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Article How Amazing Fantasy # 15 OA ended in the library of congress
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101 posts in this topic

3 hours ago, tth2 said:

Thanks for posting the link to the story! :applause:

So the story about how ASM #1 art "hit the market" in that story is different than the one I've seen here, and elsewhere. A dealer was cold called, and met the seller in a public place? And it was sold for $10K? 

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45 minutes ago, Catwoman_Fan said:

I visited years ago, it was surprisingly easy to make an appointment.  :luhv:

Interesting that she now confirms that all three - Marie, Stan, and Steve - were not the donor.  Good for her, adhering to the donor's wishes. 

Leaves open the question of who the donor was. I've heard it was both Lee and Severin from different sources. But, if Severin's children, for example, donated it then technically she could say Severin wasn't the donor, right?

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I had a chance to visit  and look at the art for Amazing Fantasy #15. Its very easy and they have other artwork in their collection which you can also view. Along with AF #15 I got to see a dozen Burne Hogarth Tarzan Sundays. Definitely should be on everyone's bucket list to visit Library of Congress and view the art for Amazing Fantasy #15.

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Just now, Black_Adam said:

Can a Canadian get a reader's card to the Library of Congress?

Without any problem, I'm from Belgium and got a card way back in 2010 to go and see the AF 15 art. Takes about 15 mins to make/get the card. When you schedule an appointment, they ask you to come 15-30 minutes early so you can get registered.

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19 minutes ago, Black_Adam said:

Can a Canadian get a reader's card to the Library of Congress?

You can also pre-register online so all you have to do when you arrive is give your ID, take a picture, and sign.  Saves yourself a few minutes.  https://www.loc.gov/rr/readerregistration.html 

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The article gave me the impression that the art may have been donated by someone to whom Ditko had gifted it. It reads is if Ditko had given his "blessing" to the decision. I'm blanking now, but who was the artist who worked with Ditko on his later, independent stuff? (Mr A, the last two issues of Tales of the Mysterious Traveler, etc) Isn't there an artist protege who was to Ditko as Theakston was to Kirby?

Of course, it could have been anyone who was close to him, but it may not occur to someone without an attachment to comics that the work belonged in the National Archives.

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37 minutes ago, Readcomix said:

The article gave me the impression that the art may have been donated by someone to whom Ditko had gifted it. It reads is if Ditko had given his "blessing" to the decision. I'm blanking now, but who was the artist who worked with Ditko on his later, independent stuff? (Mr A, the last two issues of Tales of the Mysterious Traveler, etc) Isn't there an artist protege who was to Ditko as Theakston was to Kirby?

Of course, it could have been anyone who was close to him, but it may not occur to someone without an attachment to comics that the work belonged in the National Archives.

Maybe I'm having a memory lapse, but I never heard of Ditko having an assistant on Mr. A or any of his other independent work.  It would really be out of character for him.  The only close partnerships I'm aware of were with artist Eric Stanton, who he shared a studio with in the 60's and Robin Snyder, who was his publisher for many years.  

There have been various discussions about art returns over the years and all evidence points to the fact that Ditko never received the art back from Marvel.  I think he changed his tune a bit in later years, but he used to contend that the art was owned by Marvel and therefore not his place to claim ownership.  

Hopefully we'll find out one day who really donated the art, but I guess it could have been anyone who worked at Marvel at the time (or even visited on a regular basis).

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