Rutland, its parade and Fagan himself appeared in more than 20 comics during the 1970s and 1980s. One of those writers was a man who was a comics fan himself when he first met Fagan.
"I met him at a convention. I was a member of ISOS (Illegitimate Sons of Superman) and so was Tom, sort of," longtime comic book writer and editor Len Wein said during a telephone interview on Wednesday.
Wein, who was writing "Justice League of America" during his first trip to Rutland, said he watched the parade alongside two other writers who were penning pages for Marvel Comics and DC Comics at the time.
After seeing the parade — and attending some of Fagan's famous parties at a mansion he oversaw on Grove Street — Wein said, he returned to DC Comics where he wrote the Rutland Parade, Fagan, himself and his two colleagues into the issue of "Justice League of America" No. 103.
"That was a legendary issue because you could see all of us standing along the parade route," Wein said.