Man’s lifetime collection of comic books to fetch $82,000 at auction

By James Gamble

A lecturer with a lifelong obsession with comic books spanning over six decades is putting his collection on sale - expecting to rake in over $82,516.

Nigel Kitching says he was given his first comic books before he could even read by an employee on his dad's farm, which set him up for a lifetime obsession.

The 66-year-old's comic fascination eventually saw him write them himself, working in the industry for over 20 years before creating and lecturing a Master's degree in Comics.

However, after moving house and deciding he needed to refine his collection, dad-of-two Kitching has finally decided to sell most of his collection.

Divided into 340 separate lots, the collection of more than 6,000 comics spans back to the early 1960s and includes rare first appearance issues for Iron Man, X-Men and the Fantastic Four.

The collection is expected to sell for a collective total of more than $82,516.

Kitching explained that being handed his first Marvel comics before he was able to read marked a 'Sliding Doors' moment that shaped his life.

He was handed the American comics by a man working on his father's farm in North Yorkshire, much to the chagrin of his parents, at the age of five, in 1964.

From then on, Kitching would constantly pester his parents to tour comic shops in the hopes of finding rarities every time they left the house, chasing the great works of Marvel artists Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko and Gil Kane.

As he began to learn to read, he bought his first title from a newsstand.

“It was Spider-Man No. 28, (1965)," Kitching recalled.

"I still couldn’t read, but I loved the artwork and it had a black cover. My mother thought the cover was creepy, but she let me buy it when she saw how keen I was to have it.

“When my father’s friend gave me the Fantastic Four numbers 30 and 31 in the early 1960s, it set my life on a different course.

"I would probably be a farmer now if it wasn't for that. It changed the course of my life and became my career.

"But I recently moved house, and no longer have the storage I had before. I’ve kept some of my favourites, but have consigned around 6,000 comics to the auction at Ewbank’s."

On holiday in Scarborough once, Kitching even sought out rare comics that were used as ballast for ships coming from the United States.

"In those days, most of the comics you saw in the shops were D.C. Thomson titles like The Beano and The Topper, but I wasn’t interested in them,” he continued.

As his collection grew, so did Kitching's fascination with comics.

He eventually went on to work in the industry for more than 20 years as a writer and artist, creating the world of Sonic the Comic, based on Sonic the Hedgehog, and working with 2000AD, who created Judge Dredd.

After his career in the industry, Kitching went on to teach a Master's degree in Comics at Teesside University, and is now close to completing a PhD in comics.

“This isn’t a single trophy-lot consignment, but rather a substantial, broad-based comic collection built by an early, engaged Marvel-era collector,” Tom Duma, Ewbank’s Comics and Comic Books specialist, said.

“A foundational collector’s run, it spans the formative years of modern superheroes, with notable issues from the Early UK Marvel and Silver Age."

Highlights of Kitching's collection include significant rarities, including a 1963 copy of Tales of Suspense, which features the first appearance and origin of Iron Man and has a guide price of between $1,200 and $2,000.

A first-ever Fantastic Four issue from 1961, featuring the first appearance and origin of The Fantastic Four, carries an estimate of up to $2,000, whilst The Avengers No 1 comic, from 1963, featuring the first appearance and origin of The Avengers, is expected to fetch as much as $1,500.

The collection also includes the X-Men No 1 first issue from 1963, featuring the first appearance of the X-Men, Professor X and Magneto, which is estimated to sell for at least $1,000.

Comics starring Spider-Man, Daredevil, The Silver Surfer and even Dracula also feature among the leading titles in the sale, with estimates ranging from £300 to above four figures for individual comics.

Pick of the Spider-Man titles is a 1963 copy of The Amazing Spider-Man No. 5, which includes the first meeting of Doctor Doom and Spider-Man, which carries hopes of between $800 and $1,200.

The Ewbank's Auctioneers sale is due to take place later this month.