The first piece of original comic art I ever bought. Purchased at Comics & Comix in San Jose, CA, c1975. I'd just moved to the area and wandered into this great looking comic shop. There on the walls was something I'd never considered possible--original pages for sale by the likes of Kirby, Adams, Kane, BWS, and a few others. I didn't hesitate to buy the Kirby, though it cost nearly as much as I had to live on for the month--$40.

A classic page from a classic story. The Destroyer is one of my favorite Thor villains. This was on my short list of If I Ever Come Upon It, And It's For Sale, I'll Buy It pages. Much to my surprise, it was in my pal Bill Howard's world-class collection. I figured he'd never part with it, but never say never. Part with it he did. Thanks, Bill! Check out the margin notes. The writing on the left is obviously Kirby's, but who wrote "Nay Father, stay thy hand" on the right?

Chic Stone is the first inker I remember taking note of as a young kid. Stone knew his way around a brush. The lines flow with a life of their own, but each figure's outline seems to hold so much weight, the better to harness the kinetic energy Kirby unleashed upon the page. I picked it up two weeks after scoring the FF 42 page. Thanks to Mike Burkey for selling it to me at Wondercon 2002 in Oakland.

One of the coolest splashes from the Silver Age of Marvel Comics, and maybe the best Kirby Avengers splash ever. Chic Stone's bold brush work is a perfect complement to Kirby's pencils throughout this entire issue. I've long wanted a representative page from this comic, so I was ecstatic when my good friend Bill Howard sold me the absolute most striking page from the issue. Thanks, Bill!

Upon hearing Mike Burkey was going to break this book up, I made a list of pages I'd like to acquire from it. As luck would have it, Mike put the pages up for sale just before S.D. 2002. I really didn't want to dip into my S.D. budget prior to the show, but figured what the heck, and ordered this beauty--my personal favorite of the 16 Thor pages that Giacoia worked over Kirby pencils on. Special thanks to Mike Burkey!