Greatest OA in existence 0

[adamstrange]

I like these

[pemart1966]

6 hours ago, Chicago Boy said:

I believe the Cover to Action 15 is the oldest piece of SUpes OA

There's older stuff than that out there.  Back in 1994, Sotheby's offered panels that depicted Superman's origin.  The sequence was unpublished but looked as if it were designed to be the first daily.  One panel looks very similar to one in Action #1.

The auction catalogue story is a convoluted one...

[pemart1966]

10 hours ago, gumbydarnit said:

Anyone knows what’s the oldest Detective (Batman) or Action Ccmics (Superman) known to exist?

There is/are pages from Batman 1 apparently...

[pemart1966]

3 hours ago, zhamlau said:

I know someone who has seen the cover to Action 1. He was a long time art collector and dealer from California who went to the first SD cons before joining the Air Force (left as a colonel I believe) and eventually becoming a lawyer who practices to this day. He is not just some random guy but someone I know and trust. He told me where he saw it, showed some evidence (tangential to be fair) that it was there at the time. This is a man who knows art and what it looks like and he claims this was it. I have no reason to not believe him. 
 

So the cover to Action 1 is the greatest to me.

Maybe I'm too jaded in my old age but I've heard too many second hand stories such as this one.  Memories get cloudy and stories/events/places/people tend to blend.

Until I see it, I don't believe it...

Edited July 16, 2021 by pemart1966

[zhamlau]

53 minutes ago, pemart1966 said:

Maybe I'm too jaded in my old age but I've heard too many second hand stories such as this one.  Memories get cloudy and stories/events/places/people tend to blend.

Until I see it, I don't believe it...

No worries, I tend not to believe most things being proclaimed anymore myself. But I believe he isn’t lying so to me the Action 1 cover is the top art that exists. 

[wurstisart]

13 hours ago, Bronty said:

The trouble with 'impressive' is that it is also subjective.

Someone will answer SPider-ham #3 is the 'most impressive to them' because it was their first comic blah blah blah, no one cares.

I don't like boiling things down to (financial) value only, but artistic value is too subjective.

Come on, Spider-Ham 3 is legendary 😂 and the existence of the Original Cover artwork is known and coincidentally in my collection:

https://www.comicartfans.com/gallerypiece.asp?piece=1400661
 

[G.A.tor]

8 hours ago, zhamlau said:

No worries, I tend not to believe most things being proclaimed anymore myself. But I believe he isn’t lying so to me the Action 1 cover is the top art that exists. 

Maybe this is what he was talking about 

From what I’ve heard the oa is not known to exist 

[pemart1966]

8 hours ago, zhamlau said:

No worries, I tend not to believe most things being proclaimed anymore myself. But I believe he isn’t lying so to me the Action 1 cover is the top art that exists. 

"Lying" is not the word to be used here.  I prefer "possibly mistaken"...

[chrisco37]

2 hours ago, wurstisart said:

Come on, Spider-Ham 3 is legendary 😂 and the existence of the Original Cover artwork is known and coincidentally in my collection:

https://www.comicartfans.com/gallerypiece.asp?piece=1400661
 

That's awesome! 

[batman_fan]

11 hours ago, Bronty said:

I remember something about that too.  It was in an article 

Me too which is why I originally posted it but I am getting old and have to acknowledge my memory can be faulty.

[Bronty]

30 minutes ago, batman_fan said:

Me too which is why I originally posted it but I am getting old 

I prefer to think of us as "less young"

[PhilipB2k17]

We know the first Flash Gordon strip art exists. So, I think that’s #1 in importance (IMHO), regardless of how much (or little, depending on your perspective) it went for at auction last year. 

[stinkininkin]

2 hours ago, PhilipB2k17 said:

We know the first Flash Gordon strip art exists. So, I think that’s #1 in importance (IMHO), regardless of how much (or little, depending on your perspective) it went for at auction last year. 

This is one of the reasons why I will never be a "first appearance" collector. Those really early Raymon Flash strips are so primitive, they hold zero interest for me. Give me some of his stuff from just a year or two into the strip, well NOW your talking! Everyone should collect what they like and for any reason they like it, but for me, I am an ART FIRST collector (I think I'm a bit of snob in this regard, but at least I'm a friendly snob ). Most other considerations fall by the wayside, but YMMV.

[Bronty]

^ first appearance of a character is one thing - first or early art of an artist is less appealing to me.    It’s usually just not that good.

Ie I get your point but first appearance of a character and early art of an artist are two separate concepts with only a bit of overlap.   Many first appearances are by established artists.   

Edited July 16, 2021 by Bronty

[batman_fan]

This might come to some people as a shock but I would say there are some Charles Schulz’s Peanuts pieces that could make the list.

[adamstrange]

5 hours ago, batman_fan said:

16 hours ago, Bronty said:

I remember something about that too.  It was in an article 

Me too which is why I originally posted it but I am getting old and have to acknowledge my memory can be faulty.

A possible source for this rumor:

Bob Beerbohm has a piece that was purportedly the first Superman cover. It was drawn by Shuster and never published.  I believe it was actually torn in two at some point, as it was going to be discarded but was retrieved from trash and saved for posterity.

This was written up in one of the earlier issues of Comic Book Marketplace back in the 90s.

 

[Bronty]

10 minutes ago, adamstrange said:

A possible source for this rumor:

Bob Beerbohm has a piece that was purportedly the first Superman cover. It was drawn by Shuster and never published.  I believe it was actually torn in two at some point, as it was going to be discarded but was retrieved from trash and saved for posterity.

This was written up in one of the earlier issues of Comic Book Marketplace back in the 90s.

 

I don't think so;  it was something about bechara and a lawsuit

Edited July 16, 2021 by Bronty

[adamstrange]

There was a State of IL lawsuit related to a state pension fund that had loaned money to Bechara and the collateral  included art and Church copy of Superman 1.  There was no mention of Action 1 or Superman 1 original art.

Edited July 16, 2021 by adamstrange

[batman_fan]

54 minutes ago, adamstrange said:

There was a State of IL lawsuit related to a state pension fund that had loaned money to Bechara and the collateral  included art and Church copy of Superman 1.  There was no mention of Action 1 or Superman 1 original art.

Interesting read

Archie Artwork

[zhamlau]

8 hours ago, G.A.tor said:

Maybe this is what he was talking about 

From what I’ve heard the oa is not known to exist 

I actually showed him that. He said no it was pen and Ink cover art, I would know the difference (as he points to all the vintage covers on his wall from the 50s and 60s).

I actually have a theory on where it might be and hope to test it in near future.