Bill Everett - Marvel Comics #1 Sub-Mariner, page 12 Original Art (Timely, 1939). A show-stopping masterwork from the dawn of the Golden Age, this page must rank as the most historically significant and treasured piece of original comic book art known to survive -- it's the final page of the Sub-Mariner's origin story from Marvel Comics #1! William Blake Everett (1917-1973), broke into comics in 1938, working for one of the first companies to print original stories for comic books, Centaur Publishing. In 1939, Bill Everett joined Lloyd Jacquet's Funnies Incorporated shop as the art director when former editor Jacquet and a few other talents broke away from Centaur. Everett created the Sub-Mariner as an eight-page feature originally printed in a giveaway comic book titled Motion Picture Funnies Weekly #1. The Overstreet Price Guide notes that this comic book was probably not distributed outside of advance copies, and estimates that only eight copies are known to exist. The Sub-Mariner character proved so marvelous that Jacquet repackaged Everett's origin story a few months later, with four additional pages added, for young pulp publisher Martin Goodman's title, Marvel Comics #1. So it was that Prince Namor became Marvel's first super-hero. This imaginative and beautifully rendered origin story is considered by Golden Age aficionados to be an unparalleled highlight of the early super-hero comics. The twelve-page thriller told the origin of the Sub-Mariner, "an ultra-man of the deep who lives on land and in the sea, flies in the air, has the strength of a thousand men, and is a youth of dynamic personality, with quick thought and fast action." In the slam-bang finale, the yarn ended with a splash, as the Sub-Mariner destroyed a lighthouse beacon light, flew aboard an enemy plane, disposed of the pilot with one terrific blow, and dove into the ocean with a solemn vow to continue his crusade against all surface men! Namor's cousin Dorma also starred. The image area of the page measures approximately 9" x 13.75" on 10" x 15" Craft-Tint duo-tone paper. The duo-tone shading remains vivid, and the art is in Excellent condition. Bill Everett signed the art in the lower right of panel seven. Everett took great pride in his work. He said, "I didn't want to swipe from anybody; it had to come from me. It was all Everett. Storytelling was my strong point." Everett remains one of the most talented and beloved comic book artists to ever work in the field. His original artwork is scarce and highly prized. This remarkable page is the earliest Bill Everett piece to ever come to light, and is the only complete page known to exist from a key Golden Age comic book. Don't miss your chance to own one of the oldest and most important pieces of art ever offered for sale -- Bill Everett's Marvel!

William Blake Everett: William Blake "Bill" Everett (American, 1917-1973): The American Golden and Silver Age comic book artist best known for creating Prince Namor, the Sub-Mariner, and for co-creating the Marvel Comics character Daredevil, the Man Without Fear. Everett was a descendant of the poet William Blake.

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