alxjhnsn

My latest purchase came off eBay thanks to my friend Rob Stolzerr. Rob alerted me to four pages of Scribbly art drawn by Sheldon Mayer. The full story is on the link, but the gist is: Scribbly is my favorite of Sheldon Mayer's creations I've seen one such page in almost 20 years of collecting I'd bid on these pages once before thinking they were the original pages from 1939's All-American Comics #6. It turned out that they were actually recreations for DC's book "The Greatest Golden Age Stories Ever Told." The auction house refunded the money to the auction winner, the family kept the art, I figured I'd never see them again. For once, I was happy to be wrong. Moreover, I won it for a lot less than they sold for in the Original Auction! Yeah, I squandered more of my daughters' inheritance, but not very much. https://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryPiece.asp?Piece=2000059

As many (most?) of you may have noticed, I'm a fan of Sheldon Mayer's work. Though not all that well known today, Sheldon is the man who pulled Superman from a stack of submittals and got him placed in Action #1. He went on to be involved in the creation and editing of much of the All-American Comics (later DC) line-up including Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, and The Flash. When he stepped down as an editor, he continued as a writer and artist on a variety of DC humor books including Sugar and Spike. He worked on S&S until his eyesight failed ending with issue 98. Later, he received cataract surgery and with restored vision resumed working. He produced new S&S stories for the overseas market. Many of those stories have never been reprinted in the US. He also contributed to mainline DC line by creating The Black Orchid. I suspect that this piece may have been used on one of the non-US S&S stories, but, if so, it's unknown to me. It's fun though. Click the image to learn more.

Here's another. Late in life, Sprang started doing commissions - all were good a few were flat out great. This is a preliminary for one of those great commissions. Click the image for more details including a few of those other commissions. BTW, if you ever see a copy of The Art of Richard W. Sprang by Bob Koppany, buy it. You will be glad that you did. The link is to discussion of the book and picture from my copy.

If you are looking at "Production Art" that is a B&W image on acetate sold by Leadpink (and various others), I would be surprised if it was actually used in the production of a comic.

That was my reaction. I was shocked.

The following came from the Harry Palmer Starstruck or Old Proldiers Never Die Kickstarter from many years ago. Okay, they aren't prelims because Mike didn't use for commissions at least; rather, he told me he does his prelim work on the final board and just builds on top. The images below are progress scans that he sent me. This was what I originally pledged to get: Later they need more cash and offered "some background" if we provided more cash. I said sure! That caused Michael a problem since, as seen in the prelim, there was no room for background. So, he turned the page over and started building an entirely different scene. These are the progress shots that he sent me: Here's the final image (I got more than I paid for, I think)

Thank you and all credit to Nick!

I also have a slew of preliminaries from Nick Pitarra for the wonderful commission that he did for me. As usual, click the image to learn more.

A few. Both from commissions that I never thought to ask about. Anthony was selling them after the deaths of the artists, Nick Cardy and Giordano respectively. Click the image to learn more.

I'm sad. Scott Kress of Catskill Comics has reported the passing of 97 years young Ramona Fradon. I found her to be very nice and, of course, a wonderful artist. I've met her a few times and I have three pieces by her. The first I bought of eBay, the second was a commission because the first didn't include Sapphire which is a crime, and the third is one of my faux Sugar and Spike covers. This one features Plastic Man who was drawn by Ramona when DC brought him back.

Your post was just after my list of FB groups so I thought you were referring to one. This one: https://www.facebook.com/comicartcollective. I have no clue why I didn't click your link. Thanks for the lead. Sorry for the confusion. I should mention that the Comic Art Collective is covered by my referencing Nico Vallee's (@NicoV) wonderful Comic Art Tracker website which searches the Comic Art Collective and pretty much everything else.

I'm sure that there are others that I've missed. Are you recommending this FB Page. It seems to be unmoderated and I noticed several spam posts. By the way the list I maintain is kept here: Pricing Comic Art. See the hidden text in the first post on that thread. https://boards.cgccomics.com/topic/523347-pricing-comic-art-2023-edition/

And not every one on CAF posts all their art on it. Don't forget the FB groups related to Comic Art: Facebook has a large number of groups that address comic art both published and commissioned. You can always ask on those groups for opinions. However, prepare for odd/funny answers, unsolicited offers, and the usual social media snark. Advice Groups Comic Art Buyer Beware Comic Art Trends Advisors Original Comic Art Collectors Bad Buyers Sellers Traders Group Sketch Prices - Comic Book Sketches, Commissions & Autograph Prices Sketch and commission: price, artist credit, & review Selling Groups Comic original art sale, trade, show Deal or No Deal – Original Comic Art DOND Original Comic Book art and Commissions for sale Original Comic Book art for sale Discussion Groups (Some allow selling, some do not. Some allow "what is it worth" posts, some do not. Read the rules) Commissioned (An Original Art Collectors Group) Original Comic Art Original Comic Art Collectors Original comic book art

https://www.metv.com/stories/sgt-joe-friday-never-actually-said-just-the-facts-maam-on-dragnet

Yes, I understand that Robert would do that. I'm not saying not to, I am saying that Alexandra is resistant to the idea because it can damage the paper and others said that this particular piece would not benefit from it. I suspect in the case of the Pini piece that the color pencil might be removed the process, but that's just a guess. No clue. My engagements with them have been pleasant enough though I know a few who have had odd or bad experiences. I guess they are human.

Back in late 2022, Nick Pitarra ran a Zoop campaign for his book Ax-Wielder Jon. It was amazingly successful. One of the options was a bookplate (if you can consider a 7x10 freestanding piece a bookplate). I went for that. I'd forgotten that the bookplate would be so large. It's a fun story and there are more to come! There's more info in the write-up. Check it out. https://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryPiece.asp?Piece=1996399

I've used restorers mostly for neutralization of the paper, stabilization/repairs if there are physical issues, and glue removal. On only have one piece that is tanned (the one that I showed). I haven't seen many people talk about eliminating tanning. Colored pencils. The feeling is that bleaching to get rid of the tan lines would damage the piece, i.e., you can't really get rid of it.

Yes, There's not a ton of difference since the logo was stained permanently and she doesn't like to bleach. You can see the the stain is a little lighter, but not much. Before: After: I was after stabilization of the paper and the neutralization of the rubber cement. She sent lots of pictures. These two show her lifting the logo (left) and the results of cleaning.

Not that I am aware of - other than this one, I guess.

I didn't think to ask. I was missing one paste-up on the cover, but decided not to worry about it. This is the cover I mentioned. Basically, she lifted the logo, cleaned the page, neutralized it, and restored the logo. You can see that the number and month are missing.

Great news!

Please do.

Did someone just say "theme?" If you have them collected in a gallery and would like me to list them on my Themed Art Galleries thread, let me know (PM here or comment on the thread).

Yep, I'm very pleased. The collection has a lot of talent and I find them to generally pleasing and many of them I consider flat out exceptional. It's kind of interesting that the cost does not correlate with how pleasing I find them. Click the image to see them on CAF.

Back in July, I commissioned Mike and Laura Allred for one of my world famous faux S&S 100 covers featuring Madman for delivery at OAX 2024. The delivered everything I could hope to get. I credit my impeccable art direction; I asked for the tots and Madman in a humorous situation. With that great assistance, Mike came up with a clever idea. I love Madman's expression as he looks from his work to that of the tots. Yeah, I'd be confused as well. Click to embiggen and see the Pen & Ink and a pencil prelliminary.