ComicLink January 2014 Focused Auction Original Art

ComicLink's January 2014 Focused Auction ended last week, with Session 4 offering original art. This was a low key offering, as ComicLink states "The Original Art offering of this auction focuses on more accessible material (check out the growing February preview for higher-end art) and includes visually exciting works by esteemed artists", basically saying the cheap stuff is this month and big ticket items will be next time around.
Read MoreComicLink January 2014 Focused Auction Original Art

Marvel Trading Cards

The early 1990s were all about lenticular covers, bagged promos, and rampant speculation. But they were also about trading cards. Upper Deck reigned supreme and we finally said goodbye to buying cards with super hard chewing gum. Traditionally we had purchased sports cards, but Marvel Comics had given us another option by issuing a series of collectible cards featuring their spandex clad characters.
Read MoreMarvel Trading Cards

WECA Toons 2

My last post was on the “toony” side of Vancouver’s Maple Leaf Publications and in it I stated that there were no real toons in Montreal’s Educational Projects Publishers. I now want to qualify that since I’ve been able to find three fillers that might qualify.
Read MoreWECA Toons 2

Something Savage This Way Comes

In 1971, Marvel decided to venture into a more adult oriented market. They saw the success that Warren Magazines were having with Eerie, Creepy, Vampirella.This was a market that allowed some of the greatest sequential storytellers to let loose without the restrictions placed on the industry by the comics code. Marvels' first foray into this market was a title called Savage Tales.
Read MoreSomething Savage This Way Comes

Arcs & Runs

We will start with an arc from my second favourite title: Tales of Suspense. I thought it was only fair that this title get the chance to be number one, as it has always been runner-up to my all-time favourite; Amazing Spider-Man. Our featured arc covers the last story ever told in the title. It doesn’t end in Tales of Suspense, but spills over and concludes in a ‘bridge book” IM/SM # 1, and the two new titles CA#100 and IM#1. All of the books feature Jack Kirby (CA) and Gene Colan (IM) artwork.
Read MoreArcs & Runs

WECA Toons 1

Comic book art runs the rainbow spectrum from realistic, to semi-realistic, to surrealistic, each time the metaphor getting stronger. In the surrealistic “toons” the world is populated by caricature humanoids and/or anthropomorphic fauna (‘funny animals”). Each of the four WECA publishers, except Educational Projects, had features that fell somewhere on the surrealistic end of this continuum.
Read MoreWECA Toons 1

The Art Of Collecting Original Art

One of the most exciting things for me in my collecting adventures has been the discovery of the original art market. Now we all collect comics for different reasons. For some it is the stories, for others it is the art, and then others collect runs or story arcs because of the creative team. Byrne/Claremont on X-men, Adams/O'Neil on Batman etc. For me it was always the art first then the story. When I was rebuilding my collection I discovered original art for sale. One of the reasons we collect comics is the rarity of the issue. With original art, it is the ONE and ONLY kind of rare.
Read MoreThe Art Of Collecting Original Art

How Much For Everything?

But isn't that implicitly what Marvel and DC state by having a shared universe for their stories? If all their stories are great and if they all have the same heroes who live in the same world then wouldn't I want to buy every book they produce? I decided to get out the Previews Guide and a calculator to answer this rhetorical question. I used the January 2014 Previews as a proxy for the entire year on the assumption that some months will have fewer books and some months will have more but overall it will probably average out. I didn't include books not in the shared universe and I didn't include collected editions.
Read MoreHow Much For Everything?

Rucker Publications

Here’s one of those strange companies that started to appear towards the end of the WECA period. Its main title was The Weekender. For the first two issues it was known as The Comic Section of Illustrated Weekender News Reviews. The implication of the title was that it was some sort of newspaper or magazine insert but actually the so-called “news section” was included in the comic book itself. This news section was a dozen or so black and white pages of text and photos dealing with popular news items of the day.
Read MoreRucker Publications

My Journey Through H.G. Wells’ Time Machine

In the mid '70's I was part of an advanced art class in Valley Heights Secondary School. My art teacher was Ross Bateman, younger brother of the famous Canadian wildlife artist Robert Bateman. He made it possible for those who were seriously considering a career in art to have 2 periods per day where we could work on whatever field we intended to go into. You guessed it: for me that was drawing comics.
Read MoreMy Journey Through H.G. Wells’ Time Machine