Extremely rare and important Brenda Starr original artwork is from the first year of this still running popular comic strip. This 1940 comic artwork is hand-colored by Dale Messick, who retired from drawing the strip in 1980. This is among the first ever Brenda Starr's to appear in the Sunday comics, which endures still to this day. The art is drawn on two panels (14.5x23"), each piece authenticated on the reverse with the date stamp on a "Tribune Comic Book Schedule", and also signed and inscribed by Messick: "I hand colored this Brenda Starr original - Dale Messick." Rare find is in all estimation the earliest known hand colored Sunday.