Cover for 1972 edition published by Ace Books.

Feast your eyes on a watery magic carpet ride. This splash page from the incendiary talents of Nick Cardy is a preview of things to come as two advertising pages prior, our heroes were left trapped in the clutches of the powerful Leron, the nefarious usurper to the throne of queen Mera. This cliffhanger intro assured readers in 1963 that the foes from Dimension Aqua would not get the best of our titular character who would soon find a way to rescue Mera, in her comic book debut, from her would be saboteurs.

Nick Cardy penned and inked this entire issue. His never-ending talents dazzled readers with new and ingenious ways for these super-abled opponents to manipulate the oceans in epic battles. Consider each watery ripple drawn and expertly present. Attention to details such as these allows the audience to be transported to a porthole view of all the action.

There's eye candy galore, every square inch of the page is filled with little details, this Dick Dillon and Sid Greene collaboration kickstarts the story "Return of the Seven Year Dead Man," the tale of a gangster with amnesia who suddenly regains his memory after reading his own death announcement in a newspaper. He recalls a pact with his former partners in crime and decides to return to Ivy City to attend his own funeral, surprising his old pals.

Which brings us to this full-page splash that comes to us, not from page one, but from page two, and it's a genuine cornucopia of action. The reader is brought in mid-skirmish as the Atom biffs, bangs, and pows a bank robber for a loop with a tiny, but atom-packed right cross. In addition, we see a side panel of a reformed gangster, preparing his money as a handsome endowment to Ivy University. Interiors like this one we proudly bring to auction set the audience up for page turning thrills. How do all these characters intersect? Read on, read on.

Hydra's Displacer Ray snatches a seemingly innocuous document from Captain America, relaying nothing more than Cap's interest in working with Sgt. Fury. While of no value to the disgruntled Hydra henchman, below, a passerby will find this discarded memo and attempt to sell the tidbit of information to the Swordsman, who has placed a handsome bounty on anything leading to the capture of one of the Avengers. This attractively illustrated page hails from a classic story that features the first appearance of the Swordsman. Each panel blends into the next creating a seamless flow to the scene. It takes great skill to illustrate a scenario with more imagery than words, Heck and Ayers masterfully accomplish this with great aplomb.

Battling the Mole Man was a rite of passage for the heroes of Marvel's Silver Age and this time it's the Avengers' turn to fight the foe from down below. A particular panel of note on this page gives us a silhouette of the bite-size hero, Ant-Man, inside the mechanics of Mole Man's evil machine. Fans of Paul Rudd's silver screen performances note the method is exactly how the mini-Avenger foiled both the Falcon and Iron Man. Recently, original art collectors got hip to the creative duo of Don Heck and Dick Ayers, as auction prices for their work have risen steadily. With values for Kirby art in the reaches of the beyond for some collectors, Heck and Ayers do a damn fine job of it for the price.

Foxing on back. Does not affect image.

Remarqued by Dick Sprang

Slight foxing on back of folder.

Some staining on the edges of the paper, does not affect image.

This item will ship in a tube.

This item will ship in a tube.

When Barry Windsor-Smith and Roy Thomas teamed to create Conan the Barbarian for Marvel Comics, the undertaking was seen as a risky proposition, as the muscular barbarian had no connection to the Marvel Universe of superheroes, existed in a different time period, and took part in adventures that had adult themes. The gamble paid off. Not only did Conan the Barbarian become an instant cult success, but the character was then spun off into two black-and-white magazines, Savage Tales and The Savage Sword of Conan.

This page, from the series' first issue, depicts Conan selling his services to Olav, the leader of the Aesir, a band of warriors. The pair discusses their business arrangements and battle strategy as readers are provided an introduction to the Cimmerian warrior and his straightforward personality. Smith's take on Conan was that of a youthful adventurer, who was still developing into manhood, with human weaknesses, very much the opposite of John Buscema's indestructible musclebound death machine. The early issues of Conan are considered to be some of Smith's best, and his fluid line work and strong sense of composition were the perfect fit for Marvel's foray into the world of Sword & Sorcery. When it comes to Conan fans you can't ask for more than a page from the first issue of the revered, long-running series.

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This Barry Windsor-Smith piece features Starr the Slayer, a Conan-inspired figure designed before Marvel acquired the rights to Robert E. Howard's creation, making this quite the interesting collectible. Appearing in both Chamber of Darkness #4 and Conan the Barbarian #16, this tale, featuring the barbarian prototype, bears an almost indistinguishable resemblance to Smith's rendition of Conan. The story on the page involves the Slayer's mind-bending trip to a parallel universe, in which he finds the author of a story featuring himself, and, in true barbarian fashion, attempts to kill its creator. Employing creative panel design and the strong-yet-delicate line work Smith is known for, this is a special piece for those Sword and Sorcery fans out there.

Amra is a name fans of Conan the Barbarian know quite well, once the owner of the name is defeated, his opponent assumes the mantle and carries on the tradition of being Amra, the Lion. It stands to reason that the blonde macho man that is courting Belit on this page is just one in a line of Amras, who will eventually relinquish his title to another (hint: Conan), but Crom help the next guy who want to take the name after that. Illustrated by the instantly recognizable hand of John Buscema this piece practically oozes testosterone, and some estrogen to boot, as the loinskin clad Amra wrestles with his pet Shulo, the equally minimally clothed and buxom Belit seems a bit confused about whether or not she really wants to escape the clutches of her captor. There is some steamy savage sensuality at play here to be sure.

Feast your eyes upon some classic barbarian action as John Buscema illustrates and inks this fantastic page featuring the ghoulish Jergl Zadh and the dreaded Brotherhood of the Falcon pitted against Conan and Fafnir. As the two adventurers hide in the tall grass from their pursuers, they run afoul of a pit of angry snakes which quickly engulf everyone's favorite Cimmerian. Rendered with stark simplicity that highlights the muscular characters, this page showcases Buscema's ease and familiarity with his subject matter, as the renowned artist had been creating Conan tales for literally hundreds and hundreds of pages up to this point. Fans of Conan can never get enough his exploits, and we here at ComicConnect are pleased to be able to offer three different pages featuring Sword and Sorcery action in this auction.