Best of 2013 - It Begins

[Terry Doyle]

Kev Walker (MTG; Takenuma Bleeder):

 

http://www.comicartfans.com/LowryPiece.asp?Piece=6772&GSub=1670

 

Richard Sala (Lamb, the Toymaker):

 

http://www.comicartfans.com/LowryPiece.asp?Piece=6757&GSub=1670

 

Fortunino Matania (Men's Coffee Bar, Wellington Barracks):

 

http://www.comicartfans.com/LowryPiece.asp?Piece=6761&GSub=1670

 

Wayne England (Pendrake; Gorgamour):

 

http://www.comicartfans.com/LowryPiece.asp?Piece=6770&GSub=1670

 

Kev Walker (MTG; Sandsower):

 

http://www.comicartfans.com/LowryPiece.asp?Piece=6767&GSub=1670

 

[bocaratondefense]

It was tough narrowing it down to five - I had numerous pieces that would probably have made my list in any other year (especially the McFarlane ASM 299 and Moore Walking Dead 19 covers). In the end, I figured I couldn't go far wrong with any of these, so here are my five - enjoy!

 

Dave Stevens - Alien Worlds #2 cover

Gil Kane & Tom Palmer - Tomb of Dracula #10 cover

John Romita, Mike Esposito & Tony Mortellaro - Amazing Spider-Man #125 cover

John Byrne & Terry Austin - Uncanny X-Men #109, p. 17

George Herriman - Krazy Kat Sunday (4/30/1916)

 

Phenomenal year, Gene! Really, you hit it out of the park this year. Congratulations on a nice sampling of the greats!

 

Indeed! We get three votes for each category? Without seeing the other entries, I may have already exhausted all three of my votes for "Best Cover" here.

 

 

 

 

 

[Brian Peck]

Its been another great year in original art for me from adding artists I have always loved but never owned to checking off pieces on my bucketlist to adding a number of great pieces from one of my favorite artists Eduardo Barreto. Most years I say its tough to pick the top 5 but this year it was easier. These 5 just bubbled to the top, cream of the crop but there were still alot of great art I picked up in 2013

 

My Top 5 for 2013:

Conan Portfolio - Plate 4 - John Buscema (Pinup)

I remember seeing this when the portfolio was released back in the 80s. One of John's best pieces which he penciled and inked.

http://www.comicartfans.com/LowryPiece.asp?Piece=6603&GSub=27

 

 

AXA - The Byte - Enric Romero (Commission)

A dream project, Enric took my ideas and brought them to life surpassing my expectations. All 5 strips hang framed in my office at work.

http://www.comicartfans.com/LowryPiece.asp?Piece=6602&GSub=27

 

 

All-New X-Men #5 - Stuart Immonen and Wade Von Grawbadger (Cover)

Love Stuart's design, great composition and Wade's inks really adds to the atmosphere. Perfect cover for my collection.

http://www.comicartfans.com/LowryPiece.asp?Piece=6601&GSub=27

 

 

Sub-Mariner #50 page 14 - Bill Everett (Interior page)

I have been wanting a nice example of Bill's work featuring his most famous creation.

http://www.comicartfans.com/LowryPiece.asp?Piece=6600&GSub=27

 

 

 

Brave and the Bold #187 - Jim Aparo (Cover)

Loved Jim's Batman along with Brave and the Bold with the offbeat team-ups on like Creeper, Plastic Man, Demon. A fine example of his work on the series.

http://www.comicartfans.com/LowryPiece.asp?Piece=6599&GSub=27

 

Changed the links as the cafurls were not working

[Brian Peck]

Best of 2012 results

I was asked about Best of 2012 results but once Best of 2013 started the results for last year disappeared. Did anyone have the results from last year? I didn't see any post on the comic art-l with the results.

[Speedy-D]

Oo, are we listing what we put up? Sweet!

Except I forgot mine already...

I figured it out!

 

Cover: JLA: Scary Monsters #4 Cover - Arthur Adams

 

Splash: Son Of Ambush Bug #5, pg. 30 - Keith Giffen

 

Interior Page: insufficiently_thoughtful_persons Abroad (The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers) #1, pg. 27 - Gilbert Shelton

 

Convention Sketch: Moon Knight - Bill Sienkiewicz & Joe Rubinstein

 

Unpublished Thingy: Batman - Dustin Nguyen

 

 

[Weird Paper]

Overall, 2013 was a pretty decent art year for me. I always like the reset of the new year, and with it the mystery of what's going to come along in the next 12 months; so it's fun to look back at the year's folder and imagine not knowing that I would find these pieces in the coming year. I guess it's part of being a geek.

 

Out of the 25 pieces I picked up in 2013, I think 11 could make my "Best of" list in a more austere year, but I take my shot with these five:

 

Splash -- Scott Hampton -- Silverheels (#3?) painted double-page splash. I loved the 1980s painted artwork by guys like Bill Sienkiewicz, Art Suydam and Scott Hampton. With the latter two, I never had any luck finding their originals back then. I guess the internets are good for something. For those who claim there's nothing good on Ebay any more, I have to disagree. I'd question the seller's logic on ending this on Christmas Eve -- I didn't even know I'd won it until the following afternoon. But hey, Merry Christmas to me. I couldn't have been happier with this one, and I knew, no matter what else I scored during the year, this would be one of my top five.

http://www.comicartfans.com/LowryPiece.asp?Piece=6725&GSub=1516

 

Interior Page -- Art Suydam. One of two Mudwogs pages I picked up from Heritage in February. I love them both, but I probably should just pick one, so it's this one. Stunning colors that just jump off the page. The far right panel of the center tier was reprinted in Suydam's art book, "Visions." The very bottom right panel is, to me, very reminiscent of Milo Manara. Just a beautiful, weird, funny page. According to "Visions," the story was never finished, but Art told me this past September that he was working on a collected volume of Mudwogs, so there is hope!

http://www.comicartfans.com/LowryPiece.asp?Piece=6726&GSub=1516

 

Interior Page -- Rags Morales and Michael Bair -- Identify Crisis #1, page 20. The death of Sue Dibny. Right there in black and white, the pivotal moment of one of my favorite comic stories of the modern era. Comics had been growing up for a while, but I still saw this as a watershed moment. We witnessed our heroes with feet of clay, wrestling with moral and ethical gray areas, and coping with tragedy. It would have been easy and understandable for Morales and Bair to show Elongated Man's terrified response to Sue's call as stretched out and distorted. But they reined that in, and instead we got a very mortal, but no less intense, expression. Stunning artwork – crisp and clean – it reminds me a little bit of Bolland's work on Killing Joke, except that I didn't have to sell my car to buy it.

http://www.comicartfans.com/LowryPiece.asp?Piece=6728&GSub=1516

 

Interior Page -- Nestor Redondo -- Rima the Jungle Girl #3, page 12 (origin page). I'd been wanting something by Redondo for a long time, and was fortunate to get two Rima pages this year. The other one, with its half-splashy full figure shot of Rima has more views, but I actually like this one better. It doesn't hurt that it's pretty much an origin page. Redondo remains under-rated and under-appreciated, but just look at the beautiful brushwork on this page.

http://www.comicartfans.com/LowryPiece.asp?Piece=6723&GSub=1516

 

…and then there's this… Cover -- Al Avison (with possible assists from Jerry Robinson and Alex Schomburg) -- Green Hornet #15 This was certainly not on my want list at the beginning of the year. I wasn't even familiar with this cover. But when I saw it in the All Star auction last summer… I thought, "did I actually have a shot at this?" So I put in a max bid and got it for a little less than that. It wasn't because I was dying to have an Al Avison piece in my collection (no disrespect intended), and it wasn't because I really had to have a cover featuring my 72nd favorite super hero. It was because this particular WW2 vintage cover had a fanged, hooded Nazi lowering a buxom damsel-in-distress into a cargo hold full of ghouls! How many of those are going to come around in my lifetime?

http://www.comicartfans.com/LowryPiece.asp?Piece=6730&GSub=1516

 

There are other pieces I reluctantly dismissed in selecting the five that, like I wrote above, might have made the cut in another year. These are those, and I'm thrilled to have all of them:

 

Alex Nino (apparently channelling Gahan Wilson) - Unpublished Omega Men #16 Cover

http://www.comicartfans.com/gallerypiece.asp?piece=1047243

 

Nestor Redondo - Another pretty good Rima page

http://www.comicartfans.com/gallerypiece.asp?piece=1047239

 

Arthur Suydam - Another beautiful, bright, colorful Mudwogs painted page. (NSFW)

http://www.comicartfans.com/gallerypiece.asp?piece=990157

 

An RBCC cover by the late, great Don Newton

http://www.comicartfans.com/gallerypiece.asp?piece=1047240

 

A nice golden age GGA splash page from Rangers Comics by Howard Larsen

http://www.comicartfans.com/gallerypiece.asp?piece=1075291

 

And lastly, a silver age splash from one of the goofiest comics every, Sockamagee!

http://www.comicartfans.com/gallerypiece.asp?piece=1074598

 

As ever, this hobby continues to be a lot of fun. There's always something new around the corner! Here's to 2014! Good luck, everyone.

 

Roger

 

 

 

 

 

[comicsnyc22]

I've got two pieces I figured were worth including and they're both below.

 

I was taking a look through the Lowry page, and there were some MAJOR pieces acquired in 2013. Some of you guys have some museum-ready collections. Thanks for sharing!

 

 

For Unpublished (other):

The first is my Pia Guerra Y: The Last Man / Breakfast Club remix. It's one of my favorite piece in my collection, and Pia just knocked this out the part.

 

 

 

Published Interior panel page:

Simple page, but I had to own something from issue #1 of The Walking Dead. This was a late add in 2013, but I cannot thank Tony & Kara enough for letting me own a piece of history.

 

 

ComicsNYC's Lowry

[mister_not_so_nice]

In addition to the Jim Rugg Piece above, my BEST OF 2013 includes:

 

Kelley Jones ALIENS panel page

 

GLORY 34 CBLDF exclusive cover

 

QUARTER MOON 01 wrap-around cover

 

PREACHER Saint Of Killers splash page

 

Enjoy,

 

 

 

 

 

[alxjhnsn]

Okay, I had a very nice year from my POV. Dominated by commissions as usual. So, everything is in "Unpublished - Other."

 

Perhaps my favorite of the year - Mutts by Patrick McDonnell with colors by Laura Martin. Folks this piece is just great and the money went to fight Parkinson's in honor of Richard Thompson, the creator of Cul De Sac.

 

 

 

Next up? A battle - To the Loser Pants. Frank Brunner brings the battle between Marvel and Disney to life as Donald Duck fights Howard the duck with the loser having to wear pants. Daffy tries to keep order, but ... You really have to see this to understand how beautiful it really is. Frank can draw!

 

 

How does one top the battle of the last century? Well, how about a contest that hasn't happened yet? Set on a space volleyball court, a raging competion between the Legion of Super-Heroes and the Fatal Five by Agnes Garbowska is my next entry. You may not have seen much of Agnes' work, but you really should look for it. Most recently she's released a "Little Vampy" book along with a bunch of MLP covers.

 

 

Of course, all this fighting can lead to the loss of life as young Harry Potter learned too soon. Colleen Doran rendered my daughter's favorite Harry Potter scene in unbelieveable pencil. The ghosts are incredible as Harry visits his dead before his final confrontation with He Who Must Not Be Named.

 

 

My final posting is by George Perez and it features two of his most famous creations - Raven and Trigon. It's the mark of a great character (and song) that multiple artists can use it over and over in multiple ways. Raven and Trigon meet that requirement for sure.

 

 

Though these are my nominees, I have several other pieces that I was very happy to receive. Here are the thumbnails, click and read about them.

 

 

and though it's not art, Jim Steranko's autograph - Wow!

[HokieGAK]

All right... my entries. I think this is my best year yet based on the quality of my pieces. Two out of these five I probably wouldn't trade straight up for any other piece currently on CAF, and if that's not a successful year, I don't know what is. Without further ado...

 

Published Cover: Y: The Last Man #24 by Massimo Carnevale

 

Published Cover: Y: The Last Man #57 by Massimo Carnevale

 

Published Cover: Saga Issue 7, Ghost Variant Cover by Paul Pope

 

Published Splash Page: Cerebus Issue 31, Page 20 by Dave Sim

 

Published Splash Page: Cerebus Issue 50, Page 1 by Dave Sim

[Viking001]

Here are my 5 favourite acquisitions of 2013. I actually bought a LOT more art in 2013 than I did in the previous few years, so there was a lot more pieces to choose from this year. A few of them were easy choices, but the 5th spot took a while to decide on. Anyway, here they are:

 

The CAF/Comicart-l Best of 2013 is up and running, and I've posted my 5 favourite additions to my collection this year in the Lowry gallery:

 

Army of Darkness vs Hack/Slash #2 cover painting by Stefano Caselli. My grail acquisition of the year:

http://www.comicartfans.com/LowryPiece.asp?Piece=6611&GSub=442

 

Hela B&W 3/4 body watercolor convention sketch by Adi Granov:

http://www.comicartfans.com/LowryPiece.asp?Piece=6607&GSub=442

 

Hela commission by Tony Daniel:

http://www.comicartfans.com/LowryPiece.asp?Piece=6606&GSub=442

 

Valkyrie & the Lady Sif in "The Contest" by Valerio Schiti:

http://www.comicartfans.com/LowryPiece.asp?Piece=6608&GSub=442

 

Valkyrie, Chooser of the Slain by Doug Wheatley:

http://www.comicartfans.com/LowryPiece.asp?Piece=6609&GSub=442

 

Thanks for looking!

[alxjhnsn]

It was tough narrowing it down to five ... In the end, I figured I couldn't go far wrong with any of these, so here are my five - enjoy!

 

Dave Stevens - Alien Worlds #2 cover

If you never buy another piece in your life, you'll have one of the best looking covers ever - just my opinion of course.

[Get2TheChoppa]

My Lowry picks for Best of 2013. You can see some of my choices in my signature line.

 

I don't have the hardware that many of the other collectors do, but I think I did OK for my first year of joining the addiction. I appreciate the views and hope you enjoy some of these as much as I do.

[Raymondb0]

I focused a bit this year and went for a few pieces that I really wanted. Each piece has some sentimental value which makes it that much better!!!

 

1. I dreamed of getting a killer Adam Hughes piece and was very lucky indeed.

 

Overstreet Price Guide #42 Cover - Catwoman and Batman

http://www.comicartfans.com/gallerypiece.asp?piece=1003718

 

 

2. I always thought Magik was great and when Tim mentioned that he had this cover I had to go for it. Just an amazing piece and thanks again Tim for letting me add this to my collection!

 

Uncanny X-Men #4 Cover

http://www.comicartfans.com/gallerypiece.asp?piece=986409

 

3. How can you be an X-Men fan and not love the work of Byrne/Austin. I was very lucky this year to get an epic splash. Thanks again to Simon and Joe and everyone else that was part of the process.

 

Uncanny X-Men #114 Page 31 Splash - Savage Land

http://www.comicartfans.com/gallerypiece.asp?piece=993318

 

4. I brought my girls to NYCC this year and they both got the bug. We all loved the work of J. Scott Campbell and acquired TinkerBell. Thanks Scott and Cory!!

 

TinkerBell from FairyTale Fantasies 2014 - Pin Up

http://www.comicartfans.com/gallerypiece.asp?piece=1066293

 

5. When you think of Copic pieces EBAS comes top of mind. I was lucky to get a great one this year.

 

EBAS- MJ and Venom - Unpublished Other

http://www.comicartfans.com/gallerypiece.asp?piece=993001

 

Wishing everyone a great 2014!!!

 

Ray

[malvin]

First of all, thanks to Brian and Bill for organizing this.

 

For the last few years, each year seem to be better than the last (artwise) and 2013 was no different. I can't believe the pieces I was able to acquire and it was definitely hard to come up with a top 5, but here they are:

 

1. Adam Hughes WildCATS/X-men action page - http://cafurl.com?i=20771

 

2. Berkeley Breathed Bloom County Daily with Opus, Bill & Milo - http://cafurl.com?i=20772

 

3. Bill Sienkiewicz Scarlett of GI Joe Con Sketch - http://cafurl.com?i=20773

 

4. Gary Frank Batman vs Poison Ivy Pinup - http://cafurl.com?i=20774

 

5. Todd McFarlane Batman Year 2 page - http://cafurl.com?i=20775

 

This year was so good, even the runner ups were hard to pick! but here they are:

 

1. Alan Davis JLA piece with Batman - http://cafurl.com?i=20303

2. Dave Johnson Superman Red Son Sketch - http://cafurl.com?i=20777

3. Mike Zeck Punisher Captain America Sketch - http://cafurl.com?i=20778

4. Paul Smith X-men/Alpha Flight DPS - http://cafurl.com?i=19942

5. Ron Lim Infinity Gauntlet Page - http://cafurl.com?i=20212

6. Simon Bisley 1st Lobo Miniseries issue 1 page 1 splash - http://cafurl.com?i=19761

 

Let's hope we all have a great 2014!

 

Malvin

 

[malvin]

I focused a bit this year and went for a few pieces that I really wanted. Each piece has some sentimental value which makes it that much better!!!

 

1. I dreamed of getting a killer Adam Hughes piece and was very lucky indeed.

 

Overstreet Price Guide #42 Cover - Catwoman and Batman

http://www.comicartfans.com/gallerypiece.asp?piece=1003718

 

 

2. I always thought Magik was great and when Tim mentioned that he had this cover I had to go for it. Just an amazing piece and thanks again Tim for letting me add this to my collection!

 

Uncanny X-Men #4 Cover

http://www.comicartfans.com/gallerypiece.asp?piece=986409

 

3. How can you be an X-Men fan and not love the work of Byrne/Austin. I was very lucky this year to get an epic splash. Thanks again to Simon and Joe and everyone else that was part of the process.

 

Uncanny X-Men #114 Page 31 Splash - Savage Land

http://www.comicartfans.com/gallerypiece.asp?piece=993318

 

4. I brought my girls to NYCC this year and they both got the bug. We all loved the work of J. Scott Campbell and acquired TinkerBell. Thanks Scott and Cory!!

 

TinkerBell from FairyTale Fantasies 2014 - Pin Up

http://www.comicartfans.com/gallerypiece.asp?piece=1066293

 

5. When you think of Copic pieces EBAS comes top of mind. I was lucky to get a great one this year.

 

EBAS- MJ and Venom - Unpublished Other

http://www.comicartfans.com/gallerypiece.asp?piece=993001

 

Wishing everyone a great 2014!!!

 

Ray

 

Hey Ray,

 

For the Lowry you have to re-upload your pieces to the Lowry gallery, check Brian's instructions. It's a different gallery, not just your CAF pieces

 

Malvin

[ashrael]

I first entry into the Lowry:

_____________________________________________

 

What If #10 page 31 - Jane Foster Found the Hammer of Thor - After reading What If #10, I knew that I had to have a page of Jane Foster as Thor (aka Thordis). I fell in love with character and really liked how the story was similar to Thor's origin, but with interesting differences. I contacted the penciller and inker, and Rick Hoberg still had some pages 35 years later! This is the best of the Thordis panel pages and I was very happy to purchase it from Rick. (If anyone knows where the splash pages are, please let me know.) I love Giant-Man's reaction to Thordis, since it is usually Wasp dreamily checking out the guys.

 

 

Marvel Zombies #1 page 12 - Wasp takes a bite out of Magneto, as Giant Man, Wolverine, Thor, Daredevil, Power Man and Angel prepare to pounce! For the 1st issue of the 1st series.

 

 

Green Lantern: Rebirth #3 page 5 - In Geoff Johns' mini series that brought back Hal Jordan, Kyle Raynor defends protects himself as Kilowog and the Guardian, Ganthet, battle. Meanwhile, John Stewart takes on the entire Justice League (and is doing well) while Guy Gardner makes his way to the action.

 

 

Invincible 48 page 18 - Doc Seismic vs. Wolf-Man, Zechariah, Atom Eve and Invincible

 

 

Captain America #33 page 14 - The page feels alive with Winter Solider flying across the page and putting Iron Man in danger as he rips off his mask.

 

[Swartzisgod]

2013 marked the year I stopped collecting comics (other than reading) and really started collecting art. Here are my top five acquisitions from the past year.

 

Jim Lee Uncanny X-Men #277 Pgs 22-24

X-MEN 277 PGS 22-24

 

Javier Saltares Ghost Rider #1 cover

Ghost Rider 1

 

Norm Breyfogle Detective Comics #627 cover painting

Detective Comics #627

 

Jim Lee Uncanny X-men #257 Pg 29

X-Men 257 Pg 29

 

Ross Andru Giant-Size Spider-Man #4 Pg 30 3rd appearance of The Punisher

Giant Size Spider-Man 4 Pg 30

 

[Lago32]

Thanks again to Brian and Bill!

 

In 2013 I actually turned over my entire collection and essentially started over trying to focus on the best representative pieces I could find from a more focused group of my very favourite artists (Neal Adams, John Byrne, Frank Miller, George Perez, BWS, Bernie Wrightson, amongst a few others) as opposed to frankly trying to keep up with the Joneses. I am exceptionally happy with how things turned out as I have managed to cross off almost all of the must-haves on my art collecting checklist (in case you are wondering, I still need A-level Miller DD, Frazetta Comet daily, Neal Adams X-men, Byrne Man of Steel and Iron Fist, and Mignola Hellboy).

 

Here is the link to my Lowry for 2013:

http://www.comicartfans.com/MyLowry.asp?GSub=478

 

The pieces included are:

 

X-men #133 page - BYRNE and AUSTIN Wolverine v Hellfire Club

 

Batman #251 page - NEAL ADAMS Classic Joker Issue

 

Swamp Thing #5 page - BERNIE WRIGHTSON 1st Regeneration

 

Green Lantern #87 splash page - NEAL ADAMS Green Arrow pencils

 

Weapon X Chapter 8 splash page - BARRY WINDSOR-SMITH 1st Lab-Wired Wolvie

 

As always, thanks for looking! Happy collecting

 

 

 

 

[buttock]

Thanks again to Brian and Bill!

 

In 2013 I actually turned over my entire collection and essentially started over trying to focus on the best representative pieces I could find from a more focused group of my very favourite artists (Neal Adams, John Byrne, Frank Miller, George Perez, BWS, Bernie Wrightson, amongst a few others) as opposed to frankly trying to keep up with the Joneses. I am exceptionally happy with how things turned out as I have managed to cross off almost all of the must-haves on my art collecting checklist (in case you are wondering, I still need A-level Miller DD, Frazetta Comet daily, Neal Adams X-men, Byrne Man of Steel and Iron Fist, and Mignola Hellboy).

 

Here is the link to my Lowry for 2013:

http://www.comicartfans.com/MyLowry.asp?GSub=478

 

The pieces included are:

 

X-men #133 page - BYRNE and AUSTIN Wolverine v Hellfire Club

 

Batman #251 page - NEAL ADAMS Classic Joker Issue

 

Swamp Thing #5 page - BERNIE WRIGHTSON 1st Regeneration

 

Green Lantern #87 splash page - NEAL ADAMS Green Arrow pencils

 

Weapon X Chapter 8 splash page - BARRY WINDSOR-SMITH 1st Lab-Wired Wolvie

 

As always, thanks for looking! Happy collecting

 

 

 

 

That ST5 page is