Rick2you2

I wouldn't want the money. Honestly, I was thinking of offering him more money if he could fix it and maybe add some background (God knows where background would fit). Additional cash has a way of keeping interest fresh. I'm not rolling in dough; I just want it to be the best possible Chaykin piece I can get with that subject matter.

Sure. I typed in "Phantom Stranger" and checked the box to search for a description. It missed this one: "2007 DC Justice League of America JLA #6 ED BENES Original Art ZATANNA Sexy Girl" ( 152796220272 )

To those who are following this, my democratic urges are coming to forefront. Of these 4 options, what would you pick? I am strongly leaning against no. 3 and "ask for a discount", but I'll listen to whatever.

Is there any way to fix the head without making a mess of the piece? A full paste-up would look lousy. I guess you can't take off the ink. I don't want a refund or a discount, and it took 2 months to get this. I like the piece enough to keep it, but every time I see it, I'll get annoyed. I've also wanted a Chaykin PS for a long time and couldn't reach him to get a commission. I had to drive up to Mohegan Sun from NJ, with my girlfriend in tow, just to get his email address and phone number to start the connection to get a commission. I also really like the guy, which makes this even harder. What would you do?

And what would you recommend?

In my view, it's absolutely terrific. If you are familiar with the actress known as Gail Russell, this Talia looks like the "bad girl" version. Her best known work these days is probably from "The Angel and the Bad Man", starring John Wayne, where she played the Quaker love interest.

I understood it was high, but I don't value art on the basis of market price. I don't plan to sell it, so all that matters is whether I can afford something, and how much I feel like making as a financial commitment to get what I want. See my point?

True. I was actually expecting him to show a little nipple.

Which brings up the next question: what can he do to fix this? Would a paste-up of the whole head look awful? It's so central. Replacing the face and adding white-out to the hat to add creasing? The colors won't match. Note the white-out which he already used near the edge near the cape.

No, not like that. I wanted PS to have an anguished look on his face because the poor guy really wanted to get laid but knew he couldn't. Chaykin didn't think PS's costume (and hat) would permit him to show that emotion. I told him to do the best he could. All I had seen originally was a rough-out. It's here. I'm okay with PS's facial expression in the final. I was hoping for anguish, but this is satisfactory. That doesn't mean the execution of the head was done well. I hate to use the work disaster, but "not satisfactory" would certainly be. I don't think I would mind a paste-up, even though it doesn't thrill me.

Truthfully, there was a troublesome design aspect which I wish were addressed differently, but I knew that going in and so did Howard. That's why I'm okay with it. This is different. This is where the design was okay, namely, his design. It was the execution with the paste-up and hat that disturbed me. PS's jawline makes him look like he has grown a full, trimmed beard, but there is no beard.

I'm happy I did. And I'm getting diverse opinions, too, which validates the reason I asked the question.

That makes me feel better. And yes, the foot is original. Happy you like it.

I don't mind square jawed males or females. But, the jaw line here is set to far down from the mouth, and the curves on the side of the face are too rounded for an adult. My guess is that he originally had the face tilted slightly differently, along with a different facial expression, and while he fixed the face, not the jaw. This one is always a concern: "This may be a case where you over-engineered the commission and Howard did the best he could within the box you placed him inside." On the other hand, if you don't give the artist detailed direction, you can get some very weird stuff. Please understand, I am happy with over 90% of it. The reason I posted this is because I don't know if I am placing too strict a standard on it.

It cost $1,500. That's not a ton of money, but it "ain't hay." The foot didn't bother me, actually. The jaw line does.

Truth be told, he finished it just before he went away on a trip. And, he does seem to run behind schedule.

I would appreciate your reaction to a Howard Chaykin commission, and whether I am being overly critical or not. I commissioned Howard to draw the Phantom Stranger and Talia in a "Chaykinized" version of a scene played out in several Phantom Stranger stories. She is the demoness who keeps trying to seduce him, while he must remain "unsullied" or cease to be whatever-he-is. Howard is a master at drawing trashy women, and I figured this was perfect for him. When it comes to Talia, I think she is magnificent--pure Chaykin. I love how he portrayed her; how she is playing with his medallion, and even standing a little on one of his feet--all to get his attention. And most of PS is very, very good, right down to the gloves and sleeves. But then there is that jaw line, and to a lesser extent, the hat. Chaykin had a hard time getting PS's expression right (which was expected and the subject of emails). I'm okay with his final design choice. When he corrected what he did with the paste-over, however, it made PS look like his jaw was welded on. The jaw line looks over-sized, and seems to have razor stubble on it. (I'm not too thrilled with the paste-over either, by the way). Also, the hat isn't right. Fedoras and trilbies (like a narrow brim fedora) have curves in them to reflect some highlights, while the part which sits on the head is too tall. So, my basic question is am I being too picky? And if not, is this fixable? And if it is fixable, should he be willing to do it? By the way, I really like Howard. He strikes me as a good person as well as being a terrific artist.

First, thank you again for your tracker. Just a few quick questions. When checking eBay, I found something which didn't show up. Does your tracker check word descriptions as well as titles? Second, I was wondering why you still have multiples in your heading, like, 4 ebays in a row. If memory serves me, this first showed up when you weren't allowed to scrape the CAF website. The only reason I mention it now is that valuable screen space is absorbed by the title box, and eliminating duplication would shrink it.

I'd agree with you about 2/3rds of the time; one dealer in particular has prices which I think are nuts, and he doesn't seem to care. But at the lower end, I typically see dealer pricing only a bit higher than what goes at auction. My own perspective is warped, however, because I only buy art with the Phantom Stranger in it. It ran up when he had his book published as part of the New 52, but has now plateaued or gone down a little.

I've also noticed a drop-off in bidding on "non-trophy" pieces. Also, some of the less interesting pieces seem to sit around on dealer's sites a lot longer, or they have run more "specials" to effectively lower their prices.

This raises a question I have been wondering about over the past year. It looks like some prices, at least at the lower end, have been dropping. Anyone else notice this?

Since you asked, I think the caliber of the illustration is excellent. You can really feel the water. Similarly, his use of variously sized small panels to convey time movement is very good, along with the unbalanced size of the panel overlay to the whole of the underlying image And, I am always a fan of of pop-outs, particularly clever ones like the last panel. If I were going to criticize, I would say that the inset panel border is dull. While some contrast with the splash is needed, it should blend a little more creatively with the splash.

And on a different but related note, I had Amy Reeder sketch my GF, who was kind enough to join me at a convention. Amy didn't think she was good at real people, but she is excellent. I'm regularly surprised at how many top notch artists don't seem to really appreciate their talents and skills. What they do is hard, and they deserve all the praise they get.

Stuff like this is what makes OA collecting fun.

I hope for your sake, she doesn't have Veronica's spending habits. I have a similar story, but it didn't involve a commission. When my daughter was little, I taught her the words to the Chiquita Banana song (original version) because it's really a great little kids song. Cut to around 15 years later. When cruising on Heritage Auctions a while ago, I found some cells from a Chiquita Banana commercial. So I bought them, had them framed and gave them to my now-adult daughter as a present. She loves them.