Recently Shelton Drum, the collector and dealer who runs HeroesCon and opened and ran several comic shops, talked to Scoop contributor, collector, and Overstreet Advisor Art Cloos. Drum recalled how he got into comics, transitioning into selling comics at different venues, opening comic book stores, and running HeroesCon.

Scoop: Shelton, it is a real pleasure to have you sit down with us at Scoop for this interview.
Shelton Drum (SD): Thanks! I’m a big fan of all things Overstreet and Diamond [Comic Distributors].

Scoop: Well, that will make my editor happy to read.
SD: It’s true.

Scoop: Let’s start at the beginning. What was your first exposure to comics?
SD: I had a neighborhood friend about a year older than me that had a stack of comics. We would sit and read them for hours. I guess I was about 6 or 8 years old.

Scoop: I had one too down the block from my grandparents’ house. He would bring over stacks of DC comics to show me when I stayed at their house on weekends. What were the first books that you were exposed to?
SD: I was born in 1954. I’m just barely “Pre-Code.” So, I was reading his stuff beginning about ’62 to ’64. Hot Stuff, Stumbo, and Casper were my first favorites. He had some DC universe stuff too.

Scoop: Stumbo is a comic I have not heard mentioned in a very long time. Was this when you got hooked on comics?
SD: It was sometime in late 1963 or in 1964 when I read Amazing Spider-Man #7 “The Return of the Vulture” and I got hooked on Spidey. I lived in a very small town. There were no newsstands where we lived and only one drug store sold comics. I didn’t get on a regular buying schedule until sometime in 1965.

Scoop: How did your family react to your reading comics? Were they supportive, indifferent, or against it?
SD: They were actually very supportive. My family has an appreciation for art, and my Mom and Dad both liked antiques and history. I inherited the collecting DNA. Dad was a little frustrated with the amount of time I spent “messing with” comic books when I was on the clock working for him, but I think he saw my passion and enjoyed watching my career develop. Mom and Dad were my hospitality crew at the first 10 years of HeroesCons.

Scoop: That is very cool. You are lucky, as not everyone I have interviewed had such a positive experience with their families. Now, the first comic con was held in New York City in July 1964. When was the first show that you got to? For me it was a New York Seuling show in 1974.
SD: My first convention was the Atlanta Fantasy Fair in 1975, I think. We had swap meets around North Carolina earlier than that, though. Those meets were going on as far back as 1973.

My first real exposure to back issue comics, though, was at the Metrolina Flea Market here in Charlotte when I attended college at UNCC.

Scoop: So, you were born and grew up in North Carolina?
SD: Yes. I was born in Newton, North Carolina the population was under 7,000 at that time. I came to Charlotte in 1972 for college. Been here pretty much ever since.

Scoop: Besides Spidey what were some of the other comics you collected?
SD: I drank the Stan Lee Kool-Aid. I bought into the whole Marvel mania thing in the ’70s. But I would also pick up DC and other companies that attracted my attention on impulse. Gil Kane, Carmine Infantino, Neal Adams covers always grabbed me. I liked Turok too, it was the dinosaurs, I guess, that attracted me.

Scoop: I was mostly a DC guy but I started with Marvel around 1966. Did you have friends who collected too? Could you join any comic collecting clubs where you lived?
SD: No. My neighborhood buddy stuck with it for a couple of years, but we all got into sports and he was a great athlete. I played sports, but I never gave up the comics. I was pretty much alone in my collecting until I got to college.

Scoop: I had one collector friend. No one else I knew collected comics besides him. So, you found fellow collectors in college?
SD: It was a different story at UNCC. I posted an index card on the dorm bulletin boards for buying old comics and made some comic friends that way.

Scoop: Did you consider yourself a collector?
SD: For sure. I was buying back issues from the guys advertising in the comic books. I was close to a complete Silver Age Marvel collection in the early ’70s.

Scoop: Were you a Robert Bell Howard Rogfsky customer?
SD: Yes, Bell, Rogofsky, Grand Books, Passiac, Claude Held, and more. I bought every collection or accumulation of comics I could find too.

Scoop: All the classic names. In doing these interviews I have had people tell me how they stepped away from comics for a while as sports and dating and cars took over. Did that ever happen with you? I know it did for me for a while.
SD: Not really. Once I started getting those catalogs and seeing the values go up, I started buying multiple copies of all the Marvels. I figured I’d use the extra copies to trade or sell to get the back issues I wanted. That has never waned. I now have 1,000,000 comics! Want’a trade?

Scoop: In your personal collection?
SD: No. In my inventory. I started selling at that flea market after just a few visits to search for old comics. At that time, I already had more extras in my collection than those dealers had for sale.

Scoop: Wow, I am seriously impressed. You started selling at an early age?
SD: I was 19, I guess, when I first set up at the flea market.

Scoop: Now when did you start selling comics full time?
SD: It was a gradual evolution for me. I started the Charlotte MiniCon in 1977. It evolved out of the flea market dealers that started setting up after I did. The minicon built a following for a part-time store in 1980. That became 7 days a week within a few months. I was still working a full time “real” job even then, with my girlfriend at the time sitting in the comic shop. By 1983 I had started HeroesCon and opened two more stores. I quit working the other job. I was 29.

Scoop: You had a job outside the comic world for a while?
SD: Yes, I worked for my Dad in our family business. He owned an auto salvage yard.

Scoop: How many stores did you have and do you still have them today?
SD: In 1994 I was at my peak of six stores. I had opened or bought and closed or sold a few more during that time. The darkness of 1995 and ’96 was closing fast. I was able to sell all of the stores except the original here in Charlotte to either employees, customers, or competitors. All are still running as comic stores, some in their second, third, or fourth ownerships. I focused all of my effort on making Heroes Aren’t Hard to Find in Charlotte the best store I could, and growing the Heroes Convention.

Scoop: Would you care to elaborate on what you mean by the darkness?
SD: The crash of our industry. Marvel bought Heroes World to self-distribute their books thereby forcing Diamond to go exclusive first with DC and then Image, Dark Horse, and Valiant. All the other distributors shut down. Those were dark and uncertain times for the hobby. It was Marvel’s fault. We fell out of love at that time, Marvel and I.

Scoop: That is what I thought you meant. But you got through it and today your convention is one of the tops in the country, is it not?
SD: I like to think so. We do it with comic books and the folks that create them. We have almost no publisher involvement. Small press and self-publishers yes, but the focus is on artists, writers, and tons of great comic book dealers offering every comic you can imagine. Oh, no actors, wrestlers, zombies, scream queens, or the like either. It’s all about the comic books.

Scoop: Here in the northeast I am seeing some young sellers breaking into the hobby. Do you think there is still room for new blood to come in?
SD: For sure. There are tons of “new kids on the block.” Social media and eBay have made it easy for interested folks to get their feet wet. Plus there are lots of small and large conventions every weekend to set up at. Too many conventions really in my opinion, but what do I know? Over time the market will decide what is too many.

Scoop: Comics are talked about on CNBC as a new asset class for investors. Can the hobby handle the constant increase in the price of vintage books?
SD: That is a good question. There seems to be no problem that I have seen, at least in my collecting career. The big books are now being bought and sold by investment groups, I guess. It’s hard to know with the auctions. The details aren’t always made public. I do think the “good stuff” will always be the good stuff. [Amazing Fantasy #15] will never be a bad investment.

Scoop: And that is very true my friend. Do you still collect comics today?
SD: I do collect still. Like I said, I’m pre-code being born in early 1954. I look for birthday books and anything that I’ve never owned or seen before. I keep far too many books out of my inventory to be truly successful. I’d rather have cool comics than fancy food.

Scoop: Oh, you are most definitely my kind of guy, bro. I feel the same way. Any closing advice for budding collectors?
SD: Collect what you like. Investments are cool and are a real part of the industry, but make sure you can still appreciate it if all goes to heck.

Scoop: Shelton it was a pleasure talking to you. We thank you for taking the time to sit down with us.
SD: Thank You Art! I love talking about comics and the history of comic fandom! I look forward to seeing you at a show very soon.

Those interested in finding information about HeroesCon can do so at www.heroesonline.com and Shelton’s store in the About section. He can be reached by email at shelton@heroesonline.com.