This page was a steal--only 37 bucks on ebay. It's GIL KANE! Didn't matter to me who the characters were (I honestly didn't know when I hit the buy it now button), but I soon found out it's from the Atari Force mini-comics, which I will finally get to read when the recently advertised collection arrives. One of the things I love best about this are the glue spots where you can see the pasted on lettering has fallen away. Old-school, baby.
This page was a steal--only 37 bucks on ebay. It's GIL KANE! Didn't matter to me who the characters were (I honestly didn't know when I hit the buy it now button), but I soon found out it's from the Atari Force mini-comics, which I will finally get to read when the recently advertised collection arrives. One of the things I love best about this are the glue spots where you can see the pasted on lettering has fallen away. Old-school, baby.
This page was a steal--only 37 bucks on ebay. It's GIL KANE! Didn't matter to me who the characters were (I honestly didn't know when I hit the buy it now button), but I soon found out it's from the Atari Force mini-comics, which I will finally get to read when the recently advertised collection arrives. One of the things I love best about this are the glue spots where you can see the pasted on lettering has fallen away. Old-school, baby.
What a smokin' deal, Chris!!
It was definitely a DON'T THINK JUST BUY moment, and once I hit the button I started to wonder what the catch was. But no catch or scam, just great art!
Not sure if I've gushed about Frank Santoro here on these boards, but he is one of my favorite comic artists, period. I didn't discover his work until 2007 (and, to be frank, he had very little published prior to that, and has not had that prolific an output since, but he's heavily involved in the indy comics scene, having done a comic art correspondence course for a number of years and running a successful indiegogo campaign a couple years back to buy the rowhouse next to his, in Pittsburgh, that he's turned into a comic school/residency where aspiring artists can come to learn the ins and outs of comics, while also living there, to get past that initial hurdle).
Santoro has not only a background in comics, but also in fine art, having apprenticed with Francesco Clemente for years in the 90s. He is also knowledgeable in comics history, particularly with regard to artists and artwork, and he has written multiple pieces on comic art and theory -- at the now-defunct Comics Comics site as well as for the Comics Journal, and elsewhere. He works in a very simplistic, contour-line style that I could see being off-putting to many fans, but I find it completely engaging and intriguing, particularly coupled with his sense of color.
Let's just say, I am a big fan.
So, when the opportunity arose to purchase some original art he did with Dash Shaw for Kramer's Ergot 8, I couldn't pass it up. I bought two pages (expecting to purchase only one, due to some confusion on my part and the generosity of Santoro, with whom I'd become an acquaintance [can't say we're friends], through email correspondence and meeting up and discussing comics at a variety of shows, particularly SPX, over a handful of years). The coolest thing about these is the fact that the pages were compiled in photoshop (or some other software) from a collection of bits.
Here's what the first page looks like in the comic:
And these are the various parts that went into creating the image:
So, one of my "holy grail" purchases was a Suicide Squad page by Luke McDonnell. As much as I love JLI and Baron & Guice's revitalization of my favorite hero, the Flash, the Suicide Squad was "my jam," back in the day. I'd discovered one of McDonnell's ebay auctions for a Squad page that had been sold a few years earlier, and saved McDonnell as a seller, waiting for the day. It took a while (he had lots of other pages for sale, but no Squad ones), but my patience bore fruit, as I won the following page---and the auction happened to end within days of my birthday last year...obviously it was meant to be.
It's a great page! Boomerang, Deadshot, Rick Flag, manhunters! It's amazing! But, perhaps the greatest thing about the page, the backside, which McDonnell used as well, for some figure studies and warmups.
So, one of my "holy grail" purchases was a Suicide Squad page by Luke McDonnell. As much as I love JLI and Baron & Guice's revitalization of my favorite hero, the Flash, the Suicide Squad was "my jam," back in the day. I'd discovered one of McDonnell's ebay auctions for a Squad page that had been sold a few years earlier, and saved McDonnell as a seller, waiting for the day. It took a while (he had lots of other pages for sale, but no Squad ones), but my patience bore fruit, as I won the following page---and the auction happened to end within days of my birthday last year...obviously it was meant to be.
Looking at this on my phone, I wondered who it was. Then I saw the Vibe pose (before zooming in), and immediately knew it was Jose. Nobody else will even attempt a pose like that. He's so freaking good.
In the late 80s/early 90s, we had a great comic shop here in the Bangor, Maine area. The owner launched a small convention, which had grown to something pretty impressive by its fifth year (1994)--where guests included Walt & Louise Simonson, Dwayne McDuffie, Jon Bogdanove, Dennis Janke, Denys Cowan, the first North American convention appearance by Humberto Ramos, John Paul Leon, and many others.
Anyway. That year, the guest of honor was Mart Nodell, creator of the original Alan Scott Green Lantern. Nodell also did a signing at the store a day or so before the comic show, where I picked up this watercolor, for 50 bucks. Love it!
So, I've got my "Mt. Rushmore" of comic creators whose work I will buy without reading the damn solicitations --- Los Bros Hernandez, Alan Moore, Frank Santoro, and Scott Morse. Above, I shared the original art I purchased from Santoro. Here's my Scott Morse piece (actually, 2 of the 3 tiers from one issue of his series STRANGE SCIENCE FANTASY). I missed out on getting a piece from his book, SOULWIND, way back in the day, and I rarely see his work for sale, so I was super-excited to snag this, through a special offer he did on his own website.
And here's the closest I will get to a third of my "Rushmore creators," a Swamp Thing sketch by Stephen Bissette, which he was offering on twitter a few years back, as an experiment in social media reach, as well as a way to raise money for a project he was working on.
I think this is just @%&*ing gorgeous. Definitely one of the prize pieces in my collection.
My tumblr's been tumbling all weekend, but I don't get online much, so, a bit of catch up. Here's a beautiful Matt Kindt watercolor of Black Widow I got a few years back. Came through an offer on his site to purchase "3 Story" directly from him during the holidays, and for an additional fee, maybe ten bucks, he included a watercolor (5" x 7") of his choice. Sometimes the internet gives back.
The local convention I mentioned upthread (Bangor, Maine; early 90s, specifically 1994) had a large contingent of Milestone creators. Bruce Webster, the owner of the shop in town that put on the convention, was a big proponent of getting "good" comics into the hands of his customers. He strongly supported the Milestone line of books. I distinctly remember a small section dedicated to the comics, and his support (in this and other ways that I can't recall) was so appreciated by the creators that they gifted him with a piece of Mark Bright artwork they used in their pitch meeting with DC Comics. That was a gorgeous piece.
But I'm not here to showcase others' art, especially since I don't have access to an image for it. I'm here to share a quick sketch I got from a new creator at the time, John Paul Leon. He was doing art on Static, which is some of his earliest work. Here's the Static sketch I got from him, done with ball point pen, I believe.
Another sketch from the same convention. Walter Simonson doing Neil Gaiman's version of SANDMAN. I was smart (or lucky) enough to have reference on-hand, as Simonson was not familiar enough with Gaiman's version of the character, as the Kirby Sandman is the only one he's read or cared to read--at least, that was his sentiment in 1994. And, when Simonson drew the "Just Imagine Stan Lee..." Sandman issue, some years later, this felt almost prescient.
Comments
Well, you just should!
Santoro has not only a background in comics, but also in fine art, having apprenticed with Francesco Clemente for years in the 90s. He is also knowledgeable in comics history, particularly with regard to artists and artwork, and he has written multiple pieces on comic art and theory -- at the now-defunct Comics Comics site as well as for the Comics Journal, and elsewhere. He works in a very simplistic, contour-line style that I could see being off-putting to many fans, but I find it completely engaging and intriguing, particularly coupled with his sense of color.
Let's just say, I am a big fan.
So, when the opportunity arose to purchase some original art he did with Dash Shaw for Kramer's Ergot 8, I couldn't pass it up. I bought two pages (expecting to purchase only one, due to some confusion on my part and the generosity of Santoro, with whom I'd become an acquaintance [can't say we're friends], through email correspondence and meeting up and discussing comics at a variety of shows, particularly SPX, over a handful of years). The coolest thing about these is the fact that the pages were compiled in photoshop (or some other software) from a collection of bits.
Here's what the first page looks like in the comic:
And these are the various parts that went into creating the image:
As it was in the comic:
And the various parts that went into making the image:
It's a great page! Boomerang, Deadshot, Rick Flag, manhunters! It's amazing! But, perhaps the greatest thing about the page, the backside, which McDonnell used as well, for some figure studies and warmups.
Icing, on the proverbial cake.
Obviously!
Another great find, Chris.
Enjoy...
Anyway. That year, the guest of honor was Mart Nodell, creator of the original Alan Scott Green Lantern. Nodell also did a signing at the store a day or so before the comic show, where I picked up this watercolor, for 50 bucks. Love it!
I think this is just @%&*ing gorgeous. Definitely one of the prize pieces in my collection.
Here's a beautiful Matt Kindt watercolor of Black Widow I got a few years back. Came through an offer on his site to purchase "3 Story" directly from him during the holidays, and for an additional fee, maybe ten bucks, he included a watercolor (5" x 7") of his choice. Sometimes the internet gives back.
But I'm not here to showcase others' art, especially since I don't have access to an image for it. I'm here to share a quick sketch I got from a new creator at the time, John Paul Leon. He was doing art on Static, which is some of his earliest work. Here's the Static sketch I got from him, done with ball point pen, I believe.
And, when Simonson drew the "Just Imagine Stan Lee..." Sandman issue, some years later, this felt almost prescient.
Top: the unused version
Bottom: the version they used
One more John Buscema from King Conan