Billy the Kid by Val Kilmer & Jose Delbo

In this collaboration, two world renowned artists at the twilight of their careers team up for a very special collection of pieces featuring the character that connects them. In 1965, José Delbo immigrated to the United States from Argentina in pursuit of a dream of becoming a comic book artist. Enamored with the American Westerns of the time, Delbo always dreamed of one day being able to illustrate the silver screen cowboys he knew and loved. And with a little luck and a lot of dedication, Delbo got his first major opportunity in the US when he was asked to pencil one very special cowboy - Billy The Kid! The rest is history. Delbo went on to lead a more than 60 year professional career as a comic artist penciling virtually every major superhero we know and love for DC and Marvel Comics. In 2020, at the age of 86, Delbo chose to evolve his art by embracing the digital format and creating NFTs. Delbo released the first ever NFT comic book and quickly became one of the most collected artists in the NFT space, paving the way for other comic artists to enter.

As Delbo was penciling the heroes that captured our hearts, across the US, another phenom was making a name for himself in Hollywood. Juilliard trained actor Val Kilmer spent his career creating classic after classic, establishing himself among the best actors in the world. From Top Gun to Tombstone, Kilmer famously depicted characters that would forever imprint themselves in pop culture. It was one of those characters that wove Kilmer’s and Delbo’s careers together. Early in his career, Kilmer portrayed the famous cowboy that helped inspire Delbo’s early work - Billy The Kid. Kilmer’s performance in the classic film was critically acclaimed as being one of the most accurate depictions of Billy The Kid ever due to Kilmer’s extensive work to not only physically resemble Billy The Kid, but also to capture his personality as related in historical accounts. Kilmer’s storied acting career also led to another passion, poetry. Over the years, Kilmer fell in love with the written word, publishing his own collection of poems in a book entitled “The Cowboy.”

This collaboration combines Delbo’s comic fine art with Kilmer’s poetry to depict their shared character Billy The Kid in a way never before imagined, bringing both artists back to the early days of their storied careers. The collection combines Delbo’s iconic depiction of Billy The Kid with Kilmer’s powerful poetry to create pieces that are unlike any other.

The drop will consist of: (i) 3 open edition pieces, including colored versions of Delbo’s Billy the Kid art superimposed with Kilmer’s poetry; (ii) 3 ranked auction pieces, including colored and classic black and white versions of Delbo’s Billy the Kid art superimposed with Kilmer’s poetry; and (iii) 2 collector reward pieces, including a classic black and white version of Delbo’s Billy the Kid art superimposed with Kilmer’s poetry for winning bids over $2,500 on any ranked auction and a colored version of Billy the Kid artwork by Delbo for collectors of qualifying Delbo and Kilmer NFTs. Purchases on Nifty Gateway can also be made using a credit card.

For the most up to date information on this drop see the links below and follow @Jose_Delbo, @ValKilmer, @KampKilmer, and @niftygateway on Twitter.