Cover Artwork for The Brave & the Bold No. 61, 1965

Starman may not have been the most exciting D.C. character from the Golden Age, but I always liked his costume the most. Only Murphy Anderson could draw the character as well as Jack Burnley did -- or even better!

This is the original art for the cover of The Brave & the Bold No. 61 (D.C. Comics, Aug.-Sept. 1965). It was the first of two tryout issues of the Starman/Black Canary team-up. In this instance, much more so than with any other of Murphy Anderson's covers for mid-1960s character revivals, the art for the cover of the first Starman/Black Canary Issue is superior in every way to that of the second issue of the short series.

Since I had wanted this particular cover for so many years and so very badly, I flew to New York City for the 1998 Sotheby's auction in which it was offered for sale, having been consigned by Murphy Anderson himself. At the time of the auction preview, all the original stats were complete and in place. But when I went to collect the art after successfully buying it in the sale, I immediately noticed that the very small stat for the issue number [No. 61, immediately below the month of the issue] was MISSING! Although I knew that it would not be hard to replace it with a copy, I was still pretty upset that the real thing had fallen off and was apparently lost, and only one day after I had seen it still attached to the artwork [as it had been for 33 years]. I don't know why I even bothered, but I walked up to the first porter (art handler) I saw in the area where the preview exhibition had been hung and told him that a small piece of an item I had just purchased was now missing. He looked at me, and instead of laughing or saying something sarcastic, which I really expected, he asked, "was it the number 16?" "Close enough," I said, "it is really No. 61." He reached into the top pocket of his long coat and pulled out the original stat, still in perfect condition. I told him that I just couldn't believe that anyone would have found such a tiny thing on a huge, carpet covered floor. He responded that he knew that it came off of something and that someone would want it. I flew home, just as happy as I could have been, with my totally original cover to Brave & the Bold No. 61. I never learned his name, but I will always grateful to that employee of Sotheby's who actually bothered to care.