Tales to Astonish 100 -- signed by Dan Adkins? 0

[jools&jim]

Just got this in today with no story/provenance:

Any chance that the sig is legit? 

If it is, and given that it's on the front cover in ballpoint, rather than at the bottom of the splash page, as was commonplace for autographs back in the day, I'm wondering if this might have been his personal copy?

What say the experts?

Thanks! -Mike

[seanfingh]

Adkins worked mostly as an inker, but the times I have seen his original pencils, it is signed in a stylized block letter signature style.  I suspect that was little Danny Adkins' personal copy that he bought at the drugstore in Ames IA with his paper route money! 

[CardiacKid1]

Adkins inked the cover. I wonder if some fan at convention asked him to sign the cover for that reason.  The more common spot was obviously the first page in those days, but it wasn’t unheard of to have an occasional cover signed.

Also: what incentive would someone have to forge the inker’s sig?

Still, I agree with Sean, in that I haven’t seen that style of sig by him before ....

[jools&jim]

Hey, thanks all.  Adkins also inked the interior of this issue, over Marie Severin's pencils -- great stuff.

What struck me as interesting is that the signature at the top of the cover also includes Adkins' correct middle initial ("L"), which would probably not have been widely known in fandom back in the day, when he was generally credited (at Marvel) as just "Dan Adkins" or "Dapper Dan Adkins". 

It's not out of the realm of possibility that little Danny Adkins in Ames, IA, would have the same middle initial as the Dan Adkins, but that would be one helluva coincidence, wouldn't it...?  

I also remember reading somewhere that some artists (back then, and possibly these days, too) had two signatures: a more stylized version they used to formally sign their work, and a workaday "John Hancock" used for endorsing their checks, etc. ...

Edited July 19, 2018 by jools&jim