Susan Cicconi

[VintageComics]

I am not trying to discredit Susan...She is a pleasure to deal with and very talented. I was curious as to what others thought of her work. She has had a lot of very good professional reviews and I was just disappointed in how two books turned out. I have had work done by three other restorers in the past so I had an idea of what to compare Susan's work with as well. I just humbly think she is over rated these days.

 

As for detecting restoration, I actually believed the dealer over her. Susan is very zealous about disclosure which is an honorable thing, she said she would actually speak with the dealer and she never did. Thats fine. Just don't tell me you are gonna do something and later just forget about it, especially if it is something you feel strongly about. It didn't matter anyhow since I returned the book.

 

I suppose every book can come out different depending on what is done. I just won't use Susan anymore--but nothing personal. Heck, I am not gonna use anyone anymore!

So you started a thread to say it might be restoration work. Then it was just detection. Now you're insinuating that she did work. By all means, please keep us in the dark. If all you wanted was to get opinions on her work or detection skills, that's all you had to ask. Now, nobody knows what you were getting at.

 

Confusion achieved.

 

Yup. Huge difference between detection and performing work.

 

(thumbs u

 

It's like the difference between being Phil Jackson and Kobe Bryant.

 

 

[DiceX]

Kenny's anal retentiveness, almost-annoying perfectionism, and natural curiosity

 

I see you've had long phone conversations with Kenny as well

 

I have and I've never noticed it.

 

 

 

[dopy02]

 

Otherwise I might not be able to put a copy of Supes 1 through the ringer, so to speak.

 

restoration secrets revealed

 

[mackenzie999]

Kenny's proximity to a world class document conservation center

 

I have no horse in this race but I'd like to point out that Susan worked as a conservator at the Louvre, which one would assume would be world class as well.

[Ze-man]

 

Otherwise I might not be able to put a copy of Supes 1 through the ringer, so to speak.

 

restoration secrets revealed

 

 

How the eff did you get a photo of my comic ringer machine? I am calling the cops.

[VintageComics]

 

Otherwise I might not be able to put a copy of Supes 1 through the ringer, so to speak.

 

restoration secrets revealed

 

 

How the eff did you get a photo of my comic ringer machine? I am calling the cops.

 

Is that how Matt gets his express pressing jobs done?

[Ze-man]

Kenny's proximity to a world class document conservation center

 

I have no horse in this race but I'd like to point out that Susan worked as a conservator at the Louvre, which one would assume would be world class as well.

 

I don't think anyone here is questioning Susan's credentials, myself first and foremost. She has decades of experience to draw upon. I think Scott was more referring to the fact that being close to the IHS allowed me to accelerate my learning curve.

 

Besides, I would never presume to compare myself to anyone because I fully realize I am still fairly new, to all of this.

 

 

 

 

 

[Ze-man]

 

Otherwise I might not be able to put a copy of Supes 1 through the ringer, so to speak.

 

restoration secrets revealed

 

 

How the eff did you get a photo of my comic ringer machine? I am calling the cops.

 

Is that how Matt gets his express pressing jobs done?

 

That's what the steam roller is for, noob.

 

 

[VintageComics]

 

Otherwise I might not be able to put a copy of Supes 1 through the ringer, so to speak.

 

restoration secrets revealed

 

 

How the eff did you get a photo of my comic ringer machine? I am calling the cops.

 

Is that how Matt gets his express pressing jobs done?

 

That's what the steam roller is for, noob.

 

 

 

 

 

[rockman2008]

I think Scott was more referring to the fact that being close to the IHS allowed me to accelerate my learning curve.

 

Acronyms. Close to the IHS? All this time I thought you worked for the HMSS.

[FFB]

Kenny's proximity to a world class document conservation center

 

I have no horse in this race but I'd like to point out that Susan worked as a conservator at the Louvre, which one would assume would be world class as well.

 

I don't think anyone here is questioning Susan's credentials, myself first and foremost. She has decades of experience to draw upon. I think Scott was more referring to the fact that being close to the IHS allowed me to accelerate my learning curve.

 

Besides, I would never presume to compare myself to anyone because I fully realize I am still fairly new, to all of this.

 

 

 

Right. I am familiar with Susan's qualifications and I certainly am not saying that she is undereducated or underqualified in any way.

 

My point was that your having nearby access to a world class document conservation center means that you are exposed to state of the art techniques and have other conservators to talk to about potential application of those new techniques to the comic field.

[Hero Restoration]

And no, I don't work for Classics Inc. or make a commission

So who do you work for? I have noticed you seem to know just about everything about restoration.

[FFB]

And no, I don't work for Classics Inc. or make a commission

So who do you work for? I have noticed you seem to know just about everything about restoration.

 

Hardly.

 

I own my own business and it has nothing to do with restoration. Restoration was just a hobby of mine.

[DrWatson]

And no, I don't work for Classics Inc. or make a commission

So who do you work for? I have noticed you seem to know just about everything about restoration.

 

Hardly.

 

I own my own business and it has nothing to do with restoration. Restoration was just a hobby of mine.

You might as well tell him the truth, Scott. Sooner or later it will come out that you have secretly been on Matt's payroll for years.

[topofthetotem]

And no, I don't work for Classics Inc. or make a commission

So who do you work for? I have noticed you seem to know just about everything about restoration.

 

Hardly.

 

I own my own business and it has nothing to do with restoration. Restoration was just a hobby of mine.

You might as well tell him the truth, Scott. Sooner or later it will come out that you have secretly been on Matt's payroll for years.

 

Matt probably couldn't afford to rent FFB's garden shed let alone FFB the man,the myth, the legend.

[Sal]

And no, I don't work for Classics Inc. or make a commission

So who do you work for? I have noticed you seem to know just about everything about restoration.

 

Hardly.

 

I own my own business and it has nothing to do with restoration. Restoration was just a hobby of mine.

You might as well tell him the truth, Scott. Sooner or later it will come out that you have secretly been on Matt's payroll for years.

 

He's on retainer!

 

 

 

 

 

[DrWatson]

And no, I don't work for Classics Inc. or make a commission

So who do you work for? I have noticed you seem to know just about everything about restoration.

 

Hardly.

 

I own my own business and it has nothing to do with restoration. Restoration was just a hobby of mine.

You might as well tell him the truth, Scott. Sooner or later it will come out that you have secretly been on Matt's payroll for years.

 

He's on retainer!

 

 

 

 

 

Uh oh... That was clever.

[MrBedrock]

This will be my longest post in a while...so sit right back and you'll hear a tale...

 

The first big resto job I ever saw was a Whiz #1 that was completely rebuilt by Bill Sarill in the late '70s. It was originally found in an attic and the spine was totally gone. It looked great from a distance, but up close it was fairly obvious where the original ended and the additions began. Still, it was quit a revelation that a comic that was basically uncollectible could be improved to a state that was both collectible and aesthetically pleasing.

 

In the early 80s a friend of mine (and former co-worker at Camelot) named David Hargis took Sarill's resto class. This is the same class that both Susan and Matt took (though I am sure that Susan spent many more hours working as Sarill's understudy). For a fee Sarill would spend two weeks or more of one-on-one time with a student and teach them all of the basics. Then the student was sent off to perfect those procedures on their own. David tried to make a living out of restoration work but it was a hard job at the time. Part of the problem was that, no matter how hard he tried (and he was a perfectionist), he could never "hide" the restoration work. So much of what makes a restoration job "good" to a client is having the restored item not look restored upon the job's completion. It is a difficult trick to walk to line between conserving a book and keeping it aesthetically pleasing. It proved too difficult for David and he gave up on it.

 

Around 1990 a few things happened. I opened my first store and really started seriously dealing in old comics. Through buying and selling I continually ran across books that had been worked on by Susan. I also talked to many collectors who had books worked on by her. I have seen a ton of her restoration work. At that time her work was definitely the most professional. It always had a consistency to it. And she was far and away the best at matching color. To put it simply, her work most closely approached that of Sarill. But the one negative about Susan's work was that she was also a perfectionist. Because of this she took a very long time completing work. In some cases a job lasted much longer than a year. Time consuming and costly, her comic resto work eventually took a back burner to other, more cost effective pursuits.

 

In 1992 I was elected president of the AACC. Working with that organization gave me the opportunity to meet and talk to Tracey Heft. Tracey approached resto from an entirely different perspective than any other restoration professional I had ever met. His main concern was that aesthetic restoration was corrupting paper conservation. Basically he always took into consideration whether an item's historical intergrity was compromised in the pursuit of aesthetics. I thought that was a cool concept and had Tracey perform the bulk of the resto work I had done at that time. But Tracey too was, and still is, a perfectionist. The type of work that his principles allowed him to perform appealed to a relatively small portion of potential clients. He therefore had a hard time having his voice heard and garnering business.

 

Also in 1992 I met Bill Ponseti of More Fun Comics in New Orleans. Behind the counter of Bill's store was geeky Matt Nelson. We have been friends since day one. I have had the pleasure of watching Matt progress from a gung-ho fan of old comics into the professional comic book expert he is today. His early restoration work was passable, but not always great. But he has improved over the last fifteen years to the point that his restoration work is really unsurpassed. And the reason Matt is where he is now is not only because he has worked very hard to perfect and advance the craft. Matt has also worked very hard to understand the business realities of our hobby. In doing so he has figured out how to integrate and rationalize the perfectionism needed to do quality work.

 

I bring this all up because the original poster hinted at something that I don't think has been addressed. At one time Susan was the standard upon which all resto work was measured. But restorsation at its core is both a science and an art. Unfortunately the economics of the time didn't allow Susan to continue and improve upon her work. I don't think one can stop riding that bicycle for a long period of time and then just pick it back up. While I am sure she still does quality work she is still going to be hamstrung by the work model she has always used.

 

[TrippyMcSkippy-migration]

Right ON..Nice post Bedrock

[buttock]

This will be my longest post in a while...so sit right back and you'll hear a tale...

 

The first big resto job I ever saw was a Whiz #1 that was completely rebuilt by Bill Sarill in the late '70s. It was originally found in an attic and the spine was totally gone. It looked great from a distance, but up close it was fairly obvious where the original ended and the additions began. Still, it was quit a revelation that a comic that was basically uncollectible could be improved to a state that was both collectible and aesthetically pleasing.

 

In the early 80s a friend of mine (and former co-worker at Camelot) named David Hargis took Sarill's resto class. This is the same class that both Susan and Matt took (though I am sure that Susan spent many more hours working as Sarill's understudy). For a fee Sarill would spend two weeks or more of one-on-one time with a student and teach them all of the basics. Then the student was sent off to perfect those procedures on their own. David tried to make a living out of restoration work but it was a hard job at the time. Part of the problem was that, no matter how hard he tried (and he was a perfectionist), he could never "hide" the restoration work. So much of what makes a restoration job "good" to a client is having the restored item not look restored upon the job's completion. It is a difficult trick to walk to line between conserving a book and keeping it aesthetically pleasing. It proved too difficult for David and he gave up on it.

 

Around 1990 a few things happened. I opened my first store and really started seriously dealing in old comics. Through buying and selling I continually ran across books that had been worked on by Susan. I also talked to many collectors who had books worked on by her. I have seen a ton of her restoration work. At that time her work was definitely the most professional. It always had a consistency to it. And she was far and away the best at matching color. To put it simply, her work most closely approached that of Sarill. But the one negative about Susan's work was that she was also a perfectionist. Because of this she took a very long time completing work. In some cases a job lasted much longer than a year. Time consuming and costly, her comic resto work eventually took a back burner to other, more cost effective pursuits.

 

In 1992 I was elected president of the AACC. Working with that organization gave me the opportunity to meet and talk to Tracey Heft. Tracey approached resto from an entirely different perspective than any other restoration professional I had ever met. His main concern was that aesthetic restoration was corrupting paper conservation. Basically he always took into consideration whether an item's historical intergrity was compromised in the pursuit of aesthetics. I thought that was a cool concept and had Tracey perform the bulk of the resto work I had done at that time. But Tracey too was, and still is, a perfectionist. The type of work that his principles allowed him to perform appealed to a relatively small portion of potential clients. He therefore had a hard time having his voice heard and garnering business.

 

Also in 1992 I met Bill Ponseti of More Fun Comics in New Orleans. Behind the counter of Bill's store was geeky Matt Nelson. We have been friends since day one. I have had the pleasure of watching Matt progress from a gung-ho fan of old comics into the professional comic book expert he is today. His early restoration work was passable, but not always great. But he has improved over the last fifteen years to the point that his restoration work is really unsurpassed. And the reason Matt is where he is now is not only because he has worked very hard to perfect and advance the craft. Matt has also worked very hard to understand the business realities of our hobby. In doing so he has figured out how to integrate and rationalize the perfectionism needed to do quality work.

 

I bring this all up because the original poster hinted at something that I don't think has been addressed. At one time Susan was the standard upon which all resto work was measured. But restorsation at its core is both a science and an art. Unfortunately the economics of the time didn't allow Susan to continue and improve upon her work. I don't think one can stop riding that bicycle for a long period of time and then just pick it back up. While I am sure she still does quality work she is still going to be hamstrung by the work model she has always used.

 

I tip my hat to you, sir.