Sigh. It seems like i'll never be able to shake this missed opportunity.
Back in '92, I was heavy into collecting comics. High grade Silver Age Keys, and was looking for as ASM #1 to complete my ASM run. Original Art? Seen it before at shows and didn't care. Free sketches? Nah, don't have the time to wait around for them when there's so many boxes full of comics to scour, and a vast sea wall books to drool over.
So, heading into the large Exhibition Place Show at Exhibition Place here in Toronto, I had $1000 cash with the sole intention of purchasing a high grade ASM#1. By the way, Todd McFarlane was the main guest at the show, and I brought some ASM 300's to get signed. Todd was insanely popular with the fans at the time, and I really, really, really liked his work. Liked his stuff so much that I purchased 80 copies of ASM #300. Anyhow, to make a long story short, before I found the high grade ASM #1 I was looking for, I was stopped cold in my tracks when I saw this original splash at a dealer's booth. It was so beautiful and so cool, and Venom was a villain that really clicked with me.
I wasn't familiar with the dealer and he didn't seem local to me so I struck up a conversation with him and discovered he was from Niagara Falls, Canada, and owned a small store there and we proceeded with some small talk until he revealed he wanted $800 for the art. Of course, I was completely unaware of the art market at the time, but I did know McFarlane was very popular and I probably would have bought it for $100 or $125 just as a memorable piece of art for me from one of my favourite comic books. But I was on a mission for that ASM #1 and passed on the art.
I made certain to pass by the booth throughout the weekend to see if he sold the artwork. He didn't.
Flash forward to 2001, and my collecting focus had started to shift from comics to Original Comic Art. I recalled the ASM splash and drove to Niagara Falls, but the store was no longer there. I tried to hunt down the splash at local shows, through CBG, and larger North East shows but never came across it. I still think about that splash today, and the missed opportunity
Yes, it was a solid Vf+
