The Voord

New in today . . . A nice page 1 (of a two-page episode) from a November 1964 installment of THE STEEL CLAW from the UK anthology comic-book, 'The Valiant'. Artwork is by Jesus Blasco.

Ongoing CAF 'For Sale' updates . . . I've decided now's the time to release some more artworks from my collection and will be adding more and more stuff over the next few weeks. Everything's priced-up, so if anything's of interested to y'all, feel free to shoot me an e-mail. Keep checking back for updates, if you're so inclined . . . http://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryDetail.asp?GCat=1865

Grail page!

Is it also a first appearance for Nurse Parkwell?

In 1962 Beaverbrook newspapers asked Peter O'Donnell to suggest a new strip idea. He thought long and hard and came up with MODESTY BLAISE. Kennedy Aitken, who was Beaverbrook's Strip Cartoons Editor, suggested they should invite Frank Hampson (creator of DAN DARE) to interpret O'Donnell's ---script. Hampson accepted the offer, but took many weeks to return his strip, giving no reason for the delay. O'Donnell was dismayed at the eventual sequence of dailies, feeling Hampson had, "totally misunderstood the character" and suggested his former partner Jim Holdaway be given the strip to illustrate. O'Donnell and Holdaway had worked together very successfully on a previous newspaper strip, ROMEO BROWN. Of Hampson's tryout dailies, which pre-date Holdaway's published strip, eight have survived. I owned all eight at one time. This one tryout daily I kept was, to my mind, the best example - and the only one to exist as pure pencils. Of the remaining seven surviving examples, Hampson part-inked those (possibly used for practicing on in later years, as I firmly believe all of Hampson's tryout dailies were submitted for approval in pencil stage). This daily strip is the earliest MODESTY BLAISE to exist as it was originally illustrated and presented to Beaverbrook newspapers for consideration. I am making this rare gem available for sale for a limited time and am looking for offers at or above $5,000. Image size is about 18" x 5" and the artwork is in excellent condition.

Chris Vickers has a Mary Jane gallery on CAF. Mostly comprising of his own fanboy cr@ppy drawings. His stuff is so bad, it's worth checking-out just for the sheer awfulness of the drawings . . . I kid you not, Tiger!

Looking for pages from the 1980s DC comics graphic novel adaptation of Harlan Ellison's OUTER LIMITS teleplay, 'Demon With a Glass Hand' Artist is Marshall Rogers.

Looking for pages from the 1965 KELLY'S EYE serial 'The Vampire of Raffino' that ran for 24 x two-page episodes in the UK anthology comic-book, VALIANT. Currently, I'm at 32 pages and missing 16. Artist is Francisco Solano Lopez.

Looking for pages from the 1965 STEEL CLAW serial 'Max Kruger' that ran for 9 x two-page episodes in the UK anthology comic-book, VALIANT. Currently, I'm at 10 pages and missing 9. Artist is Jesus Blasco.

Also acquired a few more JEFF HAWKE dailies by Sydney Jordan from the serial, 'Time Out of Mind'. No characters present, but I think it's a nice example . . .

Been putting-together this 9-episode story sequence (comprising of 18 pages in total) for a number of years now. Last time I acquired anything was six years ago then last week I lucked upon another page on eBay. THE STEEL CLAW was a series that appeared in the UK's VALIANT anthology comic-book. The 'Max Kruger' storyline saw print in 1965 and is an early and fondly-remembered one for me. Artist is Jesus Blasco and this is for episode 3 page 1. Now up to ten pages . . . with another eight to track-down . . . THE STORY SO FAR . . . "After a ray machine accident Louis Crandell discovered that an electric shock made him invisible except for his artificial steel hand. He became a secret agent and acquired the ability to electrify any conductive material he touched. Professor Landon, a famous scientist, had been kidnapped by a gang of traitors led by Max Kruger and when Crandell tried to enter Kruger's castle headquarters while a fancy dress ball was taking place his invisible body set off an alarm!"

Pink to makes the boys wink!

Sorry to hear this news about Rich. I did communicate with him some years ago in connection with the fraudulent antics of Richard Rae. Rich Buckler was very supportive of my efforts to expose Rae's activities (which hopefully prevented other collectors being scammed). Rest in Peace, Rich, a true gentleman. You will be missed.

My last frame job . . . Tom Chantrell's 1968 movie poster painting for SHALAKO.

Why pink?

Holy Sheeeet!

I give up . . . where's that damned whiskey . . .

After giving this thread some further thought, I've now updated the opening description on my CAF home page to read: "Hi there . . . I'm a long-time UK-based collector of original artwork since 1982. Over the years, I've bought, sold and traded art. I sometimes release artwork from my collection if faced with tempting offers. I'm not a dealer, but occasional sales can take place to help fund other priorities in life. The way it works with me is straightforward. Anything marked as a 'Keeper' is not open for discussion, so please don't ask. If I'm actively looking to sell a piece of art I will affix an asking price. If it's marked as NFS, I might consider a sale, but in most cases I place the onus on the enquirer to make me a worthwhile offer. If you're not prepared to follow-up with a good offer, please don't ask me to sell you anything . . . " Terry Doyle

Back from the framers . . .

Now uploaded onto my CAF is the second of two movie poster paintings that reached me yesterday (in addition to SHALAKO). This other one is Vic Fair's prototype artwork for the 1981 movie, FORT APACHE, THE BRONX. Interestingly, Fair revised his depiction of Paul Newman's face by way of new artwork positioned onto an acetate overlay (that also carries the movie's title). Both before and after photographs of Fair's art can be seen in my CAF update at: http://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryDetail.asp?GCat=1865

Did you marry my wife's sister?

Here's all the artwork my wife has ever bought me:

Last year, as my collecting interests moved towards acquiring movie poster paintings (something I’d always been meaning to get round to), I was lucky enough to chance upon a source for Tom Chantrell original artworks for sale. Chantrell had been, for many years, one of the UK’s best known and respected artists working in the field of movie poster advertising campaigns. During the course of my ongoing purchases of Chantrell artworks (with occasional forays into the works of other artists), I often found myself drawn to the image of his poster art for SHALAKO, a 1968 Western movie that saw British actor Sean Connery breaking-away from his more-famous role as the first and the best of the James Bonds. The SHALAKO artwork was (then) listed as being available for possible sale (if the right offer was put forward to Chantrell’s family). Following consultation with Mike Bloomfield, in his capacity as sales agent, I submitted an offer that fell within the ball-park figure advised to me. Sadly (from my perspective), Chantrell’s family decided that this particular painting held too much sentimental attachment for them, preferring to retain it, and my offer got declined. Fast forward to several weeks ago, noted American collector David Mandel contacted me out of the blue enquiring after a piece of artwork I possessed from a British series that he was actively pursuing an example from. The artwork in question was something that I wasn’t too fussed about retaining in my collection, so a deal was quickly and painlessly realised. I then found myself faced with two prospects: should I just bank the monies received from David and consolidate my early-retirement fund (having become a man of leisure two years ago), or should I try one last time to go after the elusive SHALAKO movie poster artwork? I wrestled with my conscience for maybe one or two minutes and then quickly contacted Mike Bloomfield with an improved offer to be relayed to the Chantrell family . . . Within a few days of contacting him once again on the subject of SHALAKO, Mike put forward my revised offer to the Chantrell family, along with a fairly persuasive pitch of how I’d been supporting Tom’s work this past year with multiple purchases of his original art. This time I received the answer I was hoping for and (what I personally consider to be) one of Tom Chantrell’s very best movie poster artworks made its way into my collection . . . The design, as originally painted, was used for the SHALAKO advance poster campaign but for general cinema release was altered in format to accommodate extra caption material (see additional images in my CAF update). The central images of Connery and Bardot are, to my mind, especially pleasing, captivating your attention right away . . . then your eyes roam round the painting to soak-in the outer series of scenes that capture key elements from the movie. Although I’ve no claims on being the biggest fan of Westerns (with the notable exception of the Sergio Leone stuff and maybe a handful of other things), SHALAKO was a movie I rather liked. Not exactly ‘classic’ status, but it has a novel plot that engages the viewer’s interest, is well made and features a top-notch cast of international actors . . . and, boy, Bardot does looks HOT in this one. It’s especially pleasing to be able to land an impressive piece of artwork that ties-into a fairly decent movie product that the artwork was designed to promote. Sometimes I buy these movie poster paintings purely for the image (“Hey, nice painting, pity the movie sucked big time!”), but I think you can transpose that school of thought to something like comic-books where someone like Jack Kirby produced a lot of great comic-books covers that would often front mediocre stories . . . Please feel free to check out this update in my CAF Galleries (link below), which also includes additional images and background information about the movie. http://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryDetail.asp?GCat=1865 Thanks for looking. Terry Doyle

Please don't come back here in a few months time telling us how you bought some cool Jack Kirby/Mike Royer originals from an awfully nice Australian named Richard Rae . . .

Those prices, for prints, sound crazy . . .