Mighty Hal

No need to be gentle. Terrific piece!

So similar yet, as you said, different. Why don't you ask him?

Wow. What a terrific start to the year!

If the number of pages available is the sticking point, Jim Lee is your man. When he retires his pencils, he'll have done a lot less comic work than Jack Kirby. I have the feeling that Lee likes comics but he doesn't live and breath comics. Well, it's not like Kubert and Infantino and Williamson and Wood all got together, voted, and decided Kirby was their king. He became Jack 'King' Kirby because Stan 'the Man' Lee put the nickname in place. Jack was tagged 'King' because his last name started with a 'k'. If he'd been Jack Firby, Stan might have named him Jack 'Flaming' Firby, the hottest comic artist around. Although, you probably wouldn't be saying "He's not Jack Firby. They call him 'Flaming' for a reason." Kirby is gone and Kirby was great but not all of his work was great. When people speak about his major creations, Captain Victory and the Kirbyverse don't figure prominently in the conversation. Those pages aren't cheap, though, so you'll still be dropping a decent amount of coin if you add C.V. to your collection. Over time, you'll probably make money with either Lee or Kirby. At the end of the day, like Pete said, buy what makes you happy. If it climbs in value, all the better.

What a terrific piece -- and interesting story, too. Welcome to the boards!

One of my favorite '52' covers. Congrats, man. There's just something about Lobo....

Wonderful Welz. Congrats!

You are the only one posting here. No one else has any money to buy OA. Nice stuff, tho'.

Ah, Malvin, you're right: The comment IS under the "next" tag. By the way, love your Bisley Lobo piece, too. Terrific!

Sweet Lobo page, Malvin -- but you say in your comments, "Splashy Supergirl". What does "Splashy Supergirl" mean?

Some great pieces, Keith. I'm jealous over your X-Force #1 prelim -- sweet!

Great question. And how much does career longevity and popularity of work factor in?

Let me second (third) Andy Brase. I'm also very impressed with Dale Eaglesham. Dennis Calero has the tools to be in the mix and I think that Cho fellow will only become more popular.

That Gene Ha splash is gorgeous.

Congrats, pirate. An absolutely gorgeous page -- wow.

Sweet page by Blevins. Like you, I believe he's been "undervalued" by collectors -- and, dang, can that man can do Good Girl Art! Of course, Blevins has pretty much disappeared from the printed comic page...and, out of sight, out of mind. It's my understanding that he now works almost exclusively on TV superhero cartoons (most recently, the JLA).

Buscema CONAN? It just can't get any better....

Eric, what a terrific post. Thanks so much for the inside scoop.

Love the Thanos splash. Once you let it go, how did you get it back?

Two years? Wow. Did you know, going in, that this was going to be your time frame? If not, it's hard to accept that kind of delay. Unless, of course, payment is on completion.

Nice pick-up on the Chaos Bible splash! When the history of the '90s is written, you know there'll be a Chaos chapter. And, for my money, Steven Hughes was and will forever be their premiere artist.

Fair question. When I recently had two acrylic pieces framed and matted, I went to a local frame shop that had a good reputation and had been recommended by a pair of local artists. We don't have a Hobby Lobby in my town but we do have a Michael's and Michaels has a 50% off framing sale every couple of weeks or so. But I couldn't find anyone that had used Michaels -- or, at least, anyone that would admit to using their framing service -- so I paid more for the recommended guys. In hindsight, it probably wasn't necessary. If a framing shop lost or damaged your artwork, or trimmed it without your permission, they'd be liable for their actions.

I prefer inked pages. Progress, though, indicates that penciled work is the future of comic OA. Which leads to another question: How well do penciled pages hold up? How well do they do in a sunny environment? Mostly, do they fade?

For me, the problem is that most pencilled works don't have the visual power of an inked page. There are exceptions to the rule, to be sure, but I just don't like 'em for the most part. On the other hand, I don't want the inked page if it's a lightboxed creation. I want my pencils and inks on the same page. Unfortunately, with the increasing use of Photoshop and lightboxing, this may be a dinosaur's way of thinking....