Dr Strange 170 page (again) by Dan Adkins for The Fifty

My pursuit of The Fifty has included a massive sell-off of my comic art collection; just the other day I went through and consolidated Itoyas again, eliminating three more profolios. It meant mixing some pieces in ways I would not prefer, but I wanted to see how many fewer Itoyas I actually need. I am down at least 6 Itoyas now since the process started. Of course, 15 of those pieces went on my walls as well but the rest went out the door. Just in time for the Dr. Strange movie buzz to get started.

And in that sell-off I have offered many pieces that have not sold; many fine pieces from my collection have been available at the right price at one time or another. And one of them just got put into The Fifty, so if you were thinking of buying the page from Dr. Strange issue 170 that I offered briefly, too late!

Dan Adkins Dr. Strange 170 page 10

I used to have four pages from this issue but have sold two over time. One got framed, and it is the page after this one. So I decided that the Dr. Strange wall, aka Frames of The Faltine!, would look better with the two pages from issue 170 on one side complementing the two pages from Tomb of Dracula 44 that sit on the other side. This will mean relocating the Paul Smith commission, but I had always planned on having a wall of Dr. Strange commissions eventually anyway so this works for me a few ways.

This page and the one that follows it in the book and on my wall are just wonderful pages. Dr. Strange's astral form and his battles with Nightmare are core elements of the character's history and it is because of pages like these that those elements are so lasting to the mythos. And I think Dan Adkins was a wonderful artist and am proud to own some of the art he produced and display it on my walls.


The Fifty
1  Barry Windsor-Smith Storyteller Young Gods page 4 (framed)
2  Tony Harris / Ray Snyder Dr. Strange WIRED Magazine cover  (framed)
3  Barry Windsor-Smith Weapon X page  (framed)
4  Gene Colan / Tom Palmer Tomb of Dracula 44 page 22  (framed)
5  Tony Harris Starman 3 cover  (framed)
6  Barry Windsor-Smith Daredevil 236 page (framed)
7  Tony Harris Starman 53 cover  (framed)

8  David Mazzucchelli Daredevil 233 page 19

9  JHW3 Milestone Forever pinup

10  Simon Bisley Dr. Strange vs The Mindless Ones
11  Paul Smith Dr. Strange vs Dr.Doom  (framed)
12  Dave Sim Mars Attacks variant cover
13  Gene Colan / Tom Palmer Tomb of Dracula 44 page 1 splash  (framed)
14  Dan Green Dr. Strange: Into Shamballa splash (framed)
15  Tony Harris 1994 Starman pinup  (framed)
16  Bill Sienkiewicz Superman 400 pinup recreation

17  Ted McKeever Dr. Strange vs Dr.Doom in Hell
18  Dean Ormston Dr. Strange & Eternity

19  Bryan Talbot Dr. Strange commission
20  Dan Adkins Dr Strange 170 page 11  (framed)

21  Dan Adkins Dr. Strange 170 page 10
22  Ulises Farinas - Dr. Strange in his Sanctum Sanctorum

23  Rudy Nebres - Dr. Strange, Dracula & The Scarlet Witch
24  Mike Allred - Doctor Strange, Clea, The Ancient One, Wong, and Rintrah...A Day Off
25  Anna Merli Clea
26  Mitchell Bretweiser Dr. Strange watercolor
27  Jae Lee Dr. Strange
28  Darwyn Cooke Wonder Woman  (framed)
29  Walt Simonson Alan Moore as Rorschach (framed)

Some Thoughts on The Fifty...What's I Own That Is NOT In

With all my talk about The Fifty, I thought it would be informative to share a few pieces that are not yet included. With the Darwyn Cooke and Walt Simonson pieces, among others, I have gotten a bit of blowback that perhaps I am tossing some pieces in without much thought, or that some pieces are perhaps not worthy of inclusion.

This is understandable to some degree and shows how much The Fifty is a personal process that makes sense really only to me, and makes sense for my collection only. (Does it really? We shall see in the years to come I guess.)

If I were to have conceived the idea prior to starting my collection things would have unfolded differently, but as it is the process of creating The Fifty is one of inclusion,but it is also one of exclusion when you start with 700 pieces and want to end up with 50.

So does it make you understand my thinking anymore to know that my Mignola / Badger Triumph & Torment page is not in The Fifty. It may make the cut eventually but I have a bunch of pieces already designated for inclusion and she hasn't made it yet. I love the page but the stain from lettering balloon glue is jarring and I may wait for a better page from the book.

There is also a cosmetic reason, a smudge on some lettering, that keeps my Seth Fisher piece from inclusion in The Fifty. I know it will be in there sooner rather than later, but that durn smudge is so frustrating and I cannot place glass over it and actually preserve it that way!

For some reason my Frank Miller Dark Knight Strikes Again page featuring Superman is not yet on the wall on in The Fifty. I bought it excitedly with the full plan to put it right in there but for some reason have hesitated. I may also decide to trade up or just get it a partner; believe it or not I may prefer (may) a crazy Lance Blastoff pinup or a Valiant/Dark Horse cover.

Neither of my Cerebus pages are in. I put the IDW cover in because the technique is so superior despite Cerebus being so important to me. But Dave's work on that cover, Mars Attacks variant cover with Cerebus, is so masterful and precise that it trumps my two sweet Cerebus pages. They may also make it in the end, but not yet.

I think these pieces may be some of the last to go before I officially reach my goal of The Fifty being my only comic art possessions. I am already cheating a bit with a framed Tim Truman piece in the upstairs living room but that is art for a concert poster and not a comic book. I am leaning towards also exempting my musician themed commissions but that decision is also for another day.

None of my McNiven is yet in. The FF splash may make it yet, and the Dr. Strange DVD prelim has an outside chance as well but so far I have not felt strongly enough to include any of his work in The Fifty. that may say it all right there as I was nuts for this guys' work for a few years there.

This is the same reasoning that keeps Starman pages out of The Fifty. They exist in another category for me and I am not sure I will ever truly include them in the equation. Selling 10 or so Harris Starman pages recently was a decision I regret to some degree, and I bought 4-6 other Harris Starman pages in the meantime to compensate myself for my loss.

I feel even more strongly about the Tony Harris Dr. Strange pages I own. I have 11 pieces of art from the series, 9 or so pages and a logo and title page or two. I am always buying these pages and have no intention of selling the ones I already own.

But although The Fifty may be a multifaceted jewel of an idea, one facet that I have liked in particular from the start is the inflexibility of the idea. The Fifty. 50 pieces. No more, and no less. Five zero.

The. Fifty.

Man do I have some tough choices to make. Sooner. Later. Whenever I make them, tough choices are coming.

New to The Fifty: Walt Simonson draws Alan Moore as Rorschach

Walt Simonson draws Alan Moore as Rorschach

I have owned a few Walt Simonson pages but nothing that ever really did it for me. A page from What If Stan Lee and Walt Simonson Created..., one from A-Factor with the team but with a whole in it (in panel)...that type of thing. I have a few con sketches and even consigned to the current Comic Link auction the only page Walt ever inked over Gene Colan.

But when I saw this sketch on a fellow collector's CAF gallery I loved it right away. And it was available for trade. After some easy negotiations we commenced with a cross-continent trade. I am not sure what I sent but I am pretty sure it was two pieces (I think a BWS/Sienkiewicz sounds better than it looked Excalibur page, maybe a John Buscema/Sienkiewicz FF page with SS) and I got back at least 2 Milo Manara non-descript pages and this drawing. It was used for an Alan Moore tribute book published in either Spain or Italy (sorry, but my memory fails us yet again). I know at one point one of us mailed the wrong page (me I think?) but it all worked out in the end.

I really only wanted this page in the deal. But once I had it I had a horrible horrible thought...what if it was never returned to Walt Simonson after publication and therefore was not legally or morally mine to keep. The tribute book may have even been published in the country where the collector lived (not casting aspersions he was a very trustworthy man). But since I see Walt often enough at conventions it was easy to check. So at a NYC show not long after I received the art I brought it to Walt and explained my concerns -I was worried that it was supposed to have been returned to him but never was and told him that he could have it if that was the case. He assured me that he had no issue with the ownership of the piece and that it was mine to keep in good faith. So I have that going for me.

About three months ago I was looking at my art deciding what to frame next. I thought that I had framed enough Starman and Dr. Strange for the moment and wanted to show off a little more diversity on the walls. So I framed the Darwyn Cooke Wonder Woman and this piece. I have spoken about the Cooke piece in a prior post, but this piece by Walt makes the cut because it shows the distinctive Simonson style, has content that references an historically relevant comic in a new and humorous way, and is a clear sign of affection from one comic legend to another. Here they are on the wall:

Darwyn Cooke Wonder Woman from DC: The New Frontier

Walt Simonson Alan Moore as Rorschach

And when they make the wall, the make The Fifty. It is as simple as that. Welcome Walt, and welcome Alan, to The Fifty!


The Fifty
1  Barry Windsor-Smith Storyteller Young Gods page 4 (framed)
2  Tony Harris / Ray Snyder Dr. Strange WIRED Magazine cover  (framed)
3  Barry Windsor-Smith Weapon X page  (framed)
4  Gene Colan / Tom Palmer Tomb of Dracula 44 page 22  (framed)
5  Tony Harris Starman 3 cover  (framed)
6  Barry Windsor-Smith Daredevil 236 page (framed)
7  Tony Harris Starman 53 cover  (framed)

8  David Mazzucchelli Daredevil 233 page 19

9  JHW3 Milestone Forever pinup

10  Simon Bisley Dr. Strange vs The Mindless Ones
11  Paul Smith Dr. Strange vs Dr.Doom  (framed)
12  Dave Sim Mars Attacks variant cover
13  Gene Colan / Tom Palmer Tomb of Dracula 44 page 1 splash  (framed)
14  Dan Green Dr. Strange: Into Shamballa splash (framed)
15  Tony Harris 1994 Starman pinup  (framed)
16 Bill Sienkiewicz Superman 400 pinup recreation

17  Ted McKeever Dr. Strange vs Dr.Doom in Hell
18  Dean Ormston Dr. Strange & Eternity

19  Bryan Talbot Dr. Strange commission
20  Dan Adkins Dr Strange 170 page 11  (framed)

21 Ulises Farinas - Dr. Strange in his Sanctum Sanctorum

22  Rudy Nebres - Dr. Strange, Dracula & The Scarlet Witch
23  Mike Allred - Doctor Strange, Clea, The Ancient One, Wong, and Rintrah...A Day Off
24  Anna Merli Clea
25  Mitchell Bretweiser Dr. Strange watercolor
26  Jae Lee Dr. Strange
27  Darwyn Cooke Wonder Woman  (framed)
28  Walt Simonson Alan Moore as Rorschach (framed)