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A 50-year saga of a man and his comics has come to a close in a bittersweet way. Famed comic artist Al Plastino recently found himself fighting to get his 1964 drawings of Superman and John F. Kennedy into the JFK Presidential Library and Museum in Boston. Sadly, Plastino died in November at 91, after a long battle with prostate cancer — but thanks to extra effort by DC Comics, Plastino will not have died in vain as the company will donate the artwork to the museum.
For decades, Plastino had been under the impression that his drawings of "Superman’s Mission for President Kennedy" were already donated by DC Comics to the museum. He was stunned to see that same artwork at an auction held by Dallas-based Heritage Auctions, on sale starting at $200,000. The JFK Museum claims it never received the artwork from DC Comics all those years ago. According to Heritage, for nearly twenty years after that, the comics remained in the hands of a private, anonymous collector who had purchased them at a Sotheby’s auction in 1993.
The artwork would have sold for at least $200,000
DC Comics was able to fulfill its initial promise, despite decades of mishaps with Plastino's "pride and joy." The company managed to stop the artwork from being sold at Heritage Auctions, acquired it, and will be donating it at long last to the JFK Museum. Even if Plastino won't be able to see his work in the museum himself, his family will be able to enjoy it, and they are no doubt thankful DC Comics was able (finally) to save the day.
