Confessions of a Newbie Collector 1 1

[eewwnuk]

Descent into madness. 

[Skizz]

10 hours ago, Rick2you2 said:

I think you need a date, or if unavailable, consider porn. 

6 hours ago, eewwnuk said:

Descent into madness. 

 My friend says the dream is a sign that I’m getting obsessed with OA. Doesn’t get that obsession is part and parcel of collecting OA. That said, I’ve probably been cooped up in the apartment a little too long.

9 hours ago, Will_K said:

Or a Moebius piece written by Alan Moore.  WTF.

"Confessions of a Newbie Collector" is going to another level.

Wait, is there such a thing? A Moebius piece written by Moore? 

[Will_K]

3 hours ago, Skizz said:

Wait, is there such a thing? A Moebius piece written by Moore?

... only in your dreams.

And not that I know of.

[Skizz]

1 hour ago, Will_K said:

... only in your dreams.

And not that I know of.

Oh 

[Skizz]

https://www.comicartfans.com/gallerypiece.asp?piece=1633242

So I finally bought this page after pondering about it and staring at it on the Felix Comic Art website for ...  TWO YEARS!  I know, a real impulse buy.

The art is by Tradd Moore from All New Ghost Rider #2. The reason I took so long to buy this isn’t because it was so expensive. In fact, it was one of the cheapest pages by Tradd on the website and I’ll say more on this subject later.  The reason I took so long to get it is because it would have been - and indeed is - the first page of modern OA that I have bought and that falls outside of my comic art collecting mission statement.

Although I have a very narrow collecting focus, I do read a copious amount of modern comics.  I was worried that buying this page would be a gateway drug to completely derailing my collecting mandate, and I’ll just end up haphazardly buying pages from modern OA left right and centre, without any consideration of theme or focus.

I had to work out in my mind exactly where this art would fit in my collection if I was to say, set up a museum of all my art.  What would be the name/theme of the room that this art would be displayed in, and how would it relate to all the other art in my collection. Just to clarify, this museum only exists in my mind and may never in fact exist in reality.  But the idea of this museum and a want list geared towards building it helps me manage my limited disposable income on OA. So it took pondering and ruminating for some two years before I could decide to buy this art.

It’s baffling to me that this was still available on the website after all these years.  Most of the pages from Tradd Moore’s Ghost Rider that featured the Rider or any kind of action had been snapped up quite some time ago.  But maybe because this page on the surface seems like a mundane page, it had been left behind.  But if you just scratch beneath the surface, this page features everything that Tradd Moore has come to be known for.

This is a perfectly constructed page that clearly and succinctly tells a unit of story, without even the need for the dialogue bubbles.  The first panel is an establishing shot that places the protagonist right in the centre. It also set up the overall geography of the place and all the surrounding players.  Even the half eaten apple on the teacher’s table helps with the reader’s understanding of the geography of the classroom, whilst also serving a dual purpose of saying something about the kind of school this is. The ‘camera’ in Panel 2 cuts in the opposite direction without crossing the line and shows the meek teacher entering. The placement of the student couple helps the reader quickly understand the continuity with the first panel, where the camera is cutting to and what is happening.  The third panel, which is right in the centre of the page, places its full focus on the protagonist (Robbie Reyes). It also sets up the antagonists in the background. The fourth panel links back to the first two panels involving the teacher, before the rest of the page moves onto dealing with the relationship and mood between the protagonist and antagonist.

I’d say this page is intricate enough to  be Watchmen-esque level of craft. As far as I’m concerned, this is one of the best pages in this Ghost Rider comic.  It has SO MANY story elements and SO MUCH art to look at and appreciate, that work both as individual elements and as a complete page.

That said, if anyone has a “cool” action page with the Ghost Rider busting heads from this series they want to sell to me, please let me know  Just note that I might take two years to think about it though 

Many thanks to @Nexus for an easy transaction.

Edited May 18, 2020 by Skizz

[Will_K]

I'm not into the comic or the artist.  But I think your interpretation/understanding is very close to what the artist was trying to portray.

Drawing a slug-fest, lots of explosions or flying heroes aren't necessarily easier to draw. 

But non-action, "talking heads" or quiet scenes in super-hero comics MUST be visually interesting by default. 

 

Edited May 19, 2020 by Will_K

[Rick2you2]

5 hours ago, Skizz said:

https://www.comicartfans.com/gallerypiece.asp?piece=1633242

So I finally bought this page after pondering about it and staring at it on the Felix Comic Art website for ...  TWO YEARS!  I know, a real impulse buy.

The art is by Tradd Moore from All New Ghost Rider #2. The reason I took so long to buy this isn’t because it was so expensive. In fact, it was one of the cheapest pages by Tradd on the website and I’ll say more on this subject later.  The reason I took so long to get it is because it would have been - and indeed is - the first page of modern OA that I have bought and that falls outside of my comic art collecting mission statement.

Although I have a very narrow collecting focus, I do read a copious amount of modern comics.  I was worried that buying this page would be a gateway drug to completely derailing my collecting mandate, and I’ll just end up haphazardly buying pages from modern OA left right and centre, without any consideration of theme or focus.

I had to work out in my mind exactly where this art would fit in my collection if I was to say, set up a museum of all my art.  What would be the name/theme of the room that this art would be displayed in, and how would it relate to all the other art in my collection. Just to clarify, this museum only exists in my mind and may never in fact exist in reality.  But the idea of this museum and a want list geared towards building it helps me manage my limited disposable income on OA. So it took pondering and ruminating for some two years before I could decide to buy this art.

It’s baffling to me that this was still available on the website after all these years.  Most of the pages from Tradd Moore’s Ghost Rider that featured the Rider or any kind of action had been snapped up quite some time ago.  But maybe because this page on the surface seems like a mundane page, it had been left behind.  But if you just scratch beneath the surface, this page features everything that Tradd Moore has come to be known for.

This is a perfectly constructed page that clearly and succinctly tells a unit of story, without even the need for the dialogue bubbles.  The first panel is an establishing shot that places the protagonist right in the centre. It also set up the overall geography of the place and all the surrounding players.  Even the half eaten apple on the teacher’s table helps with the reader’s understanding of the geography of the classroom, whilst also serving a dual purpose of saying something about the kind of school this is. The ‘camera’ in Panel 2 cuts in the opposite direction without crossing the line and shows the meek teacher entering. The placement of the student couple helps the reader quickly understand the continuity with the first panel, where the camera is cutting to and what is happening.  The third panel, which is right in the centre of the page, places its full focus on the protagonist (Robbie Reyes). It also sets up the antagonists in the background. The fourth panel links back to the first two panels involving the teacher, before the rest of the page moves onto dealing with the relationship and mood between the protagonist and antagonist.

I’d say this page is intricate enough to  be Watchmen-esque level of craft. As far as I’m concerned, this is one of the best pages in this Ghost Rider comic.  It has SO MANY story elements and SO MUCH art to look at and appreciate, that work both as individual elements and as a complete page.

That said, if anyone has a “cool” action page with the Ghost Rider busting heads from this series they want to sell to me, please let me know  Just note that I might take two years to think about it though 

Many thanks to @Nexus for an easy transaction.

When it comes to specialization, trust me, I get it. But even I will buy the occasional piece unrelated to the Phantom Stranger. I have not regretted any of them because they represent a moment to me that I will treasure outside the art (or, perhaps, a “remembrance of things past”). And isn’t that really a major part of collecting (and pricing)?  A reliving of an older moment? So treat it as an exception to your general rule, and you’ll be fine.

[Skizz]

https://www.comicartfans.com/gallerypiece.asp?piece=1634421

So this arrived yesterday.  A page from one of Alan Moore’s early futuristic sci-fi short stories, written for the British comic magazine 2000ad, that is now collected in the Future Shock collection.  The art is by Steve Dillion of ‘Preacher’ fame.  

There really isn’t much panel breakdown or storytelling analysis to be done here.  The gags, the dialogue, the art - it’s all right there on the page.  This is probably one the best representative pages from the series of short stories featuring the character of Abelard Snazz ‘The Man  with the Double-Decker Brain' and his faithful robot butler Edwin.  

Snazz - a mutant genius who handles “complex problems with even more complicated solutions" - is Moore's first recurring character for 2000ad and one of my favourite Alan Moore creations ... one that I feel doesn’t get nearly enough love as it should. 

There’s a date written on the back of the page - 12 December 1980. That’s before Watchmen, before Saga of the Swamp Thing, even before V for Vendetta.  

And I can’t believe that I actually own it !

[Skizz]

https://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryPiece.asp?Piece=1636249

I feel like I’ve been spoilt after buying my first splash page. I’ve gone ahead and bought my first DPS now!

The page is from Spawn: Blood Feud. This was Alan Moore returning to mainstream superhero comics in the 90s and writing in the style of comics that had become popular in that decade.

The art is in that gaudy, 90s spectacle-over-substance style we all now love to hate and hate to love. It only seemed appropriate that, if I was going to get something from Moore’s Spawn issues, it be this glorious DPS with the quintessential image of the antagonist John Sansker.

The real question is - is it a double page spread or double page splash?

[grapeape]

On 5/18/2020 at 10:43 AM, Skizz said:

https://www.comicartfans.com/gallerypiece.asp?piece=1633242

So I finally bought this page after pondering about it and staring at it on the Felix Comic Art website for ...  TWO YEARS!  I know, a real impulse buy.

The art is by Tradd Moore from All New Ghost Rider #2. The reason I took so long to buy this isn’t because it was so expensive. In fact, it was one of the cheapest pages by Tradd on the website and I’ll say more on this subject later.  The reason I took so long to get it is because it would have been - and indeed is - the first page of modern OA that I have bought and that falls outside of my comic art collecting mission statement.

Although I have a very narrow collecting focus, I do read a copious amount of modern comics.  I was worried that buying this page would be a gateway drug to completely derailing my collecting mandate, and I’ll just end up haphazardly buying pages from modern OA left right and centre, without any consideration of theme or focus.

I had to work out in my mind exactly where this art would fit in my collection if I was to say, set up a museum of all my art.  What would be the name/theme of the room that this art would be displayed in, and how would it relate to all the other art in my collection. Just to clarify, this museum only exists in my mind and may never in fact exist in reality.  But the idea of this museum and a want list geared towards building it helps me manage my limited disposable income on OA. So it took pondering and ruminating for some two years before I could decide to buy this art.

It’s baffling to me that this was still available on the website after all these years.  Most of the pages from Tradd Moore’s Ghost Rider that featured the Rider or any kind of action had been snapped up quite some time ago.  But maybe because this page on the surface seems like a mundane page, it had been left behind.  But if you just scratch beneath the surface, this page features everything that Tradd Moore has come to be known for.

This is a perfectly constructed page that clearly and succinctly tells a unit of story, without even the need for the dialogue bubbles.  The first panel is an establishing shot that places the protagonist right in the centre. It also set up the overall geography of the place and all the surrounding players.  Even the half eaten apple on the teacher’s table helps with the reader’s understanding of the geography of the classroom, whilst also serving a dual purpose of saying something about the kind of school this is. The ‘camera’ in Panel 2 cuts in the opposite direction without crossing the line and shows the meek teacher entering. The placement of the student couple helps the reader quickly understand the continuity with the first panel, where the camera is cutting to and what is happening.  The third panel, which is right in the centre of the page, places its full focus on the protagonist (Robbie Reyes). It also sets up the antagonists in the background. The fourth panel links back to the first two panels involving the teacher, before the rest of the page moves onto dealing with the relationship and mood between the protagonist and antagonist.

I’d say this page is intricate enough to  be Watchmen-esque level of craft. As far as I’m concerned, this is one of the best pages in this Ghost Rider comic.  It has SO MANY story elements and SO MUCH art to look at and appreciate, that work both as individual elements and as a complete page.

That said, if anyone has a “cool” action page with the Ghost Rider busting heads from this series they want to sell to me, please let me know  Just note that I might take two years to think about it though 

Many thanks to @Nexus for an easy transaction.

I hope you’re on CAF because these are the kind of descriptions I Long for to go with the art. Great passion and perspective.

Cheers,

🍇 🦍 

[Skizz]

9 hours ago, grapeape said:

I hope you’re on CAF because these are the kind of descriptions I Long for to go with the art. Great passion and perspective.

Cheers,

🍇 🦍 

Thanks for the kind words @grapeape. I am on CAF:

https://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryDetail.asp?GCat=121983

But to give credit where it’s due, I was inspired by the dissertations and thoughtful write-ups done by another CAFer Chris K on his gallery pages. I believe he is on these boards as @comix4fun

[comix4fun]

20 minutes ago, Skizz said:

Thanks for the kind words @grapeape. I am on CAF:

https://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryDetail.asp?GCat=121983

But to give credit where it’s due, I was inspired by the dissertations and thoughtful write-ups done by another CAFer Chris K on his gallery pages. I believe he is on these boards as @comix4fun

Different Chris.... I am not sure Chris K is here....but I do agree, he's got a real purty mouth (for item descriptions)

I'm Chris C on CAF. 

If you like thoughtful write-ups, filled with the joy and pain to triumph and defeat and the comic art historical context of each piece, you should check out Ron Sonenthal's gallery.  https://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryDetail.asp?GCat=24154

 

[Skizz]

12 minutes ago, comix4fun said:

Different Chris.... I am not sure Chris K is here....but I do agree, he's got a real purty mouth (for item descriptions)

I'm Chris C on CAF. 

If you like thoughtful write-ups, filled with the joy and pain to triumph and defeat and the comic art historical context of each piece, you should check out Ron Sonenthal's gallery.  https://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryDetail.asp?GCat=24154

 

@comix4fun Thanks and my apologies for confusing you with the other Chris who was also on the Felix Comic Art podcast.

I should take the opportunity to say that I’ve enjoyed the write-ups on your gallery pages as well. 

[alxjhnsn]

I love a good write-up and try to make all of my posts an interesting read.

Did you know that there's a 5000 character limit to the Description field? Yep, there is. I've run into it on several pieces.

Pro Tip: I like to include links to related information and one way to shrink your Description's character count is to use "outside-affiliatelinksnotallowed DOT com" to shorten your links.

Here are two of my long ones:

• Drs. Who
• Cutter and Skywise

 

Edited June 5, 2020 by alxjhnsn
fixed the link to the ElfQuest characters

[Skizz]

On 5/31/2020 at 10:55 PM, alxjhnsn said:

I love a good write-up and try to make all of my posts an interesting read.

Did you know that there's a 5000 character limit to the Description field? Yep, there is. I've run into it on several pieces.

Pro Tip: I like to include links to related information and one way to shrink your Description's character count is to use outside-affiliatelinksnotallowed to shorten your links.

Here are two of my long ones:

• Drs. Who
• Cutter and Skywise

 

Love the story and write up, particularly the one with the Cutter and Skywise piece.

Thanks for sharing and also for the tip Alex.

[Skizz]

https://www.comicartfans.com/gallerypiece.asp?piece=1651776 

This piece represents everything positive about the original comic art collecting hobby to me.

This is a page from the Jonni Future story from Tomorrow Stories Special #1. 

It came about because another collector, Robert C, contacted me to inquire whether I’d consider selling him a piece of art from my collection. The piece wasn’t for sale or trade. But Robert had a piece in his collection that I liked and asked if Robert would consider selling that to me instead. He didn’t want to sell either. So neither of us wanted to sell and we couldn’t make any deal. But we continued communicating and chatting about the hobby (and life). And we actually became friends. To the point that Robert very generously gifted this piece to me because he felt it would go well in my collection. 

It’s an awesome piece of art and I’m grateful to have it. I’ve often heard people say that they love this hobby because of all the friendships it has led to. I now personally understand what they mean.

[exitmusicblue]

This thread should now be called, Confessions of a Not-So-Newbie

[Skizz]

18 hours ago, exitmusicblue said:

This thread should now be called, Confessions of a Not-So-Newbie

I still feel like a newbie though!

[Skizz]

I didn’t get a page Silver Surfer: Black when these went for sale some weeks back.  But I did manage to pick up these two pages of Tradd Moore art at the previous drop.

https://www.comicartfans.com/gallerypiece.asp?piece=1660473

https://www.comicartfans.com/gallerypiece.asp?piece=1660476

This first page is from Tradd Moore’s debut work, Stange Talent of Luther Strode.  This isn’t one of the flashy action pages from that book. Instead I went for a quiet moment between the protagonist and his mother as he tries to sneak out of the house. 

Much has been said about Tradd Moore’s precise and detailed line work. But one thing that I feel doesn’t get talked about enough with Tradd’s comic work is how balanced and symmetrically his layout and panelling is.  In this page the first and last panels at the opposite corners of the page (and also the panels at the other two corners) are mirror images of each other, with the main story beat, i.e the protagonist getting caught by his mother, being placed in the middle row. A perfectly balanced page that clearly tells the story visually even without the word balloons being present.

The second page is from The New World. And it’s another (in fact, even better) example of a well balanced and symmetrical page. The central visual element of the page is in the middle panel and the rest of the panels fan out from there. Much like the last Tradd Moore page I got a few months ago, I was baffled that this page was still available on the artist’s rep website and hadn’t been snapped up already.

Many thanks to @Nexus for working with me on these pages at a time when I’d stretched myself a little too much with art purchases. 

[dichotomy]

On 5/18/2020 at 10:43 AM, Skizz said:

https://www.comicartfans.com/gallerypiece.asp?piece=1633242

So I finally bought this page after pondering about it and staring at it on the Felix Comic Art website for ...  TWO YEARS!  I know, a real impulse buy.

The art is by Tradd Moore from All New Ghost Rider #2. The reason I took so long to buy this isn’t because it was so expensive. In fact, it was one of the cheapest pages by Tradd on the website and I’ll say more on this subject later. 

...

This is a perfectly constructed page that clearly and succinctly tells a unit of story, without even the need for the dialogue bubbles.  The first panel is an establishing shot that places the protagonist right in the centre. It also set up the overall geography of the place and all the surrounding players.  Even the half eaten apple on the teacher’s table helps with the reader’s understanding of the geography of the classroom, whilst also serving a dual purpose of saying something about the kind of school this is. The ‘camera’ in Panel 2 cuts in the opposite direction without crossing the line and shows the meek teacher entering. The placement of the student couple helps the reader quickly understand the continuity with the first panel, where the camera is cutting to and what is happening.  The third panel, which is right in the centre of the page, places its full focus on the protagonist (Robbie Reyes). It also sets up the antagonists in the background. The fourth panel links back to the first two panels involving the teacher, before the rest of the page moves onto dealing with the relationship and mood between the protagonist and antagonist.

I’d say this page is intricate enough to  be Watchmen-esque level of craft.  

I’ve got a great piece like this that absolutely was a gateway piece. I heard on Felix’s podcast the other creators talking about Tradd’s work and how you really have to see it in person to get it. So I went to the site and picked 2 interesting and extremely reasonable pages, and paid for them. 
 

After they were delivered and I finished cleaning up pieces of my head from the floor, I started thinking. Within weeks of that I approached Felix about a complete issue of SSB, which is probably one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. 

 

https://www.comicartfans.com/gallerypiece.asp?piece=1551368

Edited August 30, 2020 by dichotomy
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