Next HA Auction !

4 4

 

Good, because the batman 251 cover blows

 

It's woefully lacking in bulging codpieces and cocoa butter for sure.

 

F-ing brilliant!

My Lord, has anyone checked out the new additions lately? The amount of GA and SA DC art is staggering.

 

There is literally a great example of SA DC from just about every title (although I didn't see anything from Doom Patrol yet). I wonder if some BSD who had a great example from almost every series is cashing out.

 

Would love to hear if anyone remembers seeing such a volume of quality GA art being in one auction in maybe the last 10+ years? (I really have no idea)

 

 

Ethan lived local to me and he was the VERY first person I ever met back in 1989-90 when I went to a local comic con looking for original artwork in Cleveland after I got into the hobby...I still remember sitting near him before the show opened, and we each had an art portfolio and he walked up to me and asked if I had any art....and I showed him my Steve Ditko ASM annual 2 pinup with the ringmasters of crime I had picked up recently...and we became good friends from that time onward, and we drove together as well as met at many comic shows over the past 28 years.

 

Ethan was a wealth of information......and he could look at just about ANY comic page from the 1930's onward and instantly tell you who drew it.

 

Ethan was the oldest remaining of the ORIGINAL gang in Cleveland where we would all meet at each others houses in the early to mid 1990's looking at comic art from each other's collections and talk all about comic and strip art over chips and drink and I was always selling and trading art with everyone there!

 

Ethan, Bill Thailing, Sam George..Andy Bradish, Julius Dratwa..Gary Dumm, myself. and Jim Damico all hosted these parties and it truly was a super fun time back before the Internet was prominent.

 

.....other guys started coming..... like Dave Morris...... and I STILL remember Ed Hodder in the middle 90's showing off his X-Men #94 cover...... I still remember him telling us he got offered 15k for the cover and we all screamed at him...SELL SELL SELL!!!! And he sold it (not at our gatherings) because that price sounded astounding at the time. MY HOW TIMES HAVE CHANGED!!!

 

The very last time we had one of these shows was at my home......around 2000 where I first met Bill Cox, and I think Mark Tomlinson even came in from Pittsburgh... and a few guys from the Detroit area came because guys heard about it from a con in Cleveland

 

We had 25-30 people that last time at my place, which was our biggest get together for sure.....I had heard that Walt Simonson was supposed to come (from the con) but something family related happened and he didn't make it.

 

Again...fun fun times back then for sure....great memories which I will always cherish!

 

Mike

 

I think of myself as a bit of an old timer but I really don't know any of these names (in bold) Mike. Are any of them still active in the hobby? Just thinking about collector turnover from another thread here.

 

Scott

All of them have passed away except Gary Dumm (from the original gang)...Julius Dratwa was a very nice guy...the youngest of the original bunch who collected in the late 60's and 70's, He would buy all of his comics and art from Bill Thailing, He moved away and no one knows where he went? He abandoned his house his parents willed him and it actually got demolished from not being kept up.

Also speaking of Bill Thailing, he was one of the absolute nicest guys you could ever hope to meet.....he was actually one of the EARLIEST FOUNDERS of comic book art and comic strip art.... he put out catalogs of art for sale around 1965 and later.

one of my fondest memories of 2 stories Bill told at our earliest local art gatherings......He spoke of when he and a bunch of Cleveland friends drove to a new York comic convention right around 1970...... he said it was the first recorded sale of an action comics #1 selling for 100 dollars..... and how everyone felt the buyer was nuts....but for us art fans...the most hilarious story he ever told was when he was looking for artwork and he came across these "YOUNG" ARTISTS selling their art and drawings on tables.....and he and his friends looked at their art and to him and his friends...they all said these young kids will never be anything special....the artists were......BERNIE WRIGHTSON AND BARRY SMITH!

Mike

If that's not all John Buscema, it's someone trying very hard to draw like Buscema.

 

Scott

 

I think the inking is too heavy to be Big John. His '80s self-inked work is of course very loose and wispy, but even the '70s examples have less weighty lines than this cover. I think it's the obvious Buscema pencil work on the faces that probably makes it scream Buscema, but I would bet that it was inked by someone else.

 

Regarding the GCD entry above, just as an FYI, the GCD often lists Morrie Kuramoto on the cover credits, but he was a letterer/production staffer and not one of the pencillers or inkers.

I never meant to suggest that Buscema INKED the piece, only that the underlying pencils looked very much like John Buscema. Even the poses look like Big John, but if you told me that someone like Starlin or someone else did simple rough to indicate placement, I can buy that.

The inking is definitely NOT Buscema. No way. Don't feel qualified to say with certainty who inked it though.

Scott

So regarding the Defenders #4 cover, based on more than one source, then its

Starlin--cover rough

JB--pencils

Giacoia--inks

(Kuramoto lettering)

I would feel comfortable bidding on those credentials.

Ha-ha !

I can verify that Bill Thailing story, Mike. Only that it was one of the Detroit Triple Fan Fairs. It wasn't so much about their talent. Early Michigan dealer Ed April had a bunch of those pages scattered about his hotel bed, and he was telling Ed how he should be looking for Foster and Hogarth art, instead of wasting his money on these new artists who would never be worth real money. What a difference 45 or 50 years makes...

Bruce

Am I seeing some rehashed art in this one?

Avengers 93, pg 33, maybe I am wrong but I could swear Ive seen this one before

Tomb of Terrors cover

Chamber of Chills cover

There is a Micronauts: The New Voyages #1 cover by Golden on Heritage that doesn't quite look right. Its done in colour and the description reads

"This is an unusual piece in the way it was produced. Golden hand-painted the black ink lines on the acetate overlay and then hand-painted (and airbrushed) the image underneath."

I don't see Golden drawing on the acetate overlay, I think its more of a copy of the inks printed on the acetate. This looks more like a airbrush colour guide. I don't have Michael's email, anyone know more about this or can ask Michael directly?

https://comics.ha.com/itm/original-comic-art/michael-golden-micronauts-the-new-voyages-1-cover-original-art-marvel-1984-/p/7158-127001.s?ic4=ListView-ShortDescription-071515#

There is a Micronauts: The New Voyages #1 cover by Golden on Heritage that doesn't quite look right. Its done in colour and the description reads

 

"This is an unusual piece in the way it was produced. Golden hand-painted the black ink lines on the acetate overlay and then hand-painted (and airbrushed) the image underneath."

 

I don't see Golden drawing on the acetate overlay, I think its more of a copy of the inks printed on the acetate. This looks more like a airbrush colour guide. I don't have Michael's email, anyone know more about this or can ask Michael directly?

 

https://comics.ha.com/itm/original-comic-art/michael-golden-micronauts-the-new-voyages-1-cover-original-art-marvel-1984-/p/7158-127001.s?ic4=ListView-ShortDescription-071515#

 

It's been confirmed he inked on the acetate and painted on the backboard. It's essentially a giant animation cel. Golden did four covers for Marvel's Micronauts using this technique.

If anyone's concerned, you could contact Renee Witterstaetter, MG's representation.

For what it's worth, I'm satisfied that this piece is authentic.

Andrew

OK thanks, I don't follow Golden's art so I didn't know. I never heard of an comic book artist inking straight on acetate overlay.

We discussed this technique on other thread recently. Eric Seffinga and I had some back and forth on it. A few illustrators during this time did use it, not very widespread but it did happen.

IIRC, Michael's G.I. JOE YEARBOOK #1 was created in this same manner. He made it available for sale at SDCC circa 2008 or 2009. A hefty price tag at that time. But a gorgeous cover. I just couldn't wrap my head around the method he used, though.

I was especially concerned by something another collector noted: The acetate was a potential issue, from a conservation standpoint. It could shrink or warp, which would throw the whole piece out of whack. And unlike paper, there's no conservator/restorer who could fix that problem.

I have no idea how likely that is or if the concern is overblown. Or if anyone else cares. That was just my thinking at the time.

(As with anything else, though, if the price is right, I can forgive just about anything! Given the asking price back then, ANY reason to make me question the value was enough to push me in the opposite direction. If the price had been what I'd consider a "steal", I'd buy it, no problem...acetate or no acetate.)

IMO, overblown. I've seen pieces like that from the late 80s that are like new

940 lots in HA's Original Art, even with 2 days this auction is going to take forEVER.

(Though I concede some of these might be BIN's or weeklys?)

Is there a size limit for a HA auction?

The 940 Original art including today's current auction, Comic Market, Buy Now from Owner, plus 4 upcoming Sunday Auctions and the February Signature Auction.

February Signature Auction only has 600 original art pieces.

IMO, overblown. I've seen pieces like that from the late 80s that are like new

Aren't animation cels done on Acetate? Have any of those Disney cels from the 1930s shrunk?

I'm honestly not knowledgeable about 1930s materials, which I assume are very different from 80s and 90s materials, though I could be wrong. All I know is on stuff that's 30 years old I've seen no issues

I haven't seen evidence the animation cels shrink either. But they have all sorts of other problems like yellowing, the paint sticking to anything touching the backside, and a natural inclination toward waviness that makes framing and displaying a real challenge. They catch serious glare as well.

IMO, overblown. I've seen pieces like that from the late 80s that are like new

Aren't animation cels done on Acetate? Have any of those Disney cels from the 1930s shrunk?

Celluloid made of cellulose nitrate and camphor was used early in the 20th century, but was flammable and would shrink. Cellulose acetate is more stable and isn't flammable.

Two Kats: There are two knockout GA splashes in the auction for my money, Wildcat by Krigstein and Black Cat by Kubert. Any guesses on hammer? Which one goes for more?

PS, image add function doesn't seem to work in Safari, so if anyone wants to throw them up for me it will be much appreciated!