The Voord

Consigning some further artworks to Russ Cochran's January 25 art auction. First up . . . . Title: THE TRIGAN EMPIRE - from the story, 'The Red Death' (1970) Artist: Don Lawrence Art size: 17.25" x 13.5" Link to Russ Cochran's home page (art to be added in due course): http://russcochranauction.auctionanything.com/

Just back from the framers, Tom Chantrell's movie poster painting for A TOWN CALLED BASTICHE (1971). Sorry, photo's a bit blurred . . .

I was also thinking about 'Doctor Octopus lays Aunt May' . . . with lots of inventive uses for the extra arms. Move over Phantom Stranger guy, 'Aunt May gets laid' is the way to go for fan-boy commissions! At one time I was also toying with the idea of 'Giant-Man has his wicked way with the Wonderful Wasp', but figured that just might be TOO weird, so best not to mention that one . . .

Maybe my commission idea of 'The Incredible Hulk lays The Incredibly Frail Aunt May' will not be met with the kind of enthusiasm and acclaim I was expecting?

This.

Yeah, that's the problem with these commissions that are years in the making . . . the painful experience is likely to negate any appreciation for the final product.

If the Donnelly brothers own the original artwork to this cover, the artist will undoubtedly be John Romita Snr. I think . . . .

William Stobbs CORTEZ CONQUEROR OF MEXICO 1950 From the first year of the UK's much-loved EAGLE magazine comes this fully-painted single-page episode from the 1950 strip, CORTEZ, CONQUEROR OF MEXICO. Artwork is in very good condition and is in two halves (as was drawn). Art area: 19" h x 14" w http://russcochranauction.auctionanything.com/

PUBLISHED Page 1 artwork of a two-page THE STEEL CLAW episode (1964) by Jesus Blasco. Full write-up on my CAF at: http://www.comicartfans.com/gallerypiece.asp?piece=1399882

UNPUBLISHED Bruce McCorkindale commission of a re-imagined ASM # 31 cover using the splash page instead of the printed cover. Full write-up on my CAF at: http://www.comicartfans.com/gallerypiece.asp?piece=1369381

Desmond Walduck DAN DARE "Prisoner of Space" Original Cover Art 1954 From the United Kingdom's EAGLE magazine comes this front page painted artwork from the 1954 DAN DARE story, 'Prisoners of Space', with artwork by Desmond Walduck (a freelance artist who would sometimes be called upon to help out with the strip during times regular artist Frank Hampson was busy with other projects). This particular story was later reprinted during the 1960s where the original artwork had to be re-formatted to comply with a narrower page image. The original has now been re-instated close to its original 1954 printing (with some tape residue noticeable along the left hand edge of the first panel). The EAGLE masthead is in the form of an overlay - as all the cover originals from the DAN DARE serial had logos incorporated during the printing process and never present on the original artwork. Art area: 18½" h x 14"w http://russcochranauction.auctionanything.com/

Allesandro Biffignandi EAGLES FLY HIGH Original Comic Book Cover Art 1965 Fully-painted cover artwork originally created for publication under the title, BORN LEADER, in 1965, but later re-used in the early 1970s for a reprint edition and re-named, EAGLES FLY HIGH. The original painting remains exactly how it was created in 1965 with the change of title being made via an acetate overlay that contains the revised title and publication caption. From the long-running UK War Picture Library series (fronting self-contained comic-book stories) that ran for many years throughout the 1960s and 70s. Art area: 14" h x 10" w http://russcochranauction.auctionanything.com/

http://russcochranauction.auctionanything.com/

Jose Delbo BILLY THE KID #73 Original Cover Art Carlton Comics 1969 Art area: 19" h x 12½" w http://russcochranauction.auctionanything.com/

John M. Burns THE SEEKERS Original Daily Strip Art 1967 THE SEEKERS (United Kingdom) was John Burns' first major comic strip and the themes of the strip somewhat resemble MODESTY BLAISE, which he was to draw later in his career. The art for this daily from near the end of "The Irish Caper," one of only two stories from which SEEKERS art is known to have survived, is in excellent condition. Signed by the artist. Art area: 4¼" h x 15" w http://russcochranauction.auctionanything.com/

UNEARTHLY SPECTACULARS # 2 cover (1966) by Joe Simon and Jack Sparling. Please note that the 'Miracles, Inc.' inset at bottom right is a stat of Wally Wood artwork taken from one of the comic book's interior story pages. Art area: 19½" h x 13½" w http://russcochranauction.auctionanything.com/

Lots of great Movie Poster OA surfacing on my FB group. For instance . . .

GUNFIGHTER # 6 cover (1948) by Johnny Craig. Art area: 19" h x 13½" w http://russcochranauction.auctionanything.com/

Next up . . . Frank Bellamy's long-running UK comic-strip for TV21 magazine, as based on the famous Gerry Anderson THUNDERBIRDS puppet series, was a high point of the publication and his originals remain highly sought-after. This particular artwork had the right-hand part of panel three cut-out for re-use elsewhere (approximately half of the panel, where 'Brains' is rising from his chair saying, "Look out! Seize him"). The missing artwork element was later recreated and re-instated into the artwork and is a perfectly blended match that is barely noticeable. Fully painted artwork. Art area: 15" h x 12" w http://russcochranauction.auctionanything.com/

I have consigned a total of 9 original artworks to Russ's December 28 auction. http://russcochranauction.auctionanything.com/ First up . . . MARINES IN ACTION # 14 (1957) cover by John Severin A rare surviving cover example by the great John Severin from the time Marvel Comics was known as Atlas. Artwork has not been trimmed as most of these covers were created as edge-to-edge artworks with no border surrounds. The two speech balloons are replacement stats and there is a missing caption box at bottom right. General condition is very good. 20" height x 13½" width

Is it the Stilt-Man's daughter?

Finder's fee paid not to find it!

The offer of a refund by Howard is a fair one. The poorly executed foot paste-up can be corrected without involving the artist directly. If you get that foot fixed, it ought to make a huge improvement on the overall look of the piece. The loose jaw paste-up edge can be re-attached properly. If it was me, I'd seriously consider having the designer stubble eliminated. A professional paper conservasionist would be my route on this one.

Any use of white-out would be problematic unless you can get an even blend of colour that matches the illustration board shade, so difficult to determine. Really, this should have been a flawlessly executed piece of work, ready for framing, without the need for glaringly obvious production artwork type corrections. Working for printed comic-book pages (and the tricks-of-the-trade it involves) vs. artwork specifically designed to be showcased (as drawn) are not quite the same in my book. If corrections were needed on your commission, they should have been more seamlessly performed. I understand both sides of the argument on this scenario, but at $1,500 I personally would have expected a higher degree of finish as , to my mind, what you got looks a bit of a mess in parts.

Falling asleep for parts of the movie are like a reduced director's-cut version for me and probably brought the viewing time down to around 110 minutes . . .