glenbru

I've seen them too, Jon. They did a color version of the poster as well that's very rare. When I owned the art, I was trying to track down one of those. By the time I found one, the art had been traded and I didn't feel the need for the poster anymore -- it would just remind me of the art I no longer owned.

A PANEL PAGE ART collector’s story. The collectors dilemma — never enough money — the choices you have to make. I was in San Diego — must have been ’96 or ’97. I had 10k with me to do some damage, I thought. First few minutes of the con, I’m looking through a collector’s portfolio and inside, staring back at me, is the splash page to YOUNG MEN 26—a Bill Everett Golden-Age splash from the ’50’s with an angelic looking Sub-Mariner and a beautiful Betty, pictured. I asked him how much he wanted — I think it was 12k. I suggested 10k was what I was willing to pay, and as luck would have it he agreed. We’ll I was done, I figured — that was my convention — tapped out! One of the pieces I had been looking absolutely everywhere for, I hesitate to say grail, but it was important to me, was a large oversize TOYS FOR TOTS piece by Jack Kirby. It’s this phenomenal image of Cap, Thor and Spider-Man handing toys out to kids. Well, I stroll over to Anthony Snyder’s booth and low and behold there is that exact TOYS FOR TOTS art sitting in the booth —bright as day — just asking me to buy it. I think I offered 4000 right away, not really sure how I was going to pay for it. Anthony said it wasn’t his alone, he had to check. When he came back to me the price was 6k. I agreed, again not knowing exactly how I was going to pay for it. A few minutes later, Anthony came back to me and said if I wanted the piece I would have to pay 8k. I was outraged! “What do you mean? We had a deal at 6k.” Anthony explained that the other owner had received an offer before we closed and now the price was 8k. But the good news, he explained, was if I agreed this time the art was mine for sure. The other bidder was out. I agreed to pay the 8k. Now I just needed to figure out how I was going to get him the money. Later that day, I show the EVERETT piece to a friend — He offers me 15k for it on the spot. I really don’t want to sell it, but it does solve my problem of how to pay Anthony and get the TFT piece. I counter at 17.5 and my friend agrees. The net result, I basically go home from SD with the TOYS piece for $500. Now many years later, I no longer own the TOYS art — I traded it long ago for an incredible Ditko Spider-Man page from ASM 22 that I also no longer own. I do miss that Everett splash though — even though I only owned it for a day— that was a treasure! Choices! I've posted the TOYS FOR TOTS here to whet your appetite. Please visit my facebook page to see the Everett splash: https://www.facebook.com/panelpageart/ Thanks, Glen Brunswick

I just did a write up on FB about the great experience I had with a Surfer commission by Claudio... A few years ago, 2013, I had the good fortune to commission Claudio Castellini to do a Silver Surfer piece in the style of the work he did for Marvel. To me, like Jack Kirby or John Buscema, Claudio does what I consider to be a definitive version of the character. He is the heir to the Surfer throne IMHO. Claudio was very nice when we first got in touch, but he warned me that he had a lot on his plate and it might be a while before he could get to finishing it. I was just happy he was willing to take on my commission and was more than willing to wait. The very next day, he had a prelim sketch for me to choose from. I decided on the pose with the right hand down and the left hand up. He agreed - he liked that pose best as well. A few weeks later, he had the full prelim worked out. After that I had to wait quite a number of months, but one morning, in my inbox, was -- the final commission. I LOVED IT! I couldn't wait to put it on my wall. But I was going to have to wait a bit longer. Claudio was doing a show, an art exhibit, and wanted to take the piece with him to display. He asked if I would mind waiting for my piece so he could use it at the show. How could I refuse him--he so exceeded my expectations in the final piece. He sent me pictures of my commission at the show, he did a large poster of it -- it looked wonderful! Finally, the art arrived. I'm so greatful to Claudio for doing such a magnificent Surfer for me--it's twice up size and lovely to look at every day. Sorry folks, this one just ain't for sale! You can see the prelims and process Claudio did on my Facebook page PANEL PAGE ART: https://www.facebook.com/panelpageart/ Thanks! Glen

They really didn't like Shores inks. All that line work would get lost in the printing process. They wanted a simpler line--the kind they got from Giacoia. But I agree, the original is much nicer!

Bills and kid's private school become a strong incentive.

Well I still know where the art is -- if you're serious about trading your soul.

I've been having some fun with these, so figured I'd present another... The three JACK KIRBY art pieces I wish I still had. I'll begin by saying that the original art market/hobby has become much more expensive than it was when I started in 1994. I used to go to San Diego Comic Con with 10,000 dollars in my pocket and come home with multiple incredible Kirby 70's covers. One year, maybe 1996, I bought the entire NEW GODS 8 story for $4000 from Glenn Danzig. I actually split the issue with Jonathan Mankuta--by split, I mean that he got the cover for 3000 and I got the complete story for 4000. Now that story would be at least 100k if you could find it. I sold it a while back. Anyway, I really meant to focus on the three pieces I regret selling that became too expensive to keep. As weird as it sounds, you almost hope that some pieces, in your collection, don't escalate in value because if they do it means that someone will make you a crazy enough offer that you feel you have to sell it. That's what happened to me with these three... First up, the double page spread to the KIRBY Silver Surfer graphic novel, 1978. This was the final LEE/KIRBY collaboration. Jack Kirby drew his heart out -- Joe Sinnott inked the stuffing out of it. I got this years ago -- I had to trade a huge poster size piece from the 1984 NEW GODS revival and a twice up Thor splash that had Thor and Hercules on it, but it was worth it! The page hung on my kitchen wall for years--my wife actually liked that one enough to let me hang it there. Second, was the unpublished X-MEN 10 cover. Very few art covers exist before 1965. This issue, from 1964 probably survived because it got lost in the Marvel offices and was found years later -- one of the very few surviving covers from the Jack Kirby/Chic Stone collaboration. I often wondered why this cover was not published--in my eyes it was much better than the one they used. I first saw this cover years ago hanging in the home of Jack Kirby's art agent. I was fortunate to be at SD the year it was traded to Mike Burkey, and Mike was kind enough to flip it to me. Finally, the CAPTAIN AMERICA 100 cover. Tom Horvitz had this cover on his wall for years. A number of years ago, I made Tom a crazy offer, I had a windfall, and he accepted. This was a special cover that saw many changes before publication--they changed Cap's head, had Frank Giacoia make inking changes over Syd Shores' original inks and removed the shadow of Zemo from the background. The wonderful thing about this cover is that the changes must have been made on a stat cover because the original art was completely unmolested and it preserved Shores beautiful original inks -- it's a stunning beauty. My understanding is that this art was owned by the Marvel staffer, John Verpoorten, before entering the marketplace. Posting the DPS here -- come visit PANEL PAGE ART on Facebook to see the other two... https://www.facebook.com/panelpageart/

Quite a few!

The time I commissioned JOHN BUSCEMA... 1999 - Tom Horvitz, who was friendly with Buscema at the time let me know that John was willing to do commissions--he would recreate any cover for $500. Or if you wanted to do an original drawing it would be a bit more. First things first, I knew exactly what I wanted. I plunked down 1000 bucks and had him do a recreation of Silver Surfer 4 and Avengers King Size 2. They both turned out great as you can see. He finished them in a couple of weeks. All told, I think John must have recreated the cover to Surfer 4 at least 40-50 times. There are a ton of these floating around the marketplace. I always marveled at the fact that John was happy to crunch so many of these out to please the fans--and at such a low price point. I've seen them sell for as much as 10k now -- nineteen years later. Next I wanted to do something different -- I had him ink the pencils to the unpublished Silver Surfer 5 cover. I forwarded a pencil print out I got somewhere -- the result was very powerful cover at a cost of only 500. I then had him recreate an FF piece taken from the interior of the FF 126 book -- it cost me an extra 100 to add DOOM to the splash but at a total cost of 600 it was well worth it. I also had him add a KIRBY style Galactus to a third Surfer piece taken from a panel I liked in Silver Surfer 15. My final commission through Tom Horvitz was something very special. I always loved the cover to FF 55 by Jack Kirby. I had John do his version of this cover in his own style. John felt this was a lot more work than simply recreating a cover and he wanted 700 for it -- I was happy to pay it. John knocked it out the the park as you can see. The following year, John had a new rep in Owen O'Leary. Owen recognized the demand for John's work and set his prices a little higher -- still very reasonable. I think recreations were about 700 now. I decided I wanted one more special piece -- John's version of the KIRBY FF 72 cover. I wanted John, however, to make a change to the original and replace the Watcher figure with Galactus instead. I think John charged me 900 total and turned in a work that is simply a masterpiece. I had the piece hanging on my wall for 18 years, and only recently decided it was time to trade it to fellow Buscema fan and artist extraordinaire, Joe Jusko. Joe tells me it hangs above his art table and has assured me that it is in good hand. I have no doubt. I've posted the SS 4 recreation here. Please visit PANEL PAGE ART on facebook to see the other amazing commissions: https://www.facebook.com/panelpageart/ Thanks! Glen Brunswick

Ahh thanks, Uncle!!!

Just added a GENE COLAN commission piece to my PANEL PAGE ART page - Display only - not for sale! Here is the description and story behind the commission: My favorite, and first, original art commission -- GENE COLAN - 1999. A friend of mine, back in 1999, just a few years into my collecting career, told me that GENE COLAN was looking to pick up some work and was willing to do fan commissions. As hard as it is to believe, Colan, was not getting hired for comic book jobs at this point. His work hadn't lost a beat. His art was as masterful as ever, but for whatever reason it was not in fashion at Marvel or DC. He was willing to devote his talents to fan commissions. I think he was charging 400-600 for a one or two character piece, more if you wanted a recreation. I got in touch with Gene and told him I wanted something with Captain America. Eventually we decided he would do his own version of the Timely Captain America 46 cover -- the infamous concentration camp cover. He asked me if 700 was too much -- I was fine with it. A couple weeks later, Gene got in touch. He asked if I would mind if the commission was horizontal instead of vertical. He also wanted to know if I would mind the size being bigger at twice up for the same price. I didn't mind. Two weeks later, I got my Colan commission--a masterwork if there ever was one, in the mail. Gene said he added glasses to the Rabbi figure that was being forced in the oven--a touch of added sympathy for the character from Gene. He was having trouble with his own eye sight at the time and was adding glasses where he felt it was appropriate. I've kept the piece now for nineteen years and it won't be leaving my collection anytime soon. I present my Gene Colan Cap Commission along with the original cover by Alex Schomberg it was based on. See the artwork here: https://www.facebook.com/panelpageart/ Thanks! Glen

Happy to send you photo's direct, West! Thanks!

Thanks! I'll take any fawning I can get, anywhere.

Thanks! I'm a huge Giacoia fan. He makes everyone he inks look better.

I've started a new facebook page called PANEL PAGE ART. I want this page to be a place where I occasionally share gems from my collection, discuss stories of collecting original art over the past twenty-five-years and highlight special pieces of art that are worthy of merit. The page will also serve as the most up to date spot that lists the original art I currently have for sale. To kick things off, I just posted two COLAN twice up covers--one that has not been shared publicly and another that has been buried for quite a while. These are NOT FOR SALE. They are just on display --so please don't ask. The two covers are: TALES OF SUSPENSE 89 and DAREDEVIL 23. Both are wonderfully inked by Frank Giacoia. Please swing by. I'd love to hear your comments on the covers, and also would love feedback on my facebook page. If you have input or suggestions, I want to hear it. Link to the page: https://www.facebook.com/panelpageart/ Thanks, and happy collecting! Glen Brunswick

The Byrne page is SOLD!

Newly added to my CAF for sale: OMAC 7 page 14 - $3000 ALPHA FLIGHT 15 page 16 - SOLD! http://www.comicartfans.com/galleryroom.asp?gsub=11327 Thanks, Glen glenbru@aol.com

Anyone need to raise some holiday funds???

Thanks for the props, Unca Ben!

I've added a couple of Killer Kirby battles pages from the 60's to my CAF, A TTA cover, an Avengers splash and more to my CAF sale folder... http://www.comicartfans.com/galleryroom.asp?gsub=11327 I've also reduced prices for a short period on a number of vintage desirable items--so take a closer look. Take something home, you will love, for the holidays--be good to yourself. As always, time payments are possible and trade is considered. Thanks! Glen Brunswick glenbru@aol.com

Nobody wants to help me spend my money on comic art?

The cover is sold!

Added a couple of sweet Steven Hughes pages to my CAF sale gallery. Evil Ernie Resurrection 3 p 19 - with EE and LD - $1600 Evil Ernie Ressurection 1 p 12 - Half splash with Lady Death - $1800 In addition to the previously posted Evil Ernie YOUTH GONE WILD Encore cover - $2800 - better picture added. If interested, please contact Glen at glenbru@aol.com Link to my CAF sale folder...http://www.comicartfans.com/galleryroom.asp?gsub=11327

Anybody got a nice Kirby Thor 70's cover to sell? Might consider a 60's cover as well. Also looking for a nice Colan Iron Man TOS splash or a killer page. Cash buyer. No time payments. Contact Glen at glenbru@aol.com Thanks!

Steven Hughes did this beauty for the reprint of YOUTH GONE WILD, the first Evil Ernie issue. It was also used as an image on a trading card. Size is 11x17, original art, pencilled and inked by Hughes in excellent condition. EE covers are very hard to find. First $2800 takes it away! Thanks! Glen glenbru@aol.com For more great art --my sale gallery on CAF http://www.comicartfans.com/galleryroom.asp?gsub=11327