Hero Initiative Wolverine: Weapon X #1 sketch covers

Hero Initiative is at it again! :)

"Marvel Comics graciously created blank-covered editions of the landmark new Wolverine: Weapon X #1 and gave them to The Hero Initiative to have a bountiful bevy of stellar artists do ORIGINAL drawings on the cover. Each of these covers is an original, one-of-a-kind piece! Hero will be auctioning these off at the rate of approximately 12 per week ’til we get thru ’em all!"

Artists that have donated sketched covers include Chris Bachalo, Joe Bennett, Colleen Coover, Clayton Crain, Ken Lashley, Steve Lieber, Jorge Lucas, Mike Kunkel, Mike McKone, Danny Miki, Todd Nauck, Jeff Parker, Brandon Peterson, Humberto Ramos, Stuart Sayger, Aaron Sowd, Dustin Weaver, Skottie Young and many other surprise guest artists!!

Check it out before they all sell out!!

This link is to the Hero Initiative eBay store and all the different Wolverine Weapon X #1 original art sketch covers and other original comic book art for sale.

Dave Cockrum Uncanny X-Men 101 DPS original comic book art

Here's a great page that just sold from eBay!!

Dave Cockrum Uncanny X-Men 101 DPS original comic book artwork feature their ship down and the team (or their heads anyways) in one large pane. Looks great framed!

This sold for $6500.00 with 36 bids.

For you X-Men fans, you already know this is a very prominent issue from 1976. Classic and historic splash.

"Where The Wild Things Are" original artwork

Here's something you don't see often. An original Maurice Sendak "Where the Wild Things Are" original art piece and it's for sale from Sendak.

The art isn't cheap though. This piece had an asking price of over $100k. This is the original artwork for a Harper's poster from 1990. 15" x 21" unframed, graphite on vellum, 25" x 31" framed. Looks super super detailed.

Check out the other great Sendak pieces for sale here.

1978 Byrne Austin Uncanny X-Men original art

One more to share. I love this stuff. :)

Super cool 1978 Byrne/Austin Uncanny X-Men 116 page 14 which sold for a tad more than $4100 recently. Wolverine, Nightcrawler (Dig it when Wolvie calls him Elf heh) and Storm, all done up in vintage and classic (now timeless) John Byrne and Terry Austin X-art team style. Maybe the best X-art team!

I miss the stories and art from that time. They just made the characters feel more human and less super "tough-guy" mutants, but somehow it was easier to related to them too, like the back and forth dialog back then was as if maybe you or me were talking to them. Maybe it was the late 70s and 80s period, where life maybe was simpler with less sophistication. Today's stuff is more formulated, more defined and less about the reader experience, less about what super hero said. Heck, most books nowadays have at least one, maybe multiple splash or 2/3 splash pages where someone will sell it off for a buck. Sometimes, a picture is worth a thousand words. But somehow, a picture back then was worth more visually and much more of a treat to the senses. I'm not talking about value of the original art itself. You just got more from the story and books back then... background details were killer sophisticated and elaborate.

If you have any Byrne/Austin Uncanny X-Men pages or splashes for sale, anything Wolverine, Colossus, Cyclops, Phoenix, Marvel Girl, etc.. ping me (email addy on the sidebar). I'd love to throw a cash offer your way. :)

80s George Perez New Teen Titans Who's Who Twice-up team pinup

Here's a nice twice-up George Perez New Teen Titans Who's Who piece that recently sold for $4411.26. From either 1986 or 1988, clearly this double-page splash was either the center foldout or maybe a pull out pinup. Regardless, this large art features the whole team. Has a great 80s feel to this one with the team charging out and the Titans team heads along the 2 sides. Gotta love the way Raven's smoke billows are drawn --so darn consistent every time too. Awesome piece of original comic book art.

Post-San Diego Comic Con news and Byrne/Austin Uncanny X-Men

Hello original comic book art collectors!! Sorry for the lapse, had a fun-filled early 2009 so far with lots going on in my personal life but hopefully most of that is now sorted out and I can try to share more of what I'm seeing in the market.

For those of you that attended San Diego Comic-Con several weeks ago, hope it was a great show for you. I've seen tons of photos and read many stories. But I'd love to hear more of your own personal stories and your own experiences. Were there any great original comic book art pieces for sale?? Notice any trends for what is selling or being marketed to sell?? Shoot me an email when you get a chance.

As a side note, I do know that Jim Lee X-pages are clearly increasing in value. I'm aware of a couple deals that concluded within the past year of nice pages moving. I'm not going to bother giving specifics but they were really *really* nice splash pages. Is now the time to shell out and upgrade that piece you have sitting at home? Can't answer that, but you can always try to see what you can get for it and if it works, move the piece.

If you have any Lee/Williams X-Men or Uncanny X-Men pages for sale, please do contact me. Would love to throw an offer your way!! :D

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Wanted to share a great looking page from Uncanny X-Men 137 that moved. This was from the Heritage Auction that recently concluded this weekend. Uncanny X-Men 137 page 43. This page features Wolverine and Colossus in a (Reverse) Fastball Special move against Phoenix on the moon. It was the all or nothing move. The layout is pretty sweet on this page and it's a key action sequence. Funny how the pages from this time were not as "splashy" as those in the current books you read. No doubt this is a great historic page!!

This gem sold for $16,132.50 including the gravy.

Super-Con 2009 in San Jose

I attended the first day at Super-Con 2009 in San Jose. With warmer weather hitting the area this weekend, I wasn't sure if attendance would be good or bad at the show. Looked pretty full to me.

The doors opened about 5 minutes late but with a long line already cued up out front, eager fanboys (and fangirls) raced into the convention straight for what seemed like the Adam Hughes table! :) The next large group of people seemed to be around the Eduardo Risso table. The artist of 100 Bullets fame had a crowd about 2 rows deep after I did a short loop around the "main" artist alley area. I was a little surprised to see that artists were in the back of the main show section as well as along the sides and front section of the show floor, generally spread out. This makes sense though since it seemed to prevent large clusters of people in only one area (other than those waiting for a particular artist) and maybe it would encourage more foot traffic throughout the show.

After some more slow geeking and looking at everything, I found the table for Whilce Portacio. Whilce wasn't there yet but his friendly and extremely nice wife (Their entire family is really nice!!) was there to manage the table till he got there shortly thereafter. They had some nice pre-done original art pieces as well as a few published pages so I couldn't help myself and picked up some goodies for me. :)

Feet kept moving me around till I slowed down and browsed the original art portfolios of some of the long time comic book artists --Ernie Chan, Pablo Marcos, Danny Bulanadi, Tony Dezuniga, and Alex Nino. Great great stuff there. Their use of pencil tones are incredible. If you haven't yet seen their pieces up-close, I encourage you to check out their work at the next show. Their fine lines and extraordinary backgrouns will really amaze you. I ended up getting a nice full figured and large Baron Karza sketch from Danny --funny and great guy too. I'm tempted to get another sketch from him now that I'm back from the show and finally have a chance to look at it more thoroughly. hahaha :)

Ended up perusing the many booths to see if there are any new or cool toys I need for my office. Amazed to see those "Super Hero Squad" figures still selling so well, but hey they are kinda cool. Lots of Star Wars toys still. Speaking of my Baron Karza sketch, I'm still waiting for a Micronauts movie and renewed interest for this untapped market and potential mega-franchise --just think of all the consumer merchandising here people. Think Transformers but think less tires and fenders. Just get Megan Fox to be Marionette, it will be a hit. ;)

I ended up finding my way back to Whilce's table and saw Whilce in action working on my piece. Woo hoo!! We ended up chatting for more than an hour about stuff, but it was great catching up. I think the last time I was able to chat face-to-face with them may have been 2004 in San Diego. Hope the next time isn't another 5 years.

Many familiar faces at the show including Eddy "I'm not Jim Lee" Choi. And finally was able to attach some faces of other art collectors to their email addresses as well. Overall fewer original art dealers, but still I'm glad I was able to make this show.