The Akron Comic Art Collection

[Michael Browning]

(Warning: The Akron Art Collection story is a bit long, but told in full here.)

I posted a nice group of comic art in my CAF gallery this week that includes several nice pieces, including the George Perez/Joe Sinnott cover art to Marvel Two-In-One 62, Mike Zeck Marvel Treasury Edition 27 cover art and a trio of nice Zeck Captain America pages, two Marc Silvestri X-Men-related pages, a nice Ron Lim Silver Surfer page with Captain Marvel and a JLA 184 page featuring the New Gods vs. the Secret Society of Super-Villains, among others.

You can see these pieces here:

http://www.comicartfans.com/galleryroom.asp?gsub=178976

I am also adding a few others to the gallery today.

But, here's the story:

I was supposed to go to the Akron Comicon on Saturday, but I ended up working late Friday night and didn't get home until early in the morning, so Saturday was out. Sunday is my church day, so I had planned NOT to go that day, either. But, I figured I might not have a chance to see John Totleben and many other artists again anytime soon, so I headed out for Akron on Sunday morning, with just a few hundred dollars in my pocket. I mean, heck, who was going to have original art at a show in Akron, Ohio, except for a couple of buddies of mine who were bringing some of their collections.

When I got to the show, I spotted a dealer friend of mine who showed me some pages he'd just bought from a guy who was set up a couple aisles over. He said the guy really didn't have anything left except character pages and that he'd gotten the best of those. But, he said I should go over and see what he had because the guy was selling them cheap.

When I got over there, I looked through his stack of art and picked out 10 pages at $20 each. There were a few decent pages in the stack, but nothing worth much. He said he had a cover or two in his portfolio and that he'd get them out if I was interested. They were covers that were from a role playing game and another that he had done for a church pamphlet that was unpublished, but, they weren't things I was wanting to buy. I asked what else he had in the leather portfolio and he said nothing much.

So, we talked awhile longer, and he said if I was interested, he might have a page or two in the portfolio that I'd be interested in and that I could take a look.

I started flipping through more character pages and xeroxes of art and saw a few Marvel Universe pinups from the binder editions that Keith Pollard had done and he said he wanted to keep those, so I went on through the rest. I saw a few things I wanted to buy, but nothing earth-shattering.

Then, out fell the Mike Zeck Marvel Treasury cover and the JLA 184 page and I asked to buy them. He reluctantly gave me his price and I agreed. Upon first looking at the Zeck cover, I thought it was a Marvel UK cover.

I went through the rest of the portfolio and there were a few nice pages, but only a few that I wanted to buy. Then, he told me to open up the envelope marked "Bloodshot Inventory Story" that I kept passing up because there might be some additional art in there, besides Bloodshot art.

When I looked inside, there were several Mike Zeck Captain America and Defenders pages, five X-Factor pages by different artists and the Marvel Two-In-One cover, a Ron Lim Silver Surfer page and a few others. I asked him if any of it was for sale and he said to make him an offer. So, I did, and he accepted. I then made him an offer on a group of the other pages I'd picked out, leaving him the ones he said he'd like to keep. I am so thankful that he accepted my offer.

Thank God he was willing to accept a check, because I did not come with enough cash in my pocket to pay for a find such as this one!

So, I walked away with several nice pages and two covers and he was happy with the money he'd made on the art.

On a side note, he ended up really happy with me, not only because of the large sum of cash he'd gotten from me, but because I told another friend of mine who was also set up at the show that he had some other nice art. The guy ended up selling the rest of the Zeck pages and some other really nice pieces to my friend, so he sold most of his art and went home happy with a load of cash.

The funny thing is, I went to meet the writers and buy art from the artists who were there. I ended up not getting to see Alan Davis, I missed Tom Orzechowski and Mike W. Barr and never could find Arvell Jones. I got to speak briefly to P. Craig Russell, caught a glimpse of Joe Staton, Alan Grant and Darryl Banks and only got to talk for a few minutes with John Totleben. I got so caught up in buying the art that I completely forgot about what I went to the show for!

-Michael Browning

 

[Twanj]

nice finds! I especially like the Lim & Silvestri stuff.

[Panelfan1]

Great story. Saw the CAF posts. Loved the art. Only very jealous. Ha ha. The crazy part of the story is that you carry checks with you.

[Michael Browning]

Great story. Saw the CAF posts. Loved the art. Only very jealous. Ha ha. The crazy part of the story is that you carry checks with you.

 

You mean there are people out there who DON'T carry checkbooks? Yeah, I know I'm old. I hate not having cash around, but if I got caught without my checkbook, I'd be lost and afraid.

 

[jeBailey]

Great story. Saw the CAF posts. Loved the art. Only very jealous. Ha ha. The crazy part of the story is that you carry checks with you.

 

You mean there are people out there who DON'T carry checkbooks? Yeah, I know I'm old. I hate not having cash around, but if I got caught without my checkbook, I'd be lost and afraid.

 

Michael, I always have a checkbook at conventions. I have needed it a few times.

 

I am also old.

 

John B.

[Drewsky]

Congrats on a great score! It always pays to ask if they have any other pages. I bet your dealer friend was super jelly he didn't dig deeper.

[JadeGiant]

Great haul - congrats!