The 3 JACK KIRBY pieces I wish I still had - A PANEL PAGE ART story 0

[glenbru]

I've been having some fun with these, so figured I'd present another...

The three JACK KIRBY art pieces I wish I still had.

I'll begin by saying that the original art market/hobby has become much more expensive than it was when I started in 1994. I used to go to San Diego Comic Con with 10,000 dollars in my pocket and come home with multiple incredible Kirby 70's covers. One year, maybe 1996, I bought the entire NEW GODS 8 story for $4000 from Glenn Danzig. I actually split the issue with Jonathan Mankuta--by split, I mean that he got the cover for 3000 and I got the complete story for 4000. Now that story would be at least 100k if you could find it. I sold it a while back.

Anyway, I really meant to focus on the three pieces I regret selling that became too expensive to keep. As weird as it sounds, you almost hope that some pieces, in your collection, don't escalate in value because if they do it means that someone will make you a crazy enough offer that you feel you have to sell it.

That's what happened to me with these three...

First up, the double page spread to the KIRBY Silver Surfer graphic novel, 1978. This was the final LEE/KIRBY collaboration. Jack Kirby drew his heart out -- Joe Sinnott inked the stuffing out of it. I got this years ago -- I had to trade a huge poster size piece from the 1984 NEW GODS revival and a twice up Thor splash that had Thor and Hercules on it, but it was worth it! The page hung on my kitchen wall for years--my wife actually liked that one enough to let me hang it there.

Second, was the unpublished X-MEN 10 cover. Very few art covers exist before 1965. This issue, from 1964 probably survived because it got lost in the Marvel offices and was found years later -- one of the very few surviving covers from the Jack Kirby/Chic Stone collaboration. I often wondered why this cover was not published--in my eyes it was much better than the one they used. I first saw this cover years ago hanging in the home of Jack Kirby's art agent. I was fortunate to be at SD the year it was traded to Mike Burkey, and Mike was kind enough to flip it to me.

Finally, the CAPTAIN AMERICA 100 cover. Tom Horvitz had this cover on his wall for years. A number of years ago, I made Tom a crazy offer, I had a windfall, and he accepted. This was a special cover that saw many changes before publication--they changed Cap's head, had Frank Giacoia make inking changes over Syd Shores' original inks and removed the shadow of Zemo from the background. The wonderful thing about this cover is that the changes must have been made on a stat cover because the original art was completely unmolested and it preserved Shores beautiful original inks -- it's a stunning beauty. My understanding is that this art was owned by the Marvel staffer, John Verpoorten, before entering the marketplace.

Posting the DPS here -- come visit PANEL PAGE ART on Facebook to see the other two...

https://www.facebook.com/panelpageart/

 

[comicparadox]

Amazing artwork! If I still had a soul, I would trade it for either the SS DPS or the Cap 100 cover. 

[glenbru]

Well I still know where the art is -- if you're serious about trading your soul.

[comicparadox]

PM sent

[SquareChaos]

I could never have given up that Surfer DPS, and even not being a huge Cap fan... likely couldn't have let go of that Cap 100 cover either. 

 

Also... fun post.

[PhilipB2k17]

They butchered that Cap 100 Cover. I have a wood wall hanging of that published cover in my house. The original is so much better than the one they published. I guess they wanted to add the Wasp? And Shores’ inking was superb. 

[glenbru]

22 minutes ago, SquareChaos said:

I could never have given up that Surfer DPS, and even not being a huge Cap fan... likely couldn't have let go of that Cap 100 cover either. 

 

Also... fun post.

Bills and kid's private school become a strong incentive.

[glenbru]

5 minutes ago, PhilipB2k17 said:

They butchered that Cap 100 Cover. I have a wood wall hanging of that published cover in my house. The original is so much better than the one they published. I guess they wanted to add the Wasp? And Shores’ inking was superb. 

They really didn't like Shores inks.  All that line work would get lost in the printing process.  They wanted a simpler line--the kind they got from Giacoia.  But I agree, the original is much nicer!