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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.

On 3/5/2024 at 5:29 AM, grapeape said:

You most certainly did! Wow! Just...Wow!!!

That was my reaction. I was shocked.

On 3/2/2024 at 3:57 PM, grapeape said:

"Looming over the contest, we have the evil mastermind of the piece - me! (I've never looked better."  ha ha. Just freaking awesome!! You never looked better Alex!

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.

On 2/22/2024 at 11:37 AM, The Voord said:

Sorry, Alex, you've lost me . . . what FB page is it you think I might be recommending?  I've made no mention of any FB page??

The link I provided was for the Comic Art Collective, which has nothing to do with FB.  It's a site for 'alternative artists' to sell their art directly to potentially-interested collectors.  It's where I bought most of my own Richard Sala originals . . . directly from the artist, when he was still with us.

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/

On 2/20/2024 at 1:04 PM, The Voord said:

A CAF search is an obvious one, but not everyone post their art on CAF!

And not every one on CAF posts all their art on it.

On 2/20/2024 at 1:04 PM, The Voord said:

If anyone here has any pages in their collections, please DM me with details, thanks.

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

On 2/19/2024 at 9:56 PM, drdroom said:

Classic Alex Johnson just-the-facts post.

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

On 2/17/2024 at 4:41 PM, cstojano said:

I swear this is what Robert Dennis did all the time (lighten pieces from tanning). I still haven't sent my piece in for evaluation.

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.

On 2/17/2024 at 4:41 PM, cstojano said:

Also, don't post that EQ piece to the EQ Facebook group unless you want Richard berating you. I asked him about an upcoming piece at auction that was being discussed in terms of possible damage and instead of replying to me he posted my personal message to him on the EQ fan page with a whole helping of disdain. Just what are they so angry about?

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

On 11/27/2023 at 3:28 PM, cstojano said:

Well that's concerning. I assumed most of the restoration work being done was due to sun damage in frames. Is it the colored pencils that aren't steadfast to the treatment or is the sun tanning a known "not treatable" condition. Nice Elfquest, BTW.

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.

On 11/27/2023 at 7:17 PM, Will_K said:

From the scan, it looks like markers.  And if they were, they held up really well. 

I've seen there's such a thing as lightfast colored pencils.  But never researched them.

In any case, the art, paper and signature look great.  I'd prefer the current look vs matte burn all around the drawing.

 

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.

On 2/13/2024 at 1:42 PM, JC25427N said:

Thats neat! Do you have a before and after picture?

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.

On 2/13/2024 at 8:01 AM, Rick2you2 said:

If restoration work needs supplemental art to replace lost/damaged pieces of a page, does she do that, too? Or would I need someone else for that?

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.

On 2/9/2024 at 4:14 PM, Will_K said:

In Comic Art Fans Update 182 (around 1:16:00), Bill says the 2 pieces are being returned to JG Jones' agent. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJxr8SEHuFo

Great news!

On 2/3/2024 at 11:17 AM, Dr. Balls said:

I may do that I am waiting on one more piece to get completed (which may take awhile) that also has a graveyard theme that I was thinking I would put into it's own gallery. I'll have to remember to drop you a line when that happens!

Please do.

On 2/1/2024 at 2:21 PM, Dr. Balls said:

I have a slight graveyard theme going in my collection

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).

On 2/1/2024 at 5:25 PM, gumbydarnit said:

WOW Alex, you have to be ecstatic about how nice that came out.. so cool! Allred always seems to hit it out of the park!

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.