The Cimmerians Purse

complete agreement. I wish they'd just focus on the 10-20 % of their product that's good-to-great, and get rid of the junk that gets pushed to have more titles on shelves. I think it makes it incredibly hard, especially for new readers / people interested in becoming readers, to find good Marvel stories to read. It becomes a shoot that doesn't have good odds, and so some get lucky and throw the right dart, but most do not.

that is just wonderful

+1 here... this is THE page I'd try to buy if I won the lotto. Had to settle for buying the large print version instead (at 36x24) which sits over my mantle at home. So if we both win the powerball we'll have to duel over it Wrightson was a damned genius. He is my all time favorite, and was a great guy to boot.

that's just fantastic

While I agree that the innovative story telling isn't happening at big 2, at least not for the most part... I disagree that it's not happening. It's just not happening there at the moment. And because I believe a statement like that requires giving examples: Jeff Lemire has been doing it for years, and Daniel Warren Johnson as a very bright rising star. Marvel's problem right now, IMO, is that they get something cool going like the new X-men books (House of X, and Powers of X) and then surround them with 10 superfluous / mediocre series to sell issues on the merits of the good thing. And so, the good thing's merit gets watered down by the cookie-cutter . It's the great money grab all over again. And if it keeps getting worse it will put marvel in jeopardy.

My favorite Darwyn Cooke quote: "Wrightson is the best artist to use all the lines... so I guess i'll have to be the best who uses the fewest." Man was a genius at just that. He's def one of my all time favorites, and a super nice guy.

yeah there are new readers. I know a kid in his sophomore year of high school who could stand toe to toe with any one on this board with comic book lore.... nerdiness is nerdiness. He's 14 years old and to him Jack Kirby is a god. I think we all forget that most kids didn't read comics when we were young either. And so I think the argument that most kids know the movies and not the books doesn't matter. The kids who are truly nerdy over the characters will seek out the books regardless of where they were introduced to the idea of super heroes.

by style over substance I meant specifically that they spent so much on cheesecake artists that there wasn't any money left over for decent writers. So it was all about the look of the book instead of the story, and a lot of *at least what I read during the time* was flashy art and writing. And there was so much of it, that it was hard to find any of the diamonds in the rough at the time. anyway thought the clarification of intent would be appreciated. I also think Marvel should take a significant share of what happened. Because I think they started it. They also gave all of the Image kids their shots. I think if Marvel started it, Image brought it too new realms. I may be biased though, because I wasn't reading Marvel comics at the time. I didn't grow an appreciation for Marvel books until later in life when trades of earlier stuff became available.

pffft that sounds like some kind of alternate reality BS!

I Know the feeling

My answer to the question is the Image Comics founders. The comic book industry wouldn't be what it is today without them. They moved comic books into the realm of style over substance, which almost destroyed the industry. Today's comic industry (for the most part) focuses on making good stories, and just letting the rest happen organically. i.e. collectable markets, OA, etc. That mentality is a direct reaction to the near implosion of the market. And that implosion, I believe, was causally linked to the Image founders.

because EVERYONE wants a Hobbit cottage!

Painter of light, dude...

I like to collect the creators and comics that I love, both new and classics. My interests span a wide spectrum, but I do have a big, big soft spot for horror anthologies; especially from the early Warren runs. But I also love pulp, sci-fi, and war comics as well. I'd love some very early and important Marvel art, but I don't know if it will be achievable... probably some day. There's a few specific Ditko Dr. Strange pages I'd donate a kidney for. I love great storytelling. Don't care it it's independent or big 2. Just needs to be a great story narratively and visually. I just love comics, and if the story moves me, and I the visual story-telling / art hits me... then i'll probably want to collect some pages. It's hard to really rank my favorite artists. My favorite classic artists are Wrightson, Williamson, Toth, and Ditko... and there's so many more that I absolutely love, and want pieces from... more than I care to list. My favorite modern creators are Darwyn Cooke and Daniel Warren Johnson, and similarly so many others, more than I care to list. I just love comics.

I don't think it's Albert hanging onto them. I think Darwyn's wife is letting them go in batches, and Albert just gets to be the person who handles the administration of the selling. If you reach out to him the worst that happens is a non-response. Everything is always worth a try... maybe your inquiry hits him at the right moment and he reaches out to the Cookes, and they get you THE page. ... I say reach out first and give it a shot. you can always fall back on getting one of the other pages.

My Ditko page. Absolutely a prize possession. It’s from Creepy 6. Page 4 of: Blood of the Werewolf! His body of work for Warren is just phenomenal.

Amazing piece... just one of my favorite limited series of all freaking time. Wow! really, really, really nice piece man.

Awesomeness!

up vote for HeroesCon!

Best cover ever! Congrats again Jason

PLASTICS AAAH-AAAAAAAAAH Savior of the UNIVERSE!!!!!!!

Just got this delivered this morning. Man is it freaking awesome! Alex Toth / Archie Goodwin title splash to a horror / sci-fi story from Creepy 6 entitle The Stalkers. It's a story of a guy telling his psychologist all about these aliens he's been seeing, that nobody else ever sees. He's been seeing them everywhere since a fateful snowy night on a dark road. The Creepy twist is that he was part of a group of aliens that crashed on earth so long ago, and he's been in human form for so long, that he's forgotten that he too is an alien, and he and his psychologist are actually already on a ship returning to their home planet. God I love this stuff! This piece checks a huge box in my collecting goals. Absolutely love it!

It came this morning! and WOW! I'm so happy to add this amazing Alex Toth Creepy splash to my collection! https://www.comicartfans.com/gallerypiece.asp?piece=1570304

DUDE! Congrats! I'm so glad this had a happy ending! I know that the voyage was rough, but the destination is awesome! That's some wonderful OA, I'm so happy for you that this turned out well.

So is this one you have the other half of this DPS too, yeah?