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MAN WITH A HAT
Always Free. Occasionally Interesting.
https://tombrevoort.substack.com/p/155-if-it-looks-good-it-is-good
Dan Gvozden
I forgot to ask if you had any more details on the artwork's initial disappearance.
You mention that it disappeared from the Marvel warehouses in the '70s and/or '80s. But, I'm curious, do you know how it was being stored before then (given its perfect condition)? When did someone notice it was gone? Etc. I haven't found much information about its disappearance, just its sudden reappearance at the Library of Congress from an anonymous donor.
Which, I guess leads to another question. How has Marvel's artwork, especially those with a historic significance, been stored over the years?
This is a complicated question, Dan. But to give you a brief answer, the artwork for years was stored poorly in a dilapidated warehouse. And it wasn't a infrequent thing for whole books to be stolen (in some cases by creators working for the company.) But the value of the artwork in those days was considered minimal, so it was never all that big a deal. In the case of that AMAZING FANTASY artwork, I don't know much more for certain that you do, but as I understand things, the owner received it in the past as a gift, which isn't impossible—artwork would sometimes be given out to people involved in business dealings with Marvel— and first offered to return it to Steve Ditko. But Ditko's response was that the person had been given those pages fairly, and so he didn't see himself as having any claim on them. But that's all hearsay, and Ditko himself is gone now, so it's impossible to corroborate that story. Let's all just be happy that the boards wound up at the Library of Congress where they can be well-looked-after and enjoyed by many.
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