Nostalgia did I say? That barely encompasses my emotions. Not only those that roll across me as I flip the pages, but the tsunami that crashes over me from the house ads.

First, a full page touting the third issue of SGT. FURY AND HIS HOWLING COMMANDS. For some reason only the logo and corner symbol are shown. Stirring memories, but not as much as what follows.

12 pages later, the ad for STRANGE TALES ANNUAL 2, which I actually bought on my thirteenth birthday. 25¢, cold hard cash! Decades later, my art dealer, Jim Warden, would visit my studio with his son Matthew, that day commemorating his own 13th birthday, prompting me to point out the page of original art I own from that issue (Jack Kirby inked by Steve Ditko). On my own 13th birthday the idea of owning such a piece would have been completely alien to me. Didn’t these magical volumes spring fully formed from Zeus’s head?

Turn another six pages and here’s the ad for FANTASTIC FOUR ANNUAL 1. 72 pages, with enough story to fill a year’s worth of today’s comics. And, again, 25¢. (A page from the lead story also adorns my studio wall.)

1963, September cover date. Means it was likely on sale in June. We had no idea how much the real world would change over the next few months.

Yes, nostalgia.

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* Why the odd number? The binder I used, back in Calgary forty years ago, limited each volume to a thickness of one inch, not quite enough to hold an exact year of those pulp paper comics.

...prompting me to point out the page of original art I own from that issue (Jack Kirby inked by Steve Ditko). On my own 13th birthday the idea of owning such a piece would have been completely alien to me.                   ...FANTASTIC FOUR ANNUAL 1. 72 pages, with enough story to fill a year’s worth of today’s comics. And, again, 25¢. (A page from the lead story also adorns my studio wall.

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I can only imagine the most surreal sensation of owning original pages from a comic you read as a kid. 

All three together is even better!

All three together is even better!"

--

A few of the pages that I own from you meet 2 out of the 3 criteria, at least!

I actually remember where I was when I first saw the Kyle Baker-finished issue of AVENGERS ANNUAL. I was in an 8th grade Math classroom. AVENGERS was not a title I was buying, and I had a limited budget so I could not buy the issue back then, but a classmate brought it in. I was in awe of this Baker guy - one of the very few times that I really liked someone else other than yourself on inking duties. He was making the rounds on several Marvel books, and every time I saw his work (there was also 2 issues of TRANSFORMERS the same year), it just felt so magical.

Fast forward nearly 40 years and I'm at Jim Warden's table at an NJ art show 2 years ago, and a page from this issue turned up in his portfolio - and it happened to be one of my favorite pages of the issue, the opening shot of the "Casablanca" Skrull world - I loved the shot of the singer in particular. It was over the budget that I had set for myself, though - but Jim had told me that someone else was considering a hold on it, but if I would buy it right now, it can be mine. That Math class scene popped in my head, and I knew that budget be damned I had to have it. Just the thought that 13 year old me would never have fathomed that one day I'd actually own one of those pages that had my jaw agape. The scene looked even better with Baker's lush inks on her hair in person and in glorious black and white.

Quite a long way from not being able to even afford the actual issue when it was published! :)

Another time was when I was at MOC '04 (which I just remembered that I meant to post on the 20th Anniversary this weekend, which I missed - I'll follow up on that later today!) And I'm thumbing through Jim's portfolio. There was a page of GENERATIONS 3 that I particularly liked of Scott Free's face, it was just the quintessential "Byrne Face". So there the page was staring me right in the face, and at a good price, to boot (it wasn't an action page) - but my reasons for wanting it had nothing to do with why someone else would want it, so I considered it to be a bargain. So that was my clue that this means that I have to buy it, and so I did.

The third page is from the final issue of your WOLVERINE run. It wasn't an action page either, but it did have Wolverine fully in his Brown costume and inked by you - which surprisingly leaves almost only this issue in existence that meets this specific criteria of mine. Also bought at a steal in my mind - but again, I'm taking significance out of the page that barely anyone else is - and that's the way I like it!

•••

The first page I ever bought was a Russ Heath SGT ROCK. Thing of beauty. But what actually pushed me to buy it was the sublime grace with which Heath had rendered Rock’s nose in one large profile shot. Took me a lot of years to gain that much control of my brush.