A handful of original art pages (along with some cover proofs and stats) from comics published by Marvel between 1970 and 1972 are currently up for auction, featuring the work of artists such as
Jack Kirby,
Bill Everett,
Gene Colan, and
John Buscema.
The interesting thing about them is their provenance: this is the first time they've been offered for sale, since they come from
the collection of Aaron Goodman, grandson of Marvel Comics founder Martin Goodman.
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| Thor #172, page 14, by Jack Kirby and Bill Everett |
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| Daredevil #80, page 11, by Gene Colan and Tom Palmer |
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| Astonishing Tales #13, page 22, by John Buscema and Dan Adkins |
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| Iron Man #50, page 11, by George Tuska and Vince Colletta |
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| Sub-Mariner #53, page 2, by Bill Everett |
All these pages are from a time in there was no policy of returning original art to its creators. Pages would be stored by the publisher, but they could be also be given away to visitors to the office (such as Aaron Goodman), or in some cases stolen by fans-turned-pros or people who knew there were people interested in buying this art.
Jim McLauchlin has an article up at Newsarama about the original art to
Amazing Fantasy #15 (as well as
Steve Ditko's original art to
Strange Tales #117, which recently turned up in an auction). In it he cites lawyer Ronald Bienstock, who states:
“Clearly if you have an old piece of Spider-Man art, you cannot reproduce it and you do not have the copyright, and that’s an issue that people sometimes get confused on,” he says. “But on that physical piece, my conjecture is that they attached no value to it based on the set of facts you described. If you didn’t give it a value, you can’t come back at a certain point and say ‘Now this tremendous value belongs to me.’ If you gave it away or threw in in the dumpster…that’s gone. It’s no longer yours.”
