Cockrum/Layton The X-Men 105 page 30 original art

Here's a sweet page from The X-Men 105 page 30 (before they became Uncanny) with art from Dave Cockrum and Bob Layton. Great looking artwork with large panels featuring the entire team including Phoenix prominently in the center. You even get Wolverine in a pane down below! Signed by Layton.

This piece looks to be very representative of that time. Don't forget pages from this early Cockrum run don't come out for sale publicly very often. From June 1977.

Currently at $6500 (13 bids) with 9 hours to go. Anyone betting on this one doubling before it's done??

Happy 2010 !! Darwyn Cooke Justice League New Frontier original art

Happy 2010 Everyone!! Can't believe 2010 is already here --I coulda swore it was only 2008 like last week. Oh man where have I been? ;)

In the 2010 art front, there were a couple nice LARGE Darwyn Cooke style Justice League New Frontier original art pieces that sold on eBay recently. These were 14" x 18" ink and water color on bristol of various characters from that popular GN (and DVD) several years back, all done by Darwyn Cooke himself. The pieces I saw looked fabulous and hopefully there will be more coming and more being auctioned off. Also some other smaller and prelim Cooke artwork sold around this same period.

• The Darwyn Cooke Wonder Woman, Superman and Batman original art piece sold for close to $2500.00 with 37 bids.
• The Darwyn Cooke Green Lantern piece had a BIN price of $600.00. In hindsight, that might be a steal but I think the auction was ended rather than realized.
  
• A smaller black/white Catwoman prelim original art piece sold for close to $700.00 (Darwyn Cooke original art)
  
• A large Batman and Robin piece by Darwyn Cooke, very nice too but more simple!
  

I'm looking foward to seeing more of these gems from Darwyn Cookie in the coming weeks/months. Stay tuned here for more details as they come in. :)

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2010 San Diego Comic Con Update: Did you get your 2010 San Diego Comic-Con tickets yet? I know the 4 and 5 day (preview night) passes are long gone as in SOLD OUT, and Saturday individual tickets are sold out as well. I think this will be a good year to check out the show as I believe there will be a healthy selection of quality original artwork for sale. Of course the big summer movie marketing machine will be at full power during the show too, and who knows which premium movie star will attend to promote their films. Can you say Twilight boys and girls? Whoa that Ashely Greene sobe painted swimsuit was uh fascinating.. ;)

All the big name comic book artists will be at the show as well. What better way to beat the crummy economy than by attending a 4-5 day comic book convention this summer in sunny and warm San Diego. Think vacation. Don't forget your swim suits kids! Party responsibly. :)

McFarlane Spider-Man original artwork

Here was a sweet piece that realized more than $4800 on eBay.

Todd McFarlane Spider-Man original comic book art for a promotional piece, with crazy disjointed hips and all, probably from around the time of his run on Amazing Spider-Man and Spider-Man. Large 11by17 art with some white-out around the eyes and near the arm. Plus a large lower corner cut off but then re-attached. All in all, not a bad looking piece for a McSpidey fan.

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. :)