Q&A with K Gearon

Which piece in your gallery is your favorite and why?

For a long time I've had my Zeck Web of Spider-Man Kraven's Last Hunt page occupy this spot, and it's still RIGHT there, but I'm gonna change it up for a bit with my biggest personal get in a while (March 2022 as I write this) - a black costumed Spidey vs. Puma page from Amazing Spider-Man 257! The first Spidey comic I remember picking up at the comic shop. Perfect cross of art/characters/nostalgia for me. I write all about it in my description - check it out in the link to the piece below. Might take you a couple minutes - admittedly went a little long :) A page from this book was in my top 5 wants below for a long time!

Please tell us a little about yourself.

Been married over 11 years now and have a son who's 10 and a daughter who’s 7. Having a blast but never a dull moment! So my time attending cons and poring over art sites has...yeah...lessened some :) Lessened but still going! Work-wise I'm a sales exec at a health services company in Phoenix, AZ. Outside of family, work, and comic art my wife and I enjoy going to concerts and, like many, I love me some sports.

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

I've been collecting for about 16 years when I started attending cons. Began with sketches then commissions then mostly published work. In the last few years I've started focusing more on picking up pieces from specific runs I enjoyed as a kid...not the easiest thing considering some of the prices. But I've had some success and enjoy trying. As far as getting into the hobby, can't say much more than I just got hooked once I saw and realized these one of kind pieces could actually be owned. Kind of blew my mind because I've read and collected comics on and off most of my life. Just the next step for me as a collector of the medium!

How do you display/store your collection at home?

Most of them are in portfolios that I flip through often but I have professionally framed a number of pieces - what better to adorn the walls with?! Most will stay in portfolios but I will continue framing some pieces here and there as space allows.

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

A tough question. I'm lucky to actually have checked the box on a number already, which I'm always thankful for. Some still on the checklist but I'd put these 5 as of now: 1) A nice example from Spectacular Spider-Man #100 by Al Milgrom - read this book over and over; had everything I enjoyed about comics as a kid. The page 18 splash would do :) 2) A page from Thor #380 by Walt Simonson - Thor vs. his Norse nemesis the Midgard Serpent exclusively over splash pages. 3) A nice example from Jungle Action 24 by Keith Pollard - a fave single issue that rounded out the series and one of the few remaining unchecked boxes on my Black Panther art list. 4) Splash or DPS from Iron Man #1 by Sean Chen. Loved the start of this Heroes Return series! 5) Splash page from Fallen Son: Death of Captain America #4 by David Finch - my fave Finch book and features Spidey in black vs Rhino, with some flashback scenes and some Wolvie thrown in.

Grail

Amazing Spider-Man #257 pg 18 by Ron Frenz (ft Black Costume, Puma)

“WOOOOO!!!!” a la Ric Flair.

OK. Just got had to get that out first. Now, on to writing.

I know I can go a little long on some of my descriptions…and…yeah…this will be one of those. If so inclined, fellow CAFers, please come along with me.

https://media.tenor.com/5UU0Ix3HyxoAAAAd/lets-do-it-johnny.gif

HUGE get, folks. Hard to think of a piece topping it for me, personally. Way up there with a few others I have. A Spidey vs Puma battle page from ASM 257! The first Spidey comic I remember buying at the comic shop!!

I’m 5 years old. Already a Spider-Man fan – TV/cartoons, old comics handed down, including some Marvel Tales books. But this was the first time I remember getting a brand new Spidey book off the shelf. The glorious cover of Puma punching Spidey while falling down the side of the building…”WHAT was going on here?! Who IS this orange dude? Is THAT Spider-Man?!” When I was a kid I could maybe get 2 comics at a time. This was no doubt going to be one of the ones coming home.

HOOKED. Couldn’t put it down – reread, reread, reread, even if I couldn't actually read everything. And of course had to go back to get the issue prior. #256 and #257 introduced the character Puma, and for y’all that know me, I like Native American characters. And this was the start. I liked the design a lot. That he was from a reservation, like my mom’s family is. Cool how he kinda meditated to transform. He was a bad guy, but not really. I could tell that. I liked this “villain”, and hoped to see more later. After Frenz, when it comes to Puma, I think of the great Spectacular Spider-Man issues drawn by Sal Buscema – was lucky enough to nab and post a nice one earlier this year. Oh yes! To cap this issue off, Mary Jane tells Peter she knows he's Spider-Man! Hanging from the cliff after that :)

Then this black costume. “What was this?! I don’t know, but I KNOW I like it. No web shooters? Webs come out of the back of his hands? And it just flows on and off him?!” Luckily, I was able to get SOME answers in Secret Wars, shortly after :)

And Felicia Hardy. That’s my gal. Not on this page, but was big in the arc, and to this day, the combo of this era of ASM, Secret Wars, and Milgrom Spectacular Spider-Man…the black costume and the Black Cat?! Add in Kraven’s Last Hunt a couple years later?! CA-RAZY fan KG is. Always will be. I could keep going but there’s art to talk about.

Way to start off a page, right?! Check out that top panel! New style web shooting to the left . To the left, to the left. Back of hand web shooting “PWIP!” to the left. Music reference, sorry. Marcus Wai’s influence. That panel just rocks. Then you got the follow up. You said it Puma – “AMAZING--!” Gotta dig his shocked expression there, and I think it’s pretty cool you got part of the actual ASM title right there, spoken by a character. Puma gets some webbing on his hands, and realizes, “IT’S ALIVE!” Say it like Doc Frankenstein with me. Earlier in the issue, it’s hinted (in this GREAT page in the gallery of fellow CAFer/collector bud “Duke Fleed” - https://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryPiece.asp?Piece=1423435), and Puma reveals to Spidey here – organic webbing! From a live suit, which Reed Richards confirms in the next issue. Spidey clearly didn’t know, but Puma ain’t buying it, capping off one more great action shot highlighted by a full figure Spidey! Side note: I don’t remember asking my mom what “organic” meant, but I’m sure I did, among a few others :)

HUGE thanks to Mike Burkey - not the easiest page to let go, but trust, it is in good hands. Great hands! AMAZING hands ;)

This makes 2022 for me on the OA front. I’ll be staring at this one lots in the coming weeks. But I will have some gravy comin' :)

Thanks, all, for looking and I wish you the best of luck, fortune, all that, in your OA pursuits!!

Me right now: https://i.pinimg.com/originals/56/d9/c3/56d9c3fd6524357656ae3b3b39d7ab66.gif

UPDATE June 2025: Frenz posts the piece on his Facebook page and provides comments on the moment Spidey’s costume is revealed to be alive! See image in “Additional Images” and link here: https://www.facebook.com/share/p/17WL6V7fTP/

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Member Since: April 2011
Last Login: April 2026
Country: UNITED STATES
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Q&A with K Gearon

Grail

Amazing Spider-Man #257 pg 18 by Ron Frenz (ft Black Costume, Puma)

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