ART DAY - Steve Ditko AMAZING SPIDER-MAN splash! 0

[The Voord]

https://www.comicartfans.com/galleryroom.asp?gsub=201798

With special thanks to Mike (AKA, Grapeape) who made this possible.  Thanks again, buddy!

[Bronty]

congrats Terry!

[The Voord]

4 minutes ago, Bronty said:

congrats Terry!

Thanks, Dan!

[grapeape]

43 minutes ago, The Voord said:

https://www.comicartfans.com/galleryroom.asp?gsub=201798

With special thanks to Mike (AKA, Grapeape) who made this possible.  Thanks again, buddy!

You're welcome my friend. You deserve the credit for working hard and smart and getting this done. Congratulations.

[jjonahjameson11]

Flying fish!!!

[The Voord]

Ah, what the heck, here's my full CAF write-up and an image of the Ditko splash . . .

At one time I owned a couple of Ditko interior ASM pages, one from # 27 and the other from # 37 but in moments of sheer madness and/or gross stupidity let them both go. I've spent years regretting their departure from my collection and seeing the way prices for Ditko Spidey pages have skyrocketed in the marketplace over the years always thought my chances of ever owning a replacement page lay somewhere between Bob Hope and No Hope.

Several weeks ago (at this time of writing) one of the posters on CGC Forums, Mike Kenyon (Grapeape), posted a report with accompanying pictures of his visit to the LA Comic Art Show from Sunday November 10, 2019. One of the photographs Mike posted was of Ditko's ASM # 32 splash being offered for sale. The asking price was surprisingly do-able for me. I messaged Mike for further information and he was happy to reveal that Bechara Maalouf was the seller and, despite being tempted into buying it for himself, very kindly offered warm words of encouragement that I should pursue it.

I reached out to Bechara who quickly responded to my enquiry and a purchase was subsequently agreed upon. Once monies had been received, Bechara speedily got the art out to me from the USA to the UK within a two-day delivery window - the quickest time I've ever received an art package from America! Bechara was a true professional to do business with and I'm very appreciative of his high standards as a dealer.

Content-wise, the ASM # 32 splash is undoubtedly at or near the bottom of desirable examples to own, and I'm not kidding myself on that score, but I couldn't care less or be any happier as I think it's a perfect lead-in to the big reveal (on page two of the story) of Doctor Octupus as being the mysterious Master Planner. You get a nice establishing shot of the underwater base with Doc Ock's disembodied words that will very soon give you the big reveal you'd been waiting on for a month. A lot of Ditko's Spidey splashes were symbolic drawings of the story that would only really open-up on page two of that month's issue, but eleven issues from Ditko's run featured splashes that were part of the sequential storytelling process. The story arc is one of the best (if not THE best) from the ASM title, with # 33 featuring that much-loved and well-remembered sequence of Spidey overcoming all odds to free himself from the colossal weight of machinery pinning him down.

To the best of my knowledge, less than twenty Ditko ASM splashes have ever made it to (known) public sale, so I feel absolutely thrilled and priveleged to join that small group of owners. Thanks again, Bechara and Mike!

Oh, and Ditko draws great secret underwater bases and fish . . . 

Edited November 29, 2019 by The Voord

[NelsonAI]

You can't make a splash without fish.  

[The Voord]

11 hours ago, NelsonAI said:

You can't make a splash without fish.  

Ha, ha, ha, I like that!  

To be honest, an Aunt May page would have been fine for my needs . . . I just wanted to have an affordable page of Ditko ASM original art.  What was it Uncle Ben once told Peter Parker:

"With great content, comes a great price tag".

Last two splash pages to appear in auction through Heritage (#s 12 and # 27) sold for $137,425 and $239,000 respectively.  Definitely BSD territory . . . so I guess I swim with the smaller fish 

I've now got myself a nice triptych of Steve Ditko artworks from 1966, so I'm happy:

 

Edited December 2, 2019 by The Voord

[Jeremy_S]

This is fantastic!