Finally... A Memorable Gaimen/Kieth/Dringenberg Sandman Page

[cheekyj2112]

As I understand it, Keith destroyed his share of art from the five issues that he did. If true, that makes these all the rarer.

 

Why would he have done that? Do you know the full story??

 

Well I can probably shed some light on this since I was actually there.

 

I was a big Sandman fan from the very start and became friendly with Sam Kieth and Mike Dringenberg despite being about 6,000 miles away. I knew Sam who was incredibly self effacing was unhappy with his whole experience and so much so that he told me he wanted to destroy the art as looking at it reminded him of how unhappy he was. I told him I felt it was a mistake and that a better option might be to send me all the art to hold. That way he never had to look at it and if he should come to regret the decision in the future I could simply return it to him. He agreed to think about it and ultimately told me he thought I was right and had changed his mind.

 

Fast forward a few months and I walk into my local comic shop and I hear a voice saying "Well how the heck am I supposed to find this Joseph??" The person asking the question is Neil Gaiman and the person he's asking is the owner of the shop who points to me and says "He's right there!". Neil's a little startled but hands over a board he's holding to me. On it is a post-it note saying "Karen, Please give to Neil to give to Joseph". Karen Berger was the Sandman editor. No surname nothing, I guess Sam just assumed all Brits knew each other (and that there was only one Joseph in London)

In hindsight its a small miracle it found its way to me safely. When I looked at the page I realised that Sam had at one time asked me what my favourite moments in Sandman were. So after that long winded intro, here's the page in question -

 

http://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryPiece.asp?Piece=121162&GSub=18118

 

 

Sam later said it was a thank you gift of sorts. And in return I had to promise that if I ever wrote a proposal or comic series I had to give him first shot as artist. Since I had no ambitions in that direction it seemed an easy enough condition.

I believe Sam mentioned destroying a couple of pages much later but certainly not the majority. A couple of years ago he told me it was the only page from Sandman he actually liked and the only one he wanted reproduced in the Art of book (which was written but still shelved)

 

 

[CollectingFool]

No surname nothing, I guess Sam just assumed all Brits knew each other (and that there was only one Joseph in London)

 

Sam was smarter than you think. He knew if he put that piece within 1,000 miles of you it wouldn't take long for you to find it. Hell, if it wasn't for the Atlantic ocean you probably would have magically materialized in his kitchen the second he thought of parting with it! Who needs a surname or much less an address or phone number! Surprised Neil even had to mention your name before you popped up.

 

 

 

 

[Pete Marino]

As I understand it, Keith destroyed his share of art from the five issues that he did. If true, that makes these all the rarer.

 

Why would he have done that? Do you know the full story??

 

Well I can probably shed some light on this since I was actually there.

 

I was a big Sandman fan from the very start and became friendly with Sam Kieth and Mike Dringenberg despite being about 6,000 miles away. I knew Sam who was incredibly self effacing was unhappy with his whole experience and so much so that he told me he wanted to destroy the art as looking at it reminded him of how unhappy he was. I told him I felt it was a mistake and that a better option might be to send me all the art to hold. That way he never had to look at it and if he should come to regret the decision in the future I could simply return it to him. He agreed to think about it and ultimately told me he thought I was right and had changed his mind.

 

Fast forward a few months and I walk into my local comic shop and I hear a voice saying "Well how the heck am I supposed to find this Joseph??" The person asking the question is Neil Gaiman and the person he's asking is the owner of the shop who points to me and says "He's right there!". Neil's a little startled but hands over a board he's holding to me. On it is a post-it note saying "Karen, Please give to Neil to give to Joseph". Karen Berger was the Sandman editor. No surname nothing, I guess Sam just assumed all Brits knew each other (and that there was only one Joseph in London)

In hindsight its a small miracle it found its way to me safely. When I looked at the page I realised that Sam had at one time asked me what my favourite moments in Sandman were. So after that long winded intro, here's the page in question -

 

http://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryPiece.asp?Piece=121162&GSub=18118

 

 

Sam later said it was a thank you gift of sorts. And in return I had to promise that if I ever wrote a proposal or comic series I had to give him first shot as artist. Since I had no ambitions in that direction it seemed an easy enough condition.

I believe Sam mentioned destroying a couple of pages much later but certainly not the majority. A couple of years ago he told me it was the only page from Sandman he actually liked and the only one he wanted reproduced in the Art of book (which was written but still shelved)

 

 

That's a great story! You should put it as part of the art's description! I love hearing all the cool ways art make it into people's collections, and the connection that transcends anything that's even on the page.

[ashrael]

Terrific story and great pages (both of you).

[cheekyj2112]

Congrats, Hari. This one is bittersweet. I had struck a trade/cash deal for this page and was in the process of paying for it when the owner decided he liked your offer better. My money was refunded, but it still stings.

 

Really sorry to hear this happened to you. Ironically the seller who shafted you asked for references from the person he bought from late last year (which I gave). Sounds like you should have been asking for references from him! I'd definitely think twice about dealing with him now.

 

[igotnogame]

As I understand it, Keith destroyed his share of art from the five issues that he did. If true, that makes these all the rarer.

 

Why would he have done that? Do you know the full story??

 

Well I can probably shed some light on this since I was actually there.

 

I was a big Sandman fan from the very start and became friendly with Sam Kieth and Mike Dringenberg despite being about 6,000 miles away. I knew Sam who was incredibly self effacing was unhappy with his whole experience and so much so that he told me he wanted to destroy the art as looking at it reminded him of how unhappy he was. I told him I felt it was a mistake and that a better option might be to send me all the art to hold. That way he never had to look at it and if he should come to regret the decision in the future I could simply return it to him. He agreed to think about it and ultimately told me he thought I was right and had changed his mind.

 

Fast forward a few months and I walk into my local comic shop and I hear a voice saying "Well how the heck am I supposed to find this Joseph??" The person asking the question is Neil Gaiman and the person he's asking is the owner of the shop who points to me and says "He's right there!". Neil's a little startled but hands over a board he's holding to me. On it is a post-it note saying "Karen, Please give to Neil to give to Joseph". Karen Berger was the Sandman editor. No surname nothing, I guess Sam just assumed all Brits knew each other (and that there was only one Joseph in London)

In hindsight its a small miracle it found its way to me safely. When I looked at the page I realised that Sam had at one time asked me what my favourite moments in Sandman were. So after that long winded intro, here's the page in question -

 

http://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryPiece.asp?Piece=121162&GSub=18118

 

 

Sam later said it was a thank you gift of sorts. And in return I had to promise that if I ever wrote a proposal or comic series I had to give him first shot as artist. Since I had no ambitions in that direction it seemed an easy enough condition.

I believe Sam mentioned destroying a couple of pages much later but certainly not the majority. A couple of years ago he told me it was the only page from Sandman he actually liked and the only one he wanted reproduced in the Art of book (which was written but still shelved)

 

 

That's a great story! You should put it as part of the art's description! I love hearing all the cool ways art make it into people's collections, and the connection that transcends anything that's even on the page.

 

+1 Love the story. That's too awesome.

 

Regarding Sam destroying his Sandman work - according to Albert Moy (a while back), Sam still has some of it. Didn't say which pages he still had, but with the way his gifts occasionally find their way to Albert's CAF, there's likely some merit to it.

 

Who knows though. Guess we'll have to see if anything else eventually surfaces (like the pages I covet from issue #4 ).

 

Get a bigger scan of that piece Hari, we need to see it in full detail!

 

Take it easy.

[MachoGrande]

Really sorry to hear this happened to you. Ironically the seller who shafted you asked for references from the person he bought from late last year (which I gave). Sounds like you should have been asking for references from him! I'd definitely think twice about dealing with him now.

 

Thanks, Joseph. I'll be steering clear in the future. One day, I'll have a Kieth Sandman page!

 

-Darren

[Claudio]

Is this the guy?

http://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryDetail.asp?GCat=34438

[tth2]

Yep.