This page is certainly not a great stunner; but, in a funny way, it turned out to be pretty important to me to acquire.
For years, the local Minnesota comic book scene was dominated behind the scenes by one mover-and-shaker. Dominic Postiglione ('Nick Post' to his friends) ran the largest Comic Book Store in the state, 'The Source - Comics and Games.' He was the driving force of the local twice-annual comic convention, and a tireless supporter and cheerleader of local Minnesota comic talent of all types. He'd made his fortune creating a homegrown Root Beer label, and still maintained a prominent annual MN State Fair booth supporting it, where he gave away nearly as much root beer as he sold.
Gregarious, always quick with a story (not all of them true) and literally larger than life, he was beloved by his friends and volunteers, and grudgingly respected by his competitors.
He was indirectly responsible for some of my largest collecting triumphs, helping determine a FMV price on the
Michael Golden complete Micronauts 11, and pushing me to purchasing a
lot of ROM Spaceknight pages which formed one of my collection's cornerstones.
He was aware of my attempt to complete
the 'other' Micronauts #11, and for years gleefully hinted that he had an Image-era Micronauts page stashed away in his own personal collection... somewhere.
Maybe it was the one last page I still needed, hmmmm?
But I was never able to shift him to go looking for it.
...and then, one horrible, shocking day, he was gone. He was only 52. The local MN comic book community still feels the ache of his absence.
Two years later, I spoke with his one son, who was working his father's post at the Root Beer stand at the State Fair, and learned he needed help determining the value of his father's comic art collection. I was delighted to be asked to help. Assisting his family in some small way felt like I was coming through for Nick, years after his passing.
A committee of experienced local collectors was formed. While Nick's collection ended up being a bit smaller than I'd anticipated (given Nick's stories), it still had some impressive pieces.
Most notably to me, though, was the presence of three Image-era Micronauts pages. So, Nick hadn't been telling Tall Tales after all. After agreeing on a fair price, I was delighted to add them to my collection. As a remembrance to Nick, a gratifying reminder of my faithful service to his family, and, yes, finally: the satisfaction of having one less place to have to look while trying to complete Kurth's Micronauts #11.
