Ecclectica

Some months ago, I should have bought this John Romita SR velum when I saw it... but necessarily not for the only reasons you would think... I was already engaged elsewhere in a difficult transaction, and couldn't push my mind to do the move. I discovered a few days after it had fallen in the wrong hands, well known here, trying to do easy money on it, adding a printed "blank" cover (a fake) under it to make it lot more desirable. An attempt with an outrageous price on it, and with a crude photo manipulation to present it as if he was hold by JR SR. This velum has just reappeared now. The @"$&#£ saw he couldn't do the easy money with it, so now he tries to get rid of it. "What's the problem ?", you will tell me. Well, the butcher has cut the upper side of this velum to make it suit his custom made cover : https://www.comicconnect.com/item/958710?tzf=1 Here is like it was (archive of the ebay ad where it appeared first) : https://originalartcover.com/rare-original-john-romita-sr-art-dr-strange-32-cover-prelim-1991-silver-surfer/ I'm sick of this kind of guys. If only I could have made the move, to preserve this velum. Just a velum, okay, maybe, but what an...

RIP Had a chance to congratulate him for his wonderful work a few months ago. He will be missed.

Fake ! The real one : https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot/john-romita-classic-spider-man-illustration-82-c-0c44912a3c#

I agree. With this kind of sample (or the rollerball point one), we're very close to the frontier of appreciation...

I don't know what to think about this one... Fake or rushed to the extrem limit ? I would vote for the second option, but... Your opinions ? https://www.ebay.com/itm/265633117296?hash=item3dd8f7b470%3Ag%3AV04AAOSwxutiTjdW&mkevt=1&mkcid=1&mkrid=711-53200-19255-0&campid=5338181027&customid=958&toolid=10049 And the frame doesn't help...

After 5 searches on CAF and no luck -> can you give us a link, please ?

If you think the original price was too expensive (I was thinking this, too !). You have to know that the ad was redone as an auction, starting at a more suited price : https://www.ebay.com/itm/393933448530?hash=item5bb8436552:g:HlUAAOSwgWJh8QYg Maybe worth waiting for the last minutes...

Nice effort But I am asking myselft if it's a good idea to mention B. Anderson in this list... As you will see in the news section of his website (from 2020), he says no artwork is currently for sale, and last time, some months ago, I asked him if I could buy something from me, maybe, in some of the tiny time "slots" he mentionned, he told me there wasn't even anymore any slots and that he didn't sell artwork anymore, so... Just my 2¢

This one ? https://www.ebay.com/itm/393900106328?hash=item5bb646a258%3Ag%3AHlUAAOSwgWJh8QYg&mkevt=1&mkcid=1&mkrid=711-53200-19255-0&campid=5338181027&customid=958&toolid=10049

Well, if one day you see another Ditko's Speedball page (even a minor one) to sell which is not visible on the market, send me a PM. :-) (and for your assumption, it is probably right IMHO)

Reading all this remember me of a move I didn't do... (and I should bang my head on a wall again) 3 years ago, Peter Koch offered on his website a page of an early Sleepwalker issue and I didn't jumped on it (it was only 50 USD) Here it is : http://cdn.kochcomicart.com/Images/Category_2/subcat_1169/leonardi-sw4pg8.jpg Yes... Do not forget that Rick Leonardi did a fill-in issue (#4), so nice Sleepwalker art exists on the market (and I can say "nice" confidentely not only because of Leonardi, but also because of Al Williamson inks).

Well, let's say that, in that precise era, anyone, late, who inked the work at 5 in the morning, couldn't have the minimal consistency of, let's say, a Kyle Baker in that same situation...

https://www.ebay.com/itm/154757958661?hash=item24084b0c05%3Ag%3A2p4AAOSwa9xhwEZc&mkevt=1&mkcid=1&mkrid=711-53200-19255-0&campid=5338181027&customid=958&toolid=10049 "this piece is done on transparent vellum paper" How convenient...

Just in case : it seems this one just pop up yesterday : https://www.ebay.com/itm/294626898800?hash=item449921b370%3Ag%3A6ZwAAOSwSRlhtNFI&mkevt=1&mkcid=1&mkrid=711-53200-19255-0&campid=5338181027&customid=958&toolid=10049 And there is this one too (the seller is a member of this forum) : https://www.ebay.com/itm/115026078899?hash=item1ac816acb3%3Ag%3AC9kAAOSw2r1gs-Uj&mkevt=1&mkcid=1&mkrid=711-53200-19255-0&campid=5338181027&customid=958&toolid=10049

Strange to see nobody replied... Here is his twitter account, no ? https://twitter.com/shanedavisart

Glad you could make the contact ! If you still exchange with him, please tell him that some of us would be glad to see him back on an US comic project with a character he would find suited to his values (I was really happy to see "Man and Superman" to be finally published back in 2019)

Maybe you can try to contact the person who seems to be one of his agents here : http://www.claudiocastelliniart.com/contact/ He seems to be still linked to Sal Abbinanti on Twitter too. Nice memories of Claudio Castellini's work at Marvel in the 90's. I loved the kind of modern John Buscema influence he put then into his drawings.

It was still complete until now ?!?! I didn't know. Is there a reference/link where I can learn more about this ?

Micah got her response since ( see https://www.comicconnect.com/item/928556?tzf=1 ), but just in case anyone here would be interested to know, as I was (Andrei Bressan pencils and inks; illustration for print; c.2009)

By the way, not enough feathering in the inks of this page to make it an interesting Colletta example.

Especially for issues like UXM #273 which was (and I had forgot it) an issue with 8 pencilers all doing several pages...

But the fact that Dillon forgeries exist is known... I came accross 3 at the same time last year and, so, that didn't surprised me when I saw them. And is copying in-demand artists a good way to go when you do forgeries ? (it's an open question) For me, it's the 100 $ bill. What happened to Drewsky here let me think maybe a good way to go (sorry for this expression) would be the opposite, as we can see in that case... it "worked" (the purchase was done, even if cancelled afterwards). For me, it's the 10 $ bill (same value for the counterfeit bills I saw when I was young)

Why make counterfeit versions of these ? Just an hypothesis : maybe because it was... somewhat easy, and quick, to produce a counterfeit version ? And so make it on an "industrial" way ? For example, assuming Heritage sold real ones here (look deep into the high-res versions of the page at the right in HA auctions) : https://comics.ha.com/itm/original-comic-art/russ-manning-korak-son-of-tarzan-3-page-5-original-art-gold-key-1964-/a/7066-94740.s?ic4=GalleryView-ShortDescription-071515 https://comics.ha.com/itm/original-comic-art/russ-manning-korak-son-of-tarzan-3-page-6-original-art-gold-key-1964-/a/7063-94953.s?ic4=GalleryView-ShortDescription-071515 ... I'm not familiar too much with Russ Manning art, but what surprise me is these originals are too much "perfect" : - a blank page to work with, without any blue mark (why not... especially because we're looking here pages from the 60's) - the art is too much neat (pencil traces perfectly erased, almost no corrections) as if Manning rendered the cleanest possible job and needed whiteout only on rare occasions - almost no productions marks or editing marks from the editor and publishing house (mentions, stamps, etc...) For me these kind of originals are the perfect candidate to be replicated, and then "enhanced" (add some whiteout, and maybe some china ink here and there to create variations in the blacks...) We aren't here with a Klaus Janson inked page with many ink marks/tries on the borders, and large whiteout corrections if the penciler he was inking was not skilled ! (BTW I'm a huge Janson fan - it's just to give you the opposite image !) After all, some of counterfeit money bills I've seen when I were young had a low value... but enough value to make them circulate easily...

Yes. These are magnificient samples of A.W. multiples skills. This guy is a legend ! (too bad I have only original inks from him in my collection, but on 3 different pencillers, I must consider myself lucky already !)

You probably saw them already, but just in case : https://www.highqualitycomics.com/item-371086/AL-WILLIAMSON-FLASH-GORDON-print-Sci-fi-NM-1978-limited-Signed-Numbered-1408 https://www.highqualitycomics.com/item-371087/AL-WILLIAMSON-Print-NM-1978-from-National-Cartoonists-Society-more-in-store