New Mutants Special Edition #1 and X-Men Annual #9

Back in 1985, I stepped into my first comic shop, All-American Comics. I had purchased comics before at supermarkets and dime-stores but this was the first time I was in a store solely dedicated to comics. The amount of comics was shocking and I spent a good deal of time looking over the different issues to find something I liked. That’s when the cover to New Mutants Special Edition caught my eye. I think like most comic fans, what sucks you in is the art and Adam’s work on this issue was epic. The amount of detail packed into those pages was amazing. All the characters had their own distinctive look but a character like Warlock was made for Adam’s style. This character also allowed Adam’s add in those little nods to other characters like Gumby and Longshot. Although Adams did find others ways to add in all those pop culture references and humor that made the comic extremely enjoyable. From Ed Grimly to Popeye to Remington Steele, finding those little nods made for an added bonus. When I went to purchase the comic, the owner clued me in on the fact that the story continued into X-men Annual #9. Not only was it the story that continued but also Adam’s amazing artwork. More pages with incredible detail, humor and pop culture references to look out for. What more could you ask for? Adams became the first artist that I actively sought out comics that he had drawn. It was always a pleasure to find a title he was working on but unfortunately his runs were never long enough for my liking. My comic collection eventually reached a little over 3,000 comics. Storage space became and issue and I sold nearly my entire collection. I only kept about 20 comics and most of those were comics drawn by Art Adams. I just couldn’t let those go. NMSE and XA9 were the comics that ignited by comic collecting and those comics are now the focus of my comic art collecting. If you have any pages from either of those issues that you are looking to sell or trade, please let me know.