One of my most treasured moments as a collector!

To all my fellow collector's that may not have had the chance to meet "The King" let me tell of my experience.

The year is 1982 if my memory serves me correctly. The place is Friendly Neighborhood Comics which was owned and operated by a kindly gentleman by the name of Tom Heiner. This was the very first store in Las Vegas that was dedicated to nothing but comic books. I had made many a purchase at this store and seen many great books pass through its doors.

When Mr. Heiner announced one day that Jack "The King" Kirby himself was going to be in the store for a day to sign autographs and talk comics, I almost lost my mind!

What was I going to have signed (Jack was only signing 3 items per person). So here I had to make a decision on what I would take. Keep in mind that at that time I only collected mostly Silver Age Marvels so just about every title had been touched by

Kirby in one way or another.

Ok, so I settled on 3 books Tales of Suspense #40 awesome cover and 2nd appearance of Iron Man. X-men #3 Yeah, the cover with the team battling the Blob (most awesome) and for my final autograph candidate The Incredible Hulk #5 all of the books were high grade copies and I wished the limit would have been a little higher. Hey, I was happy just to have the opportunity to get them signed by the man that I had come to recognize as the single greatest icon the comic book world had!

So the day comes, I get to the store wait in line (not very long). I make it to the front of the line and there he is.......

the one who started it all, Jack Kirby! He was a very soft spoken man, not very tall (actually short) along with his wife Roz. I tell him how much I love his work and that I was trying to collect everything that he had ever done (did not accomplish that goal). He takes a look at my books and smiles, opens each one up and signs his name. I really like that in the old days artists and writers didn't sign on the covers of comics unless requested to do so. He asked me if I had any other books that I would like for him to sign? Ok, I was told the limit was 3?

Had to think fast, Jack was actually at the store and making appearances to promote his new title that he was working on from Pacific Comics called Captain Victory and the Galactic Rangers which happened to be on the spinner rack in the store. I leap into action whipping out the cash for a copy and run back over to get one more signature before I head home.

Mr. Kirby says thank you for supporting the book and the purchase, and I tell him thanks for all of the many great stories and artwork.

Later Mr. Heiner the store owner told me that he and his wife spent the evening with the Kirby's at dinner and dancing.

Wow, I got to meet and shake hands with Jack Kirby!

I have sense sold all of the great silver age books Mr. Kirby signed for me (needed the cash at the time) but managed to hang on to the Captain Victory (see pic) and treasure it so much that I will never let it go.

Sidenote: This event takes place nearly 10 years before "The Book Rack" purchase.

Thanks for reading

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