Where do I even start with this newest page.... my closest and dearest art collecting friend posted this page ten years ago. And when I say ten years ago, I mean 10 years, 0 months and 1 day ago... . And ever since then we have been talking about it. And not one of those "once a year" conversations to see whether it might be for sale but at least twice a month EVERY month for the last decade. This was the little black dress of pages. Any topic could be folded back into this page. Prices don't make sense; this page comes up. Why people chose the pages they chose, this comes up. How Mignola's style is changing, this comes up. What is the best story Mike has ever done, this comes up. And over hundreds of conversations we decided this was the measuring stick for all other Mignola art.
We affectionately refer to it as "the Old Men" page. It is one of those pages that we both intuitively knew would never sell for top dollar and would be passed over by most people for flashier action pages. But, and this is a big but... this page is lightning in a bottle.
At least once a year, I would hint that if he ever wanted to sell, to please let me know. He has had a lot of amazing Mignola pages pass thru his hands but this was the finest one and he knew it. And he was always very clear that this one was going to his grave. Finally, several years ago, I made my peace that I was never going to get it and told him to let his wife know that once she was a widow, I would make another offer.
So the years continued to roll by and we continued to discuss every aspect of this page and relate it to everything we love about this hobby. And two weeks ago, out of the blue he says he might be ready to let go of this page. He asked me to make him an offer and I told him seriously that he could have every penny in my bank account (and gave him the number). God bless him, he asked if I could go another $100 higher. Sure I said, give me another week till payday.
I don't really have the words to express all of the things that bubble up when I look at this page... this is a page that holds two decades of friendship. Thanks Neil!
The Old Men page
my gallery
My comic art fan gallery
