Mike Allred commission now colored

Gerry Turnbull took a go at coloring the Mike Allred Dr. Strange Beach Party commission and did a groovy job! Take a gander -

The reason this came so long after the original commission is because I never let Gerry go until I okayed the Hawaiian shirt I wanted for The Ancient One. Eventually I just told him to go for it and then he was nice enough to include another version as well. Here is the second version, closer to what I had initially envisioned. I would prefer the trees and colors randomly oriented, not so orderly. But this commission has never been about what I wanted as much as what the artists were able to bring to it, so that is fine. I think I like this second shirt better.

Either way, Gerry did a great job a brings a lot to the pieces he colors. Thanks Gerry!

Here is a link to the original Mike Allred inked, b/w commission.

File Find: The 15

I came across this looking for something else and decided to post it here. Boy is it tough not to edit this. I guess at one point I put together my version of The Fifteen, the 15 albums that "fill in the blank"..."you would want on a desert island"; "mean the most to you"; "are your idea of perfect albums". Whatever you want to call it, it is The Fifteen.

The Fifteen

Van Halen II

Sgt. Peppers

Joe’s Garage

Zenyatta Mondatta

Led Zeppelin 3

Physical Graffitti

Abbey Road

Déjà Vu

Aja

Royal Scam

Axis: Bold As Love

The Pros and Cons of Hitchhiking

A Farewell to Kings

Odelay

Moving Pictures

The Fifteen of a younger man. Wiser? Perhaps. 

I have been grooving on Wish You Were Here for the last year, that would likely knock something here off today. And Fiona Apple as well. Hard love for Fiona Apple this last year or two. One Size Fits All by Zappa. No Dead up there, hmmm. That's the beauty of The Fifteen though, room enough for a lot but not everything. And Blue or maybe even Hejira would be there now from Joni. And I certainly love Fair Warning, and even Woman and Children First more than VH II, so I have no idea what I was thinking when I wrote that list above. Fair Warning baby. I have been through Miles Davis and Devon Sproule jags, heavy heavy jags, but they wouldn't cut it. I have been getting into Presence, the ignored Led Zeppelin album and wonder if that will make the list in 2013. My 15 in '13; I will have the wife tell Siri to remind us to make a new 15 in 12/2013 and we can see what has changed. Okay, time to turn off Fiona and go to bed.

New Year's Day...new year's art collecting goals

I decided I would write this up without looking at my previous entries regarding a comic art want list. I have mentioned before that collecting is really a "right now" mentality and I want to express my current thoughts about my collecting goals for the new year without bias, even if it is bias from myself.

Not really goals, but realities, is that I have to pay off 3 pieces of art this year. I have a Gene Colan Tomb of Dracula 44 splash (more on that issue later!) page that will be paid off around March. Thanks Mike! And thanks to Roger Clark as well, who let me put two pieces from his New Year's Eve sale on time payments. They are major commitments and won't be done until early mid-year, representing a size-able portion of my comic year budget unless I sell sell sell. And I am sell sell selling right now, please check the links above right! 2013 is about fiscal responsibility in the household, and I need to generate my own money for art. That means I need your money, if you need some art at least.

1) Now and always (I assume) - Starman. Except now I expect to find a cover each year, or two or three! I bought a lot of panel pages this year and brought my total, including ancillary titles like the 80 page Giant; Secret Files; etc., over 100 pages. And I am definitely in the market for the rest of them. All Tony Harris Starman pages and covers are on my want list, just some more than others.

2) My real grail needs mentioning even if it remains elusive. Double page spread of Dr. Strange by P Craig Russell from Ultimate Spider-Man Super Special. I spoke with Craig about this at a convention this year and he confirmed that it is long gone. I can hope though.

3) More pages from the crossover between Tomb of Dracula 44 and Dr. Strange 14 with art by Gene Colan and Tom Palmer. I now have my fill (4) of the pages Burkey is selling from issue 170 of Dr. Strange (for now at least - I have my eye on one more I must admit) and have moved these issues into my sites. I have one page from each issue and they are great. I am also getting the page one splash from Burkey when I give him the rest of the cash. (Thanks Mike!) I should be able to get at least one more this year, or I will count the year as a failure art collecting wise I would think. I know where some are, so I should be able to shake one or two loose.

4) Hmm. Now I have to actually think and separate reality from dreams. I guess I would say an Art Adams commission. $2000 is a tough thing to "fit in" but it could happen. I have already had the content cleared by John (thanks John!) but have not had the money and the guts at the same time to pull the trigger.

5) I have been really looking at Hal Foster Prince Valiant strips and wonder if I can get one under the radar some time. Surely a panel could be in my range. The same for an Alex Raymond piece.

6) Dave Sim Glamourpuss/The Strange Death of Alex Raymond art. I will also include the recent Mars Attacks cover Sim drew featuring Cerebus. This stuff is gold. I love it.

7) Frank Miller. I really have this on target for 2014 but if the right piece at the right price were to come along I would jump on it. Frank Miller is one of my favorite comic artists, and I am blessed to even think about having the disposable income to pursue this.

8) Barry Windsor-Smith. Storyteller preferred, but also Daredevil 236 art, X-Men Life Death stuff, or other stuff as well. Anything is on the table if he drew it but I would definitely like to acquire at least one more piece of art drawn by this talented man in the year 2013.

Let's see if we can get to a clean 10 now.

9) Oh, obviously I need more Dr. Strange Flight of Bones art. This is one of my top collecting foci right now, although pages are scarce. I have about 25% of the total pages (11/44 I think) so getting more is tough but I want them. As I  want...

10)...Matt Smith pages from Showcase 94 (95?). The storyline with The Shade. These go for $50 or so, but I will easily pay double that. The most expensive Matt Smith art out there!

Now this does not mean I will have these goals tomorrow, but tonight this is what I am thinking while I wait to watch the Knicks and Amar'e. Happy New Year y'all!