An anonymous donor recently donated the original Steve Ditko artwork for Amazing Fantasy #15 to the Library of Congress. This is the issue featuring the origin story of Spider-Man.
"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.
You can see some sample pictures of the original art pages here at the LoC blog.
Comments (1)
Wow, a helluva thing to have lying around to donate. Awesome.
Posted by kwc | May 20, 2008 11:41 AM
Posted on May 20, 2008 11:41