telerites

I appreciate the insights. I am really surprised it is not signed unless there is some sig hidden in that mess at the bottom. I assume these were convention sketches so you think it would be signed.

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.

Alls I got is a big wart on my cheek but no hog

I was going to say the same thing. And congrats on the Our Flag run, Gino

I believe @MR SigS had a typo and it should have read Mark Spears (not Sears). The thread I double-posted in the OA forum agreed it is Mark Spears. I can't verify authenticity but I might ping Mark as I found this link of his. Not sure if he will respond but worth a try. https://fineartamerica.com/profiles/mark-spears/shop

Okay that would explain my confusion. I think he inadvertently typed Mark Sears. I haven't bought a new comic since the mid 80s but I know of Bart Sears so I wasn't sure if that was what was meant. I do not know Mark Spears but if he the one I found googling, I am an avid Universal Monsters fan and he evidently has an affinity for them as well based on some of his art. Is this the Mark Spears you believe may have done these sketches? https://fineartamerica.com/profiles/mark-spears/shop

Hi Robert My views and just a couple of examples: Green labels that can be graded as a blue with a lower grade, I believe, have more marketability (value) than geens with page(s) out. Below are a couple of my books. Thrilling 42 is one of mine that if I would have known better, I would have asked to have the defect considered and be slabbed as a universal. Not planning to sell but if I were, I would definitely have regraded as as a blue. Thrilling 6 being incomplete is much less desirable to me (especially when story pages are affected). Tell your friend to send me some of his peyote if he really thinks all greens are perceived as equal. I can use a little escape from reality.

@MR SigS postulated Sears in my cross-post in Comics General. I think he may be right.

Won them in an auction. There was no artist attribution. I just thought they looked cool and the price wasn't steep.

I was able to pick up the sketches - not Byrne but I think @MR SigS may have hit it with Sears

I think that might be it. Do you mean Bart Sears not Mark? Sorry I stopped buying new comics in the mid 80s so I don't know many artists past that but I do know Bart - is there a Mark Sears? Posting more pics below.

I as able to pick up the skethces and looking at them in hand - not Byrne. Here are more pics

I have a stack of books, many early X-Men that I had him sign at a con in the late 70s. He signed them on the first page. I also had sign Giant Size Dracula #5 (his first Marvel work I believe) I need to dig that box and take a look at them.

Thanks Tim. I will post a close-up of the sig tomorrow. I thought it looked like Byrne too. They are really well done sketches.

I posted this in the OA Forum but thought I might also get some help here. I am wondering if anyone can tell me who may have done these sketches. This is the only pic I have right now but can do more and also close-ups if necessary tomorrow. Thanks for any help.

Can anyone tell who may have done these sketches? I only have this one pic right now but tomorrow I can get some close-ups if need be. Thanks for any help.

It was more the customer service response that irked me. I felt an appropriate response would have been as simple --- we review every book and may have missed something, feel free to send it back for a refund; instead of if there was restoration, it would have been noted in the description (and I felt it was adversarial in tone). In most cases, HA's customer service has been very good and could have been just the one rep I talked with having a bad day. It was a $700 book (which again was six or seven years ago) so not a rag). When I was buying via mail order in the mid 70s, it was a carp-shoot in some cases especially on GA books. We weren't as refined grading then either. On the HA book, it is was an easy notice for me and I am not paid to grade books (I know sounds like an Ebay hype phrase). Other HA raw books haven't been too far off but my experience has been that they don't undergrade. With all that said, still better than the old mail order days although the I admit there was some unpacking charm back then - buying GA books sight unseen and unwrapping to see what treasure was inside. I got burned by the infamous Dupdork once though.

Your mileage has been better than mine with them. My first auction win was 2001and have bid consistently since. I have never been impressed with their raw grading. Since I collect a lot of esoteric GA that is more sparse I buy raw books but since that reglossing fiasco five or six years ago I avoid their raw books.

That's awesome.

And one more @Jimmy Linguini

Dan, I have no idea other than his name is Paul as per Dylan's website.

I have been burned on HA raw grades. Conservative, they are not, in my opinion. One raw I bought had the cover glossed which was non-disclosed. When i called they argued with me that they wouldn't have missed that. Their return window used to (not sure if it still is) is very tight. I sent the book to Matt nelson when he was still in Dallas and he agreed and sent it on to HA so I could get my refund. I saw the book in a subsequent auction now with the restoration disclosure.

Geez, I'm behind. When did Matt leave? Did he move to grading with CGC? I hate to say but even when Matt was there, I felt CCS had problems.

I used to joke with my dad why he didn't buy a caseload of Action Comics #1s (he was born in 1929) but alas they were lucky just to have money for food and shelter. Okay so maybe not a caseload, just one copy would have sufficed.

I do not know if he is still selling off his dad's books but that is where he started. I also don't know if his dad has or is financing him. His site does say his dad helps him with his business. https://www.dylanuniversecomics.com/meet-dylan-universe-comics/