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I recently acquire this Major Matt Mason page in an Italian auction - don't ask me how much I paid for it, probably more than most of you would be willing to pay. In any case, I received it in the mail today. This was in an auction listed as: M. G. Ungarelli - Major Matt Mason: Gli esploratori dello spazio, 1969.
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From the auction:
609 M. G. Ungarelli - Major Matt Mason: Gli esploratori dello spazio, 1969
Item Overview
Description
pencil, ink and watercolor on cardboard
36 x 51 cm
Original comic art made by Ungarelli for an episode of "Major Matt Mason: The Space Explorers", published in Il Giornalino in 1969. Slight creases at the corners.
Dimensions
36 x 51 cm
Artist or Maker
M. G. Ungarelli
Medium
pencil, ink and watercolor on cardboard
Date
1969
John's Notes:
In Italy in 1969 Major Matt Mason was incorporated into the anthology Comic Book "Corriere dei Piccoli with 15 two page segments of 'Gli Esploratori dello Spazio' ("Space Explorers" in English). I detail the segments along with Paul Vreede in a dedicated page with translations for those interested.
This item is also listed with a date of 1969 but I really wonder how it was used - after a few queries it seems that it was never published in Il Giornalino, at least not in 1969. The art for this page is rather better rendered when compared to what was published in Corriere dei Piccoli (with the red color added, there's also a bit of white added to highlight areas so more time was taken to add details - it may have been dumbed-down to make a deadline for publication), I'm guessing that this may have been used as a sample page that lead to the comic as published. The suit and the Major's face, the details of the Jet Propulsion Pak and the action as illustrated are really fantastic - wow, what a great mini-story.
Translation (Google Translate)
Panel 1: During the escape from the cave, Mason is swept away by a furious turbine of gas.
Panel 2: It is a powerful gas that is thrown upwards!
Panel 3: Matt Mason traces the trail of the gas.
Panel 4: At a certain height, the column of gas loses its strength. Matt can turn on his thrusters and leave.
Panel 5: The fury of the gas pushes him away. He must get a grip on himself and not lose control.
Panel 6: I want to take a sample from the planet.
Panel 7: Mason, return to base.
Panel 8: I'll take a look at the sample... what strange characteristics!
Panel 9: The fatigue and emotions of the day are getting to him. The gas and the siren are making him sleepy.
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| 2 Page DC Ad 1967 |
Looking at where the story picks up and assuming that the first panel is some type of logo or call-out, the narrative almost fits as a continuation of the comic included as the first page published in DC comics published in 1967 (the single page comic story has Major Matt Mason flying above the moon's surface with his Jet Propulsion Pak and seeing dust - he returns with the Space Crawler and explores a cave - something pulls him down and he stumbles forward .... if you link that to the page above it sort of works (of course he's not rendered wearing the Jet Propulsion Pak in the DC comic ad once he returns with the crawler). My thought is that linking this Italian story to the US half would bridge the story of the toyline to Italy. But that's all conjecture.
The item shipped in a large flat well-wrapped sleeve with triple-walled cardboard reinforcement. The art itself was in a plastic sleeve taped to on half of the insides. The entire package was covered in a Tyvec type plastic and then clear tape - if you're going to ship something like this it was definitely the way to go, especially from Europe.
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| Inside the package |
My Take:
Stuff like this is extremely rare. As far as I know this is the only comic book art page that has surfaced, but it does give me hope that others may appear. With 15 segments that's 30 pages of art that could be sitting in an archive somewhere, also the two page DC ad - good luck in the hunt!
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