Q&A with Jeffrey Wedding

Which piece in your gallery is your favorite and why?

Hard to narrow down, but perhaps out of pure nostalgia let's just go with the first Star Wars interior page I ever bought. I purchased issue 88 page 20 direct from penciller Bob McLeod back in 1999. But a lot of the pages in my collection have fun memories associated with meeting the creators over the years.

Please tell us a little about yourself.

I have been an archaeologist based in southern Nevada for the last 29 years. My specialty has been documenting World War II and Cold War era military facilities and training complexes, hard rock mining camps, and transportation resources (particularly related to historical aviation and railroading). For all of you Fallout fans out there I am part of the ongoing research team studying the B-29 Superfortress submerged in Lake Mead. I also serve on the board of directors for the Nevada Aerospace Hall of Fame. The most important thing I have ever accomplished is convincing my wife Stacey to marry me. We are managed in our daily lives by our two Chihuahuas - Foxy and Felicity.

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

I was a Star Wars fan and collecting beginning in 1977 when the first film came out. My parents certainly spoiled me with the toys and I kept on collecting as I became an adult. I became aware of OA around the time of Star Wars Celebration 1 in Denver in 1999. I had just picked up my first interior page from the original Marvel run from Bob McLeod, and then at the convention purchased some Dark Empire prelims from Dave Dorman. After that, the genie had escaped the bottle and I was hooked.

How do you display/store your collection at home?

I'm not a framing type of collector. Since I am focused on interior pages, I like to sit and flip through them like I would a comic. So most of the collection is stored in Itoya portfolios, and many pages are in polyester (Mylar) sleeves so I have no problem pulling them out for people to get a closer look. I also have some commissions and odd sized art that I store in Hollinger Metal Edge boxes.

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

My collecting goal is to get a representative page for each penciller and inker to work on a Star Wars book. Aim high and dream big, right? So, top five on the current radar would be a mix of new and old: - Walter Simonson page from the Shira Brie story arc, - Cam Kennedy page from Dark Empire, - Harvey Tolibao page from High Republic Adventures, - Ario Anindito page from High Republic, - Any of the Joe Corroney pages I am missing from Dark Horse's Star Wars: Empire issues 25 and 31.