Andy MacDonald

I am a huge fan of artist Andy MacDonald. Anyone who knows me knows that right now I am selling art in my Feed the Fifty sale which goes off tomorrow. I hope it goes off at least, but I have sold enough in the presale for it to be a success already.

But in thinking about the sale I have been thinking about my Starman pages, as noted in the last post I made. now as I was setting up this year's sale I was aware that I had to have some stuff to sell next year as well. I couldn't just bust out the unsold stuff from this year and hope people have come around in their thinking on how wonderful that missed art was; I need some new stuff. So that has been in the back of my mind lately.

Then this morning I read a forum post online about buying art from lesser known artists. Who knows, maybe it will even appreciate in value. And that got me thinking about Andy MacDonald.

I first became aware of Andy at the old church conventions in NYC that turned into the Penn Plaza Pavilion shows. Somewhere along the way there I became aware of someone else prowling the aisles at these shows, artist and geekboypress founder Louie LaPalombara. He was carrying an X-Men piece that he was having some guy I never heard of (guess who?) draw one character at a time. The characters looked great to me, recognizeable but utterly unique and distinctive, each one different and wonderful.

Searching on line revealed this piece, which may be it.

Lifted from CAF gallery of Louie LaPalombara III

I loved this piece. It looks like 2006 was the year I got my first sketches from Andy MacDonald and it is no surprise that Starman and Dr. Strange were both added to my CAF in early April 2006. here is the Straman (Doc is tiny for some reason and I have to rescan it sometime in the future).

I now have about 45 pieces by Andy. Here are a few of my favorites from my CAF gallery.

Andy does Batman particularly well. Here are some nice examples.

He enjoys drawing Predator too, I think you can tell.

So at some point I had to get some commissions. I started innocently enough with the Inhumans, but soon lost control.

I knew i had to get some Starman commissions too. So I conceived of a series of commissions that would eventually have Andy draw the entirety of the Starman universe. I have had three done so far.

First was all the Starmen. Jack plus seven other characters became the template.

Since the supporting cast of Starman was so rich, I decided to get jack and his heroic friends next.

Now of course I needed the villains. Andy put everything I asked for into it and I love it as much as anything else he has done for me. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to be scanned at the moment and time is tight. HA!

I don't know what will happen with Andy MacDonald's art career. I missed him at this year's NYCC, I hope he returns to the area soon and starts drawing for me again. But those art selfish thoughts; more importantly I hope wherever he is that he is drawing all day long with a giant smile on his face.

Feed The Fifty sale days away! I'm getting nervous!

Okay, let's get this out of the way immediately...

http://www.bgwdesigns.com/doctorstarman/

That is the link to the Feed The Fifty First Annual 11/29 Birthday sale that commences Friday, 11/29. Hence that part of the title. The 11/29 part, there is no Friday part. Obviously the 11/29 part.

It is just a few days until I go live and pricing has been on my mind. It couldn't help to mention that the Starman pages will be priced slightly above market value on the ones that may have comps that have sold for less than $100. The Byrd pieces come to mind. They won't be priced highly, but I am not selling my collection here. At least where the Starman pages and covers are concerned. I am not pricing them high, but am not having a fire sale. There is no reason for me to sell pages from the main title for under $100. Under $200? Yes, I will sell many pages for under $200 and most for under $300 - like the Heath page from Starman 74 I sold. Most under $300, but not all (Buckingham? Conner? C'MON!) If you are a collector who has tried to buy Starman pages you probably know that I have been buying them for a long long time. So when I put these up for sale here, it is to offer you a chance at some long lost gems.

The same with the covers.I will die a happy man on 11/29/2066 if The Fifty consists of 50 painted Tony Harris Starman covers! So when I offer these for sale, know that it is just this weekend and only now and for these prices. Not high, nothing like the $5500 I saw on one dealer's site. but they have to be over $2000, at least these two, and one of them I consider a significantly better cover than the Robinson that sold on ebay recently for almost $3k. So make of that what you will.

As for the other items for sale, well...yes, I am selling off much of my collection. But I do not expect it all to sell, even if much of it will be priced under $100. But do not confuse my selling for a diminished desire to collect or accumulate art. I got the email today that I have been anticipating since I first looked at Mitch's NYCC booth...my piece was shipped and is due for delivery tomorrow! I do not expect to be available to sign for it until Friday believe it or not, although perhaps I will drive 35 minutes each way tomorrow night.

I expect to open it Friday on my birthday either way. You know what? I will be driving carefully until then!

New pieces in Feed The Fifty

http://www.bgwdesigns.com/doctorstarman/

There it is again. The place to find the Feed The Fifty sale. Tonight I added art by Bill Sienkiewicz, Chris Samnee, Bryan Talbot, Marc Hempel, Eric Canete,Jonathan Case,and more.

Two different Fastball Specials!

One of the above artists doing the Silver Surfer 4 cover!

Six Spider-Man strips with Dr. Strange in each one created by the bother team of Stan Lee and Larry Lieber!!!

http://www.bgwdesigns.com/doctorstarman/

That's the ticket! Seriously, selling 50 pieces might change my life in ways we both can;t imagine.

Remember: Money Good. Comics Good. Now let's be good together!

Ted McKeever and The Fifty

With all this talk about the need to Feed The Fifty, I figured another member should stand revealed.

Ted McKeever commission - Dr. Doom vs Dr. Strange in Hell

My comic book habit has always been a relatively solitary pursuit. I read comics in high school (that one year working at 7-11 was helpful, read the whole Marvel and DC lines then) but stopped around the time I quit Sev. But freshman year at college I became friends with some older guys and a big part of their routine was comics. We would go on Thursday evenings to the mall and hassle the toy store owner to open his box. That was back when new comic book day was a Friday. Woodbridge Mall in Edison, twenty minutes from Rutgers but these guys had scoped it out and found the place to go. They also got comics from a guy in his dorm room who had a Heroes account. Those were different times. The dorm guy would spread all the new comics out on the floor and we would choose what we wanted. No Previews. CBG was around but haphazard.

So when I graduated but kept reading comics I tended to go my own way. I used to wonder why I was never an appreciated customer despite spending twenty bucks every week and it was because I read stuff no one else liked, stuff with low discounts because even 5 copies might not sell in the store. Cerebus. Mister X. Black Kiss. Later on it would be Scene of the Crime. Coventry. Cerebus.

And Superman's Metropolis and Batman : Nosferatu by Ted McKeever and JM and Randy Lofficier. I loved the beautiful art of guys like Moebius the most, but I also developed tastes for guys like Ted McKeever. It is amazing how certain artists imbue india ink with personality and characteristics unlike that created by any other person. Ted McKeever does this. Ted McKeever's art cannot be drawn by someone else. You look at it and it has an energy all its' own. It cannot have been made by someone else. Great inkers have this quality; they are great draftsman, creators of not only content but form and execution. The art produced by Ted McKeever is fecund and infected. The ink retains its' physical characteristics but it has been changed, tainted and fouled by the wielder in his search for something more, something other. And the above work is proof that sometimes he finds it.


The Fifty
1  BWS Storyteller Young Gods page 4
2  Tony Harris / Ray Snyder Dr. Strange WIRED Magazine cover
3  Gene Colan / Tom Palmer Tomb of Dracula 44 page 1 splash

4  Simon Bisley Dr. Strange vs The Mindless Ones
5  Ted McKeever Dr. Strange vs Dr.Doom in Hell
6  Dan Green Dr. Strange: Into Shamballa splash
7  Bill Sienkiewicz Superman 400 pinup recreation

8  JHW3 Milestone Forever pinup

9  Darwyn Cooke Wonder Woman

10  Dan Adkins Dr Strange 170 page 11

11 JH Williams 3rd / Mick Gray Promethea 24 double page spread

12  Rudy Nebres - Dr. Strange, Dracula & The Scarlet Witch
13  Anna Merli Clea
14  Mitchell Bretweiser
15  Jae Lee Dr. Strange

on re-reading this it is rushed and really tries to do two things quickly and therefore does both poorly. But I am hungry so I am letting it fly

FEED THE FIFTY CLAIMS ITS' FIRST STARMAN VICTIM - Russ Heath page from issue 74 now SOLD!

SOLD Another piece gone to Feed The Fifty

That's right! Another one bites the dust! Thanks Mike! The Trimpe Valkyrie is SOLD and another piece has been claimed by one brave enough to make an offer! He also asked about a beaucoup bucks piece but bought a nice modestly priced gem drawn by an industry legend.

Not a bad deal at all. And with Feed The Fifty you know exactly what the commission looks like when you pay. Now that is top-notch customer service, eh?

http://www.bgwdesigns.com/doctorstarman/

Don't be shy, check out the goods and seize the day. Don't wait until everyone else wants it from the low price, lowball me and see where we go from there. That's right, lowball me. Me wanna ball.

Booyah! Sold some art, let's sell some more.

The website http://www.bgwdesigns.com/doctorstarman/ is getting  ton of hits and I am thankful for that. Thank you if you have visited. I added three more items tonight in response to all the interest. I think I sold some more but at this point two things are confirmed sold and already packed.

Thanks Bob! I may even more items again tonight or early morning.

So there is some evidence that I will entertain offers, talk turkey and try to work something out. I got an offer on the Tomb of Dracula page that was one thousand dollars too low but that person also bought something too. I won't belittle lowballs and welcome them as a starting point.  Lemme hear what you have to say if you are interested in something, about 9 different items have seen inquiries.

Ah, What The Heck! Feed The Fifty Preview now LIVE!

I decided that the pictures were up and I may as well give people time to decide if they want something so the preview is now live.

http://www.bgwdesigns.com/doctorstarman/

The sale website was designed by, and is hosted on, BGW Designs - my wife's web design company. She kicks ass during the day as a web designer for Rutgers University, yeah bigtime stuff and everything! Go Woman Go!, and does some freelance stuff as well. She does work and then they ask her to repair the other people's work, she is that good. So I think it may be what I want it to be for the sale, although I am not finished labeling things and may even post some more art. (It seems silly at this point as I cannot possibly expect to sell anything much less everything? I have more Starman pages I would sell and expected to offer for sale but no longer the enthusiasm to scan fresh and post and everything.) I may even record some audio to be triggered when you click on items, but am not sure if the enthusiasm will be there for that either.

So, in any event, the preview is live. I have definite needs for this money and actually think it could change my life if I sold all these pieces. I could free myself of debt, free at last. If I could use small amounts of money, represented by each drawing accumulated over the last decade(s!, and now blast my debt to hell I would be eternally grateful to you all and the higher power that made it happen. We can all hope, but I hope to at least sell a few pieces and pay a few bills. Plus a surprise for the wife is in order as well, but she reads this here blog (she loves her man after all!) so enough of that.

Take Care and Be Well Everyone. Comics Good. Money Good.

Feed The Fifty progress update

89 pieces.

And counting.

That's right. I have 89 pieces loaded and am writing the descriptions now. I should have between 100 and 125 pieces listed in my First Annual Feed The Fifty 11/29 Birthday Sale!!!

The wife made the website and I have everything ready to go. Here is what it says on the site...

The specifics this year are as follows: The site will be live on Thursday, November 28th for preview. No prices will be listed. Because of the Thanksgiving holiday, the preview will go until I get home from work Friday November 29th around 6 pm. I will accept offers in the meantime, so feel free to email an early offer if you want to be sure to get a piece. Around Friday 6 pm EST I will remove any sold pieces, add prices and clarify questions, and then place the items live for sale. There will be no discounts, promotions, or price changes of any kind before sale close 6 PM EST Sunday. I am not pricing based on what I paid, with a handful of exceptions, but am generally pricing to sell. $100 convention sketches will be less than $100 in most cases. The unsold items will not be consigned to any auction houses or offered for sale again other than possible inclusion in future birthday sales. I may leave a few of the smaller unsold things up for sale here, I do not know. I did not like seeing a few items go for under $25 on Comiclink and that won’t happen again. I may consign other items, but I sell them or they sell them;  I won’t be selling the same items in different venues. If you want to make an offer on these or any items in my collection I welcome the opportunity to talk turkey with you.

I will truly feel blessed if I am able to sell one piece. This is the first year and the first time I am doing this. I joined twitter for it...doctorstarman...and believe you me that is a big deal. I joined google+ as well. All to promote this sale and begin a social media presence. I feel like Ron Swanson on this one. This guy.

Not the Ron Swanson I went to high school with. I'm sorry. Not the Ron Swanson with whom I went to (Catholic) school. I went to school with the most generic named mutherfuckers you could imagine. I have an Irish Polish name, one of a kind on this planet perhaps. Among my bestest buddies in high school were Ron
Swanson, Mark Weber, Maureen Ryan, Kevin Potter. So even in this age of social media I cannot find these common named mutherfuckers. I know where Maureen is and have passed along hello. And the one person not on that list from high school cannot be contacted. Ron Swanson would understand.

Not the Ron Swanson from high school. This guy.

Anyway.

I am going to trumpet the horn, the social media internet horn that is, and see if I can drum up some business. I think that it is a sound plan. Get it, a sound plan? Trumpet...drum...sound plan. Y'all about as sharp as a bowling ball...a bowling ball I say. Anyway,I am going to go to the usual websites, leave a few posts and messages and see if i can promote it the best I can. I already have been using #FeedTheFifty and you can see some images of things I am having in Feed The Fifty. I plan on doing a few a week, or as many as I can remember to do, and use the artists name in there as well. I am learning there too, to which "not that Katie Cook" can attest.

I hope to annoy more non-artists with my sales pitches. Not that Jae Lee almost got one today as well, but that was FOR The Fifty,not Feed The Fifty. No Jae Lee coming in Feed The Fifty.

Amanda Conner though.

Stuart Immomen though.

Mike Mayhew though.

JH Williams 3rd though.

Gene Colan inked by Tom Palmer. Or by Walt Simonson. Tony Harris. and so many more.

That's the Feed The Fifty art sale, 11/29/13. It's going to surprise you.

The Fifty - Dr. Strange by Jae Lee

Once in a while the clouds part and a beam of line shines through. I used to beat the bushes pretty thoroughly before conventions and this entry in The Fifty is evidence that it pays off every so often. I somehow got an email address for Jae Lee back in the day and when he was announced as a guest at a 2006 NYC convention I emailed about advance pieces. He responded pretty quickly and told me I was the right guy at the right time. We proceeded to work out the commission pricing, size, and other details but when push came to shove Jae professed a desire to do Batman, even offering a discount! But when I stuck with Doc he showed what a class act he is and gave me the discount anyway.

Two weeks or so later I had this in my hands.

Doctor Stephen Strange by Jae Lee

I have two versions colored digitally by Tom Smith as well. Here, check them out!

Good work there, thanks Tom!

I grew up in the early Image days of comics. The WildCATs trilogy and Hellshock were a ton of fun, even if they were generally visually striking but confusing as hell. Jae Lee was a great talent and I loved his work; he had a style that was perfect for comics and his moodiness and wonderful textures seem a perfect fit for the good doctor. I was surprised how right that was when Jae gave me this; it is exquisite.



The Fifty
1  BWS Storyteller Young Gods page 4
2  Tony Harris / Ray Snyder Dr. Strange WIRED Magazine cover
3  Gene Colan / Tom Palmer Tomb of Dracula 44 page 1 splash

4  Simon Bisley Dr. Strange vs The Mindless Ones
5  JHW3 Milestone Forever pinup
6  Dan Green Dr. Strange: Into Shamballa splash
7  Bill Sienkiewicz Superman 400 pinup recreation

8  Dan Adkins Dr Strange 170 page 11

9  Anna Merli Clea

10  JH Williams 3rd / Mick Gray Promethea 24 double page spread

11  Rudy Nebres - Dr. Strange, Dracula & The Scarlet Witch
12  Jae Lee Dr. Strange