Advertisement for Stan Lee interview in Oui magazine, 1977.

Illustration by John Romita.

The whole gang is here. (For the full Ben-Day experience, click here and enlarge.)

From Amazing Spider-Man #43, December 1966. Art by John Romita. Words by Stan Lee. Lettering by Artie Simek.

Jack Kirby, by John Romita and Joe Sinnott, 1994.

In 1965, Dick Ayers drew this page as an audition to replace Wally Wood on Daredevil, an assignment that ultimately went to John Romita. Layouts by Jack Kirby.

John Romita, 1979. Can anyone identify what he’s drawing (or retouching)?

Cover to Amazing Spider-Man #121 by John Romita.

Untold Stories: Marvel Sells Stash of Original Art (by John Romita, Gil Kane, and others) for $770, 1973

“But think about the Marvel Warehouse of Original Art! Since there is some disagreement as to whom finished art truly belongs (the penciler merely pencils, the inker merely inks, the letterer letters), Marvel prudently settles the question by appropriating all.”
—Creem, April 1973

Marvel began returning current pages to artists sometime in 1974, and eventually worked retroactively back a few months, to comics cover-dated from January 1974; among the earliest issues from which art was sent back were Avengers #119 and Amazing Spider-Man #128. 

But a year earlier, Marvel sold the covers to these issues, cover-dated January 1973, to the Winnipeg Art Gallery. Seven covers, plus progressive proofs and color guides for each, for a total of $770.

Back in 1986, Irene Vartanoff (who began managing artwork return in 1975) told The Comics Journal that Marvel would occasionally send artwork to exhibits. But as far as I know, this is the only evidence that exists of Marvel actually accepting money for pages of original art.

It’s unclear if the gallery still possesses the pages; nothing comes up on their inventory database. But if Rich Buckler, Joe Sinnott, Barry Smith, John Romita, Sal Buscema, or Tom Palmer happens to read this, they may want to give them a call.

UPDATE: It looks like the pages were displayed in 2006, as part of an exhibit called Funny Papers, and that—great news—the gallery then returned the works to the artists.

If anyone happens to have a scan of the original art for this page from Daredevil #16, please post it!

I saw the page at NYCC last year, and there was an amazing note from Stan Lee to Artie Simek, asking him to change the lettering to make it more like Sam Rosen’s.

From the first issue of the Spectacular Spider-Man magazine, 1968.

themarvelageofcomics:

A page from CAPTAIN AMERICA #138 by John Romita.

Hey, I want to see what’s underneath that first panel! Apparently the puddles were the only thing that didn’t have to be redrawn?

From the ill-fated proposal for a Spider-Man daily strip, circa 1970, by Stan Lee and John Romita.

themarvelageofcomics:

A page from MENACE #11 by John Romita, the 1950s story that introduced the character that would become M-11 the Human Robot.

It’s apparent that the final panel had the figure cut out and replaced to reduce the size of the Robot and have him outside the doorway already, rather than still within the room—there’s an illegible note about making a correction here on the side of the page.

Marvel President Terry Stewart and Richard Rogers, the head of Marvel’s marketing department, decided that Spider-Man’s thirtieth anniversary was the perfect opportunity for 3-D hologram covers and more crossovers and double-sized issues. Not everyone was convinced “Right after the Spider-Man thirtieth anniversary went on the schedule,” said Director of Sales Lou Bank, “a memo came out of [marketing], detailing the anniversaries of all the other characters, one after the other. That, I believe, is when editorial let out a collective growl. It was year after year of anniversary after anniversary.”

Text from Marvel Comics: The Untold Story.

The Thing meets John Romita…in 1942. Marvel Two-in-One Annual #1, 1976. Art by Sal Buscema. Words by Roy Thomas.

Preliminary for Amazing Spider-Man #79 cover by John Romita.