Capt. America #601 Original Art for Sale... Bids coming in strong

I've been collecting original comic art for 35 years (back when you could get a primo John or Sal Buscema page for $10, and a John Byrne sketch for $5). Among my favorite pieces are the historical ones I've managed to gather, including one of John Romita's early design sketches of Mary Jane Watson (a gift from John to Paty Cockrum, and from Paty to me) and a Bill Everett Sub-Mariner page from issue #61 (Everett's last). I had a page from Giant-Size X-Men #1, once, but foolishly let it go.

I don't plan to spend my entire 4th of July doing this, but I've had a fair number of blind bids on Gene Colan's original art for Captain America #601 that's now available. This is a great chance to own some comics history and great art. Click here to see eveything.

Gene Colan's Capt. America Original Art for Sale

These pages are being offered for the first time. It's Gene Colan's last significant work and it's up for an Eisner Award. Own a piece of comics history while helping this beloved artist. You can see the pages here.

Gene Colan: Trying to Top Jack Kirby

Everyone's back from SDCC now. The phone keeps ringing. Where were you, they ask?

Gene Colan, who arrived home Monday, says he felt Hollywood had encroached too much on the con for his taste. "Kind of takes away from the whole experience," he said. "They trot in stars and it's no longer about comics... But I still had a great time!"


Gene's new Captain America #601 has apparantly sold out. This was the first comic I've bought in many years. Really brought me back. Gene may be 80+ years old now but he's never looked better on paper.

Recently, I promised more of Gene's unedited thoughts on the characters/books that he worked on. Here's Gene on Captain America:

Cliff: Was it particularly challenging following Jack Kirby on Captain America?

Gene: I certainly admired Jack Kirby's work tremendously. I really was weaned on his work. His work prepared me for the comic book world in a significant way. His action was very compelling and dynamic and I wanted to use it as a springboard to do even more--to see how much further I could take my action... beyond where Kirby took his. Certainly, it was a big challenge. Like if he had bricks and rocks coming at the reader, which he did very often and very dynamically, I tried to will the rocks to actually hit the reader (laughs). I wanted the reader to actually feel the blow from the rocks and fists... Of course, I couldn't really do that, but I tried.

I was intimidated by Jack's work, yes, but it made me a better artist. I became more of an artist and less of a cartoonist by trying to top Jack.