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Post your grail!
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101 posts in this topic

What a great thread to be resurrected!   Some beautiful art, here.

Fantastic Four 41 & Amazing Spider-Man 27 are what got me into collecting.  When I saw this piece I knew I had to have it.  It was the most I spent on a page but it was worth it.

Fantastic_Four_41_pg_1med_zps5029ac8b.jp

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I'm not sure it was my grail when I bought it, but it has grown on me. I've collected Savage Tales mags for many years (currently I've got the highest ranking Savage Tales set in the Registry), so of course nostalgia is involved. I never thought I'd one day own one of the covers and seeing the colors and the art behind glass won me over. I see the painting almost every day and so far it hasn't ceased to amaze me. With its amount of detail it must have taken Barr days to paint it.

MrlmNTCP_2410151133271.JPG

84r5y5PZ_3101160337531.JPG

And I finally got the 9.8 mag too (currently there're 6 in the Census) - my 5-year-old son is holding the mag, sorry about the red eyes, sigh (my skills as a photographer are very limited)

Spoiler

image.jpg

 

Edited by Rune
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13 hours ago, alxjhnsn said:

Grail is a strong word, but this is my favorite piece; the last one that would go out the door. It features my favorite character by my favorite artist in uninked pencil glory.

Click to embiggen:

Superman by Curt Swan

I always enjoy it when you show this art.  It is a great pencil piece.

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My grail that I'll never own is the cover to Captain America 286 by Mike Zeck.  I'd trade my entire collection for it if it would make it happen.

From what I own, I'd have to go with the Joker splash by Lee Bermejo.  It's arguably the most iconic piece by Bermejo and I feel very fortunate to be the caretaker of it as he is one of my favorite artists.

http://www.comicartfans.com/gallerypiece.asp?piece=846670

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2 hours ago, GreatEscape said:

Reading comics in the 1970s, I was blown away by Jim Starlin and his epic storylines in Warlock ("The Magus Saga") and Captain Marvel ("Thanos War").   Starlin's captivating tales of the cosmos taught me valuable lessons about the universe, God, death, matter, energy, philosophy, etc. and proved a "Great Escape" (=> my forum name) from childhood anxieties....all this from treasures found while diving in 25-cent comic bins.  Over the years, I've enjoyed the evolution of Starlin's universe with The Death of Captain Marvel, Thanos Quest. Infinity Gauntlet and Infinity Watch and excited for the Infinity War films as the culmination of today's Marvel Cinematic Universe.  Thanos was and continues to be a central figure in all the stories, and one seriously baddass dude.

I believe uber-collector Jim Woo still owns much of the prime Thanos original art, but 10 years ago he agreed to sell me the piece I coveted most...the Warlock #9 splash where Thanos is introduced into the Warlock saga.   I consider this my favorite and IMO best Starlin Thanos images ever published.   Thanos earlier appearances (ie, Iron Man 55) he appeared more human, but this is  a more powerful and awe-inspiring Thanos portrait befitting a demi-god.  :headbang:

Here it is:

 

Link

 

 

I'm not the biggest Starlin fan most of the time, but that piece is just awesome.  Congrats.

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Ulf Jansson is known (in Sweden at least) for never parting with his beautiful pages (to my knowledge there is only one piece of it privately owned), but when I was asked by friends what I wished for a birthday present a couple of years ago I suggested that a page from his and writer Magnus Knutsson's adventure comic "Ratte" would be very appropriate. I had absolutely no hope that they would succeed. But they did, and this is what I could unwrap at my birthday party:

Bild   Bild

Not one, but two pages, both of them unique in their own way. The one on the right is the only occasion Jansson has used the entire height of a page for a panel, but I guess that is necessary if you want to fit the Empire State Building into the picture. Click on the pictures to see them in my CAF gallery. So this is probably the world's largest collection of Ulf Jansson OA outside his own archive. (The reason for him not selling his art is that he likes it too much and has a career of well-paying jobs in advertising and commercial art. Comics has always been a by-the-side occupation for him.)

 

Edited by Caltex98
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50 minutes ago, Caltex98 said:

Ulf Jansson is known (in Sweden at least) for never parting with his beautiful pages (to my knowledge there is only one piece of it privately owned), but when I was asked by friends what I wished for a birthday present a couple of years ago I suggested that a page from his and writer Magnus Knutsson's adventure comic "Ratte" would be very appropriate. I had absolutely no hope that they would succeed. But they did, and this is what I could unwrap at my birthday party:

Bild   Bild

Not one, but two pages, both of them unique in their own way. The one on the right is the only occasion Jansson has used the entire height of a page for a panel, but I guess that is necessary if you want to fit the Empire State Building into the picture. Click on the pictures to see them in my CAF gallery. So this is probably the world's largest collection of Ulf Jansson OA outside his own archive. (The reason for him not selling his art is that he likes it too much and has a career of well-paying jobs in advertising and commercial art. Comics has always been a by-the-side occupation for him.)

 

What is the story behind how they managed to pry these pages loose?

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On 4/5/2017 at 6:58 PM, Unca Ben said:

What a great thread to be resurrected!   Some beautiful art, here.

Fantastic Four 41 & Amazing Spider-Man 27 are what got me into collecting.  When I saw this piece I knew I had to have it.  It was the most I spent on a page but it was worth it.

Fantastic_Four_41_pg_1med_zps5029ac8b.jp

!!!!!!!

 

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1 hour ago, SquareChaos said:

What is the story behind how they managed to pry these pages loose?

It was for a good cause! Joke aside, when they described the situation for Jansson he agreed to sell on the condition that I would provide him with high resolution scans for reference, which came in handy when the entire run of "Ratte" was reprinted a while later. I am not really sure, but I believe that my two pages are the ones with the best reproduction in that book.:) I suppose it also helped that I know the writer, Magnus Knutsson, pretty well and he could vouch for me and confirm that the chance that I would let go of the pages in the future is absolutely non existent. The swedish comic community is still rather small, so everyone in it at least knows someone who knows someone... My friend who managed the negotiations with Jansson tried to buy one page for himself, but that was not a possibilty. It was all about the right person at the right time. B|

Here is the collection, BTW:

9789170377891-200x268.jpg

Edited by Caltex98
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Another HTD collector offered this to me nearly 3 years ago and I jumped at the chance. No price negotiation. I had heart palpitations for the next month until I actually had it in my hands. Other than the cover from this issue, it doesn't get much better for a HTD fan.

2NTO76GK_1507141757591.jpg

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On 1/6/2010 at 3:14 PM, Nexus said:

Probably not too hard to figure out I like the comic NEXUS. This is as good a piece as I could ever hope to find for my collection:

 

http://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryPiece.asp?Piece=592483&GSub=18596

 

There are universal grails and there are personal grails. I can definitely appreciate the former, but I also enjoy seeing and reading about why a certain piece is someone's grail. Hope to see more here!

Link no work. What happened to your grail?

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On ‎4‎/‎5‎/‎2017 at 6:58 PM, Unca Ben said:

What a great thread to be resurrected!   Some beautiful art, here.

Fantastic Four 41 & Amazing Spider-Man 27 are what got me into collecting.  When I saw this piece I knew I had to have it.  It was the most I spent on a page but it was worth it.

Fantastic_Four_41_pg_1med_zps5029ac8b.jp

Wow. That's a nice one.  :x

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20 hours ago, Caltex98 said:

Ulf Jansson is known (in Sweden at least) for never parting with his beautiful pages (to my knowledge there is only one piece of it privately owned), but when I was asked by friends what I wished for a birthday present a couple of years ago I suggested that a page from his and writer Magnus Knutsson's adventure comic "Ratte" would be very appropriate. I had absolutely no hope that they would succeed. But they did, and this is what I could unwrap at my birthday party:

Bild   Bild

Not one, but two pages, both of them unique in their own way. The one on the right is the only occasion Jansson has used the entire height of a page for a panel, but I guess that is necessary if you want to fit the Empire State Building into the picture. Click on the pictures to see them in my CAF gallery. So this is probably the world's largest collection of Ulf Jansson OA outside his own archive. (The reason for him not selling his art is that he likes it too much and has a career of well-paying jobs in advertising and commercial art. Comics has always been a by-the-side occupation for him.)

 

There are only three privately-owned Jansson pages in the world -- and you own two of them? That, my friend, is a birthday present!

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