Secret Wars #1 cover redo by Fred Hembeck

Commissioned this from Fred in October of 2010. I know he redid this cover for Mid Ohio Con 2009 and for other private-use commissions but I'd been thinking about getting his take on this cover for some time now. I'm one of those comic geeks that read a ton of "Marvel Age" comics in the 80's (it was like marvel.com before the internet, right?!?!?) and enjoyed his strip that was in that series. *Still looking to complete my run of Marvel Age, by the way.

Secret Wars was a special series as it helped hook me on the wonderful world of comics. Fred redoing this cover is like a match made in heaven: so many cool characters, hand-lettering, cornerbox art-pretty much every detail from the original (except his likeness in the upc-code box, which I requested).

*One cool detail: Fred shipped it between styrofoam boards and one of the boards was a sign he'd written advertising for a yard sale at his house! I like to wonder what kind of cool-stuff a comic creator like Mr. Hembeck was getting rid of at a yard sale!....