Comic Art

Last item from the Comic Expo Fan appreciation event.  Chris Sprouse had no one at his table so I of course asked for a Doctor Strange sketch since I already had a Doctor Fate from him.  I watched him complete the piece and I was shocked at the level of pencil detail he put in, then inked it and erased all the pencil work.  His inks are fairly clean and simple but it’s unbelievable how much you don’t see when the pencils are gone.  If you ever get a sketch from Chris ask him to leave the pencil in!

Another great piece from the Fan appreciation event.  I had circled Alex Maleev’s table a few times during the day but I had a great piece from him already and wanted to see how far my limited budget would take me.  Towards the end of the day I went by again and he chatted me up and we talked about prices and a sketch.  I told him I only had $80 left and didn’t want to insult him by offering it, but he said it was slow at the end of the day and would see what he came up with.  Looking at what I received it was an incredible bargain.  Looks a lot more like Silver Surfer than Daredevil but I appreciate the detail.

Attended the Comic Expo Fan Appreciation even in April and picked up some nice items.  Pages have gone through the roof, to the extent that I’m seeing prices 500-1000% higher than five years ago.  This applies across the board for brand new pages and classics.  Shows are becoming the only moderate bargain to pick up comic art as a sketch or piece direct from the artist.

Paul Rivoche was attending and brought some pieces along.  I was immediately drawn to this stunning Mister X piece: I’m a product of the 80’s through and through including indie characters.  Mister X is great and has made some excellent appearances over the years: my favourite was the Black Label poster.

Received an email in March from Steve Rude (his wife actually) offering big discounts on some older pages.  Looking through this one caught my eye: lots of ink and some action on the page.

Finally got around to scanning this year’s art additions.  In January (February perhaps, losing track) there was a one day show in Toronto with Kevin Maguire as the only guest.  I arrived early and waited in line so I could at least get something from him.

Once at his table he had a bunch of headshots done the night before at his hotel: he wasn’t doing any sketches that day.  There was quite a selection but it came down to the best facial expression: it was the Hulk below or a Blue Beetle.   I think I made the right choice.

My final item from the 2008 Toronto Fan Expo: a second Ramon Perez JSA Classified page.

I should start off by saying I’m not an Ed McGuinness fan.  While at Fan Expo in Toronto I ran across Dexter Vines: he’s an excellent inker and had some nice pages for sale.  This Watcher page jumped out at me, mostly because of that Kirby-esque outstretched hand.

Another find from the Fan Expo: picked this up from the inker Drew Geraci.  As always I’m drawn to the black heavily inked pages.

My highlight piece from Fan Expo 2008: a glorious Wonder Woman sketch from Darwyn Cooke.  I had spotted him around the show on Friday and I found out he would be selling some of his sketch books from artist’s alley on Saturday morning.  Saturday I paced until I spotted him and was the first in line: he had done headshots of 50’s style women in each so I picked out my favourite.  Then he pulled out a portfolio of stuff for sale: I was blown away by the material but managed to pick out the item below.

First pieces online from the recent Toronto Fan Expo.  Tim Sale was one of the big names I wanted to get a piece from and he employs a unique system, or rather the two or three associates he had with him employed.  Tim does about ten sketches a day and hands out cards to the first people in his line giving a time that day when he’ll draw your sketch.  This is a great system: you don’t need to waste hours in line waiting for no real reason.  The one caveat is that he only spends 10-15 minutes on each piece, but his style fits the limited time frame.  I was in line the second day and brought a friend to wait with me since he didn’t want a Sale piece and I really wanted two.

For the Doctor Strange I provided reference material.  I really wanted a Dr. Fate but Tim didn’t want to do one: I asked for Hawkman but didn’t have reference material so I went with the Hulk.