Eric Seffinga

Neat (and HUGE!)

And at the threat of beating the dead equine, I just want to point out again, that the reason modern art is so seemingly plentiful is that it's modern. And back in the 70s when that art was modern, it too was plentiful Sold by the stack full, and out of trunks, etc. Hand colored by kids, or poorly trimmed/framed and otherwise with, by it's owners. I know the arguments of 'compressed" vs "uncompressed" and the arguments of vintage art's superiority (despite the fact that there is schlocky and filler in EVERY era of comic creation. At the end of the day, the older stuff is scarcer because it's had a 10, 20, 30+ year head start. Come back in 30 years and lets talk about the glut/dearth of modern art. Until then it's just more educated guesswork. How many people thought their early 2000s $50 Preacher talking heads pages were gonna bring in what they do now? Well other than MNSN? Back in the 90s and early 2000sguitarists ragged on how terrible a 70s Fender guitar was. It was the era, and anyone that paid more than a few hundred bucks was a damn fool. Now, Fender makes REISSUES of 70s Strats and sells them for $2K+. That's crazy sauce, IMO. Never think you know what's going to play out for collectability and what is inherently superior or not. The future is just waiting to laugh at you!

To paraphrase a quote from the late great Jeff Jones... "6 Inches!!!" His response to a collector on the Comicart-L who had talked about trimming some "excess" border off of an original once. He indicated that said collector needed to keep his hands (and scissors) six inches away from artwork at all times. It was a bit of a goof, but the underlying intent was that if you really want to be a lover of art originals, you take the path of do no harm. Not unlike the medical profession. There are instances of preservation that are not only welcome but warranted. But in the world of restoration and renovation for personal preference, Jones' inferrence was that one better keep their hands 6 inches away, lest they do something they later regret. The kicker here is that it was the original creator that did the modifications. At the owners behest, of course, but still it was his hand. If he had a problem with it, he wouldn't have done it. Seems like he was into it. If it were something I'd bought, I'd have kept it as-is. Simply because I am a lover of the process of original art as much as I am of the content of the pages. So to me, I'd never even think of changing the thing to suit my personal tastes. Same as I'd never give a page to Steve Oliffe to color, or cut out panels of my favorite pages and hot glue them to my favorite coffee table. And I totally could, if I wanted to. But that's not for me. I'm not in love with having a big representation of the published art on the wall. I could go to Kinkos with a clean copy of the book and make myself one of those for next to nothing. I'm into the OA. I see it as that simple. I'm with Gene in that I just don't see this having any knock on effect to the Lee market, beyond this one page. It's become it's own outlier. Could go cheap at auction. Could be unsellable. Could sell just fine. But it's not like it's a piece of one of the greatest comic stories of all time, that's been rendered ash. It's one of hundreds just like it. Or near enough. But the creator drew over it. It's not like he had some uninvolved party to the book bust out the inks on it. I'd never tell anyone else what to do with their possessions. But then I didn't shed any tears over those burned Ottley Invisibles pages. Or the time the post office totally crushed (I think it was) an Archie page. Mostly cause I'd no interest in that stuff anyhow. Now if a well know collector of a certain title like Saunter Lee was having Jill Thompson watercolor all of his Sandman pages, or using them to decoupage his bathroom, I'd have out the pitchfork and torch faster than you can say Morpheus. -e.

I saw that a while back and was hoping it was yours. Cool!

Looks like you've REALLY made yourself at home. Where does the Mrs. sleep? That's a lotta space. Like your own private toy/comic shop!

I looked up Pat Lee, and ended up reading his Wiki page. Scandalrific!

Yeah, not cool. Sad, but unsurprised. I think we see people use internet communities more and more like their own personal classifieds section. I don't just see it in comic art, but all facets of hobies and collecting. Some folks really don't seem to see a benefit in just taking part in a place or an event, with a shared interest. For some people, it seems like everything and every place is fair game for hocking their wares if there are eyes there. Not that we as a community should stand for it at all.

Bahahaha

Awesome.

It's woefully lacking in bulging codpieces and cocoa butter for sure.

What a fun idea for a topic...

oh mama...

I figured it was something like that. I didn't really go back into the 70s material until my late teen years. Discovering my first comic shop in the mid 80s was a revelation. Having a car to get to the comic shop myself? A whole other world opened up.

Whenever I hear someone mention Bermejo, I always think of a review that another comic artist (who will remain nameless) said once. "Everything that guy draws looks like a crumpled paper bag." He's lost some of that "style" at this point, and has matured. But it still is first thing I think of when I see his work. Apologies to the Bermejo fans.

Gene, I would have thought you were an 80s kid too, with maybe a smidge of 70s during the prime comic reader years (8-18) give or take. Granted I went backward and read some 70s stuff during my teens when comic shops started opening up more frequently and I could get to them. But my early years, up until say 13-ish, I only really read what I could find on a spinner rack, which was all new. No local comic shows that I was aware of, and no older kids to get older issues from. I would have been 13 in 1986, and that was the year of DKR. It kinda blew everything open for me after that. Kids in middle school brought those issues in, and I remember several of us standing around and oohing and ahhing. Was the year I discovered Ninja Turtles existed, and ultimately the world of indy books, via the comic shop. In retrospect most of them were sweaty balls too, so hey. Plenty of misery to go round. And we all looked ridiculous with our feathered hair, and fake Jackson parachute pants. It's true.