The Last Published Pencils and Inks from Jim Mooney? 0

[Dr. Balls]

I wanted to post this here, maybe to get some discussion from people who are familiar with Jim Mooney's work. I picked this up recently and just had a great time doing research, and want to share what I found in a thread, rather than the 'This Week in Your Original Art Collection' thread.

This artwork really jumped out at me when I first saw it - for a few reasons. One, It had a great mix of Good Girl Art, Bronze Age style with some 90's influence. Two, it was by the great Jim Mooney - and while I'd love to have a 70's Ms Marvel or Son of Satan page, there was something about having an independent piece of his own that was intriguing.

It had been published in a graphic novel called 'Lakota' in 2021, however - Jim died in 2008. There was not much information beyond that to go off of - and I love a good art mystery.

I had a week or so before the artwork was to arrive, so I set out snooping around on the internets. Blue Line Pro art boards came out in 1990, so that was easy to determine that the art wasn't any older than that. Then I started researching his 90's pencil work from Thundercats to Superman, looking at faces, hatching, etc - and I'd been able to make a pretty good guess that this art was drawn sometime in the early 90's based on similarities of adjacent work. I'd tried to reach out to the other creators who worked on the book, but they were also hard to track down and determine if they were active on their social media. I don't know if I'll hear from them.

I'd done what I could while I waited for the artwork and a copy of the graphic novel to arrive. As luck would have it, they both showed up on the same day! Once I had the art in-hand, I had to remove the masking tape and residue to keep it from degrading any farther than it already had. I got it looking good, now it was time to see if the graphic novel held any clues. And boy, it was loaded with 'em.

The creator and writer of 'Lakota', Mark Ellis, wrote a wonderful editorial after the story that shed a lot of light on this project. He was long time friends with Jim Mooney, and had worked on the idea of Lakota around 1990/1991 in addition to other collaborations they worked on. They plotted a 3-issue arc with a hero who had a more updated look for the time (the time being the 90's) which is reflective in the art. From the editorial:

"By my recollection, Jim had just finished pencilling and inking what was intended to be Lakota's first issue as well as a few pages of issue two when the infamous Crash-and-Burn of 1993-94 all but destroyed the comic direct market...Very reluctantly, Jim and I decided to put Lakota on the shelf until the comics "industry" sorted itself out."

This double page spread is from Jim's first round of 30 pages for Lakota, and is the only DPS in the book. Ellis continues:

"Jim and I remained close friends but we had to go on to other things. Since Jim had retired a few years before, he decided to focus on fine and commissioned art. Although he continued occasional freelancing for various comics, he never did both pencils and inks on a full-length story again. Lakota was his finale."

I was very surprised to discover that this was Jim Mooney's last pencil and ink work on a story that was near and dear to him. I know Jim went on to do commissions and I believe he was doing inking work up until the year he died. But, without the efforts of Ellis and his creative team, his ideas and creativity on Lakota may have never been seen. in 2021, Ellis and artist Chris Nye - who's Bronze Age style meshed with Jim's existing pages - illustrated the additional 18 pages to make a complete 48 page story. 

I wasn't sure what exactly I was getting when I bought this piece. It just felt...interesting to me. I couldn't put my finger on it at the time, but after the research, finding out the backstory makes this artwork that much more fun to own. 

Edited November 6, 2023 by Dr. Balls

[alxjhnsn]

Thank for sharing. Jim was a very talented artist and a really nice person.

[fmaz]

Great piece! That art literally could have been a DPS from an early Marvel Team-Up. Thanks for sharing. 

[grapeape]

Jim Mooney was a true blue guy. He always left me a personal note or an extra surprise when shipping me a piece of art. I do believe Jim was almost exclusively concentrating on commissions until he passed away.

Looks like like you snagged a good piece Dr. Balls. Enjoy it.

[Jordysnordy]

On 11/6/2023 at 5:43 PM, Dr. Balls said:

I wanted to post this here, maybe to get some discussion from people who are familiar with Jim Mooney's work. I picked this up recently and just had a great time doing research, and want to share what I found in a thread, rather than the 'This Week in Your Original Art Collection' thread.

This artwork really jumped out at me when I first saw it - for a few reasons. One, It had a great mix of Good Girl Art, Bronze Age style with some 90's influence. Two, it was by the great Jim Mooney - and while I'd love to have a 70's Ms Marvel or Son of Satan page, there was something about having an independent piece of his own that was intriguing.

It had been published in a graphic novel called 'Lakota' in 2021, however - Jim died in 2008. There was not much information beyond that to go off of - and I love a good art mystery.

I had a week or so before the artwork was to arrive, so I set out snooping around on the internets. Blue Line Pro art boards came out in 1990, so that was easy to determine that the art wasn't any older than that. Then I started researching his 90's pencil work from Thundercats to Superman, looking at faces, hatching, etc - and I'd been able to make a pretty good guess that this art was drawn sometime in the early 90's based on similarities of adjacent work. I'd tried to reach out to the other creators who worked on the book, but they were also hard to track down and determine if they were active on their social media. I don't know if I'll hear from them.

I'd done what I could while I waited for the artwork and a copy of the graphic novel to arrive. As luck would have it, they both showed up on the same day! Once I had the art in-hand, I had to remove the masking tape and residue to keep it from degrading any farther than it already had. I got it looking good, now it was time to see if the graphic novel held any clues. And boy, it was loaded with 'em.

The creator and writer of 'Lakota', Mark Ellis, wrote a wonderful editorial after the story that shed a lot of light on this project. He was long time friends with Jim Mooney, and had worked on the idea of Lakota around 1990/1991 in addition to other collaborations they worked on. They plotted a 3-issue arc with a hero who had a more updated look for the time (the time being the 90's) which is reflective in the art. From the editorial:

"By my recollection, Jim had just finished pencilling and inking what was intended to be Lakota's first issue as well as a few pages of issue two when the infamous Crash-and-Burn of 1993-94 all but destroyed the comic direct market...Very reluctantly, Jim and I decided to put Lakota on the shelf until the comics "industry" sorted itself out."

This double page spread is from Jim's first round of 30 pages for Lakota, and is the only DPS in the book. Ellis continues:

"Jim and I remained close friends but we had to go on to other things. Since Jim had retired a few years before, he decided to focus on fine and commissioned art. Although he continued occasional freelancing for various comics, he never did both pencils and inks on a full-length story again. Lakota was his finale."

I was very surprised to discover that this was Jim Mooney's last pencil and ink work on a story that was near and dear to him. I know Jim went on to do commissions and I believe he was doing inking work up until the year he died. But, without the efforts of Ellis and his creative team, his ideas and creativity on Lakota may have never been seen. in 2021, Ellis and artist Chris Nye - who's Bronze Age style meshed with Jim's existing pages - illustrated the additional 18 pages to make a complete 48 page story. 

I wasn't sure what exactly I was getting when I bought this piece. It just felt...interesting to me. I couldn't put my finger on it at the time, but after the research, finding out the backstory makes this artwork that much more fun to own. 

It's beautiful.

Being a Mag guy, i prefer the original OA to the printed version.

Great find.

I have 5 Mooney pages and he was a very talented artist.

 

[Dr. Balls]

On 11/10/2023 at 3:23 PM, grapeape said:

Jim Mooney was a true blue guy. He always left me a personal note or an extra surprise when shipping me a piece of art. I do believe Jim was almost exclusively concentrating on commissions until he passed away.

Looks like like you snagged a good piece Dr. Balls. Enjoy it.

Thanks, Grape! Yeah, I really like this piece and I think I lucked out in stumbling across it. I'm excited to get this framed up and on the wall!

[Dr. Balls]

On 11/11/2023 at 10:15 AM, Jordysnordy said:

It's beautiful.

Being a Mag guy, i prefer the original OA to the printed version.

Great find.

I have 5 Mooney pages and he was a very talented artist.