I guess I was at Wizard World Philly today...

...although I really spent almost as much time in Market Station as I did the convention center. I am in something of a shift in my comic art focus, and the convention sketch is becoming less important and I plan on spending more money on larger items such as commissions and published pages/covers instead. However, I have been targeting this convention for about a year since Wizard posted that Stephen Segovia was going to be a guest. I had noticed Stephen's work through Comic Art Fans (CAF) and his representative, Kirk Dilbeck, and was very impressed. In fact, I was impressed enough to get on Stephen's commission list a while ago, even though it takes a few years I guess. So while I wait I figured I could get a nice convention sketch. I emailed Kirk through CAF and he told me the price and that I could get on an advance list. I gave 4 characters for Stephen to choose from and there it was; I guess I was going to Philly.

Thanks to Kirk for facilitating and Stephen Segovia for the heavy lifting. Here is what Stephen ended up drawing for me: Asgardian Storm.

And since I was going, why not go all in? I looked over the guest list and was surprised to find only a dozen or so sketch targets, and no real MUST HAVES besides Stephen. There were a few close calls, mostly with the other guys Kirk reps, especially Carlo Pagulayan, so I decided not to go all in at all. In fact, I decided to make it a quick hit instead. I arranged two other commissions for Sunday afternoon pickup and figured that would be it. Unfortunately one of the artists, Tom Raney, messaged me to let me know he wasn't going to be able to make it last minute but that he would still do the piece. Works for me! Thanks to Tom for being a great guy and honoring the commission even though he is not at the show!!! A real nice thing to do and something I did not ask for or expect.

That left me with the reason for this post, to show off my other acquisition: Stargirl by Chrissie Zullo.

Chrissie drew one of the earliest pieces I featured on this blog, a 17X5 Star Wars piece  I have a few other pieces by her as well and when I saw she was going to Philly for the first time I knew I had to ask her for something. I saw a torso she did of Stargirl on her site and knew I would love one for myself and thankfully she agreed to have one ready for me on Sunday. Thanks Chrissie! I love it!

I had hoped to ask for Stephen and Chrissie to draw a quick head sketch on my colored paper and brought blue for Batman, red for Hellboy, and green for The Hulk. Unfortunately for me, but nice for them, they were too busy and I could see not to ask. Maybe next time!

It will be next time as well for Nostalgic Investments and Bechara Maloof. It was nice briefly chatting with Bechara and nicer for misanthropist me to look over his great selection of original comic art. I saw a great page from Dr. Strange but low four figures is more than I had today. I will be back Bechara! It was fun talking to him, and Mark Texeira was there as well looking at Kirby pages. I saw a page from Texeira's Wolverine run, a nice page (for $550) and showed Mark. He was intrigued to see his work in Bechara's portfolios; I sense a deal in their futures. I also impressed myself, if not Tex, by picking out an uncredited page in Bechara's portfolio (for $195, a deal I think!) from Punisher War Journal inked by Tex.

So it was a fun hour or so in the convention center and then it was out, out into the street, across the street, and into Market Station in search of my favorite turkey sandwich anywhere. Warm moist turkey, lettuce, and bread. Yes simple. Not dry though, believe me. It was satisfying, almost as satisfying as getting my art. Not quite though, because as I sit here and look at the pieces above and remember the smiles on Chrissie's and Stephen's faces as we talked and they took my money I realize how much I enjoy the this hobby.

Okay, ramble off. See you in NYC in October comic world!

My Comic Art Want List

As tough as it may be for me, I am going to try to make this brief. Although technically qualified, I am nowhere near the BSD range with regards to my comic art collection. I am not a guppy in this pond, but neither am I a shark. I swim in the mid-range pool. Nonetheless, I have lofty goals for the coming year(s). My previous want list is about this long:

1) Starman pages, any and all from the James Robinson run
        especially Starman 15 page 20
2) Dr. Strange double page spread by P Craig Russell from Ultimate Spider-Man Super Stories
3) Showcase '94/'95 pages featuring The Shade by Matt Smith
4) Chris Bachalo Amazing Spider-Man 555 pages with Dr. Strange
5) Paul Smith - the Golden Age pages, especially pages 68-70 in the trade (page 69 please!). This is Book Two, pages 10-12.
6) More Dan Green paintings from Into Shamballa
7) Another Dr. Strange Paul Smith commission. List was full last I checked, so what can you do.
8) More from Dr. Strange 170 by Dan Adkins. I have a 3rd page 50% paid off and want as many as I can ideally! Yes, I am a pack rat at times with these things.

Now I am still interested in those items. But now I also have my eye set on some truly spectacular, and significantly more costly, art. I would love to own the following items.

A Frank Miller page -maybe even a great one. I would prefer something from Elektra Lives Again or perhaps a page from Dark Knight Strikes Again with the DC superheroes featured. Lance Blastoff even. But really nice. The Elektra stuff is my ideal but he does some great work in many many different books.

A great Barry Windsor Smith page from Storyteller. I am looking at a real wonderful image and it would be the biggest purchase ever for me. Soon. Not now I think, but soon enough.

Art Adams commission - Another case of not now but eventually. The time and money must align, and the above may come first, but this will also happen should I continue to exist into the next decade.

A second, and then third, fourth, etc. page from Dracula 44 featuring Dr. Strange by the legendary art team of Gene Colan and Tom Palmer. I tend to enjoy the Paul Smith, Marshall Rogers, Frank Brunner, and P Craig Russell Docs above Colan's, but this storyline could be the high mark for the character of Dr. Strange for me.

As I said before, I believe in creating your own destiny. I get only a few readers here, but I am grateful for the viewing and do not underestimate the power and effect of just one reader. So there it is.

Maybe someday I will seriously shoot for a Steve Ditko Dr. Strange page and really swing with the others. And before reaching that stage I would need to acquire some Alex Raymond, R. Crumb, Windsor McKay, and Frank Frazetta work. Maybe even a little Wood and some more Williamson. But for now these are my goals in terms of comic art. And when I say for now, of course I mean the very minute I type this. Because as any collector knows, the next object of desire is very hard to predict.

I mean, I have college for 2 coming up. I have to be realistic. ;-)

A New Comic Art Convention Theme

Okay, I got a bit tired of the whole 17X5 thing and decided to try something new recently. This is not to say that I am done with the 17X5 strip art theme or that I will stick with my new love exclusively, but when the Comic Geek Speak people cancelled their convention in Pennsylvania and a loosely affiliated business stepped up to host a show on the same dates in the town next to mine I figured there was no better time to try something new. And so I broke out the colored paper and set out for the Super Wild Pig Show a few weeks ago. I brought a few different colors and some ideas about what characters would work on each color paper. I had a small size, regular 8.5X11, and a few larger sheets about 26X22 or something like that. I also had a colored blue art board, firm, maybe for watercolors. I was most excited to use the largest sheets for head shots of The Hulk. My approach on head sketch jams is to try and get head sketches thrown in with, or negotiated alongside, convention sketch commissions and then consider a central figure if it is looking good. Lee Weeks was attending and hey, Lee Weeks = The Hulk, right? Well to me he does. Or at least did. He was next to Joe Staton, who could go a Green Lantern on another piece for a mixed character jam perhaps? Well Joe actually agreed to do a quick GL head sketch for free, or cheaply at least, but I never got around to getting it as he was usually busy or I wanted to go home. I had also pre-arranged a piece with The Shade from Chandra Free and figured she might do a small head sketch as well. And conventions always offer up unanticipated opportunity, so I always have that going for me. With that I set out for the long trek to Piscataway.

Six minutes later I was there, delayed who knows how long by having to endure the interminable wait of a passing train. I actually ended up going to this convention and home again two or three times each day since it was so close. I arranged for art from 4 artists: Lee Weeks, JK Woodward, Chandra Free, and Reilly Brown at a cost slightly north of $300. More than I wanted to spend but I had my new idea to pursue. Jk Woodward was quickly up for the challenge, as I new he would be. He took an 8.5X11 piece of red paper and agreed to do a Spider-Man shot. He seemed excited about it, so i was too. Then I got to speaking with Lee Weeks, who now knows me by sight if not by name. (For the young among you, dear readers, might I suggest it is a bad sign for your wallet when the artists recognize you when you enter the room. They poke each other and nod knowingly, saliva and spittle appearing at the edges of their slightly agape mouths almost imperceptibly, instantaneously. And when they speak you hear what the guppy hears when the shark speaks to him, what the fly hears when he alights on the web. "Welcome my friend. So good to see you.") Now I wouldn't want to cast any aspersions on Mr. Weeks with that digression, who is a gentleman and a scholar and overall nice guy. Deeply genuine, you can tell when you talk to him for even a few minutes that he lives by a strong ethical code. Nonetheless, he also possesses a bit of charlatan in him, and in this persona will amaze and astound you with feats of magic and prestidigitation. Although he did indeed do some great card tricks while I was in his presence, charming a young girl and her father both as Rudy Nebres and I looked on, it was his artistic ability that really left me amazed. When I approached him with the red paper and asked him to draw Spider-Man it was because I really like his version of the ol' wallcrawler. But he too got excited and told me about a Daredevil he had drawn a few years ago on red paper. DAREDEVIL! Lee Weeks "equaled" Daredevil for me long before Lee Weeks = the Hulk. So I left him the paper for a Daredevil and off I went. When I got back the next day I had the same reaction I had when Sean Chen handed me my first 17X5 piece. That of awe and of being astounded. This guy knew what he was doing, that is for sure.

Yes, another long trek awaited me. So one table down I ventured, down to the left where Mr. and Mrs. Rudy Nebres were seated. I had gotten my first Nebres sketch in the early 90s and reminded him of the show, the Super Mega Show in Secaucus. He had some wonderful art for sale, but I now have 3 Dr. Strange pieces drawn by Rudy and the convention sketch thing was covered for me. So we arranged a commission for him to complete at home and I gave him the rough idea and promised to bring reference to him by the shows end Sunday. That night I almost forgot and Rudy laughed late the next day when I finally showed up at his table, saying he was sure I had disappeared on him. So in the next few months I hope to have a sweet Dr. Strange vs Dracula drawn by Rudy Nebres in my possession. Doc will hopefully be discovering Dracula just after partaking of a little snack, to be one of the following heroines: Clea, The Valkyrie, The Scarlet Witch, Moondragon, or Photon aka Captain Marvel aka Monica Rambeau. So I also have that going for me. but I digress. Back to COLOR!

By the end of the day Saturday I had arranged for reilly Brown to do a Dr. Strange, but he was charging $50 for head shots and it didn't look like a good idea to ask for a freebie with my sketch. I often feel that if I spend $100 or more on a convention commisison from an artist than that is enough do-re-mi that I can feel okay asking for a quickie when I pay. But you have to feel each situation out and asking reilly would have been too big an imposition. He was going all out on my sketch and making good cash with his time on a Zatanna (really nice Zatanna, too) so it would have been unfair to ask, he likely would have done it too, but that don't make it right.

Now Chandra Free, on the other hand, was someone I felt fine asking for a quick sketch. I wanted to get a sketch from Chandra for a year or so since I became aware of her work but time and money had not yet aligned until now. She had arranged to do a Shade, from Starman, for me but since I wanted it big I had to bring the 11X17 paper to her late Saturday for Sunday pickup. That meant going home Saturday with 4 arranged pieces but nothing yet in hand. So when giving Chandra the paper I hit her up for a quick Batman on my blue artboard. She agreed and really did much more, and a much larger piece, than I expected. Now it is too big to scan and I have no picture yet, but believe me when I say it is way cool. Her take on The Shade was equally wonderful. but the main point is that I now have a large piece of blue art board with a sketch of Batman on the lower left corner. So I guess the colored paper thing may gain some traction after all. While the 17X5 pieces will continue, they will slow and be more carefully chosen. I only have a few more sheets left before I have to buy more. But colored paper, I got tons of that stuff. And with that DD up there to go by, I expect great things to come as a result.

Okay, that was longer and more rambling than first intended, but I can live with it I guess! See you soon!!!

Making Your Future Happen, the selfish version

I can be rather preachy. I am a psychologist, after all, so talking things over and making my point clearly is something I am comfortable doing. Sometimes I can do it rather well, and I frequently make my children stop everything and listen as I expound dramatically on a life lesson that MUST be taught then and there. I think it is important to tell my children when I am being serious, because it doesn't happen every day. I also take perverse fun in making a spectacle of myself while I tell them something of utmost seriousness and, hopefully, profound parental wisdom. You know, stuff kids like me ignored and only learned waaaaaay too late.

Along these lines I was recently on the pulpit in my living room preaching to, if not the choir, then the captive. This captive was my daughter, M age 12, who had mere moments before been watching one of her shows before being loudly and rudely interrupted in the face of my fervor at needing to point out how I had once again conjured the secrets of the universe whilst sitting in my basement at the computer. Today's lesson, and listen now, because this is serious...YOU MAKE YOUR DESTINY HAPPEN. I should stop right there, because that is the message of this post. Sure, this post may be about comic art (really most of my life is about comic art believe me) and yes I know it isn't remotely about comic art yet but just you wait and see but the idea that you make your life happen is about the most important thing I could ever teach my children. If you don't make your life happen, your life happens TO you. Many of the people I grew up with, friends and family alike, let their lives happen. I quickly made my life happen. I went to college, that was unknown in my family before my generation but expected of mine, but then went on to graduate school and then married and moved 700 miles to get a Ph.D. People I knew, friends and family, were perplexed at my decisions but then, and now, I know my life is my life and no one else's. Don't let people live your life. There are many corollaries to this statement and chief among them is you damn well better put yourself in position to accept the consequences of your actions if you live as you alone see fit. But I digress. The point is, again, that you have to form your own future. You can make life happen as you want if you truly want to do it.

Now, the reason I was so eager to pass along this particular nugget of fatherly sagacity was the recent exhibition and sale of art by Frank Miller. From Galerie 9 in Paris France http://www.galerie9art.fr/index.php?expo=173 25 pieces were shown  and offered for sale from Sin City - Hell and Back; Family Values, and The Big Fat Kill. Most of the pieces sold in a few hours. This follows the first multiple piece offerings of prime Frank Miller comic art that I am aware of ever, recently made available by Frank himself through Graphic Collectibles. Now, I collect comic art. I spend a few hundred dollars on things, and have on occasion spent slightly more than than. I must admit than on occasion I have considered selling every piece I own to buy ONE magic Steve Ditko Dr. Strange page. But even as I think those thoughts, and I think them every so often, I realize I would never do such a thing even if I could. It would be too much in every way. But I looked at that gallery exhibit and I recalled those pages Mitch was selling and I decided then and there that I would one day own a sweet sweet Frank Miller page. And I decided as well that I would own this page sometime in the next 4 years. Five is too long and 2 is too soon, but I can see being able to go all out and pay what it takes in 4 years.

Now the reason this becomes noteworthy is that I immediately made this forecast public in a post on a comic art collector's message board. And as I looked at the published post, a boast of bravado and bluster now made public for all to see, I liked what I saw. I knew I was right, that I would own this page eventually, that it is out there right now in someone's closet or desk or even Frank's portfolios. It will make a journey from there to here, whether it comes from a gallery like Galerie 9, a dealer like Mitch at GC, or even from Frank Miller himself who I met at the Chicago Comic Con in 1995 or so where he signed my Elektra Lives Again hardcover and then had a drink next to, but not with, him at the bar in the Sofitel later that night. If I met him socially once hey, it could happen for sure. But it will happen. So I looked at the post and it was good.

Almost immediately I received a response from someone nice who could maybe eventually assist in possibly making this a reality. Equivocations mine, he could definitely make it happen today. But anyway. Nothing concrete at that time, just a note that my vow was heard. And that my friends is karma. The Good Lord looking over my shoulder. Destiny. Free Will. All of those and more. It is a Frank Miller page displayed prominently in every home I own until the day I die. As long as I live four more years of course.

Tomb of Dracula page by Gene Colan and Tom Palmer

I bought this page today.

I think that statement needs to stand alone but I will say it again. I bought this page, page 22 of Tomb of Dracula issue 44 published by Marvel Comics in 1976, today. I traveled 90 minutes each way to get it. I think the blog content here at FEDRES420 makes it clear that comic art and illustration is a pretty big source of fun and time in my life. Well, this page is part of a story that is directly responsible for me being involved in this hobby. If I had to pinpoint specific points in my comic and comic art involvement, the first might be finding a funny animal comic in the street in about 1970 about a block and a half from my house. I picked it up and was amazed it was complete. I brought it home and consumed it. Funny animals, no reading required. Next was the sudden arrival at my house a year or so later of a giant box of comics, gladly inherited by my older brother and I from our friends around the corner. Why they did not want them was beyond me but we took them hungrily. There were a few hundred comics in there, all with no covers. I now know what the deal was there, but back then I was horrified and thankful all at the same time. There were war comics and superhero comics and a little of everything else under the sun. I devoured them all. I remember ignoring the war comics at first for the superheroes but eventually reading and enjoying them all. Then come the comics in the newsstand at Clancy's, followed by a job in high school at 7-11. In my memories I paid sometimes at least. And then a card convention at the Toms River Elks Club. I could get some Nolan Ryan and Astros cards and hey, look at that, they have comics too. I was driving by that time so it must have been 1983 or 1984 and I got a ton of issues of Dr. Strange, Master of the Mystic Arts for 25 cents each. When I read them and issue 14 crossed over with Tomb of Dracula I was frantic in my search for those issues of ToD.

That Elks club purchase, one title almost complete at once - even 169, and then the search for missing issues to complete the story may have been the real start of my comics collection/hobby/obsession. Yes, I still have those comics in a box not 15 feet from where I sit and type these words. And now I have a page of original art from those issues in my hands as well. The story of my comic art obsession is the story of a (some would say) mature individual. My collection is generally focused on modern art, created after 1990 by and large and does not generally include stuff I read growing up but more stuff I read in college and as an adult or by artists I became fond of as an adult. Even the older pieces are typically things I admire now, not things I admired as a child or young man. But the Elks Club comics are part of the story of a child, and this page alone in all the pages and pieces in my collection brings me back to a time in my life when I read comics and the experience enveloped me entirely. They were musty and somewhat smelly and HOLY SMOKES Dracula drained Wong's blood. Wong is dead. Doc will save him, no sweat right? Wait, Doc says he can't save him, only destroy him and prevent him from becoming a vampire? Okay, Doc CAN avenge Wong then. Oh no, Dracula's sucking on Doc now? What are they doing? I have all these comics here and Dr. Strange is dead? WHAT ARE THEY DOING?

WHAT ARE THEY DOING?

Katie Cook - Starman Family Portrait

A little before Christmas Katie Cook opened her commission list for the first time in a long time. Really, she did. Really. She did. Go check, it is still open. But lucky me, I had previously discussed a commission with Katie of Starman and Nash and both of their fathers in a sort of perverted family portrait.

Left to right: David (deceased); Ted; Jack; Nash, with baby Kyle Theo; The Mist; Kyle (deceased)

So when her commission list opened up I made sure I was on it (I was) and we went with the 2 Starman / 2 Mist idea, baby included as well of course. Shortly thereafter I asked her to include the dead brothers and she graciously added them for no extra moolah. Watta gal. So as you can see above, The Starman family Portrait came out really well. As Katie told me when I last ehassled her about finishing it up, "the dead brothers sparkle", and they do. It is a nice touch, even if the scan fails to pick up the glitter in the paint.

So thank you Katie Cook! See you this summer! (Molly is dying to get Ron and Hagrid added to her Harry Potter piece!)

CBR 4 review: BORN STANDING UP by Steve Martin

IMAGE FROM WIKIPEDIA.ORG

BORN STANDING UP, A Comic's Life by Steve Martin is a thoroughly engaging read, but what else would you expect from Steve Martin? What you also expect is material presented thoughtfully and carefully, and BORN STANDING UP certainly does this, in a matter-of-fact but entertaining way. Martin traces the development and evolution of his comedy mindset from its' birth performing magic to his eventual manic and thoughtfully random comedy stand up routine.

Although relatively equal attention is given to both personal and professional matters, and occasionally individuals from one sphere enter the other, Martin's real focus and the joy of the book is his when he relates his interest in, and approach to, performing. Martin's early mastery of even the simplest magic tricks accompanied a desire to perform, and soon enough he was performing in group and solo shows at Knott's Berry Farm. As he describes selling cheap gags in the Knott's Berry Farm store and learning the classic tricks of the magical trade you can tell even now how much Martin enjoyed, and enjoys, the art of performing magic. But the increasing cost of the big tricks came with an understanding that he didn't need the tricks, or even magic itself, to hold the audience's attention.When he eventually took bigger and bigger stages as a stand-up comedian he engaged the audience like few comics before him, and BORN STANDING UP does a wonderful job of exploring how exactly he ended up approaching his performances from his specific viewpoint, a viewpoint that would result in the most successful stand up comedy career seen to that time, and possibly still so to this day. We go from Knott's Berry Farm to Disneyland through college and into the world of television writing as Martin explains how they all shaped and formed the approach and development of material that vaulted him to heights and revenue he never dreamed of. And then how it quickly became routine and boring, when it became too much and too big to matter. Along the way Martin realizes how far he has come, and gone, from his roots and eventually desires to reconnect with those roots. He recounts all this wonderfully and without arrogance at what he once was, the biggest thing in comedy history, and without pathos at what he came to be before making clear and definite changes to his lifestyle and approach to familial relationships. And it was a real treat reading along as Martin recounts these things, and you even get the origins of "Oh PLEEEEEAASE!" and Happy Feet. ;-)

Overall, BORN STANDING UP is an engaging read. Superficial on the personal details and intimate with the professional ones, Steve Martin does a fine job of presenting a very specific and precise history of this part of his life. Perhaps the best recommendation I can give is that I would certainly be interested in a much larger volume by Mr. Martin applying the same thorough approach found in BORN STANDING UP, exploring the many other facets of his life applied from this perspective. 3/5 stars ***