National Cartoonist Society Profile: Eldon Dedini

I was born June 29, 1921 in King City, but really love New York. I now live in beautiful Monterrey, California. Studied art in Salinas, Los Angeles, and many museums far and wide. Graduated from Chouinard Art Institute. My early work was with the "Salinas Index-Journal" and "Salinas Morning Post" from 1944-46. I worked on Donald Duck and Mice features at the Walt Disney Studios, also "Ichabod and Mr. Toad" and "Fun and Fancy Free". Gag man and cartoonist for Esquire from 1952 to 1955, with The New Yorker since 1950, with Playboy since 1960. I received the National Cartoonist Awards for best magazine cartoonist in 1958, 1961, 1964, 1989. I now do posters and advertising. My recent book: "A Much, Much Better World". Microsoft Press. I did it all with the support of my wife, Virginia and son Giulio.

Original Comic Art Prices: 1972

You could always find a deal if you looked hard enough in the most famous comic related fanzine, The Rocket's Blast Comic Collector, and issue 90 from 1972 was no exception. As well as ads from the bigger dealers in this budding new hobby of collecting original comic artwork, there were a few private collectors with some great deals. John Vargas, out of Los Angeles was one of these "dealers" that had a full page ad selling his Silver Age pages at slightly higher prices...for the day. One of his advertisement's had a mere twenty one pages by eleven different artists, but what fantastic pages they were, from some giants of the field. Starting off at the top of the page was none other than a Jack "King" Kirby Fantastic Four #81 pg. 8 piece for $22.50, or you could have Captain America #112 pg. 16 for the very same price!

Next came two nice panel pages for $18 dollars each, one from Tales of Suspense #92 pg. 10 and The Mighty Thor #154 pg. 3. But the high priced Kirby was @$25 for a Journey into Mystery #107 pg. 7 to round out his "King" pages. Two John Romita Amazing Spider-Man pages were listed from issues #51 pg. 14 and #52 pg. 18 for the unheard of price of $16.50 each. Jim Steranko was up next with page 10 from issue 51 of Marvel's X-Men for the grand sum of $36.50, the highest price piece in his ad and a tie with Neal Adams' Brave and the Bold #85 page 4. This collector really had a "A" list of original comic art offering his Wally Wood Thunder Agents example from the fourth story of issue #15 page 5 for only twelve fifty. How about another giant in the field, Joe Kubert, and his seminal work on Hawkman from Brave and the Bold #44 page 3 for $16.50. I don't know why this guy didn't round up these gems to a whole dollar amount, but with these kooky low price, who really cares.

John Buscema's page one splash for Sub-Mariner #1 as next for $26, you must have to pay more for the splash I guess, but a Captain America piece from issue #115 pg. 13 ran only $15. Perhaps the next two covers were the best deals in print, you could either have Barry Smith's cover to Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. #12 for thirty American dollars, or if that's too high, settle for his X-Men #53 cover for only $25! You want more splashes you say? Well, how about two from the talented Marie Severin, take your pick of the Incredible Hulk #102 page one for sale at $26, (more than a Barry Smith cover) or the affordable example of Strange Tales #160 featuring Dr. Strange at $18, go figure? Oh, and this seller also had the first page of Iron Man #1 for only $24 by Gene"The Dean" Colan. Rounding out our ad from the past is the bargain bin prices of $7 each for Don Heck, his Avengers #35 pg. 12 or #42 pg. 8, or a nice X-Men #43 pg. 12 , but if you bought all three Vargas would knock off a buck so the set was only twenty USD.

Marvel Spotlight: The Black Panther

An African king who also acts as a part time superhero, the Black Panther was introduced by the team of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby as a minor character in Marvel Comics Fantastic Four #52 in July of 1966. After a few issues, the jungle lord was not seen until he resurfaced as a new member of The Avengers with issue #52 in late 1968. With the success of these try-out books, T'Challa got his own title starting in the sixth issue of Jungle Action in 1973 with excellent scripts by Don McGregor and powerful artwork by artist Rich Buckler. Later, one of the few black artist's in comics, Billy Graham, finished out the introductory series with remarkable energy and surprising serious story lines as the King of Wakanda spent half his adventures between Africa and America. Jack "King" Kirby returned to his creation in the late seventies for a two year run done in his unique classic style, before Marvel decided to relaunched the Black Panther once again in the eighties as a darker, grittier character with policeman Kevin Cole donning a bullet-proof costume he found in an alley to fight crime as a ruthless vigilante outside the realm of the law.

Direct Currents: The Spectre

With his debut in the Golden Age of comics appearing in More Fun Comics #52, 1945, the Spectre is one of the longest lasting of DC characters with thrilling adventures over the past sixty years. When police detective Jim Corrigan and his fiancee Claire Wilson were captured by local crime boss, "Gat" Benson, Jim was quickly knocked unconscious, placed in a barrel of cement, and dumped into a raging river. Corrigan's deceased spirit, now in a black void was traveling towards a light, but unexpectedly prevented to reach its goal. A Voice told Corrigan's spirit that his mission on Earth was not yet finished and had to return to fight evil with the supernatural powers he now possessed. As the dreaded Spectre, he confronted Benson, driving him mad, and overcame his thugs to rescue his beloved Claire. Since only Benson and his gang knew of his death, Corrigan returned to the police force, animating his body once again for his daily work as a detective. But as night falls, Corrigan unleashes his avenging spirit on the evil and wicked of his adopted city of New York. Provided with almost unlimited supernatural powers, the Spectre is capable of virtually any feat in his relentless fight against crime.