Reading through my comic book RSS feed yesterday I saw where the Superman #233 original cover art by late artist Neal Adams was up for auction, 55 years after the comic book hit comic racks.
This has always been one of my favorite comic book covers and I well remember the first time I saw it 55 years ago.
I was 15 years old and my family was living in South Miami. A couple of blocks from our home was a 7-11 convenience store and I had walked up there to see what new comic books were out that week. This was back in the stone-ages when comics were sold in convenience stores and drug stores on the now-old comic book wire spinner racks.
The rack was off to the right of the entrance and I made a beeline to it, after waving “hello” to the cashier. And I saw the top half of the comic book cover for Superman #233 from across the store.
Now, a Superman comics was ALWAYS a book I would buy because I loved (and still do) the character. But the art I could see on the top half of the cover, Superman from the upper chest up to the cover logo, immediately got my attention and I quickened my pace.
When I was within reach of the rack I pulled Superman #233 out of the holder and was instantly mesmerized by the cover. This was the essence of The Man of Steel; breaking chains with just the force of expanding his chest. James Gunn uses the older style illustration of Superman doing the same thing for his animated DC Studios logo.
But, these weren’t just ANY chains. They were chains made of Kryptonite, the only substance that could weaken and eventually kill The Last Son of Krypton. And now he was effortlessly shrugging off those deadly chains.
Still, that wasn’t the biggest thing about the cover, though the story of Kryptonite no longer affecting Superman WAS intriguing to this young comic book fan.
No, the biggest thing was that the artwork was by a comic book artist that I absolutely LOVED; Neal Adams. He was one of four comic artists I put on MY Mount Rushmore of Comic Book Artists. Adams had the talent and ability to illustrate these formerly-rendered-as-cartoon-characters into beings that looked like they stepped from our world into the pages of comic books. His illustration skills were as life-like as possible for the times.
And this cover of Superman #233 looked like Superman had come to life, right there in my hands.
I took that book, and a few others, back home and devoured them. But Superman #233 with its magnificent cover, was always a favorite book and piece of art for me.
So, when I saw the original artwork was being auctioned I wondered if I could possibly afford to bid on it.
Lol, no. The latest bid showed more than $200,000 so no way I could afford to bid on it. Not that it isn’t worth every penny of that to fans, but this fan just could not.
What was even more surprising was that, befoe he passed away, Adams revealed that he hated his work on that cover.
His fans have always disagreed, finding this cover art to be iconic to the character of Superman.
Anyway, if YOU have the ability to afford bidding on this master’s original artwork, I hope you will and I wish you all the luck in the world in making the winning bid.
The rest of us will just have to remain content with re-printed copies.
