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From the letters page of JIMMY OLSEN 148, April 1972 :

  • Dear editor:
    Five String Mob... haven't I heard that name some place before? Ah, yes, now it comes back to me.
    It was from the San Diego Comic Con, right? When I saw the picture, I didn't believe you were going to put it in JIMMY OLSEN.
    But the Five String Mob... consisting of Bill Lund, Scot Shaw, Roger Freedman, Mike Towry, John Pound, and Barry Alfonso (who is he sixth string, Barri -Boy)... made their first appearance in issue 144. Most likely we will see them in future issues of JO (I hope).
    So until Green Lantern's ring turns to gold, make mine DC.
    --Max Erwine, Fairport Harbor, Ohio

    You aren't the only one who identified the Five... or Six ! Oddly, though, no one asked what a string group was doing with wind instruments. Guess they figured, as we did, that anything from Apokalips must have strings attached ! -- E Nelson Bridwell



From a later Comic Fest program book:

Quote
“The San Diego Five String Mob, which appeared in a couple of Kirby's Fourth World comics for DC, was based on the Comic-Con committee members whose photos were on the facing page in the program book,” says Towry. “There will be at least four members of the Five String Mob at the Comic Fest: me, Scott Shaw!, Roger Freedman, and Barry Alfonso, who as Barri Boy was the secret sixth-member of the Five String Mob. It's possible that Bill Lund might be able to make it down to the Fest as well.”

The illustraion of them by Kirby, and opposie, photos of the six Kirby referenced them from :
[Linked Image from media.sandiegoreader.com]
https://media.sandiegoreader.com/im...b3f6a5d7692ccc373d56e40cf708e3fa67d9af9d

And as they appeared in JIMMY OLSEN 144 :

[Linked Image from comicsobserver.files.wordpress.com]

https://2.bp.blogspot.com/XzbQJXogv...vlY4Je5PSK3vWbdhNiS7rkMuS8jyFPpAjgR2G=s0