opinion. I see artist alleys getting smaller at the “big” shows and their celeb photo-op areas getting bigger. And I think the con goer is going to suffer burn out from both waiting in long lines and definitely in their wallets emptying out. I do see the rise of small one day shows as a salvation. They are almost a throwback to the ’70s and ’80s. To single out a few there’s Plastic City Comic Con in Massachusetts for one. I just went to one called Broad Brook Comic Con. There is the Bing Comic Con that I have heard great things about. Again, these are smaller shows costing a few bucks to get in with artists and dealers as the focus. My favorite comic book show is in Plainville Connecticut eight times a year, which is a show that is all comics, and I can stay there all day shopping for comics and telling stories.

Scoop: Do you ever go to John Paul’s New Jersey shows? They are really comic centric and the collector/buyers who go there are pretty knowledgeable.
MH: No, I have been to a ton of cons from Baltimore to Vermont, the ones in New Jersey I have been to are run by my pals Dave O’Hare and Sal [Zurzolo] at Garden State Comic Fest and Nick [Berucci] who does New Jersey Comic Expo. I will check out the one you mentioned.

Scoop: What about the hobby itself? What do you think it will be like, say, 10 years from now? Are we in a bubble that is going to pop or will it continue to grow and develop?
MH: I go down to my local comic shop every Wednesday, Cave Comics in Newtown Connecticut. I get my reserved file, and look at what’s new. I look through PREVIEWS to see what’s coming out. I have to tell you I am excited to see new writers and artists, but I do find myself buying back issues and omnibuses. I like my old stories. I haven’t been impressed by a lot of the new comics, I think a change has to come along soon to keep the hobby and new readers alive. Maybe lower price points.

Scoop: What do you think about digital comics?
MH: I don’t think digital comics worked out very well, but there needs to be less product and better stories. It’s all about quality and not quantity. People confuse that all the time. Don’t make five Batman comics a month, rather make one or two really great ones. I don't need six Spider-Man crossovers, just one or two-issue arcs that are awesomely done. Sadly, I hear store owners tell me they think comics will be gone in 10 years. But I think they will never totally go away. They will be like vinyl records, people still love them. The market will just get smaller and with less product. I don’t want to see that happen but then again you are talking to a guy who still has a cassette player in his car. I hate change. I want my comics to be here forever and I will keep on making my Terrific Comic Cons for likeminded fans.

Scoop: I have to say your sentiments substantially reflect mine. Mitch, we very much thank you for taking the time today to sit for this interview.
MH: My pleasure, any chance to talk about comics is a time well spent, despite what my wife might say.