The Flash Friday feature is stepping aside today so I can talk about the passing of Allen Bellman. Apart from being one of the true gentlemen in comics, Allen was one of our last remaining living links to the Golden Age of comic books. He actually worked in the Timely bullpen with Stan Lee. It makes me sad to think about no longer seeing Allen’s and his lovely wife Roz’s smiling faces from behind their table at future comic cons.
I’ve been giving a lot of thought these days to the young men (and a few women) who recognized the power of that nascent art form and who wanted to devote their lives to nurturing its existence. It’s hard to capture that feeling with mere words, but I know that as a kid, even before I could read I recognized the power of comics on the page. I would have been at a loss to explain what I found there, but I knew it was magic… and magic I got. Allen was one of the magicians.
