I came to comic book art collecting late. I bought my first piece in February of 2005. I bought my first comic book in the summer of 1964. Though I'd seen pages of comic art at a few Houston conventions when still in public school, I never spent much time looking at them. (Dumb!)
To be fully honest, my grandmother bought this for me 38 years after she died! Yes, my grandmother provided the money years after she died. Now, that's devotion.
Briefly, when she passed in 1967, she left a trust for her two adopted children. When the trust completed its mission, it dissolved and reverted to her three natural children. My dad was one of those. My dad had passed away in 2003, so his share was split among myself and my three siblings.
Suddenly, I had $1500 of my very own - it wasn't (immediately) required for college, the house didn't need repairs, the cars were good so I was authorized to spend it on myself! 🙂
About that same time, I discovered ebay and Heritage Auctions. I decided to spend the money on comic book art. There were two pieces that interested me the most:
- This Superman by Curt Swan
- A one page Sugar and Spike story by Sheldon Mayer
I had no clue as to the value of either piece, I doubt that I'd discovered Heritage archive at that point though I also doubt it would have helped much given the nature of the pieces and how early it was in their comic art auctioning business.
So, I bid on both pieces. As the auction neared the end, I realized that they were both popular and I couldn't afford to win both so I had to pick one.
I decided to go all in on the Sugar and Spike piece. That is, I decided to place the rest of the uncommitted money on that piece and let the Swan piece slip away. I figured that a Swan Superman was more likely to go up since it as already at my max and the S&S piece had a long way to go with the "extra" money added.
I was traveling for work when the auction ended. When I got back to the hotel that evening, I logged in and started scrolling. I'd lost the S&S piece by $50. :( I was very disappointed. I decided to scroll down and see how badly I'd lost the Swan piece.
It was marked in green not red. I couldn't understand how I won it. It was exactly my top bid and it hadn't moved in weeks.
I was absolutely shocked to win it and it is a wonderful piece to have and enjoy. Curt Swan was a magnificent artist who didn't receive a fraction of the recognition that he deserved. His Superman is simply the best ever and the work he did on the Legion of Super-Heroes remains my absolute favorite artwork and story telling. If you haven't read Eddy Zeno's
biography of Curt Swan, you really should. The included art is wonderful and worth the price all by itself.
The Heritage description read:
Curt Swan - Superman Pin-Up Original Art (1993). Superman to the rescue, as the Man from Krypton snaps a wrecking ball loose from its cable. Curt Swan's detailed pencil pin-up gives a direct insight into his remarkable talent for realistic illustration. Quoting from Eddie Zeno's wonderful biography on Swan,Curt Swan: A Life in Comics," The elegant comic book art of Curt Swan defined the look of Superman for over thirty years. His skills of storytelling, draftsmanship, and design brought a realism and sense of wonder to The Man of Steel's adventures, making them the best-selling comic books of their day." This spectacular image appears on page 160 of Eddie Zeno's book. The image area measures 11.5" x 16.5", and the art is in Excellent condition. Silver Age Super-fans, begin your bidding! From the collection of Richard and Wendy Pini.
Though Heritage says that this image is from Zeno's book it is not. Check the dates:
- Zeno's Image is undated. (The text says it was drawn in 1992).
- My image is dated on the drawing as (19)93
My image was purchased by Richard Pini and sold by Heritage to me.
Richard told me in a private correspondence (since lost) that he bought this from Curt Swan at a convention and if you look closely it is easy to see that the pose in Zeno's book (page 160) is slightly different. See the Additional Images sections for the image in context and a big scan of the small image.
This seems to be a common pose and I've often wondered if the change in vantage point was deliberate and how many of these exist.
Thanks for taking a look. Please leave a comment and tell me what you think.
Oh, you can see my LSH Commission, my published LSH pages, and my Swanderson page
here.
