AMAZING FANTASY #15 PAGES GIVEN TO LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

[MattBrady]

Newsarama Note: Given the recent New York Comic Con and build-up for Free Comic Book Day, we missed this when it first was released on April 30th. Our apologies for missing the ball. Look for further stories related to this news in the future.

Press Release

In a deed of superheroic proportions, an anonymous donor has given the Library of Congress the original artwork by Steve Ditko for Marvel Comics' "Amazing Fantasy #15" -- the comic book that introduced Spider-Man in August 1962.

This unique set of drawings for 24 pages features the story of the origin of Spider-Man along with three other short stories -- also written by Stan Lee and drawn by Steve Ditko -- for the same issue: "The Bell-Ringer," "Man in the Mummy Case" and "There Are Martians Among Us."

"The donation of these wonderful drawings is a treasured gift to the American people. The opportunity to see the original art behind the published stories will benefit comic-book readers as well as popular-culture scholars," said Sara W. Duke, curator of Popular and Applied Graphic Art in the Library's Prints and Photographs Division. "Looking at the drawings inspires a new appreciation for the artist's skill and design choices and also deepens our understanding of how a superhero created to attract a teenage audience became a cultural icon with mass appeal."

For comic-book scholars and fans, this donation is a fantasy-come-true. Those who have heard the news of the survival of these drawings and their future availability at the Library of Congress have already expressed great excitement.

The black-and-white, large-format drawings (21 x 15 inches) detail the transformation of high school bookworm Peter Parker into Spider-Man. He is bitten by a radioactive spider, discovers his new powers and develops his now well-known disguise. The first episode concludes with several of the most famous lines attached to the story of Spider-Man: "With great power there must also come great responsibility ... and so a legend is born and a new name is added to the roster of those who make the world of fantasy the most exciting realm of all."

To view a sample of these drawings, visit the Library of Congress blog at www.loc.gov/blog/?p=290.

The donor, who has asked to remain anonymous, preserved the drawings with great care before turning to the Library of Congress to ensure that the designs will be available to researchers for generations to come. In the next few weeks, the Library plans to scan the drawings for easy access on-site in the Prints and Photographs Reading Room, and the digital reference copies will also help preserve the fragile original artwork.

Appointments to view the original drawings can be requested through the Prints & Photographs Division's "Ask a Librarian" service at www.loc.gov/rr/askalib/ask-print.html.

The Spider-Man drawings join a premier collection of original cartoons in the Library's Prints & Photographs Division. The collection includes more than 125,000 caricatures, comic strips, and political and social commentaries from the 1600s to the present. An ongoing program to preserve and exhibit drawings and to encourage cartoon research is sponsored by the Caroline and Erwin Swann Foundation for Caricature and Cartoon. For more information, visit www.loc.gov/rr/print/swann/swannhome.html.

Founded in 1800, the Library of Congress is the nation's oldest federal cultural institution and the largest library in the world, with more than 138 million items in various languages, disciplines and formats. As the world's largest repository of knowledge and creativity, the Library is a symbol of democracy and the principles on which this nation was founded. Today the Library serves the U.S. Congress and the nation both on-site, in its 22 reading rooms on Capitol Hill, and through its award-winning Web site at www.loc.gov.

[breakfast]

Wow. Very nice :]
I thought that the original pages for those didn't even exist anymore.

[prolix]

Seems to me, the anonymous donor is most likely Steve Ditko. My reasoning is that he would likely own the art and his principles would lead him to donate it (and pass up a fortune). Those same principles would lead him to remain anonymous.

Anyone know more?

[Spy_Smasher]

Wow. The idea that the art actually still exists is amazing. It really is an incredible gift.

[T Man]

WOW! That is amazing...pardon the pun, and I agree it must have been Steve Ditko that donated that. What a terrfic gesture! In a world where it seems the only important thing these days, is money, that is true class.

[mrpunch0]

Originally Posted by prolix

Seems to me, the anonymous donor is most likely Steve Ditko. My reasoning is that he would likely own the art and his principles would lead him to donate it (and pass up a fortune). Those same principles would lead him to remain anonymous.

Anyone know more?

There are people out there who know who the donor was, and they aren't saying. But I doubt it was Ditko himself. But, word on "the street" is that Ditko was contacted to see if he minded the donation and he gave it his blessing.

[Robb Welch]

Originally Posted by prolix

Seems to me, the anonymous donor is most likely Steve Ditko. My reasoning is that he would likely own the art and his principles would lead him to donate it (and pass up a fortune). Those same principles would lead him to remain anonymous.

Anyone know more?

Actually, historicaly, his principles have been to use his old, historical art as CUTTING BOARDS for measuring new art projects. And even writing down phone numbers and leaving himself notes. Soooo.....
Betcha it aint Ditko.

[KoozyK]

i just requested a viewing since i live 30 min from dc!

i hope the allow me the chance to view it! to be able to read the original af15 would be amazing!

[pop monkey]

Anybody have any idea, or has there ever been an estimate given as to how much these pages could have fetched on the open market? This anonymous donor has surely passed up the opportunity for a massive payday, though I do appreciate their generosity. This means I might actually get to see the pages in person one day!

[c_andrew_s]

This is really nice, I am so going to see them

[Eonprez]

I thought original comic art from the 60's was twice the size (or larger) than original art is today. Does anyone know when the size change took place?

[Tony T]

Yes, I believe these pages are the size commonly called "Large Art" or "Twice Up". That is, they are twice the size of the printed comic book pages. I think Marvel made the transition from 2X originals to the smaller size sometime in the mid-1960's.

[Mundungus]

That's incredible. Thank you to whoever donated those.

[Tanjint]

i kind of thought ditko too since he has been so okay with being little known and has even seemed to contribute to his own obscurity since the 60's but i have no way to back that up. but it was my first thought.

-T

[Kevin Street]

What a wonderful thing to do! The Library of Congress is a perfect place to put historically important artwork such as this. Thank you for helping to preserve our culture, anonymous donor.

[SouthernHero]

This is awesome. I for one would much rather have seen the art donated to a charity or sold and the proceeds donated... like Make-A-Wish or Children's Leukemia... there are lots of ways to preserve an artifact and also create revenue from it.

At any rate, I commend the donor for sharing something so cool.

[SAIDESTROYER]

i live in colombia, so i dont think i will be seeing the original art of AM15 anytime soon... but hell i will someday!!!


i am not a big (current) marvel fan, but this is story in the making!!! nice gesture from the person who donated the art

[Guicho]

The donor, who has asked to remain anonymous, preserved the drawings with great care before turning to the Library of Congress...

That's funny cause looking at them right there, these people taking pictures scanning, manhandling and drooling over them probably did more damage in one day, then the 46 years the anonymous owner had them preserved.

[Broo715]

Originally Posted by Guicho

That's funny cause looking at them right there, these people taking pictures scanning, manhandling and drooling over them probably did more damage in one day, then the 46 years the anonymous owner had them preserved.

So you're saying the Library of Congress doesn't know how to preserve documents?

[Doc Nero]

Originally Posted by KoozyK

i just requested a viewing since i live 30 min from dc!

i hope the allow me the chance to view it! to be able to read the original af15 would be amazing!

Lucky sod! That would be a dream for someone in Britain and with little money in his pockets.

Have a great time, savour the moment.

[Tony T]

Originally Posted by Broo715

So you're saying the Library of Congress doesn't know how to preserve documents?

I must confess that I cringed when I saw the pages laying unprotected on a table like that, and at least one person handling them with bare hands. Have you seen how oily fingerprints turn brown after a few decades? Indeed, it does make me wonder if they know what they're doing. One would think that the pages would immediately be placed in individual Mylars to protect them from fingerprints, accidental spit spray, etc.

[ykw2006]

Smashing. And now, basically, no one will ever be allowed to see this enormously important collection ever again.

When will people figure out that the LoC is not the Smithsonian, the MoMA, or even the Geppi? Heck, it isn't even a "library" as we tend to understand the term. It's an archive. Stuff is locked away in vaults, not displayed or made available for any but the most esoteric uses -- and even then, one needs an existing reputation as an important scholar, a pile of legal documents signed off by anyone with even the merest hint of ownership interest, and an extremely well-defined target-set just to be granted the most limited on-site access to anything buried in the LoC's bowels.

All in all, they might as well still be lining Ditko's studio floor...

[RedBeard]

Originally Posted by Tony T

I must confess that I cringed when I saw the pages laying unprotected on a table like that, and at least one person handling them with bare hands. Have you seen how oily fingerprints turn brown after a few decades? Indeed, it does make me wonder if they know what they're doing. One would think that the pages would immediately be placed in individual Mylars to protect them from fingerprints, accidental spit spray, etc.

The ones on the table look too white compared to the single page scan. I thought they were reproductions of the donated original artwork to show off.

[Tony T]

Those photos come from this blog on the Library of Congress website:

http://www.loc.gov/blog/?p=290

You can click on the photos to view them much larger. They sure look like the original pages to me. You can clearly see the whiteout, and the loose Spider-Man logo on the splash page. She also states in the blog entry:

"They are, in actuality, even a bit less yellow than the scans appear."

Maybe I'm overreacting, but it just struck me as odd that an institution of that calibur would handle the raw pages without wearing archival gloves. (Assuming that those are indeed the originals, which they appear to be to me.)

[AlexLothos]

I'm with the group that's still in awe that the original pages still exist in the first place!