Jack Kirby - X-Men 1 pages story - part 2 on the OCAL!

[glenbru]

Continuing my conversation with comic art dealer/collector, Bechara Maalouf, on how he acquired the Kirby X-Men 1 story:

 

http://originalcomicartlocator.blogspot.com/2013/04/part-2-x-men-1-original-art-by-jack.html

 

Thanks!

Glen

[Ferran Delgado]

Kirby received 16 pages of FF #3 from Marvel, according to the list published in Daniel Best's blog, in spite that the book was complete (minus one page) in the 1980 inventory:

http://ohdannyboy.blogspot.com.es/2011/04/marvel-worldwide-inc-et-al-v-kirby-et_04.html

I suppose that Tony Christopher got the other 7 pages from other sources, because Sol Brodsky, the inker of the issue, passed away in 1984, just before the return of the art, which began or was decided in February, 1985. FF #3 had 23 pages more a pinup of the Torch.

 

Jack didn't receive a single page from early X-Men issues, in spite that they were in the Marvel warehouse by early 1980.

[Garf]

Fascinating stuff...

[ShaneTurgeon]

Thanks so much for taking the time to document this, Glen.

[artdealer]

As far as the remainder of FF 3 are concerned, I bought 4 or 5 pages from Sol Brodsky's son back in 1985 after Sol passed away. I then sold the pages to Rich Halegua, who did whatever with them.

 

Mitch I.

[dem1138]

Thanks, Glen. This is your most informative post yet. And there are some great breadcrumbs here for those that want to dig deeper on their own.

The rabbit hole goes much deeper. It just depends on how much effort you want to make. The shame is that a few of the significant players are not as active anymore.

[glenbru]

Thanks Guys!

 

I'm happy to share the story. It's history of OA that needs to be documented.

 

Anyone with breadcrumbs of their own to contribute, please feel free to jump in.

 

Glen

[Ferran Delgado]

As far as the remainder of FF 3 are concerned, I bought 4 or 5 pages from Sol Brodsky's son back in 1985 after Sol passed away. I then sold the pages to Rich Halegua, who did whatever with them.

 

Mitch I.

Thanks Mitch for the info. It's relief to know that at least this issue came from legit source.

 

Do you remember if Marvel delivered the Brodsky's share of pages before or after he passed away? Because he died at the end of 1984 and the return of the pages didn't begin till early 1985... If Marvel delivered the pages to the son, this could be a precedent.

[MasterChief]

Great stuff, Glen.

 

I'm trying to follow the provenance here, so a question for ya…

 

What year was the deal consummated with Kirk Hammett?

 

Was it before or after the sale of the artwork by Jay Parinno's The Mint in 2001?

 

According to the business wire press release below, Greg Manning Auctions sold the artwork in its April 2000 auction.

 

Was Hammett or Parinno the buyer in that auction?

 

 

Greg Manning Auctions Upcoming $1 Million-plus Comic Book and Comic Art Auction

 

 

 

 

 

[glenbru]

You might want to ask Bechara directly. You can find his contact in the blog post.

 

He'd know better than I would.

[clemso]

Nice to put a face to the man who is Brad Savage. Before the internet, he used to write letters to me, trying to sell me stuff. Aesthetically, i might have done FF3 + FF 11 + cash for X-Men 1 too.

The only part of the story which seems a shame, because i am not sure we had the technology to do it back then, was getting hi-res scans of the entire X-Men 1 book before it was broken up. I know Heritage have a good amount of these, but i mean 300 dpi at page full size. I understand, that these exist for all of AF 15 now.

[Catwoman_Fan]

Glen,

 

Thanks so much for these posts, and for taking the time to interview Bechara!

 

Looking forward to the rest of the story,

 

Anthony

[Swartzisgod]

If I remember correctly Bill Wheaty stated that he purchased the X-Men #1 pages from Hammett for around $350,000 and I know he did not have the pages in his possession for very long when I saw them back in 2007. I wish would have been able to discuss more specifics with Bill concerning the art at that time.

[montrealfilmguy]

As Bogart would put it in The maltese falcon,

 

"The..uh..stuff that dreams are made of."

[Koa]

I love your blog Glen, keep up the great work! Even though the way these pages made it into public domain saddens me, but who could blame Brad for buying them. At least they survived this way.

 

I wish Kirby had gotten it back from Brad when he bought it.

 

I wonder if the AF 15 art that was donated to the library of congress was purchased from those same mystery sellers

[Pete Marino]

Great stories, thanks for sharing.