The Fifty - Doc at the Beach, my Mike Allred commission

I have loved the look of Mike Allred's work since I first saw it. I cannot tell you when that was, but I know for sure that although I had possibly acquired an issue of Madman or something from dark Horse that had Mike's work in it, I first became a buyer of his work with Superman/Madman: Hullabaloo and Red Rocket 7. I loved Red Rocket 7 especially, it was a ton of fun and that seemed to me to be what separated Mike's work from others for me. He has the chops technically and I appreciate that, but it is his design sense and the way he sets up the page that speaks of genuine joy and just plain fun.

Now speaking of those chops, I really love the look of Mike's smooth, thin, clean line. His style and the choices he makes are what make him special, but he has great anatomy and great storytelling capabilities. he is a real gem in the industry.

So when I heard he was doing commissions (and still is through Simon at gotsuperpowers.com as far as I know) I knew I wanted something. At the time I was very much into commissions and have quite a few good ones by very talented artists. But there are only so many ways to draw Dr. Strange (no, really, there are only a few poses. Get as many commissions as I have and you will find that most artist stick to the stock single figure poses more often that not) and I knew I wanted something distinctive from Mike Allred if I was going to spend serious money. And yet...I had this idea noodling its' way through my psyche. It was The Defenders, specifically Valkyrie, at the beach. Not the kind of thing you get when you are getting something that has a minimum cost of $1000. The resale value on commissions is notoriously low and that goes for even very strong pieces. So when I factored in the 6-8 characters necessary for The Defenders to look like it did in my head I realized it was going to be beyond what I wanted to spend for what was likely to yield considerably less than the cost upon any eventual resale. But the idea just wouldn't let me go. I knew it was a perfect topic for Mike Allred to draw. So I decided to focus on Doctor Strange exclusively and use his supporting cast instead of The Defenders.

Mike Allread commission - Thanks Mike!

I always figure in 20 years I can commission the companion piece with The Valkyrie, Hellstrom, The Demon, The Hulk, The Silver Surfer, and Namor. Maybe all of those people trying to get Namor to come on in to the water and he is snubbing them. Or alternately Namor could be leading them on a waterskiing type thing with sea creatures and even flying fish supporting them. Someday maybe.

As it is this piece is just about perfect. I was really thrilled when I got it but a bit disappointed that there were not some crabs or birds or such about. I am not sure where I would put them though, to be fair. But this piece has everything I hoped for and more. I trusted that the odd nature of the request would elicit Mike's natural proclivities and I think I was right. The volleyball scene is fun and solves some structural problems (getting the game in with recognizable characters on both sides of the net, fitting it all in there at a good size, etc.) with classic Allred wit and style. I think I may have requested an Hawaiian shirt on The Ancient One and I guess I can't blame Mike for giving me the basic shirt style without the effects. Those would be added simply in the coloring process in most cases anyway. I inquired about having it colored by Mike's talented colorist and wife Laura but the answer came back...and it was no. Luckily I know another Dr. Strange fan who also happens to do coloring. Sure enough he couldn't resist jumping all over it immediately when he saw it, and with some discussion I got my Hawaiian shirt. Two of them in fact.

Both colored by fellow Doc devotee and talented colorist Gerry Turnbull

I liked the one with the tress on it, even though they should be on different planes, all upside down and sideways and such scattered across the shirt. Gerry liked the blue one better if I recall correctly. Either way,  it was worth his reasonable charge just to get the shirt on The Ancient One done and to have Clea's suit done just right. Wong and Doc look so good as well. Gerry is a fan and it shows in the work. Thanks again Gerry!

So it is with honor that I put this crazy,wonderful commission by Mike Allred in The Fifty. Someday I'll get the rest of the scene Mike, and I can't wait to see what you do for it!

The Fifty
1  BWS Storyteller Young Gods page 4 (framed)
2  Tony Harris / Ray Snyder Dr. Strange WIRED Magazine cover  (framed)
3  BWS Weapon X page  (framed)
4  Tony Harris Starman 53 cover  (framed)
5  David Mazzucchelli Daredevil 233 page 19
6  JHW3 Milestone Forever pinup

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

14  Ted McKeever Dr. Strange vs Dr.Doom in Hell
15  Dean Ormston Dr. Strange & Eternity

16  Bryan Talbot Dr. Strange commission
17  Dan Adkins Dr Strange 170 page 11  (framed)

18 Ulises Farinas - Dr. Strange in his Sanctum Sanctorum

19  Rudy Nebres - Dr. Strange, Dracula & The Scarlet Witch
20  Mike Allred - Doctor Strange, Clea, The Ancient One, Wong, and Rintrah...A Day Off
21  Anna Merli Clea
22  Mitchell Bretweiser Dr. Strange watercolor
23  Jae Lee Dr. Strange
24  Darwyn Cooke Wonder Woman  (framed)

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.

Strange Dr. Strange commission

As I stated in my last post, there are basically 3 types of comic art: true comic art-pieces produced for publication including pages and covers; convention sketches; and studio commissions. Basically. I spend a lot of my comic art hobby money on commissions. Some of them (such as those by Paul Smith; Simon Bisley; Dean Ormston; Andy MacDonald; and Ulises Farinas among others) are among my favorites in my collection. But I have grown weary of the single figure commission (although I just ordered one yesterday, so sue me!), somewhat weary I guess, and more weary of spending big bucks on a commission in general. But  I sold a bunch of art a few months ago in anticipation of the July Heritage comic art auction and when I did not bid high enough for the pieces I wanted I had some money sitting right there that had come from selling some pretty cherished in my collection.

Hmmm.

I'll spare you the 2000 words describing the process, but eventually I decided on a commission from either Art Adams or Mike Allred. I had enough for good Mike Allred piece or a bit more than half an Art Adams figure. The Art Adams is a real priority for me, but the Allred pieces were 4 figures for $1000 and I had an itch I figured I may as well scratch. The time seemed right. You see, when Mike Allred started taking commissions I immediately did what I always do when a great artist announces commission openings, I thought about what I would get. now I have never read Mike's magnum opus MADMAN. Maybe an issue or two here and there but never really. But RED ROCKET 7 and SUPERMAN / MADMAN: HULLBALOO were big hits in my book. SOLO. I just loved the zany sense of fun and chaos in his comics. It was clear he was having a ball. So I immediately got a vague notion of Valkyrie and The Defenders playing volleyball on the beach, all drawn by Mike. I never really thought it through and never needed to go any further because it was clear: if there was to be a Mike Allred commission in my future it was going to be based on this idea. And what do you know? My future had arrived.

But wait, what could I do? The Valkyrie and The Defenders would be around 8 characters, and that was too much money. Because, and this is important, commissions do not have good resale value. They are high risk (too specific to your tastes, too weird DING!, they come out poorly, usually expensive, they could come out poorly, and did I mention...they could come out poorly). So spending all that money is one thing, but spending it on a weird and quirky idea is quite another. So The Defenders as a group was out. After trying to decide who to cut and who to keep in I decided to go in a different direction and go with Dr. Strange's posse. I even went the extra $200 for a 5th character when I decided on Doc, Clea, The Ancient One, Wong, and Rintrah..And a short time later, with facillitation by Simon Miller of www.gotsuperpowers.com, I had this-

Dr. Strange and friends - a day off at the beach by Mike Allred

Pretty cool, huh?