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Big News: AMAZING FANTASY 15 Original Art Surfaces!

Started by Nexus,

104 posts in this topic

Nexus

Nexus

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My gut tells me Marie Severin was the donor.

 

That would be my guess as well. A lot of the story sounds familiar and is consistent with what's happened with other early Marvel SA art (asking Steve Ditko for his blessing, etc.). Although we'll never really know without a confirmation from someone.

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NelsonAI

NelsonAI

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I personally don't think it was Stan.

 

1) As the curator, Sara Duke stated, Ditko was consulted before the donation was made. Does anyone believe Stan would have asked Ditko for his permission?

 

2) Stan is all about the P.R. It would never have been an anonymous donation.

 

3) Let's not forget Stan had no problem holding a "garage sale" of his memorabilia. He would have taken the tax benefits of a charitable contribution.

 

The smart money says M.S.

 

Cheers!

N

 

 

 

 

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r1982rhoads

r1982rhoads

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Marie Severin is a good name to speculate on.

 

However she has been ill lately, so my guess is that her dealing with artwork of any kind pales in comparison to getting well. I heard she had a stroke (?)

 

Or, could her condition be a driving force to placing the art some place safe?

 

 

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Sharkey

Sharkey

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Dan's assessment rings true.

 

As legend would have it ........ a lot of Ditko's covers were in the hands of a person he knew at Marvel. This individual would periodically sell off the art but always checking with Ditko first. Ditko always gave his blessing ..... well .... more of a I don't care what you do with it attitude. Ditko certainly never asked for or received a share of any of the proceeds from the art. I suspect the donor is the same individual.

 

Profit or tax benefits certainly was not a consideration. The donor clearly knew what it was worth and wished to remain anonymous. It was more of historical significance and at the end of the day, was the right decision. This art belongs in a museum. Perhaps Ditko will finally be appreciated outside of comic fandom for his contributions to the industry.

 

I can't wait for it to be on display. :banana:

 

Cheers!

N

 

Definitely good points, I should have been thinking about Marie. That would certainly make sense.

 

Bottom line, very cool thing to do. I need to take off my skeptics hat and just appreciate the gesture for what it is! (thumbs u

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*paull*

*paull*

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OK, I'm STILL skeptical.

 

All the info I'm seeing is pointing back to that same original blog. No Newsarama, no Scoop, and no photographs. All the evidence we have is a blog and a single e-mail? This is the biggest news in the comic original art world in my memory, and all I'm hearing are crickets.

 

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tth2

tth2

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Agreed. All the new services around the world picked up the story of the recent "attic" find of a Detective 27, but not one picked up a story of the donation of the original art of the first appearance of Spiderman to the Library of Congress? Seems weird to me.

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comix4fun

comix4fun

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OK, I'm STILL skeptical.

 

All the info I'm seeing is pointing back to that same original blog. No Newsarama, no Scoop, and no photographs. All the evidence we have is a blog and a single e-mail? This is the biggest news in the comic original art world in my memory, and all I'm hearing are crickets.

 

 

A long time collector, known well by several of us in the art community, has sent in the written request for examination of the artwork, and has set his appointment with the Library of Congress to see the artwork for May 9th.

 

So if you call the Library of Congress and fax them the form they will set up an appointment for you too.

 

C

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PokerKid

PokerKid

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OK, I'm STILL skeptical.

 

All the info I'm seeing is pointing back to that same original blog. No Newsarama, no Scoop, and no photographs. All the evidence we have is a blog and a single e-mail? This is the biggest news in the comic original art world in my memory, and all I'm hearing are crickets.

 

I was skeptical too, so I wrote a librarian who got back to me very quickly. Librarians rock!!!

 

:D It's true!

 

Here is the response:

 

Thank you for your interest in the collections of the Library of Congress. Yes, the reports are true, we did receive drawings for 24 pages of Amazing Fantasy #15, including the Spiderman origin story, by Steve Ditko as an anonymous gift.

 

We have a small collection of original comic book art, but an amazing collection of original cartoon drawings. We are working hard to make as much of our collection available online as possible, and records for some of it are available in the Prints & Photographs Online Catalog: http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/catalog.html'>http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/catalog.html . If you use the term comic book as a search term you will see a variety of art we have collected. You may also find some exhibitions we have done as well as scholarships that we offer on the Swann Home Page: http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/swann/swannhome.html'>http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/swann/swannhome.html .

 

If you have further questions please do not hesistate to ask.

 

Sincerely,

 

Sara W. Duke

Curator, Popular and Applied Graphic Art

Prints and Photographs Division

Library of Congress, Washington, DC 20540-4730

http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/

 

From the search it appears they also have a bunch of the 9/11 comic book art and a ton of 1971 Capt. America.

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KLNole

KLNole

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The photos from the link that Felix provided are just incredible. The archivist at the University I teach at has contacted the Library about a few of us going up this summer to view the pages. I explored the other link in the letter posted above and there were a few other pieces of art that look interesting but nothing like "the stuff dreams are made of" that was gifted to the American People.

 

I know some people are a little down that they will never own a page from that story, but whoever gifted this is owed a great amount of thanks, and if it was MS like some people are suggesting, then we should all chip in and send her the biggest bouqet of flowers that a FTD truck can deliver as a thank you.

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clemso

clemso

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I am in awe, what an incredible site. I hope all who go and see this will share some pics.

 

They look a little tanned. I wonder if they will bleach them, yikes!!!.

 

Clem...

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