[Which artists do you like but are not (yet) represented in your collection, and why not?]

Add me to the Tradd Moore SSB pile. I’m not sure if that’ll ever happen for me, but hope springs eternal, so I’ll pretend it’ll happen someday. And why not? Because :GesturesTowardsGiantPile:...

Art Adams FF work, especially the alternate FF group he drew. I mean, how can you go wrong with a Ghost Rider, Spidey, Wolverine and the Hulk super-group? You can’t. The stars just haven’t yet aligned for me on that front.

Gil Kane. I was late to the game in appreciating his work, so now I have to sort through what becomes available. This one will happen, I think.

Ditko. Ideally, a Spidey page, but I want a flying car, too. Let’s call that aspirational.

McFarlane. Also Spidey. Also aspirational.

[Horror Art! -hey it’s Halloween time]

Gotta support the Halloween threads! Here are a few hellish themed pages. The first is Hellboy in Hell, with a few monsters...and his sister (Dialogue is written in the margins. Now THAT is horror)...

 

It’s not exactly “horror,” per se, but I feel we have to include everyone’s favorite Marvel demon, Mephisto. Here a few pages where he’s tormenting heroes, as he does. 

 

And one last page that I posted in the other Halloween thread, but EC belongs here in the horror thread, so excuse the re-post. Jack Davis Vault of Horror. These zombies have some feelings they have to work out.

[Byrne FF #278 Doctor Doom splash - TRUE LIES]

1 hour ago, malvin said:

Tia Carrerre interested me more in True Lies :P

Malvin

This is some good taste right here! 

And  at the True Lies conversation. 

[Share your HORROR OA favorites]

Halloween is the best. I have one horror page to share, featuring some zombie revenge action. Vault of Horror by Jack Davis. 

[OA stream of consciousness thread]

I’ll say quality over quantity, but then I see something shiny with a Marvel logo, and out comes the CC. I collect comics and toys, too, so It would be tough to choose one collecting path or the other, and actually stick to my guns. Cheap, rare toys are my jam.

Full disclosure, I’m currently balancing my collection and getting rid of lots of lower-end and middle-range stuff to have a more quality and svelte collection (do these Go-bots make me look fat?), and because I’m much more focused on OA these days.

[OA stream of consciousness thread]

1 hour ago, malvin said:

Found an example where it's on clear overlay

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2000AD-NEMESIS-THE-WARLOCK-PAINTED-ORIGINAL-ART-CARL-CRITCHLOW-PROG-724/264879299114?_trkparms=aid%3D111001%26algo%3DREC.SEED%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20180105095853%26meid%3Db9ffd528f98940a88be0fb7528e53d7e%26pid%3D100903%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D20%26mehot%3Dnone%26sd%3D264879299114%26itm%3D264879299114%26pmt%3D0%26noa%3D1%26pg%3D2499334&_trksid=p2499334.c100903.m5276

And Mylar doesn't yellow as far as I know (thats the whole point of putting it in mylar sleeves I thought, it's archival)

Malvin

 

Huh, that looks nice. Thanks for finding and posting the pics. It looks like I’m not the only crazed collector who has mulled the idea. 

Duh, of course it’s archival. My brain fails me sometimes.

[OA stream of consciousness thread]

19 hours ago, malvin said:

The ones that i recall coming like that originally are typically on thin wax type paper (at least in my collection) not mylar/clear.  attached that you can flipped over.  I think my Dan Brereton Black Terror pages were like that.  I just checked my CAF and it looks like I just scanned the OA and didn't bother scanning the overlay.  It's translucent and large art so I didn't want to bother to scan and stitch it.

 

Malvin

 

 

Ah, thanks for the description. I can see where wax paper would be preferable, since the mylar would yellow over time.

[OA stream of consciousness thread]

19 hours ago, exitmusicblue said:

Nope, belongs to the Brothers: http://www.coollinesartwork.com/featured.asp?Piece=301628

I'm not into restorations myself.  Getting a color copy cover for my Marvel Mystery Comics #2 (acquired via trade years back) is the closest I've gotten, though that doesn't count in the eyes of the grading overlords: https://www.myslabbedcomics.com/GalleryPiece.asp?Piece=43655&GSub=289

Heh. I have the exact same type of cover for issue 5. The interiors are white, but someone decided to nix the cover. Great idea, past collector! 

[OA stream of consciousness thread]

28 minutes ago, exitmusicblue said:

Apropos... https://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryPiece.asp?Piece=391585

That is really nice work. Your art? Did you do the restoration? 

[OA stream of consciousness thread]

36 minutes ago, malvin said:

I actually think if you take them off and put them on an overlay professionally there is no impact on value.  I have a few pages that came like that.  It's a pain (e.g. I have to put it in mylar sleeves more gingerly) but I think you get the best of both worlds.  You see more of the art and you still have the dialog.

Malvin

Do they come attached, or just nestled together? I’ve never seen a page where anyone has lifted the dialogue balloons before, even though I’ve read it mentioned.

Even though I’ve been talked into putting down the knives, I should say I’m not overly concerned with value. I bought it cheaply 10-20 years ago, and love the page, so the chances of deciding to sell it are low. I really just wanted to see the entirety of the art unblocked.

[OA stream of consciousness thread]

1 hour ago, Rick2you2 said:

I would put them back where they belong. This is sequential art; it helps tell a story. To me, removing the word balloons is like cutting the nuts off a bull because you like the look of a clean underside. 

Somewhat more controversially I would also let a restorer replace missing book titles, house ads and trade dress which have become lost with age. Some pages are designed with those things in mind to be added later, particularly with covers (not so much with publication notices at the bottom of pages). So, omitting them can affect the look and feel of the art. Of course, they have to be “real”, not like the Brothers shenanigans. I decided not to buy one piece of art several years ago because the artist was concerned that adding the title would violate copyright laws (no, it doesn’t).

They are all still there, I just peered under a few that are raised at the edges. I’m listening, and you all have made solid points. 

It’s sequential art, and should be left as intended to tell the story. That’s a great point. I will leave the page as-is. I was probably going to leave it alone, and I’m not planning on selling—replacing Austin inks would be tough— so I will not cut the nuts off that bull. 😁

Also, on further thought, writers are artists, too (that should have occurred to me), so I will respect their work here. Thanks for the thoughts, all!

[OA stream of consciousness thread]

This isn’t thread worthy, but I have a question. What is the general consensus of having word balloons taken off (and put on an overlay or something like that)? I have a Lim/Austin What If page with Mephisto and Surfer, and I made the mistake of looking behind a couple loose balloons, and found the art continues. Now I’m conflicted, because it’s a lot of great dialogue between them, but the images would be even better without, especially panels 3/4. Opinions? I never “fix” or muck with art, and I always appreciate the art/dialogue as a whole on older art. If I’m a horribly evil lunatic for even asking, I humbly apologize, and will quietly scourge myself off to the side. 

 

[Closed]

Sold

[The Artist’s Process]

The last three posts are really interesting. They mirror a conversation I had about Nick Bradshaw’s process in my FF #15 cover’s comments. I’ve seen the process you three are discussing mentioned a number of times now. Here’s the cover to show the discussion:
 

FF #16 cover

So, Bradshaw will sketch a couple prelim covers to decide on the image and layout he wants. I copied a prelim image from °Ledge’s CAF account of the Spiderman 850 cover, since he was openly part of the conversation, and happy to illuminate (also, it’s a really sweet prelim):

 
 

Once Bradshaw chooses the direction he wants to go (occasionally by vote on his Instagram account, which is very cool), then he scans in the image, and prints out a very faint red-line copy (I’m not sure if that’s the term, but it’s red and not blue, so I’m guessing there). You can see the faint red here:

 

Then, as you all pointed out for other new artists, he uses pencils for final lines, then inks the piece. It doesn’t show on the scans, but I do see pencil here and there. It seems to me that this process creates nicely detailed and really clean final images. 
 

Thanks to everyone for their input in the thread. It’s been really cool to read! 

[Closed]

Sold

[When your eyes are bigger than your wallet...]

9 hours ago, BuraddoRun said:

I'm sure a lot of new collectors do this but, I got a little carried away with wanting to build up my comic art collection. Within the span of a few months, I bought a few pieces on eBay, put things on layaway with 3 different dealers/reps, reached out to a few CAF gallery owners, and contacted a few artists directly. On the bright side, I've learned a lot very quickly (also posting and talking with people here, of course), got some nice pieces to add to my collection, and met some cool people. On the other hand...well yeah, like the title says. The good news is that I'm slowing down now. I paid off 2 out of the 3 layaway pieces, and should have the 3rd paid of well before the agreed due date. Of the people I contacted on CAF, only 1 responded positively, and that happened to be someone that had some unlisted stuff that was high on my want list. We worked out a deal and now I'm just waiting to get those pieces in the mail. As for the artists, I'm waiting while the ones that responded have me on hold for a later date when they're able to sell the art I inquired about. That gives me some time to save up. And now, I'm looking at stuff here and there, but closing the wallet for the most part until I get caught up. LOL. The other good thing is that I've been selling off some things (non art related) that I don't want anymore that's helping me with these purchases.

Anyhow, have any of you done things like this? I'm sure it's common for new collectors, and probably for many seasoned collectors when they feel an itch as well.

It’s so easy to do this. We are collectors, so we get excited about stuff (and then we buy it...sometimes a lot of it). Making your want lists is loads of fun, as is the search for pages, but we all have to be patient. What you want will come available for purchase...eventually. We all have to sell to get that next page we want, so stuff you want inevitability comes loose.

I waited for nearly 5 years for a Buscema Galactus the Devourer page to show back up that I’d sold and instantly regretted. It completely disappeared on me, with no trace of where it went. I looked all the time and, finally, it showed up one day in an auction. Now it’s mine again.

Personally, I have a text thread to myself where I dump page links to keep an eye on. I just went through it a few minutes ago to prune out sold pages. I’m paying off a huge piece I bought, so no new purchases for me for a while, but looking around and making lists scratches the itch a bit. I get how hard it is to wait, though. 😁

[Closed]

Sold 
 

Thanks for looking, and have a great day!

[Artist ID Help - Additional Pics Posted]

12 hours ago, RBerman said:

Good point about Cassaday.  He drew a snub-nosed Beast like the one in the commission above:

Whereas Jimenez and Van Sciver (the other two published X-Men artists whose style reminds me of this) followed Quitely's original dog snout profile. Jimenez:

Van Sciver:

Note also that all three drew Beast with only three fingers and a thumb on each extremity. Except one time that Jimenez forgot:

It seems weird that any of those guys would fail to sign their work, though.

By the way, is it gauche to post examples from the published art like this? I haven't seen others do it much. I don't want to violate forum etiquette.

And that’s a great point about the snouted vs unsnouted Beast iterations. I wonder who drew him, but I lean away from it being the same artist as the other two Storm commissions. I like a good mystery. 

I can’t imagine any of our fellow fans mind seeing more art, but I’m a total newb here, so I couldn’t say for sure if it’s a breach of etiquette. I’d be surprised, though. 

[Artist ID Help - Additional Pics Posted]

3 minutes ago, telerites said:

I just assumed they are since I have no clue of any artist past the mid 80s but you know the Beast is not signed that i can find so it very well could be.  

I certainly am not sure myself, but it just looks a lot like the way Cassaday draws him, imo.
 

I’m also noticing some differences in the drawings, like how the joints and hands are shaded/lined, but the Beast’s hair could be throwing me off on that front. The beast artist looks like they might do the multiple lines next to each other sort of shading like Romita did, while the Storm looks like a different style of contour shading. I could just be looking too hard for differences, tho.

[Artist ID Help - Additional Pics Posted]

Are all three Spears’ work? That Beast looks a bit like John Cassaday art to me. 

[blue lines and their value]

13 hours ago, SquareChaos said:

It makes great sense. Though I now have at least one inked page in my collection where I'm uncertain if a pencils only version is floating around. Hardly a serious problem, but I'd of course prefer to have both!

I have the opposite with one page of mine. Heh. Seems like that’s going around.

Rick2you2’s idea upthread is a good one, if someone could pull it off. It would be nice to have an idea of when there are inks and pencils, and have a shot at getting both. 

[blue lines and their value]

14 minutes ago, Blastaar said:

I just paid $500 of a splash that was inked over blue line scans. It killed me but the splash was fantastic. Will the market for blue line increase...is there value in collecting them if the pencils exist? I bought this recently and if there are pencils only out there I assume it is full of x's and not near as great as this page...so this would be the preferred page of the two that exist I imagine?

I found this online. 
 

Yes to the Xs. This one doesn’t have too many, but I’d imagine the pencils to your page would have quite a few more with all the non-character background with foliage. You got the superior page, imo. And it’s an awesome one. 

Will modern blueline work gain in value, and increase in popularity? That’s a tough question. I can see how it would, as digital work increases, and it gets harder to buy new pencil and ink pages.

[Closed]

 

 

 

 

 

[The Artist’s Process]

17 hours ago, RBerman said:

Here's a Legion Threeboot page that puzzles me a little bit as to its process. First, Barry Kitson's "pencils" are really more of an ink layout:

Here are Mick Gray's finished inks. I don't see printed blue lines underneath, so I'm not sure exactly how he was working off of Kitson's layout.

Then the other puzzler is this Kitson version, which is on onionskin at the final comic book size. How was it produced (freehand or lightboxed), and what is its purpose? To see how the blacks look at the final size?

That is puzzling. My guess would be lightbox, unless you see whiteout in panel two. Otherwise, what happened to the blackened gap between the teeth as the smile was changed? That could explain how all three were made. Cool pages, too.

[Can you guess why you probably shouldn't buy this "Jack Kirby" piece?]

10 hours ago, grapeape said:

Authentic guaranteed as is wristwatch in the manner of Rolex.

It’s got Rolex guts.