Neal Adams R.I.P 1 1

[comicnoir]

There are no guarantees, you may look healthy, but...

I am actually having a hard time with this, literally someone I've been in awe of practically all my life. I have virtually every comic he did (a few exceptions) and looked forward to the next show when I'd go talk to him but wouldn't buy anything. He didn't like that. But he did like my art for which I am grateful. RIP Neal.

[PDGray]

As soon as I heard the news I jumped on Ebay and managed to score a number of signed books really before the news "HIT" and the prices skyrocketed.  A few arrived yesterday and I expect another one today.  When I opened the package and saw his signature I felt my eyes welling up.  I had to simply put them down and I will look at them more later.

Neal and I had emailed a few times over the last few years.  It's been more than a year since we messaged.  He didn't know me well, so I won't claim that, but he did write me back - every single time.

I met him at Raleigh Supercon in 2017.  I posted this on another forum, but this is that story.

I was fortunate enough to meet Neal Adams once. I grew up knowing his art long before I knew his name. When I started collecting as a teenager in the 1980s I saw some of his books on the shelf behind the cash register. They were there because simply, "They are Neal Adams."

I went on and bought books he had worked on as I could afford them. As I entered into being an adult I left comics, but then around 2014 or so I started collecting again. In 2017 I happened to see that Neal was coming to a con close to where I was living - Raleigh, NC. I decided I was going to go - simply to see him and have him sign a few of my books. I didn't care about much else - only getting his signature. I decided my son, who was six, was going with me. As soon as the doors opened we flew down and were the first ones standing at his booth. I introduced myself and shook his hand. We talked and I had him sign about six of my books. I also bought a few of his prints, which he also signed for me.

As we were there, my son had brought a Transformers Megatron toy. It was a dark gray jet and had a button that if you pressed it, the robot head popped out. My son didn't care about Neal, although he certainly knew the name by this point in his life. Neal asked if he could see the toy. My son hesitantly passed his Transformer over to him, looking up at me as if to ask if it was ok to hand it to this strange man. I nodded, telling him that this man wasn't going to steal his toy. Well, Neal became fascinated with it. Neal would push the face down, then push the button so that it would pop up again, and then laugh at it - almost as if he were fascinated by the engineering of it.

Well, we would meander the auction floor, and then my son would ask to go back to see Neal again. We worked our way back and then Neal would ask for the toy again. This process repeated itself about every 30-45 minutes all day long. We were there from the time the doors were open until the doors were closed. It reached the point where my son would reach up and just hand the toy to Neal and watch with elation as Neal made the head pop up again and again.

I ended up with six signed books, which all went off for grading from that day - all were low-grade well-loved copies. It was my first submission for grading ever as I want those books to pass on to my son - one day.

Since that time I emailed Neal on a semi-regular basis, although it has been quite a while as I write this. I had wanted him to do a sketch of some sort for me but never made that happen. But, after we returned home from our encounter with Neal we went to a local store and found an identical Megatron Toy, boxed it up, and sent it off to Neal as a gesture of thanks, and for his entertainment. Of course, I sent it signature required for delivery and I still have my USPS Delivery Receipt with Neal Adams signature with it.

 

PDG