Comic Art Preservation 0

[Skizz]

7 hours ago, Taylor G said:

I came across this interesting podcast about the Manx Loaghtan sheep, that people will mainly know from their appearance on rock album covers. 

What is interesting about these sheep is that, although they've been around since the Bronze Age, they've come close to extinction several times, edged out by economically more viable breeds. 

What saved them from going out, was that every time they were down to just a few sheep, some eccentric gave the surviving sheep shelter on his farm, and when he died, another eccentric came along and took over their stewardship.  Now they are thriving as the inhabitants of the Isle of Man take pride in this very distinctive breed of sheep.   They survive because of the efforts of literally a handful of farmers who saw more than just economic prospects.

What has this got to do with conserving comic art?  Left as an exercise to the reader.

 

I’m ready to do my part in conserving comic art by becoming an eccentric shepherd-farmer. 

[Taylor G]

For anyone that's interested in preservation, here is a fascinating documentary about why we still have some of Georges Méliès' films in pristine condition:

I knew that the best preserved of his films were found in the Library of Congress, but the story of how they got there is fascinating, and should resonate with anyone trying to hunt down vintage artwork.  

[Taylor G]

A foundation has been established to preserve comic art for future generations:

Quote

 

In addition to curating private collections, the Foundation has many other activities planned that include: Working with Universities and their Special Collection departments, domestic & international mobile museums, school lectures, fundraising auctions, comic industry scholarships, convention programming, original art preservation and events to raise awareness and funds.

The Foundation already has it’s [sic] first large donation and is working with the special collections division at the famed University of Pennsylvania to secure, catalog and house these prized possessions.

In addition, their first live fundraising event is coming on March 25, 2022: a charity film screening with legendary creator Frank Miller in Arizona. This will serve as the first ever US screening of the new documentary film Frank Miller: American Genius.

 

[BCarter27]

Apologies that I'm late to the party, but I stumbled on this on the Lucas Museum Instagram-

https://www.instagram.com/lucasmuseum/p/CzxC7_3MjYY/

https://attractionsmagazine.com/lucas-museum-reveals-new-details-about-its-building-and-collection/

 

Edited August 3 by BCarter27

[tth2]

Should've known that they'd win the first Flash Gordon. 

[MAY1979]

On 8/2/2024 at 10:30 PM, BCarter27 said:

Apologies that I'm late to the party, but I stumbled on this on the Lucas Museum Instagram-

https://www.instagram.com/lucasmuseum/p/CzxC7_3MjYY/

https://attractionsmagazine.com/lucas-museum-reveals-new-details-about-its-building-and-collection/

 

 

Love the phrasing in the 1st panel! Especially the final sentence.

[steve9999]

I bet the Lucas Museum went head-to-head with Guillermo del Toro for that Wightson Frankenstein!

[BCarter27]

On 8/8/2024 at 1:25 PM, steve9999 said:

I bet the Lucas Museum went head-to-head with Guillermo del Toro for that Wightson Frankenstein!

iirc, it was a one and done bid for the Frankie cover at Profiles-

https://comicarttracker.com/auctions/top-prices

 

[Carlo M]

The topic is super fascinating.  However, the thread  has focused on preserving full books, which at this stage has become pretty impossible barring a few rare cases.

I wonder instead if there should be a sort of selection of "pedigree" pieces, truly representatives of the comic book art form, potentially selected by a Committee of reputed experts.  If you are the owner of one of these pieces, then you could sort of voluntarily identify yourself and offer a high resolution scan.  The Committe would then  be responsible for maintaining the catalogue.  I am talking real pedigree pieces, like SS 4 cover level (that is my standard, the Committee could decide).  Otherwise you end up with a catalogue of thousands of pieces and that sort of defeats the purpose.

Too elitist?

Carlo

[tth2]

On 8/9/2024 at 6:31 AM, Carlo M said:

Too elitist?

Is there such a thing?

[Taylor G]

On 8/8/2024 at 6:31 PM, Carlo M said:

I wonder instead if there should be a sort of selection of "pedigree" pieces, truly representatives of the comic book art form, potentially selected by a Committee of reputed experts.

One of the pioneers in film preservation has been Martin Scorsese, and what you describe is the antithesis of what he advocates for film preservation.  It's not just a matter of who are the "elite" who get to tell everyone else what is the best art worth preserving, but that these judgements change over time.  Citizen Kane was passed over for most of the major awards at the time (It got the Oscar for best screenplay), did poorly at the box office, and was almost destroyed entirely, only to be evaluated later by AFI and S&S as the best film ever made.  This title was later supplanted by Vertigo, a genre film that was panned by critics when it first came out (and was unavailable for public viewing for many years).  Val Lewton films were dismissed as B films in their day, yet now are considered important works with a huge influence on film makers.  Silent films were dismissed for decades as poorly made, yet now are recognized as the birth of a distinctive new art form with amazing innovation in visual techniques that we still use today.  Quentin Tarantino is a big fan of 70s exploitation films.  And so on.

Ultimately the future of preserving this art may be in the form of high-res scans, say something like the Wayback Machine for comic art (CAF's 72dpi JPEG scans are not what we're talking about).  Scott Dunbier's private archive of scans that he has been collecting for his artist editions are an example of this  Even there, sometimes he has gone back for improved scans for a reprinting of an AE.  For some of his artist editions, he was unable to find a single complete story among his vast collection of scans, the art sold long ago for beer money.  Where he still has complete stories, it is usually because someone has kept the art together (Simonson, Mazzucchelli with his scans, certain Kirby and EC collectors etc). It's a sad commentary on the hobby.