The Toy Box: Big Lick NOVA 2025, Part IV - Jim Shooter Part I, Rick Leonard Part II, And Michael Watkins

Before we start
It is with great sadness that in the short time from when I wrote this post to the day it went live that Jim Shooter passed away. I can't help but feel like I saw the signs of it coming, even writing about it below. The below hasn't been updated or re-written from its original draft, and though sad, I hope you enjoy it in its original format as initially intended.

Though I'm saddened greatly by his passing, I hope you will enjoy this post, taking the time to remember, and honor the life and achievements of Mr. Shooter.

The man of the hour, Mr. Jim Shooter was back at Big Lick Nova for 2025. It hadn't been since Big Lick Nova 2023 that I last caught up with him, and while there, he signed hundreds of books for me for free. He also agreed to do a commission piece for me, which I would come to find out at this show was one of his last. Jim stated he simply couldn't draw anymore because of his hands.

Which leads me to my unfortunate next part. Jim really didn't look well. Though he was all smiles, and continued to regale everyone with tales, he just looked very tired, and had shrunk considerably (in size) since I last saw him. It's because of this, that despite Jim now charging for his autograph, $20.00 a piece, I still went forward with the 100+ books I had brought with me. Frankly, I just don't think he's going to be with us much longer.

First up was the Treasury Edition Superman And Spider-Man. This is the 80's sequel to the previously released Superman Vs. The Amazing Spider-Man. For those of you who may recall, I actually found this book at an estate sale.

Next up was an exclusive DVD which featured a documentary on the origin of the symbiote. This was released as a bonus disc at Wal-Mart with specially packaged copies of Sam Ramie's Spider-Man 2. It also comes with a bonus mini comic of The Amazing Spider-Man 300.

I also continued getting my Marvel 25th Anniversary banner comics signed. In my rush to grab books in 2023, I actually missed several of them, and as such had to bring them this time. There are several more below.

During the Secret Wars and Secret Wars II event, Comics Feature published three separate issues with interviews and behind the scenes information. I've gotten obsessed with tracking down this type of stuff for Jim to sign.

And before Secret Wars, Jim had his Marvel team put together the first event of its kind, 1982's Marvel Super Hero Contest Of Champions.

Fantastic Four 207 may seem like a random book to hunt down and get signed, but it has its significance. This is the issue where Peter Parker takes his job at The Daily Globe.

I was initially going to collect more of the classic Marvel Comics G.I. Joe:A Real American Hero series, and have obtained a handful of issues here and there. I decided to bring the additional few (not already signed by Shooter) for him to autograph.

I also needed Shooter's signature added to my Heroes For Hope: X-Men issue. This was Marvel's response to the likes of Live Aid, USA For Africa, and other such benefits for Africa.

Signed by Art Adams and Joe Rubinstein
at Awesome Con 2024.

Signed by Al Milgrom, Bob McLeod,
Chris Claremont, Howard Chaykin, Klaus Janson,
Louise Simonson, and Walter Simonson
at Baltimore Comic Con 2023.

Then there was my remaining haul of Marvel Age issues. I didn't have these books in my collection when I last got my Marvel Age books signed by Jim. However, with these now accounted for, I'm happy to say I have a complete run of the Shooter era of this comic signed by him, issue 1 - 55.

While he was no longer at Marvel for issue 57, I opted to get this signed as well because it features the heroes of Marvel in their new costumes, an era which Jim ushered in.

Then I was off to the races on the latest series I've been putting together in pieces, Marvel Tales. This was a reprint series which started out printing stories about various characters in the Marvel Universe, but then ultimately shifted to strictly focusing on Spider-Man.

I not only wanted to get the era of time Jim worked at Marvel signed, but also those which printed books throughout the run that Jim was Editor-In-Chief on. Needless to say, there are a lot of books in that block, and I don't have the majority of them. To help fill in gaps, I went around the convention floor picking up what I could find. I'll dive into the books I purchased in next week's post, so for now, these are the ones I already had in my collection.

Also signed by Rick Leonardi at
Big Lick Nova 2025

I'm not a big fan of The Mighty Thor, but there are a select few issues which have made their way to my collection. One such book, issue 303. if the first work of art that Rick Leonardi did for Marvel. Admittedly, I picked this issue up specifically for this show, and had Mr. Leonardi add "The 1st" above his signature. I followed this up by having Jim Shooter sign it.

I also had Jim sign my frog Thor run by Walt Simonson. When autographing these, Jim told a story about how Walt came to his office one day, and said, "Hey, I'm going to turn Thor into a frog." He was flabbergasted, but stated that, "Walt was a big gun you couldn't aim." He then elaborated further saying, "Fortunately, he hit the target every time he fired, so I let him do what he wanted."

Also signed by Walt Simonson at
Baltimore Comic Con 2024

There was a straggler The Amazing Spider-Man issue, which came into the mix after my initial Jim Shooter signing of all my books. While getting books signed by Joseph Rubinstein at Awesome Con 2024, he informed me that Charles Vess was pulling back from appearing at conventions. This led me to do something I wouldn't normally do. I purchased this issue pre-signed by Vess off of ebay. The downer is that I then needed it signed by Jim and Joe. Well, Jim is checked off.

Purchased pre-signed by Charles Vess
after a discussion with Joseph Rubinstein
at Awesome Con 2024

I kept seeing this third print of The Transformers issue three in the bin of my local comic shop, and eventually ended up grabbing it. This of course meant, much like my first print, I needed Jim to sign it. Unlike my first print, I opted to skip Rick Leonardi signing it.

Then there were a few more 25th Anniversary issues thrown into the mix.

Much like the above noted The Amazing Spider-Man issue, this Web Of Spider-Man issue 1 got purchased pre-signed by Charles Vess after my conversation with Mr. Rubinstein. As such, this too wasn't part of my collection when Jim originally signed my Web Of Spider-Man stuff. I then met up with Louise Simonson at Big Lick Nova 2024 to get her signature on it as well.

Purchased pre-signed by Charles Vess
after a discussion with Joseph Rubinstein
at Awesome Con 2024

Also signed by Louise Simonson at
Big Lick Nova 2024

Add in another 25th Anniversary issue...

...And then we hop over to What If, Volume 2. Candidly, Jim wasn't around Marvel at the time these three books were produced. However, he was the orchestrator of the original concepts which led to these stories.

Last up, for this part, is my last 25th Anniversary Marvel book.

While at his table, his assistant, Brittany, started talking about Michael Watkins, who was coincidentally sitting just to Jim's right. She said he was the man to see if I liked G.I. Joe and Transformers. Well, heck yeah, I do, so I did just that. I ended up picking up two prints.

Michael actually had the original inked artwork for sale of the below image. He was asking $500.00 for it, which was tempting, but I ultimately ended up passing for the cheaper, $20.00 full color print.

In addition to the other great books I got signed by Jim, which I'll show you next week, he took a moment to pose with a cosplayer dressed as Dazzler. She even had the roller skates on. Like I said, despite his physical appearance, Jim was all smiles.

You can check out all the other great books Jim signed for me over the past years "HERE".

Click "HERE" to go back to the home page. For more posts related to this one, please click the labels below.

2 comments:

Alexis SkrullAugust 22, 2025 at 7:25 PM
Nice on the autographs, its sad that's he's gone. I remember one year I went to Wondercon in SF and met Michael Turner! This was right before he died. I had him sign his page in the guidebook they give you at the con. While the book is long gone I still have that page on my fridge!