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This may be the only one of these out there... a G.I. Joe mystery for this group to solve. Can anyone out there tell me who signed this book and why? There's actually a story behind this that Joe fans may find interesting. I'll see if anyone can figure it out first and if not, I'll reveal... HINT: There are clues in the IDW run...

If people are interested and think the price is too high, please feel free to send me a PM to make an offer - I'm looking to find these a home in another Turtle lover's collection!

Had a great time last night meeting Victor and other Tick fans at the event. Had a great view in the front row of improv show that followed. At the end, I had the cast sign the back cover of one of the San Diego blank sketch cover Tick comics I picked up last year at the NEC booth. Now, to get Ben to do a special sketch on the front the next time he makes an appearance! Some pics from the festivities below!

This belongs in the books for sale section...

It looks like the person I was going to bring to the event tonight had something come up. If a big Tick fan wants a single ticket to go to the Tick premiere in Hollywood tonight, send me a PM and I can try to get you in.

I've overpaid for items in the past and the good news is that I never regretted it. Typically, years later the prices caught up and I ended up doing OK. What I have regretted is not picking up certain pieces because I thought they were overpriced at the time and then years later, I would have to pay multiples of that price to get them. With art, you never know when a piece will come around again so what you have to ask yourself is 1) do you like the piece?; 2) will you regret it if you don't pick it up?; 3) do you think the piece will still appreciate in years to come and/or are you willing to take a loss on the piece when you go to sell it?

Yes, I sent a message after I received the initial message and they corrected it - Thursday night it is! Glad I asked. I'll see other Tick fans there...

Nice Zeck Secret Wars pages have also now cracked the $3-5k range.

I won! But, what's confusing is that the confirmation I received is for Friday night which is the 23rd, not the 22nd as advertised. Hope I don't show up and will have missed the party.

If you're a fan of Mark Bode's TMNT art, please check out this post in the Original Art Marketplace section:

I recently acquired the detailed preliminary pencil artwork that Mark Bode drew for the September 1992 TMNT Special "Times" Pipeline. This was one of the few times that Bode drew the Turtles, but he is well-loved for his interpretation of them. In addition to the Turtles, this issue featured many characters created by Mark's father Vaughn Bode. The main antagonist in this story, 5Ply, is from Cobalt 60, scheduled soon for production by Zack Snyder. All these pages were drawn on 8.5" x 11" pieces of paper and then were blown up and lightboxed to create the final printed art. According to Bode, the final art for this issue no longer exists as it was allegedly thrown out, being mistaken for photocopies since the artwork was so clean. So, if you're a fan of the Turtles, and/or Bode, this may be your only chance to get an example from this issue. The story is mostly complete with 37 of the 41 pages in the book included. I have decided to sell all the pages that I have together as one lot. I am asking $100/page ($3,700 OBO for the entire lot including shipping). Given what vintage Eastman & Laird Turtles art is going for these days, this lot is an affordable alternative! All 37 pages are listed in my CAF: This is detailed preliminary pencil artwork that Mark Bode drew for the September 1992 TMNT Special "Times" Pipeline. This was one of the few times that Bode drew the Turtles, but he is well-loved for interpretation of them. In http://www.comicartfans.com/galleryroom.asp?gsub=59938 Please feel free to send me a PM with any questions and/or offers.

Thanks for posting this. Living in LA, I put my name in the hat... if I win, I'll post an update here tomorrow.

As most people know I'm a big Zeck/Zimelman Punisher fan. Still a few pieces I'm looking for - The Punisher Return to Big Nothing Softcover and the Circle of Blood TPB Cover. Anyone seen them? I have an old picture of Scott Dunbier's booth with the Return to Big Nothing cover, but that was probably 20+ years ago. Please PM with any leads. Happy to pay a finders fee.

Here are some foreign printings of Punisher #1 - Greece, France, and Mexico. Greece reprinted issues #1-4 together and used the cover to #3. Guess they didn't like issue #5! And, for the Mexico version, it almost looks like someone painted over the painting - something just looks off!

I think Mike would tell you that the printing at the time the series came out couldn't handle the bright vibrant colors that the paintings had. He was glad that there were opportunities later to print them the way he originally intended. The printing on issues #1 & #4 were both pretty washed out compared to the originals. I think the #1 poster that was printed soon after the mini-series came out was a good example of what the cover should have looked like when printed. Even what you see above is a digital photo shot off the original. It's a little brighter than what the original art looks like in person, but it allows you to see the details like the "Spidey Lives" written behind the Punisher's head on the wall. You can't see that on the printed book.

Thought this group would appreciate these pics of the original art from when they were displayed at the Cartoon Art Museum back in 2014... I threw in the posters and the Big Nothing painting as a bonus!

For 20 years, I always thought bigger is better... until I moved into a small house. Now, I don't have room to display many of them. That's why it's think it works well for everyone when I can contribute to art exhibits - they finally get to be seen the way they are supposed to be. Nowadays, I shy away from bigger oversized pieces unless they are images that really draw me in. Anything that fits in an Itoya is fine.

Similarly, I believe there was a Thorn book that reprinted Jeff Smith's Bone strips from college that pre-dated Bone #1.

Not sure how rare many of these are in high-grade, but they all have low print runs and were somewhat "hot" independent books at one point in time: Gobbledygook #1 & 2 (1st Fugitoid & TMNT Ad) - although these can't be graded by CGC. Other "lesser keys" to consider: - Fish Police #1 - Megaton Explosion #1 (1st Youngblood) - Fantasy Quarterly #1 (1st Elfquest) - Nexus #1 Magazine (Signed & #/d to 500) - Dime Press #1, Next Men #21 or SDCC #2 (Whichever you consider the 1st Hellboy) - Thundermace #1 (2-Color Cover - 1st Chakran the Forever Man) - Realm #4 (1st Deadworld) - Harbinger #0 (Mail-in version) - Tick Special Edition #1 - Tick #2 uncut cover version - Tick #12 - All 4 different no logo variants - Adventurers #1 Skeleton Cover - Quadrant #1 - Raw #1 (May be too big to CGC) - Funny Animals #1 (1st Maus) - Huzzah #1 (Fanzine - 1st App. Erma Felna) - Albedo #0 (White with Yellow Table - 50 copies) - Power Comics #1 (1st Sim Aardvark) - TMNT #3 NYC Variant - Gold Turtlemania - Eagle #1 Special Edition (Signed & #'d) - Rare, but not super expensive or important - Dark Horse Presents #1 (1st Concrete) - Comico Primer #5 (1st Maxx) - Colt #2 1st Printing (with TMNT Pin-up - only 3,000 copies) Hopefully, there's at least 1 or 2 that may be appealing to go after from the list above.

For the new Punisher Omnibus, they upgraded all the scans from the B&W magazines and added some bonus material that had not been previously seen in any of the Back to the War compilations or Marvel Essential collections. A lot of extra Limited Series bonus material and all the Zeck Marvel Tales covers. Having contributed to it, I was happy with the way it turned out.

I'd say approx. $1k/each on the Star Wars, $800 on the Hulk Annual, and $15k on the Spider-man Annual #3.

Yes, it was colored art paper that was used to give a pure color to the yellow. I learn to use those as an art student as well. Guess Ben went to similar art classes.

That is funny. Didn't know it had also been used as a front cover. But, how much effort is it to flip the signature?

Yes, as far as I know the front cover to the Tick Special Edition #2 and this... the Back cover are the only Edlund covers that are out there. I rarely pull this one out for people to see so enjoy! The very first appearance of Paul the Samurai and a guy named the Tick... all in full color to boot!

The solicitation is done through Diamond. They first solicit orders from dealers through Diamond before they set the print run. I think in general, the orders for AEs has softened as many collectors buy them at conventions or order direct. I'm sure if you could get enough other fans to join you (via Kickstarter or some other method), that may be cause to reconsider. I'd also love to see it made.