AtlasFan

JOHN CARTER - with art by Jesse Marsh

A Don Heck extravaganza!

Cool ghost train cover!

Strange Sports Stories! Fantastic Infantino gorilla art.

Strange Adventures is not a "2nd String Sci-Fi" title...but I will use this opportunity to show off one of my 110s!

Kirby Rawhide!

My favorite issue of DD - Wally Wood at his Marvel best!

1st Trickster!

Love this cover!

First Elongated Man!

A classic cover from 1951 - T. Rex vs Tanks!

Nice cover - with Ditko and Wally Wood stories!

Some more SECOND STRING DC sci-fi covers.

One of the early Flying Saucer covers.A great cover!

Spectacular Kirby cover!

What we uses to call the "Dark Age" era - after the CCA and before the FF. An All-Kirby humor issue. This answers the question "what if Kirby joined the staff of MAD?"

Wonderful piece! Can you guess which cover this re-imagined cover is based on? - art by Shawn Van Briesen

Sure. The weekend started with a jolt: a forwarded .url from a member of my extended network, pointing to an obscure hobby BB, where a new poster had shared pics of some very recent OA purchases, including a MICRONAUTS cover. I was not a member of that BB, so it took a little back-and-forth-ing between myself, my agent, and the Seller to get directly in touch. Even with as swiftly as I'd moved, it looked like another collector had stepped in and cherry-picked the best pieces out of the pile an hour or so before I made the connection. As quickly as we had moved, this guy had somehow moved quicker; unbelievable! This included pieces which had been seared into the back of my retinas since I was 17 years old. Frustrating in the extreme. But I've been there before. Nothing to be done about it, really; and I resolved to trudge on with the remainder. It left a huge pile of art still, and Seller Guy confirmed it was ALL Micronauts art from the early 80's; he'd found another old Micros collector who had been out of the hobby for years and years, and these pieces had been MIA all that time. The kind of find we ALL dream of here, amiright? Treasure! Long story short, Seller Guy and I got along really well, and it looked likely that I'd be able to buy the remainder in one group. Then, the next day, Seller Guy contacts me to ask: would I be interested and able to buy EVERYTHING, (including the previously cherry-picked unavailable ones) in one go? Oh, G*wd YES! I have been in the comic art hobby long enough to know that generally there aren't very many 2nd chances. But this was the exception. Seller Guy personally drove up over the weekend, and we did the exchange at the Bank in my home town on Tuesday. So, it's already all over, the art is in my hands mere days after the initial email! EIGHTY pages of Micronauts Art. Including Six Covers, One Back Cover, Two Double Splashes, Two Pinups, Four Title Splashes, One full splash, a handful of pages with my favorite villains, Baron Karza and even one with Doctor Doom! And, yes, one of the covers is the only cover Frank Miller drew for MICRONAUTS. No Michael Golden pieces, though. Sadly, on the flip side, First Buyer Guy swiftly got wind of the transaction and my identity, and sent along an email expressing his... (charitably speaking) displeasure and disappointment. Blunts the pleasure somewhat, but I have been on the receiving end of being 30 minutes too late too many times to have regrets. First Buyer Guy is likely a member of this board, so, more I will not say. So, one of the BIGGEST once-in-a-lifetime coups of my collecting career, delivered on a platter due to the eagle-eye'd attention of my network. Wow, that's a great story! Hopefully we will see the art soon here or on CAF.

Fantastic jet vs flying saucer covers....a real champ!

Awesome cover!

In my experience, its a common occurrence that an artist will delay a commission for a "pro gig". Commissions are, in most cases, supplemental income to their profession. I would set up some conditions before any money changes hands -- such as half up front and the other half upon completion, or an option for a full refund if the commission isnt completed by an agreed upon date. My 2 cents!

Another partial washtone cover. Nice!