A Provenance of Kirby's Art for Journey Into Mystery 10/21/96

by & © Orlando Adiao

The chart that follows is an informal provenance - an attempt at locating and cataloging Jack Kirby's original artwork from Marvel's Journey Into Mystery. (The list for The Mighty Thor is in the works; I'm beginning with Thor because that's all I collect, but I have a large file with information on other Kirby pieces.) My main sources of information have been Comics Buyer's Guide ads, Sotheby's auction and Christie's auction catalogs, sightings at conventions, dealer's offerings and catalogs, and occasionally other collectors. In the interests of protecting these pieces from the potential of theft, no collectors or dealers are named.

This list also reflects the prices at which most of the pieces were advertised for. Aside from verifying the existence of a particular page, tracing the prices is the most interesting thing the chart reflects. I was first exposed to the original art market about 1989, when a small-format page by Kirby going for $150 seemed high. Since Jack passed away, prices shot way up, reflecting the now finite supply versus theoretically unlimited demand. There has been a slight downturn in prices recently, which I believe they refer to in the stock market as a 'correction'. The most interesting illustration of these trends is page 8 of JIM #112, the classic Thor/Hulk face-off. Many fans consider this a very desirable issue not only because of the presence of two popular superheroes engaged in page after page of fight scenes, but also because of Chic Stone's rich, luscious inks. Page 8 from this issue has cropped up a few times in various places, offered for sale by different people. I first noticed it in an ad in 1994 selling for $1250, then within the space of one year, it jumped to a high of $2100, then slowly 'corrected' down to $1850, then $1800. It would've been interesting to know what dollar value was attached to this page before Jack passed on.

I hope that lovers of Kirby's art will share their knowledge of the existence of other pieces and possibly the prices they were sold or acquired for. Perhaps someday, along with a catalogue of all of Jack's work, there will also be a true provenance worthy of the King's artwork. If you have information on any JIM pages, please contact me at: Orlando Adiao, 220 West 98th St. #7B, New York, NY 10025 or email me at: olanoid1@aol.com. All names will be kept strictly confidential.

(Series is renamed The Mighty Thor starting with #126.) Art denoted "cover a" are recreations based on Kirby covers, but not executed by him.)

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