stinkininkin

The placement of the gun is quite subtle.

Byrne might have been referring to never inking his convention commissions, rather than the comics themselves. I NEVER saw him ink his convention sketches from this period. And yes, when he got to Marvel, I rarely if EVER saw him ink his own work until he got on his post Xmen Fantastic Four run in 1981.

Byrne was his own primary inker during this period in 1976. He was doing a bunch of comics then for Charlton (Doomsday +1 and Space 1999 for example) and inked all his own work. As for the sketch, I'm guessing it's an amateurish, badly inked Byrne sketch, including the signature (which looks off).

Agreed! Cheers to that!

For what it's worth, I don't care if Miller literally touched the page or not. The Miller/Janson collaboration was comic book alchemy at it's finest and how the final page looks and speaks to me is all that I care about. There are a ton of pages that are pure Miller pencils with Janson inks that I don't give a rip about (I'm talking characters in costume and in action). Same goes for the later Janson led issues. But if it's the right page with the right aesthetic and the right story beat, I'll go after it aggressively regardless of who did what and my bidding will be consistent with the content. But of course, everyone is free to make their own value judgements as they see fit.

Janson is on my Mt Rushmore of inkers, and his work with Miller on DD is one of the high points of superhero comics in the history of the medium (IMHO). That said, the Miller inked version of the above sequence is so superior to the Janson inked version in every way (again, IMHO). I think it's just fascinating that both versions exist and is an excellent example of how the differences in link line, aesthetic and intention can influence pencils and storytelling so profoundly.

I'm not a Heritage spokesman, but I think it's made pretty clear that these are the original but REJECTED Miller/Janson pages from the issue. That's it. That's what you are bidding on. I believe that the Miller inked version exists in some form, but my knowledge about its nature (cut up individual panels like so many of the all Miller edited panels from those issues or created complete on intact boards) is incomplete. Bottom line-if you are bidding and valuing these Heritage pages as if they are the actual published pages, you'd be making a mistake.

I was actually offered these pages that Heritage is offering maybe 6 years ago. I was tempted, since it was such a key scene from the books, but the fact that it wasn't the published version ended up tipping the scale for me to pass. Still cool and historic pages. I actually like the published all Miller re-drawn, re-inked pages better, and would have been extremely motivated to add those into my collection.

A Lee Wildcats strip? That's something I'd like to see!

I have no idea. Sorry!

By the way, these prices seem to only be realized on the first 12 issue run on Wildcats. Jim drew for some later issues of Wildcats (issue 31 and 50 off the top of my head) which don't seem to have the same price fervor. I'm guessing that love it or hate it, that first year of Wildcats and Image generally brought a lot of fans and excitement over from what we were all doing at Marvel, but the later years saw a drop-off in sales, which translates to a smaller number fan base to bid against. Just an observation.

In my experience, and I've had a lot of it, this is pretty much where the market is now. Been trending this way for the last 5 or 6 years. Wish I held onto more of that art, but oh well.

Original art values have increased so much over the decades, there are more than a few collectors who's holdings are worth millions. Are those people insured? The premiums to fully insure at these levels are insane. What do you collectors do who, at least on paper, have millions in art assets? Safes? Storage (safety deposit boxes)? Multiple holding locations? Crossing fingers or prayers?

I could have sworn it was published, but considering how much I've forgotten about this project, I don't trust my memory. I did do some digging and found the Thunderbird piece however. Let's see if this helps jog some memories, or if it's a card set that ultimately never got made...

With Frazetta art, you have to know the "three B's". Babes, Barbarians and Beasts, in that order. I'm sorta kidding, but not kidding. Vintage, medium, size, and general eye appeal matter a LOT, but those things being equal, the more B's you have in a given piece, the higher the premium. As far as this specific comparison, I would take Egyptian Queen all day over Dark Kingdom, and so would 99.9% of my fellow Frazetta collectors, regardless of price.

Since we have some card art collectors on this thread, does anyone recognize this Wolverine card--what set is it from and what year? I think I did it in the mid-90's, but can't remember for sure or what card set it was for. I want to say maybe an Upper Deck set? I also have a card of the Xmen's Thunderbird from the same card set somewhere around here...

Not everything I've worked on has read like Shakespeare unfortunately. But I don't have the luxury of deciding what I will or won't put my name to. That said, I've been incredibly fortunate to work with some of the best artists in the industry over the last 40 years, and being an artist and visual person at my core, that side of the creative equation is what I'm most focused on. Feel pretty blessed to have had such an amazing batting average when it comes to collaborators!

Would be happy to sign your book any time. Hopefully our paths will cross at a convention some day!

Thanks so much for the kind words Mr. Ape! I love comics, and comics have been very good to me. If some of that comes through in the work, or my enthusiastic support for our little hobby, that's all I can ask.

I'll always be a Punisher fan because it was really my first big break in comics. He was an A list character when Whilce Portacio and I took over the regular Punisher series with issue 8. That run helped my professional career immensely and I will always be grateful. And he is very cool and nuanced character (in the proper creative hands). Kept some nice art pages, but only one cover from that run...

OK, well my memory is going on some of my older deals, so thanks for the reminder! And thanks for your moment of weakness! LOL. At least know that it went to a good home that cherishes the piece, even now, almost 15 years later!

You used to own my Ploog Werewolf page? I got it years ago through Burkey I think? Or did I get it from you?

Do you mean that the blacks got filled in digitally? If so, having the artist ink over those printed digital blacks would be no big deal. If the artist is going to ink over actual rendering and line-work that was pre printed digitally, that would be more problematic.

Not only would red lines or blue lines not be distracting, but might even be a plus for me. Just adds visual insights into the creative process.

By the way, one of the selling points Comic Connect was pushing was that it was the only Ploog pencils/inks Werewolf By Night issue (and I agree that Ploog on Ploog should be worthy of a premium). Technically true, but that said, there were several issues of Ploog on Ploog Werewolf stories in Marvel Spotlight where, like Ploog Ghost Rider, the character made his debut. I have a great example of one those Ploog squared Werewolf pages in my collection, and they are killer in person. You really see the Eisner manifest when Ploog inks himself...