Last night, Irene and I got to talking about our history with original comic book art. The subject came up because she and her sister are about to sell a few more pieces through Heritage, some of which are amazing. (How does a 1968 Neal Adams Deadman splash page sound? I can’t recall when I last saw one of those go up for sale!) I’ll tell you more about them later as the auction dates approach, but it got me thinking about, not the best, but the first pieces of art I ever bought.

It was 1970. I was 15, attending my first comic convention—one of Phil Seuling’s July 4th weekend cons, of course. And while wandering the dealers room, I came across the following pages being sold for next to nothing.

First, a Gil Kane page from All-Star Western #104 (December-January 1958-1959), part of the Johnny Thunder story “The Gauntlet of Thunder.”

You can see it larger here if you’d like.

And the second purchase that long-ago weekend was this Joe Kubert page from G.I. Combat #64 (September 1958), part of the story “The Silent Jet.”

You can check out a larger version of that page here as well.

So what do I mean when I say I bought these two pages for next to nothing? Well, I picked up one for $1.00 and the other for $2.00, though I no longer remember which was the more (comparatively) expensive piece. (Please don’t hate me.)

So what was the best thing you bought at your first con?