Sideshow Bob

Locke & Key commission from Zach Howard. Full write-up is provided on my CAF page. The two dudes being saved are series co-creators Joe Hill and Gabe Rodriguez.

Since I hadn't seen the original inks or knew the backstory, the published cover was my only reference until now. So my childhood pretense of how this cover got created was that Walt had been tasked with the cover duties. However, the rough storyline they gave him was Joker and Batman having their big fight on top of a temple, so he drew a Greek temple (the fight is on top of a Mayan pyramid in Guatemala). Jump back to today, and seeing the clear lines of the OA, it is very clearly a skyscraper with Greek god carvings and windows highlighted by police spotlights, and has zero connection to the story other than Batman and Joker duking it out. And one of my favorite Batman covers was an at-show commission, traded for cost of a new tractor. Hahaha. Never meet your heroes. LOL.

I talked to Walt about that Bats #366 cover a month ago, and he told me the story of using it as barter with his friend who had then sold it. He didn't mention seeing it on Dave Mandel's wall... but I got a good laugh out of the fact that its location was sitting on a Felix YouTube video all this time. Knowing it is in Mandel's house closes the loop on it, but it also makes it 99.9% unobtainable. Was not knowing where it was all these years any better than knowing it's held in esteem by a top collector? Feels like if Schroedinger collected OA...

No surprise to many here that I've been a big Don Newton fan for quite a while. But as I was trying to find a couple more pages to two specific issues from his Batman/Detective run, I hadn't shared all the art I'd picked up in the massive Ebay dump of 2017/2018. Call it pandemic fatigue, but the sequential art is just too good not to share. Obviously, I'd welcome any suggestions on where any missing pages might be, but the time for holding these in the shadows is well past its prime. My many thanks to Felix Liu for providing guidance on whether I should really attack that never-ending drip-drip sale in 2017/2018 on Ebay, even though I had to sell some quality pieces and put a couple buys on a credit card to fund the acquisition process (a single page was posted for sale every three days). "You'll kick yourself later if you don't!" from Felix gave me the push I needed...and the credit cards were quickly paid off. The evolution of a buyer of OA, to a broad collector of OA, to a focused collector of OA, to a curator of certain pieces or artists or runs, is a long process, full of mistakes and missteps. I'm not there yet, but definitely jumping in with both feet to acquire these interiors was a decision I'm glad I made. Added 10 pages from Detective Comics #526 (May 1983) https://www.comicartfans.com/galleryroom.asp?gsub=208912 Detective #526, the mega-sized 500th Batman-in-Detective anniversary issue, was a tour de force for Newton on pencils and inks by Alfredo Alcala and features a full run-through of Batman's Rogues Gallery. In my opinion, Newton's best work was really allowed to shine through with a significantly lighter touch by Alcala. Added 9 pages from Batman #366 (Dec 1983) https://www.comicartfans.com/galleryroom.asp?gsub=208911 Batman #366 is the first appearance of Jason Todd as Robin, emerging as Bruce Wayne's blonde-haired new ward after his acrobat parents are killed (familiar setup?), but later retconned in Batman #408 as an orphaned black-haired tire thief until Death in the Family and a 900-number stunt put Batman into a pretty rough grieving period. Lots and lots of Alcala's trademark hatching and shading in this issue as story was set in the jungle atop temple ruins. Again, if you know where any pages are from these two issues that are not on CAF, let me know! Walt Simonson's cover to Bats #366 is out there somewhere [SOLVED] ...and that DPS from 'Tec #526 and several key pages from Bats #366 are unaccounted. Bob

Closed.

Your package is already addressed. Bob

Closed.

Heritage changed their description: "...while the published cover shows some differences, we believe this detailed piece was used, supplemented by stats created in production to create the printing plate. To elaborate about the changes in the original art being offered and the final version of the published comic book, comparing the images of Batman and Two-Face on the original art to the published cover, they line up perfectly. For the cover, the pattern on Two-Face's suit was probably changed for editorial consistency or to make it easier to draw on the interior pages. On the cover, background elements appear to have been switched/photoshopped in production, but again align perfectly when mirrored."

And the Batman #313 cover....Heritage says "This is possibly an alternate cover that was either reconfigured in production or rejected in order to maintain editorial consistency with the characters." OK, so does anyone know if this is a rejected cover that had to be redrawn completely and there a clean version of this in the wild? Or did the background get flipped in production with a very good Exacto + a new suit pattern was applied? I haven't taken the time yet to overlay them in Photoshop and see how the lines look in obverse. UPDATE FROM AN AMATUER: So I went through it on Photoshop, and it looks like they reassembled stats of the OA and did a little bit of cosmetic work to get them to work with a quick plaid treatment to one side of the suit. Would have been a bit of work to do, but the dimensions (with a little warping here and there) are so spot-on that the published version does not look to be light-boxed or re-done. While there might be a 97% stat out there, I think this is the real OA that leads to the corrected stat cover. That being said, you have a Two-Face image where the clean side of the room is on the scar-side of his face, and the dirty side is on the clean side of his face and editorial hated it so much they made a production guy bust out his master-class Exacto knife skills...can I get over that fact if I bid enough to win OR will it haunt me every time I look at it... uggh. Don't know. If someone has a different opinion, I'd love to know about it. Again...amateur examination knowing that some of you are much better at this kind of thing. Bob

At this snail's pace, the UK guys will be asleep by the time we get to Dragon's Lair...

Seeing those collectors' game rooms, with so many games and high-end collectibles related to Dragons Lair, I'm going to have to up my estimate for that poster art, even if Bluth didn't touch it. How do those two guys from the UK not duke this one out on HA Live? Bob

Let's ignore taxes. For me, the real benefit of the cash deal is also peace of mind that a) for the buyer, that the art is in your hand after inspecting it and b) for the seller, that the check isn't going to bounce/a bogus fraud claim is going to get filed on PayPal. At today's prices for some A and A+ pieces, people will continue to do cash deals. Collectors in NYC will still do it. But maybe you don't fly across the country to do it where you might have considered a couple hundred dollar flight cost as part of the economics of the deal.

Are you talking about Web of Spiderman #31?

Hammer at $43k, with BP $51,600. Congrats to the new owner!

That is how a successful auction house is run. Strike while the iron is hot when people want to buy, and strike while the iron is hot when people need to sell. They always get paid, either way and every time. Great chapter in Freakonomics that specifically addresses this topic for real estate brokers encouraging you to take that offer that's on the table, and it isn't because it's in your best interest.

I have one of Hugh's paintings, and it is stunning in person. And a great guy too. Bob

The whole Con is cancelled.

The Zeck SSM #131 cover sold for $33k at HA in Nov 2017. This is obviously a better cover, but is it double? I had it pegged around $40k - 50k. Given that SSM #132 sat at $60k for that long, between the two seems about right. But we've seen plenty of pieces languish on a dealer site only to get wrapped up higher with bidders caught up in auction fever.

I reached to him when that issue came out, and [edit] he said doing Batman was the reason he had gotten into comics in the first place [edit] and he didn't want to consider selling. The excitement was just too much and separating from the work too soon was not in the cards. Looks like I should have reached out a little later, as it seems he changed his mind! They are all tremendous. Many kudos on keeping the issue together...every page is wonderful. Bob

One of the three DPS in the Detective #27 story by Scott Snyder/Sean Murphy, showing different incarnations of Batman in Gotham.

Tom Mandrake. Spectre #51. Joker's conscience gets reconnected after taking over Spectre's form...the Jason Todd in the crowd is heartbreaking.

Great podcast. The “I paid more than I was comfortable and had a panic attack” and the other guys effectively says “hold my beer”...classic OA collector stories. Loved it.

Success! Locke & Key: Head Games #3 cover in hand! And if anyone has any more Locke & Key covers by Gabe Rodriguez tucked away, let me know for a healthy cash offer! https://www.comicartfans.com/gallerypiece.asp?piece=1603750 Bob

DM sent. And I guess I should specify Locke & Key art by Gabe Rodriguez.

Imagine Santa asks, "This year, you been a good socially-adjusted man-child who still reads comic books...what OA would you want for Christmas?" So here's that list!!! 1) Still on the hunt for Y:The Last Man interior pages (from the first 12 issues only). 2) Any interiors or covers from Locke & Key. If you have any L&K art by Gabe Rodriguez, don't hesitate to reach out and receive a very healthy offer! 3) Also: Looking for any pages from Detective #526 or Batman #366, both of which are Newton/Alcala on pencils/inks. 4) Also, also: Jerry Bingham pages from Batman: Son of the Demon 5) Needle in haystack: Looking for the six covers from IDW's Wild Blue Yonder, by Zach Howard. Bought directly from the artist, and poof, just like Keyser Soze, they're gone. Happy holidays! Bob