Brenmark

Just picked this up a couple of weeks ago at an estate sale. It came out of a box of mostly coverless comics. Is it really as scarce as Overstreet says it is? I go to a lot of conventions and have never actually seen one for sale before, but that doesn't mean there aren't a lot of this Barks giveaway out there.

One of my favorite Cole covers.

Hi Mick, I wholeheartedly agree that part of the funds be used to help Sam Glanzman and Russ Heath. And, a special thanks to you and all the people who help to organize the dinner each year. This year's dinner was great fun as it's always a pleasure to meet and talk with fellow board members and to visit with Russ Heath.

As a long time collector of Mad, it is fascinating to see what the original art sold for in the Russ Cochran auctions. Thank you Terry for presenting the actual catalogs and prices of these historic auctions of the EC line of comics.

One of my favorites by Joe. RIP

Lots of great Batmans and Detectives in this thread. This is one of my favorites.

I went to an estate sale Saturday in the country and found these. I bought this group first for 28.00. I knew the Carl Bark's Atom Bomb was scarce, so I didn't quibble about their asking price. There were others I wanted, but I decided to wait until Sunday when all items were to be discounted by 50%. I went back, and the ones I wanted were still there so I got these. John Wayne and Archie were 5.00 each. The Mickey was part of a group of 4 that were now 16.00. John Wayne has a nice Williamson/Frazetta on the cover. The last group of four ( 3 plus the Mickey): Then I browsed around and found some nice pinbacks for a dollar each. I especially liked the Clown "Comics Weekly Club" pin. The Dale Arden was a nice bonus too. It was dated 1934, the first year of Raymond's Flash Gordon. The Pep pin is Uncle Bim from the Gumps. All in all it was a nice variety.

This thread is great and thanks to all of you for posting some beautiful Flash books and bringing back some great memories. For something a little different, here's a Flash I picked up after my family moved to Lima, Peru from the U.S in 1962. The interesting thing is that it was published in Mexico and sold in Peru. The ER publishing company in Mexico must have had some great international distribution connections. The indicia date is July 1963, but it also lists the copyright date as 1961 which fits with the U.S. version of this "adventura que llegara a ser una historia clasica." Considering the number of moves I've made in my lifetime, it's amazing to me that I've been carrying this around for almost fifty years along with my U.S. versions of The Flash. Carmine Infantino is, by far, my favorite Silver Age DC artist.

Hi Ruben, I guess if you were to ask what drives me to collect original art I would have to say the connection I feel to my favorite artists by owning something that they worked on personally. I was around in the heyday of cheap original art at SDCC in the early 70s, but it didn't interest me then. Many years later I bought a Reed Crandall page from Flash Gordon because I enjoyed his work so much in the Quality comic line of Blackhawk, Smash, and Hit comics. One page led to another and I seriously began to collect a very good representative example or two or three of all my favorite artists whether they were old masters like Hal Foster or modern artists like Charles Vess. I wouldn't say I was a prestige collector. While it is not in the cards right now for me to get a Wrightson Frankenstein plate, a Smith Conan, or early Kirby Fantastic Four, I have been very fortunate and very happy to get other examples of artwork that I liked by these same artists and many others. For example, I recently purchased a Frank R. Paul painting from a Heritage auction. While it may not be an Amazing Stories pulp cover (which I rarely see for sale), it had incredible architectural design and space ships which appealed to me, a reasonable price, and I liked the history that this was the guy who did the cover to Marvel #1. It's these connections that often help me decide if I want to buy a work for my collection. Who is the artist? Does it appeal to me? Is there a history? Is the price within my means? After 20 years of collecting original art, I still find this to be a fascinating and fun hobby. It's always a pleasure to see what's out there and what other people collect. It's especially nice to meet and talk with the very same artists that I admire. See you at SDCC.