Me and Comics
A Life long love affair
A little history about my life with comic books the earliest comic books that I read (actually looked at the pictures would be more appropriate) was when I still wore diapers. Both of my elder brothers, Bruce & Alex read them. The book however that I first personally purchased took place in 1968. Daredevil #7 was published, this great comic featured the Sub-Mariner as the protagonist. After that I was hooked.
In 1971, I attended my first comic book convention, Phil Seuling's in July of 1971. Jack Kirby was the Special Guest of the convention, and I had the pleasure of meeting him. WOW! I went to the High School of Art and Design and then the the School of Visual Arts where I attempted to learn how to become a professional comic book artist. Instead, as this web-site showcases, I went another way as a creative individual. At college I had the distinct pleasure of taking Will Eisner's great sequential art class and edited his annual Gallery Magazine which featured the best of his students work.
In 1991 I worked with Debbie David on her independent comic book Panorama #1, coming up with the name and designing its logo, as well as having my story ³Those who Watch² published. While promoting the book with Debbie at the annual Creation Convention in New York, I was asked to work with Personality Comics and illustrated over thirty covers for them. Getting involved with Debbie and discovering the joys of independent comics got me thinking. This was when I began to formulate OFFWORLD magazine, a little publication which I created along with two very close friends, Tony Williams and Arnaldo Lopez.
Recently I decided to start selling my comic book collection. A man has to grow up sometime. Doesn't he? The sad part of the whole thing is having to let go of the past. But the great joy of releasing my fantasies is that I get to relive them. Each comic book that I put up for auction on EBAY has to be described in detail to the perspective buyers. As an excuse to evaluate each book, I get to read and look over the comics again. Letting me remember in sometimes amazing clarity what it was like the first time I picked up these timeless treasures. Believe me when I write this...I will surely miss each and every one of them.
Some of my favorites are: Almost anything by the Great Jack Kirby, his duets with Stan Lee, The Fantastic Four and Thor. Especially the Galactus & Silver Surfer issues in the Fantastic Four and Jane Foster becoming a God saga. Possibly the best comic books ever, Spider-man # 120-121 The Death of Gwen Stacey (the only comic which actually ever made me cry). As well as #'s 39-40, Romita's great Green Goblin vs. Spider-man the truth is revealed saga. Kirbys 'Forth World' series for D.C. Neal Adams' Green Lantern. I'm a big fan of John Bryne's work, specifically his incredible X-Men and Fantastic Four runs and always loved Doomsday +1. Buckler's Dealthlok, Russel's Killraven. Brunner's Dr. Strange, John Buscema's creation of the Vision & Yellow Jacket in the Avengers #s 50-80. Barry Smiths growth in Conan. Loved the series in Superman when Kyptonite was no more aprox #'s 230-240. The Manhunter by Chaykin, Rose & the Thorn by Don Heck in Detective Comics and currently...Stuat Immonen's work in Thor...amazing. Kind of skipped a lot but these few come to mind.
I mentioned Stuat Immonen's work in Thor, cause of the changes in the comics world recently. Over the years comics like any other medium has gone through creative changes both talent & printing wise. But just like the onslaught of Television channels. From 5 to what now seems like 500, there are still just a handful of great books being published. In 1964, the big two comic book companies between them published approximately 30 comics, they now publish close to 150. The sad thing is In 1964 out of the approximately 30 books...at least half were great. Out of the 150 comics now being published...possibly 30 are great. But with the talent involved and the advancement in printing techniques right now there's always hope. Most comic book companies have their own web sites. Check out Comicscontinuum.com, really informative. And as is the case with the internet, there are hundreds of related sites. You can literally spend weeks just browsing and witnessing thousands if not millions of images on the web.
Of Note: In the near future I will be adding an on-line gallery of comic book covers from my collection. Unfortunately I own over 8,000 comic books. So periodically I will be adding new images to this section. As you can imagine...very time consuming. So please check back to see whats been added.
Finally, as mentioned above, I'm selling my collection, either by issue, set or the entire 8,000. If you are interested, please e-mail me. I will listen to any real offer. All comic books are in plastic bags.
Thanks for reading this little historic document.
Sincerely
Neil Feigeles
© 2001 Neil Feigeles. All rights reserved.