My pal, Dave Cockrum

It's been just over a year since I lost my friend Dave Cockrum. We had an unlikely friendship because he was about the easiest going guy I've ever met, and I'm a wee bit difficult to get along with. Dave's widow Paty spent the anniversary of Dave's passing with my family.

At Paty's behest, I am overseeing the sale of Dave's personal comics collection for the estate--from his boyhood copies of Blackhawk through his own file copies of X-Men. Thumbing through this extraordinary collection, I recall buying Giant-Size X-Men #1 on the newstand, then meeting Dave at the first MarvelCon in NY City shortly afterwards. Never did I dream that we'd one day work together... Or that I'd ever be in this strange position.