Something I meant to mention months ago is the anonymous donation to the Library of Congress of the original art to the 1962 comic book Amazing Fantasy #15. That particular issue includes the first appearance of Spider-Man, by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko.
And a few months ago a new book about Ditko came out from Fantagraphics, the outfit that is handling The Complete Peanuts. (Here’s the set I’m hoping to get from Santa this year.) STRANGE AND STRANGER The World of Steve Ditko, by Blake Bell, rated a review in the New York Times.
Paul,
Yeah, it’s amazing that the entire issue’s original art is together, but I’ve seen no mention of the cover. Personally, I don’t care for Kirby’s rendering of Spidey on the AF #15 cover, and I prefer Ditko’s own original cover art that’s been printed in a couple of places, including the Omnibus.
I haven’t seen a name yet of a rumored donor. Whoever it is, he did the right thing by donating it to the Library of Congress. The respect and legitimacy that’s now granted to comic books is something I never imagined when I was a kid.
By the way, are you still in touch with the Colan’s? Do you happen to have Gene and Adrienne Colan’s phone number? I need to talk to them about something. It’s OK if you don’t. I’ll be talking to John Romita Sr. next week about Gene. Thanks.
Doug,
Can you believe that this ENTIRE comic book of original art was still all together in one place?! I was talking to a group of comic retailers and we all came to the conclusion that, in order of importance, the most important comic character first appearance would, of course, be Superman. Next would be Batman. Third would be Spider-Man. The original art from Action Comics # 1 and Detective Comics # 27 does not exist anymore. The COMPLETE story from Amazing Fantasy # 15 is probably worth $10-20 million dollars. I wonder if the donor had any idea that this artwork would be worth that kind of money…I know I’d probably pay $1,000,000 for it if I had the chance.