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Herbie Popnecker , the Fat Fury! Awesome. Where did you find such a piece?!?

Yes, she is. Oh, you mean the art.

Lots of fun!

I commissioned this for my eldest daughter's college graduation from John Sterling Lucas, the successor to Bill Woggon on Katy Keene at Archie. The right hand side is a recreation of the cover of the first comic that I ever bought my girls. My eldest was about 5 at the time. We got it because the consensus was that their mom was on the cover (Veronica). On the left side, I had John extend the scene to include a picnic featuring his Katy and Sis along with my eldest. It's pen, ink, and watercolor. He was a little worried about the paining since he does do it often, but I think it's marvelous. We framed it for her birthday. So enjoy. Click here for more information including preliminary work and how to contact John.

He inked over a blue-line of the pencils. I decided to have both and will probably frame them together.

Thanks, guys. I think both Joe and Mike did great work. Be sure to look at the intermediate images in the CAF. I think seeing the pencils followed by views of Joe's inks is really interesting. It's also interesting to compare Mike's take on redoing the Adventure 247 splash vs. Al Plastino's (Al was the original artist). I just added the published image and the re-creation that Al did for me. It's fun to look at what might have been.

I just received a new commission featuring Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes by Michael Netzer and Joe Rubinstein. Michael (as Mike Nasser) and Joe had an all to brief IMO run on the LSH that I really enjoyed. When Michael decided to start doing commissions again, I jumped at the chance. You can see it in my CAF Gallery. On the link, you'll get more of the story and some Additional Images. They include: 1) The sketch that Michael on my first idea that didn't satisfy either of us. He did a great sketch, but it felt like I wasn't leveraging his skills. He had a better idea. Clearly, I'm not qualified to be an Art Director. 2) The pencils 3) Two partial inks that illustrate Joe's work on the piece. I think it's worth a click, however, for those that don't like clicking, I offer the following. Enjoy, I am.

Re: Okay seriously! We have the exact same taste, except you have everything and I want everything. This must stop!

I like this thread so I'll add another one - Bat Lash by Nick Cardy. I think this is a wonderful image and its one of the pieces that my wife likes enough to hang in the den. Nick draws the prettiest women (Cardy Girls) and this scene captures the spirit of the Bat Lash comic book by Sergio Aragones, Denny O'Neil, and Nick Cardy. Sergio even plays a role in one story, you should check it out if you don't know the series. For those that don't like links or stories, here's the image:

Here's a recent commission by Fred Hembeck. Though I own lots of comics with men and women in spandex and furry underpants, I really love funny books especially Sheldon Mayer's work. With that in mind, I decided to approach some artists about creating the cover to Sugar and Spike #100 which was never published. Fred was my first thought and I think he knocked it out of the park. Please read the description in my CAF page for the piece to get an understanding of all the "Easter Eggs" in the piece. Trust me, it's worth the read because there is a lot going on.

Thanks. I think it's pretty special.

First piece of OA that I ever purchased was a Curt Swan Superman. As far as I'm concerned, this is the best Superman image by the best Superman artist; not that I'm biased or anything. Read the full story here. My collection is mostly commissions (Swan, Kubert, Cardy, Colan, Trimpe plus more recent folks like Hembeck and Zahler). I'll post more going forward or you can simply look in my CAF Gallery.

If you liked Speedy-D's Al Plastino commission, you might also enjoy this one by Al. It's what inspired him to commission Al. BTW, Al's great fun as you can read in my description. Legion (LSH) by Al Plastino - Adv 247 Splash Re-creation/Update I can't seem to link to the image directly. Sorry about that.

You can see the pencils in Michael's CAF Gallery. His collection of OMLs has to be seen. It's one of my favorite themes in both terms of the idea and the qualify of execution. You may also know him as the owner of the sketches that went into the Hero Initiative's 3-Minute Sketchbook. There are some amazing sketches in that book; you should get a copy.

Wonderful. You are one lucky guy; that's for sure.

Nice picture of MJ; wonderful wife!

That is the best reason for buying art that I can think of.

Stuff of Legend is a wonderful story and the art is terrific. Congratulations.

I forgot to directly answer the question! What drives you to collect? Nostalgia and a sense of connection to the creators whose work I enjoy. I suspect that I'd buy scripts from writers if they were sold. Do you love the medium and just can't get enough of comic art originals? I think that graphical story telling is an art and one that I really enjoy. Cameron's Avatar was an astonishing experience in 3D IMAX, but books and comics can be even more amazing when the reader's imagination is counted in the experience. I wouldn't say that I feel any particular urge to buy just anything though. I'm picky according to my own standard - my favorite creators, the characters I associate them with, and - when possible - contact with those creators. Are you a "Prestige" collector and only looking to pick up some top pieces? I collect what I want and I want what I collect. While I want a Kirby Thor at some point, I don't want it because he's the King. I want it because I really, really enjoyed those stories - Ego the living planet, Surtur the fire giant, Asgard, etc.Other Kirby art doesn't have the appeal to me because I don't have as strong an attachment. Are you really just a comic book collector that ran out of stuff to get and this seems the next logical step? I still buy new comics (too many), I've been collecting since about 1964 with only one minor gap so I pretty much have what I want. The OA collecting started because I found sources of artist/creator combinations that I enjoy. Are you interested because of the money aspect and if you're going to invest money, it might as well be something fun you're interested in. I buy what I like and I like what I buy. I have no expectation of selling in my lifetime. I do keep a list of what I've bought and what it cost for my wife and my daughters so that they have some idea as to what is valuable and what is not, but that's as far as I go. Are you a full time collector just dabbling? I'm a full-time software guy for a multi-national company, husband, and father of three 20 year old daughters. Time spent on OA is a very, very small part of the day. Though it hangs in the house and is on the CAF so when I need a fix it's easy to get.

As I say in my CAF Gallery introduction, I collect art that has a personal connection for me - artist and character, e.g., Cardy/Bat Lash, Infantino/SA Flash, Mayer/Sugar & Spike, Swan/Superman, Swan/Legion, Colan/DD, Kirby/Thor (need the lottery for that), and so on. I don't have a particular timeframe. For example, a favorite piece is by Thom Zahler (Love and Capes #11 recreation). BTW, LnC is a must read. Go get the trades and have a nice couple of hours. I promise. My most recent is a page from the first comic I ever read - 46 years old now. Sheesh! How did that happen? Lots of great stuff on my "to get" list, but #1 with a bullet is a Swan / LSH with lots of Legionaires on it. One day.

A couple of weeks ago, I got a page from my first comic, too. Kind of cool, if you ask me. Congratulations.

Wednesday (June 9th) was my birthday and my wife gave me something that I never expected to get. Click here to see it and read the story. If you can't stand to click, I'll show you anyway This is a page from the very first comic that I ever bought. So cool.

Re: Karate Kid vs. Timber Wolf by Gene Gonzales It was fun watching this in the video clips on Gene's site.

Re: What's the best way to scan a full page of original comic art? Best is one of those words. However, if I have a piece of art that is: Is too large for my 11x17 scanner at work and/or Is too thick, e.g., framed, and/or Requires a high resolution scan, e.g., 400+dpi I take it to a place here in Houston called: Houston Photo Imaging www.houstonphotoimaging.com 5250 Gulfton Street Houston, TX 77081-2937 (713) 522-5400 They can handle all of the above for about $50. Not cheap, but... Maybe you can find a similar outfit where you live.

That is so cool. Great get. There's no doubt that Al still has his chops!