MrCookieMonster

I started collecting original art when I was 22 in 2007. 11 years ago. Now I am 33, turning 34 this summer. I've gathered quite a collection of original comic art over the past 10 years, and have deep collections of a certain artist. Check my CAF gallery to see who. http://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryDetail.asp?GCat=35835

The X-men Excalibur Nightcrawler short story drawn by Tim Sale and written by Jim Kreuger is one of my favorite short comic book stories of all time! This was also Jim's first story he ever written (according to him!). Though I'm not sure if this story is really underappreciated, it's a personal testament of my Christian faith background and just great story, art, and storytelling imho. I like that Nightcrawler gives a confession in a confession booth for being born a mutant, and the old priest then gives Nightcrawler his confession for being human. Priceless! I also like the last page sequence of the old priest saying "We all have our crosses to bear", and there's a depiciton of Nightcrawler holding his handkerchief in a way to show the X-men symbol as crosses. Also love the smart use of blacks and shadows, and the raw emotions conveyed from the simple black/white panels. Jim Krueger listed these on ebay 5 years ago. He listed them as individual pages. Wanting the story to be a full sequential set, I knew I had to have the story, so I set my bid too high and won every page in the 4-page story arc. I asked Jim to sign them before mailing them out. I find he signed the back of each page. I still have to get them scanned. Was too lazy. Left them in a portfolio. The pictures are from the auction that Jim made. There might be better photos on the web somewhere.

I know for a fact his style is mainly influenced by Jorge Zaffino, Sergio Toppi, and Bill Watterson.

Just got here. Late to the game. Picked this up a few weeks ago, on Black Friday, as an early Christmas present to myself. Tim Sale Batman Rebirth Issue 15 Cover - http://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryPiece.asp?Piece=1437109

I imagine the story will only get better. Keep in mind that SGM is both writing and drawing the book. Since he is doing both, I agree with what you said, that "he is attempting to sell it based on the premise that it might be the next big Batman story". Also, because he is doing both the writing and drawing himself, he can charge what ever sum lump of money he wants. He's a BIG DEAL right now imo. But I'm also not sure how everyone else feels about him. To me, he's one of the superstars in the industry right now.