glendgold

He has another one for a different comic, too, just as vaguely described: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Marvel-Age-87-GHOST-RIDER-COVER-Color-Key-Film-by-Marvel-1-1-RARE/164364000290?hash=item2644db9c22:g:ngEAAOSwBCtfTpob Acetate, right? My impression is that if you have the right kind of printer and a high-rez scan you can just load up pretty much any comic and make one of these that will be identical. Like, if I wanted to I could have a rare 1/1 AF 15 or whatever?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Marvel-The-Uncanny-X-Men-234-COVER-Color-Key-1-1-RARE-Item-Wolverine-Cover-/164401552059?hash=item2647189abb%3Ag%3A3MoAAOSw8vpfbhb5&LH_BIN=1&nma=true&si=SdO%2BevSJNJcYgh%2FbM45ehaAmZQY%3D&orig_cvip=true&nordt=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557 I genuinely don't know.

For about 12 seconds my heart was in my mouth, then I realized. https://comics.ha.com/itm/miscellaneous//p/7236-47012.s?ic4=ListView-Thumbnail-071515 House ad. But still pretty cool.

Oh, if that was *all* you had to worry about.

Yeah, it's one of the 1994 Sotheby's recreations. The only pre-hero cover art known to have survived is for the issues where they reprintd the splash as the cover, like Tales to Astonish 34, Monster at my Window. There's a rumor that Journey into Mystery 80 popped up 25 years ago but I haven't heard that confirmed.

Yeah, at least cut up some twigs and duct tape them together in a reasonable rectangle. Save the actual frame for your Sal Buscema art.

You think the owner could spring for, I dunno, a 4mm mylar rather than whatever drycleaner baggie it's in.

When I saw the FF 81 splash, I was thrilled -- I haven't seen it pop up before -- but the more I looked at it the less I liked it. Brilliantly drawn and all, but the center is defiantly empty. Kirby has an intuitive understanding of composition, and that big dead space in the middle is weird. It just reminded me that after FF 76, he was less and less thrilled to be there, and the interior splashes became increasingly gratuitous. This one wasn't bad, but how hard would it have been to have Mr Fantastic making a lasso with one arm to fill that dead space? Anyway, it's very cool but it's not A+ to me. Now, if the FF 95 Thing-Holding-up-a-Building interior splash ever shows, I bet that one goes way higher. Maybe even Sal Buscema money.

Maybe hold onto it till the miniseries hits Showtime next year?

Good luck getting anything made out of paper insured if you live anywhere between San Diego and Vancouver right now. Seriously. A broker I called told me not to bother asking.

I read Kamandi for the first time recently. It holds up, but also has a lot of ups and downs. The art is just 5-stars, Kirby giving it his all, and there are a ton of clever touches that I really dig. The DBB inks are a shame, but the Royer issues really sing. Never read Kamandi as a kid. I remember glancing at the comics and thinking they were just Planet of the Apes ripoffs. (I was a harsh kid. Unlike, of course, now, as I am sweet and gentle.)

FWIW, ya got it up to double splash territory, so you put up a good fight (and no, I didn't bid).

I think the Kirby Kamandi is a record for his DC splashes. At least stuff that's moved in public. LMK if I'm wrong. Very nice piece.

I have no skin in the game here, but this is the page that fascinates me the most in the current auction. https://comics.ha.com/itm/original-comic-art/panel-pages/wally-wood-frontline-combat-3-story-page-6-original-art-ec-publ-1951-/a/7234-94090.s?ic2=mybidspage-lotlinks-12202013&tab=MyBids-101116 Incredibly powerful, the composition and, uh, execution are of course a-plus, and...hard to say if I'd want it on my wall or not. But really glad it exists: https://comics.ha.com/itm/original-comic-art/panel-pages/wally-wood-frontline-combat-3-story-page-6-original-art-ec-publ-1951-/a/7234-94090.s?ic2=mybidspage-lotlinks-12202013&tab=MyBids-101116 The type of thing that should be in a museum one day.

This is OT now, but for those who care -- This is going to sound insane -- but the urban birdwatching groups put it into effect. Here's their press release about it: https://abcbirds.org/article/conservation-groups-win-injunction-to-halt-feral-cat-program-in-los-angeles/ Their reasoning was that if the city stopped fixing cats, the cats would die and the birds would be safe. This didn't take into account a) people keep dumping their cats in the street, tens of thousands of them a year, b) people keep feeding community cats (what you and I would call feral cats), so they keep making kittens and c) the quiet part of their plan is that they were hiring trapping companies that exterminated the cats. What ended up happening instead of what was intended is that the cat population, when about 750,000, went over 3 million. No one wanted that. The injunction was reconsidered and was supposed to be lifted in spring, but things got screwy due to, well, the obvious. If there's any money for it, the city is supposed to start it back up again,

Day two of the Heritage Auction starts in a few hours. Good luck to all bidders and to the consigners, I hope your lots all go bananas. I previously mentioned this piece that's coming up, but I'm going to bring it up again because of the underlying charity it benefits. Here's a little backstory I haven't discussed much: Back in 1999, Patrick McDonnell, creator of MUTTS, was doing a signing at the Cartoon Art Museum. I was a huge fan of the strip, which was in its most inspired moments an amalgamation of Krazy Kat, Peanuts and Calvin & Hobbs. It wasn't just about cute animals, but it had a deeper side that dared to suggest that we don't own the earth - we share it. The Sunday title panels drew on fine art and comics for reference, the gags were classic, and there's obviously this compassionate intelligence behind the drawing. Clearly I needed to own one, right? I couldn't find one on the market. So I went to Patrick's signing, and he turned out to be a delightful guy - but he wouldn't sell me anything. He doesn't sell his strips. I didn't give up. I spent about five years trying to convince him to sell me something. Nope. (And I can be pretty freakin' charming when necessary.) Finally I had to admit it - we were just friends at this point. And then collaborators. I wrote a daily strip for him, and then he illustrated a special edition of my novel Sunnyside. We visited the Met together, an exhibit of Ehon books, 19th century Japanese Manga, and each of us came away with insprirations for our own work. A couple of months ago I dreamed a series of Mutts strips that involved the pandemic. He was inspired enough to draw two of them. And we decided to sell one of them to benefit the Stray Cat Alliance of LA. There are, crazily, over three MILLION cats on the streets of LA that are unfixed, and the city has an injunction against spaying or neutering them. So it's up to private organizations to get cats fixed, and to try to adopt out the kittens young enough to be socialized. I've fostered a litter of kittens for them, and my girlfriend ended up keeping the runt (whose name when he was little was Peanut, but who is now so much a judgy Russian Blue that his name is Mikhail Furyshnikov). Anyway, this is the strip that's up for sale in a couple of house: https://comics.ha.com/itm/original-comic-art/comic-strip-art/patrick-mcdonnellmuttsspecialty-illustration-original-art-2020-/a/7234-94056.s?ic2=mybidspage-lotlinks-12202013&tab=MyBids-101116 And this is the other strip Patrick drew based on my dreams. And you guys can rest easy: I own it. Finally, right? If you've been on the fence, here's your chance to bid....

If you're the high bidder or planning to be the high bidder eventually, thumbs up to you and all, but on a personal level I think Jack (you guys know I kinda like Jack's work, right?) forgot how to draw the Hulk the moment he drew the last page of FF 12. Can't really think of another character whose model he so clearly forgot after that. Also: faceless Thor. But hey, that's just me -- if you love it, yay!

Dude, that is a spooky high level eye you have.

To my eye the bottom one looks like Kane as well -- possibly a layout for a 1970s Marvel monster reprint book. The color piece of two guys punching each other looks like Skip Williamson, maybe? I don't think the blue pencil piece is by BWS - Val Mayerik, maybe? Trina Robbins would know every single thing about the San Francisco pieces, I bet.

"studio of Swatch."

"Many believe" = "Many people are saying."

They must be making money on this but I don't see the link explaining how.

Two of my favorite inkers tend to vanish into the work they're doing: Leialoha and (believe it or not) Royer. I always think of Mike as being incredibly bold, but that's because I'm mostly familiar with his Kirby inking. I was at a party with him when someone was paging through a Barry Smith Conan comic. Mike pointed at a page in the issue and said "I inked that." We all thought he had to be pulling our legs, because it looked like Barry Smith inking. He explained that Barry was late and Marvel gave him the chance to finish it. But that single page took him TWELVE HOURS so he gave the rest of the book back. No, I don't remember the issue, but it was later in the run. I hope someone else has heard that story because it almost feels like I dreamed it.

In the Kirby world, I see the JIM 112 2-panel page and the Thor cover are at roughly the same price. I'd bet one entire dollar in highly-leveraged American currency that the 112 page finishes higher.

I'd forgotten those Perez/Grainger issues - those were great. I wish he'd inked more Kirby. I think he did a really good job - somewhere in the Royer school of boldness, sorta around Giacoia's best days.