Q&A with Dominic Milano

Which piece in your gallery is your favorite and why?

Probably my Ditko Warren wash page from Eerie #5. Ditko's 60s Marvel work had a huge impact on my youth, and this wash page evokes memories of his Doctor Strange work. While I'm fortunate to own Doc Strange and ASM pages by Ditko, visually his Warren work stands out. At least to my eye.

Please tell us a little about yourself.

Growing up, I aspired to be a comic book artist or a rock star, whichever came first. As luck would have it, I ended up in a career in magazine publishing and event production that combined both interests and more. Along the way, I married, had three great kids, met a lot of interesting people, did a lot of interesting things, married again, and learned a lot of interesting lessons. One of which was that you only regret the things you don't do. Oh how I wish I'd kept buying comic art when I first discovered you could buy comic art. Today, I live in Silicon Valley with my wife, our two dogs, and a cat. I help tech companies explain new technology.

How long have you been collecting comic art and what prompted you to start?

I bought my first comic art when I walked into Comics & Comix in San Jose, CA for the first time in 1975. Hanging on the wall were pages of original art for sale. In short order, I was the caretaker for four pages—a Kirby/Colletta Thor page, a Neal Adams/Tom Palmer X-men page, a Rich Buckler/Klaus Jansen Deathlock page, and a Gil Kane/Murphy Anderson Green Lantern page. The most I paid for any one of them was $45. I'll let you guess which one that was. I knew the pages had come from Comic Con, but instead of getting myself down to San Diego to see the next con for myself, I let real life distract me. I came back to collecting OA for real in 1999 when I discovered eBay. I've been all-in ever since.

How do you display/store your collection at home?

Three pages are framed and hanging on a wall in our family room. My wife won't let me display any more, so the rest live in archival Mylars in a safe.

What are your top five most wanted original pages or commissions?

I'm always buying striking pages by Eduardo Risso. A page from Hulk #6 (Steve Ditko). Any page from the Russ Heath Haunted Tank story in GI Combat 96. (The one I have is lonely.) A page or the complete Ditko 5-pager from Tales of Suspense 22. A page from Mike Mignola's Amazing Screw On Head.