RIP Jim Vadeboncoeur Jr., (1946-2023) 1 1

[Sarg]

From Heritage:

By Barry Sandoval, Heritage Auctions

The world of comics and comic art has lost one of the greats in Jim Vadeboncoeur Jr, who passed away last week.

If you have collected comics or illustration art for any length of time, Jim's work has affected you in some fashion. Either you have read his fanzines, magazines or books, or benefited from his pioneering artist attributions.

I got to know Jim a little over the years, including a memorable visit to his home. I recall admiring a wall of paperbacks and commenting that they appeared to be in no discernible order. "Of course they're in order," he said with a twinkle in his eye. "Alphabetical by cover artist!" Nearby stood a card catalog with his artist attributions for hundreds or perhaps thousands of Golden Age comics. And he was able to do that work thanks to, at that time, owning a complete run of Atlas comics, not something easy to put together even now but a Herculean task at the time he assembled it.

What was nowhere in sight at his home was a mylar or a backing board - Jim believed comics existed to be read. He was also very generous when it came to sharing his knowledge of them, and also sharing the comics themselves - a portion of his collection would be loaned out to some scholar or other at any given time. And Jim's tastes were wide-ranging indeed - Millie the Model to Philippe Druillet and anything and everything in-between.

A passionate, feisty, prolific man.

Rest in peace Jim.
 

[OtherEric]

An extraordinarily generous man.  He shared out massive numbers of his books to be scanned and shared at the Digital Comic Museum/ Comic Book Plus.  The collections at those sites wouldn't be a fraction as impressive as they are without his generosity.

He will be greatly missed.

[ageofsilver]

Jim was a great friend from my youth, with an amazing talent for art identification and a voracious interest in collecting Atlas. He just loved comic and illustration art, producing scholarly books and magazines. Somehow, we fell out of touch in the seventies, but I’ve always thought of him fondly. Rest in peace, man.

[Flex Mentallo]

Sad news! I recall phoning him long distance from the UK about an item in his wide-ranging catalogue that became a fascinating 3 hour conversation about comics, pulps and other media. He was a warm, friendly, passionate raconteur. This must have been twenty five years ago, but I haven't forgotten, and I still own the item!

[Jayman]

Sad news! I did not know him but recognized his name on the GCD for his multitude of contributions there. RIP. 

[Paul © ® ⚽️💙™]

I had some dealings with Jim about 20 years ago.

He was a good egg.

RIP

[Yorick]

Terrible news.  I too see his name all over the GCD for artistic identifications.  His "ImageS" magazine/book have given me all kinds of great artists to seek out.  His knowledge and eye for illustration may never be matched again.  RIP

[Sarg]

Anybody who hasn't seen Jim's "Images" magazine should really check it out. It focused on a lot of great, but forgotten artists from the early 20th century.