Starman 53 cover - Tony Harris and The Fifty once again

I have in my possession three painted Starman covers. I also recently consigned one to Comic Link and it will be in their Summer Featured Auction; there is a strong chance it will be back for failing to meet the (very reasonable) reserve but you never know. I also sold an Andrew Robinson Starman cover a few years ago. But I now have 3, 4 if you count the consigned piece which I technically shouldn't. Painted covers, that is. I have pen/ink stuff as well but that is for another time.

Of these covers in my possession, I have 2 real beauties. Issue 3 is bright and bold in its' color palette, has strong Jack character content conveyed, and is just a thing to behold. Early Tony Harris just in your face.

Then there is this one, issue 53.

Starman 53 cover - Tony Harris

This piece is near the end of Tony's association with the series and has strengths all its' own. That is why I decided to have it the first painted cover framed and put on my walls. This cover is spectacular. I love the shots of both Jack Knight and Adam Strange. The space setting is sad as that storyline was the dividing point between Tony and James Robinson and Tony left soon enough. This has colored pencil in there as needed and smacks you in the face in person with its' vibrancy. I am paring the collection down and had to seriously consider an attempt to make The Fifty as many painted Harris Starman covers as I could, shooting for fifty total. But I don't think that will happen. It may, but I am not adverse to moving 35 and 28. but 3, and this one - 53- are not going anywhere. And since this one had the frame ordered today, it can officially join The Fifty.

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  JHW3 Milestone Forever pinup

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

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

15  Darwyn Cooke Wonder Woman  (framed)

16  Dan Adkins Dr Strange 170 page 11  (framed)

17 Ulises Farinas - Dr. Strange in his Sanctum Sanctorum

18  Rudy Nebres - Dr. Strange, Dracula & The Scarlet Witch
19  Anna Merli Clea
20  Mitchell Bretweiser Dr. Strange watercolor
21  Jae Lee Dr. Strange


ps       A frame was also ordered for the Darwyn Cooke Wonder Woman piece. I will let you see the finished piece when it is done, along with the cover above, in two weeks or so!

Half-Birthday Mega Sale Through ???

Last year on my birthday I had a large 100+ item sale on my wife's website...go to bgwdesigns.com for all your website needs. Since then I have larger sold through Comic Link, the cgc boards and a lately I went back to ebay for a few BIN auctions. However, ebay recently stopped the free BIN auctions, which is too bad as I was doing well selling some things there with the Buy-It-Now format.  My wife has a nice tradition of celebrating half-birthdays, so I thought I could just try a half-birthday not-quite-mega sale and see how that does for a bit.

If you have any interest, here are the simple terms - check or money order preferred; $12 s/h charge in the US, $40 most elsewhere. Any inquiries or orders may be sent to my email at fedres@optonline.net or you can leave comments here on the blog - I will see them. Offers considered and time payment terms available.

Here we go.

John Beatty 11x17 $50

John Beatty 11x17 $100

John Beatty 11x17 $175

Dustin Weaver 9x12 $250

I will certainly be adding items on Sunday and maybe even Monday, so please check back for any edits. I will also take down SOLD items should I be so lucky, so if you see it, it is still for sale unless I have yet to read the email.

The Fifty - Ulises Farinas commission of Dr.Strange in his Sanctum Sanctorum

This thing is amazing. I have no idea what most of it is, but that doesn't lessen my love for it. Ulises farinas drew it, and it came about after I saw his Batman Hoarder piece. It was wonderful and we emailed back and forth about Dr. Strange in his Sanctum Sanctorum. Ulises suggested that he could be surrounded by mystical and magical objects/artifacts/things from popular culture and media. Then he went and done did this. Amazing.

There was a bit of a mix-up at the end. Ulises offered to color it and I was happy to toss in some extra cash for that option. Then when it was all done there was no physical color piece but he had colored it digitally. i did not know that was what he was doing and would not have opted to pay for that. But it is awesome in color, so in the end it all worked out.

Ulises Farinas, welcome to The Fifty!

The Fifty
1  BWS Storyteller Young Gods page 4
2  Tony Harris / Ray Snyder Dr. Strange WIRED Magazine cover
3  BWS Weapon X page
4  JHW3 Milestone Forever pinup

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

12  Ted McKeever Dr. Strange vs Dr.Doom in Hell
13  Dean Ormston Dr. Strange & Eternity

14  Darwyn Cooke Wonder Woman

15  Dan Adkins Dr Strange 170 page 11

16 Ulises Farinas - Dr. Strange in his Sanctum Sanctorum

17  Rudy Nebres - Dr. Strange, Dracula & The Scarlet Witch
18  Anna Merli Clea
19  Mitchell Bretweiser Dr. Strange watercolor
20  Jae Lee Dr. Strange

The Fifty - And the Dean Ormston commission makes 20!

Dean Ormston Dr. Strange & Eternity commission

Dr. Strange & Eternity, by Dean Ormston, is now in The Fifty.

This wonderful commission was a bit odd in the acquisition. I have since learned that until recently this was one of two full commissions that Dean Ormston took on over a number of years. He did not do many and why he chose to do mine is not known to me, but it does add a bit of understanding to what eventually happened.

It started simply enough and as it always did, with me somehow acquiring an artists' contact information and then asking for a commission. I usually got this info from the odd interview or promotional piece and I tried to be specific and clear in my requests. In this case I now remember it was because Dean Ormston was offering something on ebay. I contacted him through ebay and he was quick to accept the commission. I know we settled on Dr. Strange and Eternity but the parameters were generally pretty loose and everything was up to Dean's discretion in the end.

Well then something happened. I have since had it happen once or twice again, but this was the first time an artist contacted me, told me they were working on the commission as previously agreed upon but that it would now cost more than previously agreed if I wanted to own the finished piece. Well bust my britches! This was odd. Now I remember the figure of $300, but I do not recall if it was the initial price (which would have been within my means but a bit pricey for me back then) or the finished negotiation (more likely, but who knows in the end). But I recall Dean emailing me. (Is it possible we talked on the phone at that point? It is unclear and the recesses of my mind are dimly lit tonight.) The commission had grown and he told me that he could do another to the original specs or keep going on this one for a new amount. If I stayed with the one he was working on he said it would be a mock cover with lettering a logo.  I went with that, it sounded like he had a plan.

I think I made the right decision.

This thing is gorgeous. It is slightly larger than 11x17 and emphasizes the larger than life aspects inherent in Eternity. Dean manages the tough trick of showing only part of Eternity but still conveying the immensity of the character/concept. The figure of Dr. Strange is awesome as well - serene and focused in his spell-casting in the face of Eternity. It is a great commission and I cannot wait to have it on the wall. I foresee a Dr. Strange commission hallway with the PMS, the Bisley, this, and one or two others not yet revealed but most certainly in The Fifty. but today is not about them but about Dean Ormston, Dr. Strange & Eternity.

The Fifty
1  BWS Storyteller Young Gods page 4
2  Tony Harris / Ray Snyder Dr. Strange WIRED Magazine cover
3  BWS Weapon X page
4  JHW3 Milestone Forever pinup

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

12  Ted McKeever Dr. Strange vs Dr.Doom in Hell
13  Dean Ormston Dr. Strange & Eternity

14  Darwyn Cooke Wonder Woman

15  Dan Adkins Dr Strange 170 page 11

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

17  Rudy Nebres - Dr. Strange, Dracula & The Scarlet Witch
18  Anna Merli Clea
19  Mitchell Bretweiser Dr. Strange watercolor
20  Jae Lee Dr. Strange

Time for another one from The Fifty - Dave Sim Mars Attacks variant cover featuring Cerebus

Dave Sim Mars Attacks variant cover

I really love this piece.

But Dave Sim has gone nuts. No, I am not talking about his mental state, which seems to me to be just fine. I am referring to his penchant for the brush and jar of ink of late. Dave Sim wants to draw like Alex Raymond and is doing his best to learn how to do so. It seems a truly maddening pursuit, even for one as talented and accomplished as Dave Sim. He was documenting the process in one half, the more accepted half, of his groovy comic Glamourpuss. Glamourpuss only ran about 33 issues (that is off the top of my head, but I think I have about 33 issues) and was a beautiful book. I never completely warmed to some of the model shots myself; I always disliked the faces (even though Dave encouraged this with his model's facial expressions) while I loved the fashion. The fact that the model/fashion part of the book suffered was only in relation to the strength of the history of photo-realism comic style half of Glamourpuss, which was fascinating to this reader at least. I ate it up.

But then Glamourpuss ended.  Dave has since entered into a deal which requires re-working some of the Glamourpuss stuff into The Strange Death of Alex Raymond. Or at least it started out that way, even if he may have had to re-draw it all anyway. In any event it has apparently gotten complicated and proven to be a lot of work for Dave, and is far from ready for print. Which means it is far from ready from producing significant revenue for said Mr. Sim. Which brings us to the cover pictured above, auctioned at Heritage, and purchased by yours truly. See Dave needed capital, and IDW and Ted Adams proved smart enough to get some work out of him at that point in time. No surprise there as IDW is just killing it publishing wise in my opinion. The first, and perhaps best, of this arrangement was this Cerebus Attacks cover, a variant for Mars Attacks which had something like 20 variants for some sort of celebration/promotion.

Look at that thing closely. The degrees of depth conveyed from the front of the figure though the destroyed portion to the back of the figure and beyond is masterful. Its' Homeric is what it is. Homeric.

Dave Sim, welcome to my permanent collection. Welcome to The Fifty. This makes 19 pieces revealed. We're getting there, and that is a bit scary. Comiclink has about 40 pieces of mine coming off in the next few auctions. I was deleting them from my CAF today and was wondering what the fuck I am thinking. I was so happy getting some of these pieces over the last 20 years. But in the immortal words of Robin Harris...if you gotta go, you gotta go. This is getting real, real quick.

Also, I think I am re-arranging the list a bit. Somethings seemed out of place, perhaps ranked more out of perceived importance rather than pure unadulterated love. This may change again, but today the list looks like this.

The Fifty
1  BWS Storyteller Young Gods page 4
2  Tony Harris / Ray Snyder Dr. Strange WIRED Magazine cover
3  BWS Weapon X page
4  JHW3 Milestone Forever pinup

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

12  Ted McKeever Dr. Strange vs Dr.Doom in Hell  

13  Darwyn Cooke Wonder Woman

14  Dan Adkins Dr Strange 170 page 11

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

16  Rudy Nebres - Dr. Strange, Dracula & The Scarlet Witch
17  Anna Merli Clea
18  Mitchell Bretweiser Dr. Strange watercolor
19  Jae Lee Dr. Strange

More Framed Art- This One Goes in the Main Room!

My wife and family indulge my comic art passion, but that does not mean they want the art throughout the house. I have the downstairs area and have nine pieces framed and on the walls as we speak. But I have also become interested in some art not necessarily from comics but comic related. Strip art for example, for strips I never even read or possibly was not even born yet when they were published.

I am also in the market for some music related art. So when Roger Clark offered a Tim Truman painting used for a concert poster I went all in. Tim Truman did a lot of Grateful Dead related art and that did not stop when Jerry and the Grateful Dead died. Tim designed and painted this poster for a New Year's Eve show by Ratdog, Planet Drum, and Hot Tuna. And not just any New Year's Eve, but the 1999/2000 New Year's Eve. So I bought it, framed it, and it now hangs in the living room. I think it is the star of the room and  now we have to bring our game up a notch design wise to make the room as good as the painting.

My daughter Gail already enjoys showing off the symbols in the painting.

Frames of the Faltine, or The Dr. Strange MegaWall!

Okay, maybe I went a little far here. ;-) I have a master plan in mind for the framing and displaying of my comic art and figured why not do it right from the start. There was a temptation to space things about the room until I have more art before I really concentrate things, but.......nah!

Some of the photos did not turn out so well, but here is one of the other two newly framed pieces.

This is a commission from Paul Smith. It is in a frame that housed a Starman page, from issue 8, when I bought it. But this week I had that nondescript page switched out for this commission and I think it looks great. That is on the upper left in the group photo. Below it is a page from Dr. Strange issue 170, one of two I currently own. I will probably have that other page from 170 framed and placed on this wall and move the PMS piece at that time to a solo location, but for now it looks great with the other Doc pieces.

The middles piece has been framed for a while and is one of the jewels of my collection. Tony Harris WIRED magazine cover. Large and in charge, that's for sure!!!

I think the two pages from 170 would look nice together here because on the right side I have 2 pages from Tomb of Dracula 44 by Gene Colan and Tom Palmer. The bottom one is about an inch larger in the frame than the other pieces, so that proved problematic on the wall. Then you can add to that fact the fact that the framers attached the wires on the interior page (as opposed to the splash above) slightly higher than they did on all the other framed pieces and its gets really tricky. But they look alright together I think, no?