Walt Simonson and His Originals

Up above is a drawing of Thor that Walter Simonson drew last week and which was auctioned off on ebay this week. (Do you notice how the gentleman's signature at the bottom edge resembles a dinosaur? Not an accident! I remember reading back in the 1970s he purposely signs with a dinosaur design.)

The high bidder paid $5877.77 (with free shipping). To me the big news about the transaction is not the amount but the fact that a pencil-and-ink Simonson original will soon be in hands other than Mr. Simonson's own. This happens rarely.

Back in 1980 I wrote a letter directly to the gentleman asking if I could purchase a page of his original artwork. He beautifully hand-printed a response to me saying politely that he holds onto all of his originals, and I showed you that work-of-art-in-its-own-right postcard back here.

Well it turns out that that was not the first time I corresponded with Mr. S. I wrote a letter to him in 1978 as well and, after 42 years, I am ready to share with the world his wonderful reply.

It's amazing to me that Walter Simonson, a supremely busy artist, took the time to type a full-page letter to a person he did not know listing the projects he was working on or had recently completed. I hope you will enjoy reading this artifact of comics history!