Galactus1967

Congratulations Andrew!!! My side of the story: I saw this piece as a buy-it-now for $350.00 on eBay several years ago. That was a large sum of money for original art, even for covers and pin-ups. I purchased it because 1) It was the Micronauts & 2) The art reminded me of the Michael Golden/Josef Rubenstein Micronauts/Baron Karza. This was a piece I was NEVER going to get rid off so the price did not matter. A few years later, I get an email from a guy named Andrew saying that he tracked the purchase to me and was inquiring if I wanted to sell or trade it. My answer was of course, a kindly no thanks. How dare he track me down? About once a year, Andrew would email me to ask to reconsider. His offers for trade would go up. Still I could not give up the piece. Last year at Big Wow Comicfest 2015, I was working with Danny Bulanadi, the Micronauts inker at his table. This guy walks up to me and introduces himself. Not too soon after that, he practically "throws" about twenty pages at me. Most were Micronauts pages that I thought I would never be able to purchase at a reasonable price due to the penciler. Andrew also explained his "fixation" on the page. I could not say no at that point and agreed to the trade. Do I regret trading the piece away? I answer this by asking, "Does anyone not regret trading favorite pieces away?" To be fair, I got more than fair market trade for the page. And yes...I DID have to stop Andrew from giving me more pages, stock in his business, and his right arm (what would I do with a disembodied arm (eww!) I'm very glad that the piece went to a collector who loves the Micronauts as much (if not more) than I do. Besides all that, if I really miss it, I can ask Danny (Bulanadi) to do a recreation of the page for me. He's a good friend. Contratulations again Andrew, glad you finally wrestled that piece away. Frank A. Baldevarona San Jose, CA facebook.com/bulanadiart I travelled to his local convention with a pile of my collection in tow. I'd never met him before, and was mildly nervous, as my travel plans had materialized late in the game and he wasn't aware I was heading his way. Didn't know what to expect, but he turned out to be a patient, gracious gentleman. Deal done, I am ecstatic, and I presume he is satisfied as well. So, this thread had nothing to do with the deal, aside from the welcome Moral Support! Posted this tonight on my FB feed: I was fortunate enough this past weekend to have the opportunity to trade for a Comic Art page which I remember overfondly from my adolescence - what The Hobby refers to as a 'Grail Page.' It doesn't have to be the most expensive or key of pages, just one that has a special, hitting-your-funny-bone emotional response. I presume my trading partner is thrilled as well. I get overgenerous when I'm happy, and, bless his heart, he actually had to tell me 'Hey, dude - that's enough!' when I tried to press more trade into his hands. I remember the exact spot I was standing when I saw that comic page for the first time, a scrawny awkward teenager jumping up and down at the corner of Dad's desk in his office, while he looked on bemusedly. I miss him so much; hadn't considered the nostalgia of comics might be so linked to family and places. Means a lot to me. Andrew