DALLAS, TX.- Heritage Auctions has announced that Mark Wilson, a collector and dealer of comics and comic art for more than three decades, has joined its comics department as a Consignment Director.

"Mark brings a vast wealth of knowledge to our Comics Department," Heritage Auctions Co-Founder Jim Halperin said. "He is one of those lucky ones who was able to turn a passion that started during his childhood into his career. His understanding of comics and the comic trading hobby reveal the interest he developed early on as a personal collector and the knowledge he acquired while working in every phase of the industry."

Wilson has been a collector since he acquired his first Spider-Man issue when he was 9 years old. He went to comics convention in San Francisco in the mid-1970s, where he began acquiring part of his San Francisco Collection through a "books for a buck" promotion. After landing his first "real job" in 1979, he started buying better issues, mostly from the Golden Age. When he acquired books that were unbagged, he became a pioneer in the art of pressing comics, and made his own protective cases with cellophane and homemade backboards.

He has worked as an advisor for The Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide since 1986, and became a part-time comics dealer in 1985, and full-time in 1987; as a dealer, he landed the renowned Rockford Collection and the Carson City collection.

Joining Heritage Auctions, he said, continues his progression and growth as a comics expert.

"There are so many wonderful aspects to working at a place like this," Wilson said. "When you work at a profitable place with the reputation and track record Heritage has, and with people who really care about what they do, it's the kind of place you want to be for 100 years."

Wilson is working in Heritage Auctions' Dallas office. He can be reached at mwilson@ha.com or at 214-409-1949.