Natty Bumpo

This is bad… https://scoop.previewsworld.com/Home/4/1/73/1012?articleID=273735

Aparo is an artist I’ve really come to appreciate over the years. I always liked his Aquaman stuff it wasn’t until some recent auctions that I really came to appreciate his work. Just really wonderful draftsmanship with a kind mid century flair to it.

I don’t deny that crime is up in major cities across the U.S., and that violent crime is up too. But there are more and less accurate ways to write and think about risk, and better and worse places to get information.

On a lighter note, I grew up reading Marvel comics in the 1980’s and 90s, so I just assumed there was mugging in every alley every night, and the streets were thick with car chases and purse snatchers. I was very disappointed by the relative calm of Manhattan when I saw it in person.

For anyone seriously trying to decide whether to go to ECCC, keep in mind that Chloe works for the Discovery Institute. You can go to their website and they’ll tell you what they’re about. And that news report is from a Sinclair station. If those are sources you trust than by all means skip the con, but if you’re less inclined to take their word for keep an open mind

I’m always sort of surprised more people don’t see the similarities between these…

Thanks for another great listen, Felix and Dave!

I must admit I was screaming "they're not color guides" throughout the first part of the interview/discussion. Now that I've had some time away I get where the guys are coming from... In the hobby there's B&W line art and then there is the production art (color guides, plates, etc.), and the two simply aren't equivalent.

That having been said, Lynn Varley's Dark Knight color guides are distinct for being the paintings from which the printed images were made, which makes them different from the color guides by Glynis Oliver, which are notes to the printer on what inks to mix and apply to the plates. (The difference is really obvious if you look at traditional color guides, which might be in color but also (I think always) include alpha-numeric notes on the color levels so that the people doing the printing don't need to translate the colors themselves. 

TLDR, I think this is a distinction that matters because what you're buying with the Varley art is not guide to the printer, but rather the final production art. In this respect, they're maybe more comparable to inks on vellum or over blue lines than they are to color guides. And in case anyone is wondering, I do not now, nor have I ever, owned Lynn Varley color art (or whatever we want to call it), or any other color art. I'm just a words-guy and a process nerd, hence this nit-picky post!

On 6/9/2022 at 8:35 PM, grapeape said:

$15,250

Thanks! I can never guess what Mignola’s non Hellboy pieces will go for… this seems pretty strong given that the cover is fairly sparse, but maybe not given the profile of the series? I dunno

Marsh has his fans… I know the Hernandez brothers dig him. I generally like his work, but mostly because it’s a bit odd and mannered. (This isn’t a “so bad it’s good” thing for me so much as “weird enough to be interesting”)

What did the Mignola Cosmic Odyssey cover sell for? 

On 5/20/2022 at 10:47 PM, J.Sid said:

Eh, I don’t think so.

It was a huge deal that DC had “stolen” Frank from Marvel. Frank had turned a character on the verge of cancellation (DD) into a comic that was outselling Spider-Man, and DC had very high expectations.

They’d already began pushing the boundaries with high end printing, coloring and expensive glossy papers with Ronin, but the sales somewhat underwhelmed. To DC’s credit, they had faith in Miller and decided to double down. This was the first ever prestige format comic. They gave Frank tons of creative freedom with an “A” list character. They were absolutely swinging for the fences with this Batman project. (and it worked.)

 

 

You’re totally correct… I was speaking solely to the question  of why the technique was different from cover to cover. It was the first issue of a series and Miller and Varley had a vision of what they wanted (a statement piece) and they succeeded using the tools on hand and on deadline. And while they knew it would sell big, they couldn’t have anticipated its historical impact on the character and the medium, so it’s a minor miracle that all the cover has held up so well over time given the potential volatility of mixed media. 
 

On a personal note I adore this and every cover, and the art in the series as a whole! 

It's helpful to remember that at the time MIller and Varley were doing DKR it was still just a comic that needed doing, on deadline, in a fashion that would get the results they wanted. I'm sure the thought process going into each cover was something like "How do we want this to look in print and what's the easiest way to get there?" So some of the covers were done one way, others another way, and without considering historic legacy, OA resale, or whatever.

This won't change anyone's mind about what counts as a first appearance, but I have a prelim by Art Adams where he's sketched into the scene. Most of the characters aren't fully rendered, so there's no way to know if he had a model to work from at the time of the sketch. The question mark floating above his head is, I think, supposed to indicate the mood when drawing in the facial expressions. An interesting aspect is in a different panel, though, where Adams writes "Cable (or Forge)?" That makes me wonder if the -script didn't include some ambiguity, but who knows. Anyway, enjoy the pics:

All I know is this all seems incredibly sustainable  

I'm looking to buy pages or covers from Bacchus, Alec, or other non From Hell work by Eddie Campbell. Thanks!

I’ve cracked the code... Crypto art (NFTs) is for fans of crypto who are also fans of popular art, so it’s basically a Blockchain manifestation of a Funkopop, where you mash up two things people like (pop art and toys) and sell it back to them as a lesser thing of dubious value‬. 

Just to echo Vodou's point, the one person I know who "really knows" crypto once advised me that the best way to distinguish between someone with genuine expertise in that area and a dabbler/scammer/future mark is that the latter category always thinks they've discovered a new way to avoid paying taxes. That's why the dudes at the top of the crypto pyramid are all sniffing out tax shelters. 

There are people who can spend six figures on art and not worry too much about ROI, because six figures for them is equivalent to three figures for me. 

Seems Mignola had some fun with the title (look at the note where the logo is supposed to appear)