Action Comics No. 1 Sold For Nearly $1 Million

Above, a different copy of Action Comics No. 1.

The comic book that featured the first appearance of Superman fetched nearly $1 million at a recent auction.

CNN reported:

(CNN)A rare copy of a Superman comic book sold for nearly $1 million this week. 

The 1938 comic book marks the first appearance of Superman, and is considered a gem among comic book fans, according to Heritage Auctions. It was expected to sell for $750,000 but fetched $956,000.

To read more, go here. 

JFK Limousine License Plates To Be Auctioned

Above, the JFK limousine durng the assassination. 

Sometimes, one finds the oddest things in Japanese news websites.

The Mainichi Shimbun has an article (from the Associated Press) stating that the license plates that were on the limousine (SS-100-X) President John F. Kennedy was riding in when assassinated are to be auctioned.

The article states:

DALLAS (AP) -- The license plates that were on the limousine carrying President John F. Kennedy when he was assassinated in Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963 -- saved from the trash more than half a century ago -- are going up for auction. 

The opening bid for the plates being offered by Heritage Auctions on Saturday in Dallas is $40,000.

The limousine was retrofitted in 1964 with armor and other modifications by the builder, Hess & Eisenhardt of Cincinnati, Ohio. During this process, new license plates were installed and the old plates were tossed into the trash.

However, company owner Willard Hess retrieved them and kept them.

To read more, go here.

Rare George Reeves Photos Up For Auction

Above, one of the photos of George Reeves up for auction. 

It is interesting that a rare collection of publicity photos of George Reeves is now up for auction at Heritage Auctions, especially since we will be celebrating Reeves's 100th birthday (along with the 100th birthdays of Superman creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster) next weekend.

The current high bid at this writing is $600.

Most of the photos I have never seen before including this one (below) of Reeves with Lenore Lemmon.

Above, George with Lenore Lemmon.

They appear to have been taken just days before Reeves's untimely death on June 16, 1959, allegedly by suicide. The scar on his forehead from the April 1959 auto accident is visible on many of the photos. Most were taken at his Benedict Canyon home.

The group also includes a letter written by Reeves's mother, Helen Bessolo.

If I had the money right now, I'd bid on them.

To see the collection, go here.

Al Plastino, R.I.P.

Above, Al Plastino.

One of the few remaining Golden Age and Silver Age comic book artists, Al Plastino, passed away yesterday at age 91 of prostate cancer.

Recently, Plastino has been involved in litigation over artwork he drew for "Superman's Mission for President Kennedy" that was intended to be donated to the John F. Kennedy Library.

Above, a Facebook message to me on the Superman-JFK artwork matter from Al Plastino from a few weeks ago.

Somehow, those pages of art never made it to the Kennedy Library and were to be up for auction last week. When the controversy erupted last month, Heritage Auctions pulled the artwork pending investigation.

While Curt Swan was my favorite Superman artist, Al Plastino was a good illustrator in his own right and I felt his work actually got better as the years went on.

For more, go here.

R.I.P., Al.

Al Plastino Sues Heritage Auctions Over Superman-JFK Artwork

Above, the caption stating that the artwork would be donated to the Kennedy Library
 is missing from the image that was supplied by Heritage Auctions. It was a glue-on
 overlay that was removed. Note the residue from the glue on the panel at right. 

The next step in the ongoing controversy over the original artwork comic book artist Al Plastino drew 50 years ago has been taken.

Plastino filed suit with the New York State Supreme Court in New York County against Heritage Auctions over the artwork (10 pages) of the story, "Superman's Mission For President Kennedy." The suit demands that Heritage name the person putting up the disputed artwork up for auction.

For 50 years, Plastino believed the artwork was donated to the John F. Kennedy Library in Boston, but they mysteriously turned up at a New York comic book convention last month.

According to the Dallas News:

Oak Lawn-based Heritage Auctions is holding a comic-art auction in Beverly Hills today. And that sale was scheduled to include 10 pages from Superman No. 170, which includes the story “Superman’s Mission for President Kennedy,” a rather unremarkable public-service announcement in which the Man of Steel encourages the nation’s youth to “close the muscle gap” by enlisting in the president’s Physical Fitness Program. 

But the lot has been pulled over a dispute over who owns — and who should own — the artwork. 

Heritage says it belongs to a private collector who bought it in 1993. But the man who drew it, 91-year-old Al Plastino, says it belongs to the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum. And he has filed suit to have it returned to its allegedly rightful owner. Plastino, who found out just last month it never made it to Boston, wants Heritage to name names.

Some have speculated that it was Curt Swan's original art that was to be donated, not Plastino's:

Some comic-book scholars speculate that the original artwork to which Weisinger was referring was done by Curt Swan, among the most famous Superman artists, and not Plastino.

The above was referring to then-Superman editor Mort Weisinger. Plastino told me a few weeks ago that Swan only drew a splash page, not a full story and that the Kennedy Library has no record of receiving any Swan artwork either.

Above, the published version.  Note the caption on the panel stating that it would go to the Kennedy Library.

This is looking more like the art was stolen. Why would the caption stating the artwork's planned donation be removed?

To read the full story, go here. 

Legal Steps To Prevent Al Plastino Superman-JFK Art From Going To Auction Initiated

Above, artist Al Plastino with the 'splash page' of the artwork in contention.  Photo: Facebook.

It was good news that Heritage Auctions pulled the Al Plastino original artwork of "Superman's Mission For President Kennedy" and will investigate how it ended up in private hands instead of being at the John F. Kennedy Library, where it was intended.

But this is just a temporary withdrawal. However, steps are being taken to keep the artwork from going on the auction block permanently.

According to the New York Post:

But advocates for comic book artists say that since the art was never given to the museum, Plastino remains the rightful owner. Comic book publishers, they claim, only buy the publishing rights to an artist’s work, not the work itself. Publishers generally dispute this, and it’s an issue that’s been debated for decades. 

“He never gave up ownership of the art because DC never purchased it from him or paid sales tax,” asserted Kris Adams Stone, daughter of comic book legend Neal Adams. She added that legal papers are being prepared to halt the auction for good.

To read the full story, go here.

Was Al Plastino's Superman-JFK Artwork Stolen?

Above, the cover of Superman issue no. 170.

It is interesting that this story should hit now, since the 50th anniversary of the assassination of President Kennedy is coming up next month.

There is a bit of a flap over some original artwork that appeared in the July 1964 issue of Superman (no. 170). The issue contained the story, "Superman's Mission For President Kennedy" that was penciled and inked by Al Plastino. In the story, Kennedy enlists Superman's help to get flabby Americans to become physically fit.

As I have this issue in my collection, I remember it well. On the very last panel of the story, it stated that the original artwork would be donated to the John F. Kennedy Library at Harvard University (at the time, that was where the library was planned to be located).

Above, the Plastino art. Note the last panel stating that the original art will be donated to the Kennedy Library.

According to a story at Bleeding Cool.com, the Plastino original artwork is now up for auction at Heritage Auctions. They are looking to get $200,000 for it.  Somehow, the artwork never made it to the Kennedy Library and they have no record of ever receiving it.

Artist Al Plastino is quite upset over this.

He said:

Please help if you can. The art I donated and thought for all these years was being housed at the Kennedy library at Harvard is now being auctioned off on the anniversary of Kennedy’s assassination. And now I am finding out that the art may have never made it to the library. The archivists tell me there are no records of it ever being received. I asked for the art back and they will not give it to me. I asked for the consigner’s name and they will not tell me that either. They tell me I have no rights to my work and that it is too late to get it back.

I don't blame Plastino for being upset about his artwork, intended for the Kennedy Library, ending up in someone else's hands, possibly by theft.

However, the story gets more complicated.

The story was originally scheduled for Superman no. 168, but it was pulled when Kennedy was assassinated. This version was drawn by artist Curt Swan and inked by George Klein. The editor of Superman, Mort Weisinger, published an announcement in the current issue stating that the artwork would be donated to Jacqueline Kennedy.

Above, editor Mort Weisinger's announcement containing a panel of the Swan/Klein artwork.

Later, President Johnson asked National Periodical Publications (DC Comics) to publish it, and it is speculated that the Swan/Klein artwork was donated already, so it had to be re-drawn and Plastino got the assignment. Herein lies the confusion or complication.

It appears that the Swan/Klein artwork may have been donated directly to Mrs. Kennedy and not to the Kennedy Library (I assume there was a foundation set-up to get the library built at the time). But, as it shows on the last panel of the Plastino version, his artwork was intended to be donated to the Kennedy Library. It is possible that both versions were intended to be donated (the Swan/Klein art to Mrs. Kennedy and the Plastino art to the Kennedy Library) by National.

Since it was stated on the last panel of Plastino's version that it was to be donated, how did it end up not going to the Kennedy Library, but eventually to an auction house in 2013? Could the artwork have been stolen? What happened?

Heritage Auctions should pull the artwork from their auction schedule, put it on hold (treat it as possible stolen property) and begin an investigation to see if the artwork was stolen as well as the chain of custody since 1964. That would be right thing to do.

UPDATE: Bleeding Cool reports that Heritage Auctions has withdrawn the auction for the Plastino artwork and will investigate.  For more, go here.

Richard Sheffield, R.I.P.

Richard Sheffield, fan and friend of actor Bela Lugosi, has reportedly passed away, according to the Classic Horror Film Board Forum.

According to this write-up at Heritage Auctions:

[Sheffield] met his idol one Saturday at the fading star's modest apartment. Although Lugosi was failing, Sheffield sensed the power of the old magic (as well as the man's genuine charm and kindness) and fell under his formidable spell. He became the star's devoted acolyte for the last three years of Lugosi's life, and throughout the actor's final real-life melodramas -- including his drug addiction, alcoholism, and final (and stormy) marriage. (He even watched Bela acting his never-finished role in his posthumously released Plan 9 from Outer Space.)