Al Plastino’s JFK Superman Art Stolen?

[wizardseye311]

 

Right.

 

My first move would be to have my legal rep. contact Sotheby's and give them the story and try to get them to release the name of the consignor from 1993. They probably can't do that without a court order.

 

One issue I was thinking about was DC the party donating the art, or was it Plastino? That notation in the book made me ask that question. The answer to the question will determine who has standing to track down who sold the artwork.

 

 

Yeah, who was the actual owner?

[Speedy-D]

I saw that at NYCC this year.

 

 

[wizardseye311]

I just now realized there's prices on all those pics. Why is he waiting until now to say something if he saw them there for sale?

[sborock]

Here's what I posted today in the other thread just in case anyone missed it:

 

We have received some questions about this art today, so we figured one of us should come on here and address this.

 

This art was sold in the 1993 Sotheby’s comic auction, so it has been in collectors’ hands at least since that time. We have no reason to believe our consignor (One we have known for many years and who has an excellent track record with us) does not have the right to sell the piece, and nobody has shown us any evidence that he doesn’t. Whether it was ever in possession of a museum we don’t know, but as many collectors know, museums de-accession pieces all the time.

 

As to how the photo of Al with the art came about:

As many of you already know, all of us in the comics dept., in addition to just working there, are huge comic fans. One of our employees was chatting with Al as a fan at the New York Comic Con, and Al expressed interest in seeing the art, so we brought it for him to look at. That’s when someone from the Hero Initiative snapped a few pictures.

 

We’re all very sorry to hear that Al Plastino never got the art back from DC, but we all know the sad realities of the comic publishing business back in those days. Heck, it’s one of the reasons I am on the board of the Hero Initiative and the reason Heritage helps support them.

 

Hope this helps clear things up a bit,

-Steve

 

[comicdonna]

Thanks for the post, Steve.

[Speedy-D]

Thanks for the post, Steve.

Yeah? It doesn't feel a bit lacking?

[comix4fun]

Thanks for the post, Steve.

Yeah? It doesn't feel a bit lacking?

 

 

It sounds like all the facts they know and all the facts needed to know their consignor holds legal title to the artwork.

 

I wouldn't expect Steve to post what he DOESN'T know like, if the editor actually donated the piece, who the Sotheby's consignor was, etc.

 

The material part of what he listed, especially the events of 1993, were pretty key.

[wizardseye311]

Thanks! Yeah, that clears it up for me. He's had to have known it's been for sale more than once since he donated it. I mean he's right there holding it with a price tag on it. I'll just leave it at that. What I'm actually thinking might not sit well with some.

[comicdonna]

Thanks for the post, Steve.

Yeah? It doesn't feel a bit lacking?

I'll wait for Chris to come along and answer this.

[sborock]

Thanks for the post, Steve.

Yeah? It doesn't feel a bit lacking?

I'll wait for Chris to come along and answer this.

 

[budsbundy]

Why doesn't he call an attorney, and the cops.

Report it stolen, and go from there.

The police can take possession of it until things are sorted out.

[jaeldubyoo]

If it was stolen "all those years ago," isn't there a statute of limitations to file a claim on it?

[shadroch]

I don't see where the art was his to donate. DC may have donated it,or said they would, but they certainly were not in the habit of returning O.A. to the artist in that era. Were they?

[Caddotx]

I don't see where the art was his to donate. DC may have donated it,or said they would, but they certainly were not in the habit of returning O.A. to the artist in that era. Were they?

 

I agree, who knows if DC ever mailed it I'm sure he turned it over to some peon. I'm more prone to think that it sat on that peons desk until he got tired of looking at it and then he stuck it in the warehouse. Eventually DC had a fire sale and it went with everything else. I doubt very seriously they will ever be able to trace this back and I also doubt there was anything nefarious going on. I'll admit it sux, but no one said life is fair. At least that's what everyone keeps telling me.

[comix4fun]

There's also this,copied from the OA section on the boards:

 

Here's an interesting theory put forth by Ray Cuthbert over on the Comicart list board:

 

Let me offer another possibility to the confusion over the artwork for the story "Superman39;s Mission For President Kennedy" which eventually saw print in SUPERMAN #170.

 

 

The story was prepared “in close cooperation†with President Kennedy, and originally scheduled for publication in Superman #169, in 1964. However, Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas, on November 22, 1963, and DC decided not to run the story.

 

 

The “Metropolis Mailbag†letters page from Superman #168 was omitted, and replaced by an "In Memoriam" page "written" by editor Mort Weisinger. That page featured a reprint of a New York Times article from August 30, 1963 on the Superman-Kennedy meeting, with a panel from the never-to-be-seen story, written by Bill Finger and E. Nelson Bridwell and drawn by Curt Swan. The "In Memorium" said (in part), "The finished story, which showed Superman cooperating closely with President Kennedy was scheduled to appear in our next issue. Because of the President's untimely end, however, we have cancelled its appearance. Instead we plan to present the original artwork to his gallant widow Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy."

 

 

 

President Johnson's administration later contacted DC and informed them that the new President wanted the story published, "as a tribute to my great predecessor." The Kennedy family also gave their permission.

 

The story finally saw print in Superman #170, cover dated July 1964 redrawn by Al Pastino because the originals had already been given to Mrs. Kennedy.

 

 

 

It seems likely to me that someone told Mr. Plastino that the artwork for the story had been given to Mrs. Kennedy, who in turn would have given it to the library, but it was Swan's art that had been given, not Plastino's.

 

 

 

Plastino's artwork was sold in the Sotheby's Auction, and later has shown up again on the market at Heritage.

 

 

This is all conjecture on my part, but it may actually be what has happened.

 

 

 

So....2 Kennedy Stories.

 

One by Swan, donated to Jackie Kennedy, one redrawn by Plastino and published in Superman and then later sold and auctioned through Sotheby's.

 

That would explain how the art may have been "donated" AND sold. There's more than one set of OA.

[jimjum12]

Someone could easily have seen the mention of the donation in the book and made an offer to the Library that was gladly accepted and the proceeds then used for something they deemed more suitable...... either way, the printed notice of the donation kind of ends Al's claim to it.... GOD BLESS....

 

-jimbo(a friend of jesus) (thumbs u

[Davenport]

Wonder if 'oh well, sux to be him' would be as prevalent if the artist were more high profile?

 

Neal Adams is a good start, but the more he can pull together well known media-savvy personalities to champion his cause, the better shot he'll have.

 

An elderly generous 60's artist, Superman, JFK, and maybe he gets someone from the Kennedy family for his side? Hell of a story. Toss in that the art was temporarily censored at the time, every news outlet would be all over it.

[jools&jim]

 

So....2 Kennedy Stories.

Here's a blog entry from 8 years ago which makes the same claim...

 

http://www.dialbforblog.com/archives/166/

 

But that still doesn't fully explain away the blurb at the end of the Plastino-drawn version which clearly states that the original art for the story printed in Superman #170 would be donated to the Kennedy Library at Harvard.

 

Plastino obviously believed this to be the case. Given that he was asked by an editor to re-draw the story, It's hard to imagine that he wouldn't have been aware of the extraordinary circumstances surrounding the fate of the original Swan pages (i.e., that they had already been donated). Or was his understanding that Jackie got the Swan version, and the Library would get his?

 

Like many things about Kennedy's assassination, the whole thing just doesn't add up...

 

[comix4fun]

So....2 Kennedy Stories.

Here's a blog entry from 8 years ago which makes the same claim...

 

http://www.dialbforblog.com/archives/166/

 

But that still doesn't fully explain away the blurb at the end of the Plastino-drawn version which clearly states that the original art for the story printed in Superman #170 would be donated to the Kennedy Library at Harvard.

 

Plastino obviously believed this to be the case. Given that he was asked by an editor to re-draw the story, It's hard to imagine that he wouldn't have been aware of the extraordinary circumstances surrounding the fate of the original Swan pages (i.e., that they had already been donated). Or was his understanding that Jackie got the Swan version, and the Library would get his?

 

Like many things about Kennedy's assassination, the whole thing just doesn't add up...

 

 

There's some misunderstanding, for sure. The intervening 50 years hasn't made anyone's personal recollection clearer.

[jools&jim]

So....2 Kennedy Stories.

Here's a blog entry from 8 years ago which makes the same claim...

 

http://www.dialbforblog.com/archives/166/

 

But that still doesn't fully explain away the blurb at the end of the Plastino-drawn version which clearly states that the original art for the story printed in Superman #170 would be donated to the Kennedy Library at Harvard.

 

Plastino obviously believed this to be the case. Given that he was asked by an editor to re-draw the story, It's hard to imagine that he wouldn't have been aware of the extraordinary circumstances surrounding the fate of the original Swan pages (i.e., that they had already been donated). Or was his understanding that Jackie got the Swan version, and the Library would get his?

 

Like many things about Kennedy's assassination, the whole thing just doesn't add up...

There's some misunderstanding, for sure. The intervening 50 years hasn't made anyone's personal recollection clearer.

Agreed. And of the original creative teams (Swan, Bridwell, Finger, and editor Mort Weisinger), Mr. Plastino is the only one still alive who was there at the time...