John Buscema, The Very First To Homage Jack Kirby’s Fantastic Four #1

Auction House Comic Connect has hundreds of pages of original comic book artwork going under the hammer in about eleven hours. There are some seriously strong bargains to be had right now, from comic books across the decades, including work by Mike Zeck – whose Secret Wars page recently sold for $3.3 million. Right now, no one knows where this could go. But here’s one page of original comic book cover artwork that will definitely be of notice. The John Buscema,Fantastic Four #126 cover that reprised the original Fantastic Four #1 cover by Fantastic Four co-creator Jack Kirby, and is also signed and inscribed by the comic book’s writer, and Fantastic Four’s other co-creator Stan Lee. And while the FF #1 cover has been homaged, referenced and repeated so many times – this was the very first time that was done. And it currently has a55 bids bringing the total to $86,000 – so far.

John Buscema pencils/Joe Sinnott inks; cover; 1972; image size 10″ x 15″ 1st FF #1 cover homage! Fantastic Four #1 is one of the most iconic cover images of all time and has been paid tribute to countless times over the years, this cover by John Buscema and Joe Sinnott represents the very first time the cover was recreated as an homage. Homage covers were not commonplace until much more recently, but in retelling the origins of Marvel’s first family it seemed the logical decision. Buscema, understanding the weight on his shoulders, went above and beyond, taking the bones of Kirby’s original and bringing it into the 1970s, altering the image just enough to amp up the drama. The level of detail is remarkable, even the background figures match the original. this is truly a piece of comic book history, and one of the best FF covers from Buscema’s heralded run on the title. This image was also used as the cover to a Fantastic Four book & record set. Pen and ink. Art is in very good condition, there is light staining and a few word balloons are missing, there was originally a stat paste-up over the Human Torch with minor adjustments to the artwork, that stat is missing, but a copy of it along with a couple of replacement word balloons that are included. Signed and inscribed by Stan Lee. The page was at one point mounted to another board, there is glue residue on the back that does not affect the artwork.