I cant believe Neal Adams missing art never surfaced 0

[MAR1979]

On 3/29/2024 at 11:27 AM, Michael Browning said:

Neal claimed so much of his art was stolen that I would be afraid he would have said art was stolen even as he took my cash and sold and handed it to me.

Anything he pencilled that was returned to an inker by his account was stolen. He may have even been correct from a metaphysical perspective ...?

Edited March 29 by MAR1979

[Silver Surfer]

I don't know Adam's at all but judging from the various comments I have read about him lately he comes across as a bit pompous. I'm looking back at the GL#76 cover that was auctioned at Heritage and his blurb about sharing proceeds with the owner, etc (was that really even necessary). Lots of me, me, me. 

Edited April 13 by Silver Surfer

[Will_K]

On 3/29/2024 at 6:58 AM, Rick2you2 said:

I am positive I have seen that Black Canary image with her butt sticking out. On the other hand, he could have simply duplicated an earlier piece.

I've seen it in black and white and in color.

As some have alluded, NA created multiples of certain images.  And even in the images above, there's 2 separate inked and penciled versions of Supergirl.  I recall some of these images way before (and since) this topic was started.

The odds are the drawings were never returned to NA.

Edit: I dug out a color version of the Black Canary drawing.  Colored by the great Cory Adams.  Based on the timestamp it goes back to 2004.

Edited March 30 by Will_K
found image

[Michael Browning]

On 3/29/2024 at 3:02 PM, MAR1979 said:

Anything he pencilled that was returned to an inker by his account was stolen. He may have even been correct from a metaphysical perspective ...?

I thought it was such a terrible thing for Neal to say that he would provide authentication on the covers being auctioned off -- FOR A CUT OF THE SALE -- that I sold off and traded away every single piece of Neal Adams art I ever owned, covers and all.

[BFA1971]

On 3/30/2024 at 12:10 PM, Michael Browning said:

I thought it was such a terrible thing for Neal to say that he would provide authentication on the covers being auctioned off -- FOR A CUT OF THE SALE -- that I sold off and traded away every single piece of Neal Adams art I ever owned, covers and all.

I did not know this. This sounds terrible and sorry to hear this  This happened to you? Were these pieces of art that were taken from him or he sold off and then ended up elsewhere?

Edited March 30 by BFA1971

[Will_K]

In a video prior to the HA auction for the Batman 251 cover, he definitely questioned the authenticity of the art.  But also (as I posted in a different topic)...

 

[BFA1971]

On 3/30/2024 at 2:17 PM, Will_K said:

In a video prior to the HA auction for the Batman 251 cover, he definitely questioned the authenticity of the art.  But also (as I posted in a different topic)...

 

Its nuts I wonder if someone else was making money off of the situation and hence instigating this? Crazy especially as its provenance was proven I imagine. Definitely does not give me a warm fuzzy feeling.

[Sideshow Bob]

On 3/30/2024 at 8:10 AM, Michael Browning said:

I thought it was such a terrible thing for Neal to say that he would provide authentication on the covers being auctioned off -- FOR A CUT OF THE SALE -- that I sold off and traded away every single piece of Neal Adams art I ever owned, covers and all.

This left a bad taste in my mouth too, as effectively it became a shakedown. Eventually, I came to understand it (but not justify it) as Neal's way of extracting from the OA market the money he thought he rightfully deserved. 

[Dr. Balls]

On 3/30/2024 at 6:10 AM, Michael Browning said:

I thought it was such a terrible thing for Neal to say that he would provide authentication on the covers being auctioned off -- FOR A CUT OF THE SALE -- that I sold off and traded away every single piece of Neal Adams art I ever owned, covers and all.

 

On 3/30/2024 at 2:52 PM, Sideshow Bob said:

This left a bad taste in my mouth too, as effectively it became a shakedown. Eventually, I came to understand it (but not justify it) as Neal's way of extracting from the OA market the money he thought he rightfully deserved. 

I'm only really commenting on this, because I've had someone attempt to do something similar to me just two days ago. I really dislike this thought process in people: since Adams couldn't litigate or extract the money he felt he deserved from the people who may or may not have put him in that position, he opted to go after those who don't have the resources, or those who are known (as opposed to the "unknown perpetrators") in an effort to get some semblance of repayment for a slight that is pretty much unrelated to the current party. I feel bad for people who have experienced injustices so deeply that they lash out at unknown fans at the slightest reminder - what a terrible way to have gone through life.

[Michael Browning]

On 3/30/2024 at 9:36 PM, Dr. Balls said:

 

I'm only really commenting on this, because I've had someone attempt to do something similar to me just two days ago. I really dislike this thought process in people: since Adams couldn't litigate or extract the money he felt he deserved from the people who may or may not have put him in that position, he opted to go after those who don't have the resources, or those who are known (as opposed to the "unknown perpetrators") in an effort to get some semblance of repayment for a slight that is pretty much unrelated to the current party. I feel bad for people who have experienced injustices so deeply that they lash out at unknown fans at the slightest reminder - what a terrible way to have gone through life.

Neal wasn't taken advantage of in his career. He was greedy at the end.

[Will_K]

On 3/31/2024 at 9:11 AM, Michael Browning said:

Neal wasn't taken advantage of in his career.

I would say he suffered in terms of original art being stolen.  But that also goes for just about every one of NA's peers and even the ones that preceded him.  NA was just more vocal about it.  On the other hand, I think it's possible that original art he did retain might also have been sold by him.  Who hasn't had seller's remorse ?

I think I've heard that originals were even stolen from the actual Continuity offices.  You can't really blame the victim but...the Continuity offices ??

In the 1990's, didn't NA put out some kind of open letter basically offering his forgiveness of wrongs (theft) done to him re: original art ?? 

Also, I'm not sure what kind of agreements he had with DC or Marvel.  But I've read about him saying that he's signed so, so many issues of [whatever] comic (e.g. GL 76) that the accounting on returned (i.e. unsold) comics couldn't have possibly been legitimate.  I didn't think there were royalties paid at the time, so I'm not sure what it meant to him if the accounting was not correct.

So, whatever the comics industry and comic fans owe (not in the monetary sense) to Neal Adams, I think he felt it should have been translated into some better financial benefits.