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Archie art: any fans and collectors here?
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190 posts in this topic

First time poster (long time lurker). I am a newbie to comic art collecting. I started collecting Archie art over the past year. I grew up on Archie and have a strong connection to it. I was wondering how many of you collect Archie art, and who are your favorite artists to collect? I love Bolling (particularly his Little Archie), Lucey, Schwartz, Hartley, and Vigoda

I have a small collection of strips and stories (Montana, DeCarlo, Hartley, Edwards, Goldberg, Taylor, Schwartz, Bolling). Where do you go to find Archie art - conventions? ebay/HA/CAF? I was trying to find some Vigoda, Lucey, and Hartley but it seems almost impossible to find any pieces on ebay, CAF, and HA. Is art from these artists very rare to come by?

I enjoy this forum a lot and have learnt quite a bit about collecting from all of you. Thank you! 

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I don't see too much Vigoda anywhere.  Lucey stuff comes up on ebay or auction houses sometimes, but can get pricey if the page is nice.  Heritage sold lots of Hartley pages & stories about a year ago, and it seemed they had some every week in their weekly auctions, but they haven't had any lately.   So, I think you have your basis covered watching out on ebay, Comiclink, & Heritage.  I'm sure the stuff you are looking for will come up from time to time. 

As far as conventions, my experience is many art dealers don't have all their inventory shown online.  So, you may find some of what you are looking for there as well.   Good luck.

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Glad to see others interest in Archie OA! I've been collecting Archie art over the last couple of years. My favorites are DeCarlo, Hartley and Goldberg, though over the past year I've come to appreciate some of the newer artists, mainly Dan Parent and Fernando Ruiz. 

I empathize with your frustration in searching for older Archie art. It's a bit bewildering when you think of all the art produced for Archie comics over the years, and yet there seems to be a dearth of it available for sale. Either a lot of it was discarded, or there are are collectors who are holding onto it it pretty tightly. If I had the means and budget I would mainly collect Archie art from '71 to '77 or thereabouts -- IMO all of the artists were at the top of their game then, but then again I'm a little biased because the 70s were my childhood years and the nostalgia factor is hard to ignore. So hard to find art from that time period, apart from Goldberg and some stray Hartley, Lucey  and Gus LeMoine, at least from what I've seen. 

It sounds like you're hitting the main sites in your search. I've had most of my luck from eBay and Heritage, though Anthony has some good pages now and then. CAT has been a big help in looking lately. 

I'm pretty happy with a lot of the art I've found so far. I don't have all of my Archie art up on CAF, but quite a few pieces/stories are here:

http://www.comicartfans.com/galleryroom.asp?gsub=168797

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I have some Archie art.  But almost none of the published art is on CAF, I should do something about that.

A while ago, I put up a twice up Dan DeCarlo (Rudy Lapick inks) story from Pep 157 for sale, still there if you want to look.

Of the "modern" Archie artists, I like Jeff Schultz.  He worked for years on Betty & Veronica.  He doesn't really have an on-line presence.  But he's currently represented by Catskill Comics ( catskillcomics.com ).  Covers, pages, complete stories.

Nothing against Dan Parent or Fernando Ruiz, but Jeff's lines are really, really clean.  He usually had inkers.  But he'd ink the faces himself in a lot of cases.  Once in a while Jeff would totally ink himself.

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3 hours ago, WayneE said:

Glad to see others interest in Archie OA! I've been collecting Archie art over the last couple of years. My favorites are DeCarlo, Hartley and Goldberg, though over the past year I've come to appreciate some of the newer artists, mainly Dan Parent and Fernando Ruiz. 

I empathize with your frustration in searching for older Archie art. It's a bit bewildering when you think of all the art produced for Archie comics over the years, and yet there seems to be a dearth of it available for sale. Either a lot of it was discarded, or there are are collectors who are holding onto it it pretty tightly. If I had the means and budget I would mainly collect Archie art from '71 to '77 or thereabouts -- IMO all of the artists were at the top of their game then, but then again I'm a little biased because the 70s were my childhood years and the nostalgia factor is hard to ignore. So hard to find art from that time period, apart from Goldberg and some stray Hartley, Lucey  and Gus LeMoine, at least from what I've seen. 

It sounds like you're hitting the main sites in your search. I've had most of my luck from eBay and Heritage, though Anthony has some good pages now and then. CAT has been a big help in looking lately. 

I'm pretty happy with a lot of the art I've found so far. I don't have all of my Archie art up on CAF, but quite a few pieces/stories are here:

http://www.comicartfans.com/galleryroom.asp?gsub=168797

You have some very nice pieces on CAF! Like you I'm also quite partial to the 70s although I also like the 80s as well, which were my main 'Archie years'. I do hope a lot of the art was not discarded - that would be such a shame. Thanks for the tips on where to look. It's nice to run into Archie collectors on this forum!

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58 minutes ago, Will_K said:

I have some Archie art.  But almost none of the published art is on CAF, I should do something about that.

A while ago, I put up a twice up Dan DeCarlo (Rudy Lapick inks) story from Pep 157 for sale, still there if you want to look.

Of the "modern" Archie artists, I like Jeff Schultz.  He worked for years on Betty & Veronica.  He doesn't really have an on-line presence.  But he's currently represented by Catskill Comics ( catskillcomics.com ).  Covers, pages, complete stories.

Nothing against Dan Parent or Fernando Ruiz, but Jeff's lines are really, really clean.  He usually had inkers.  But he'd ink the faces himself in a lot of cases.  Once in a while Jeff would totally ink himself.

I like the Pep 157 story you have up on CAF but it's out of my price range at this time :) 

I need to look up some of the modern artists and stories. I will check out Jeff Schulz. Thanks for the recommendations!

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9 hours ago, Will_K said:

I have some Archie art.  But almost none of the published art is on CAF, I should do something about that.

A while ago, I put up a twice up Dan DeCarlo (Rudy Lapick inks) story from Pep 157 for sale, still there if you want to look.

Of the "modern" Archie artists, I like Jeff Schultz.  He worked for years on Betty & Veronica.  He doesn't really have an on-line presence.  But he's currently represented by Catskill Comics ( catskillcomics.com ).  Covers, pages, complete stories.

Nothing against Dan Parent or Fernando Ruiz, but Jeff's lines are really, really clean.  He usually had inkers.  But he'd ink the faces himself in a lot of cases.  Once in a while Jeff would totally ink himself.

I like the Pep 157 story too, but as soulcage noted, out of my price range. Thanks for the Jeff Schulz mention/recommendation -- I think I've seen his art plenty of times and thought it was probably DeCarlo Jr.  That's one reason why I like the 70s art so much -- I can look at a story and 90% of the time tell you who the artist was without credits listed. Nowadays, outside of Parent and Ruiz, not so much.

 

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I bought my first Archie OA in 1989. It was the then brand new cover to Betty & Veronica #15 and I have collected ever since.

My fave artist is of course Dan DeCarlo (like everyone else) and over the years I have been able to gather some examples of his art which are on display here. Most of it I have found on eBay, but some of it comes from dealers (Gary Dolgoff is a goldmine for complete stories, for example what I believe to be one of the longest DeCarlo ever drew; the 17-page lead story from Sabrina #24) as well. I even managed to get my hands on a late Humorama piece (zipatone instead of inkwash) before prices on those started to rise.

Of the other "classic" Archie artists I have a few by Stan Goldberg (who I had the privilege to meet in San Diego in 2012) but other than that there are mostly newer artists in my collection.

Bill Galvan is represented quite extensively, maybe because I am a big fan of his art and we also have become good friends over the years. He is my main goto-guy for commissions where he always exceeds my expectations.

Another big favorite of the newer Archie artists is canadian Gisèle Lagacé. She has developed the classic Archie house style into something entirely of her own. Too bad her actual output is so small that I own 27% of it myself (if I did the math correctly). But there are always commissions...

I like Rex Lindsey's pinup-pages a lot. The primary source for those is Rex himself. If he decides to sell. There are a few covers I know he is holding on to for the time being (to my and other collectors annoyance).

I count the primary modern Archie artist Dan Parent among my friends too, and has some of his artwork in my collection. Dan is a goldmine when it comes to identify Dan DeCarlos work and who inked what. Somtimes it is hard to tell the different inkers apart, but Dan can always point out what distinguish them from one another.

I also admire the work of Fernando Ruiz, especially his interior pages since his sequential storytelling always is impeccable with great layouts. The four-part story The Man from R.I.V.E.R.D.A.L.E."  in Archie #610-613 and later collected in a trade stands out in particular. Tom De Falco provided a "full --script" but left the page layout entirely to him and it shows. Practically every single page of that story is a textbook example of how comics should be told in an innovative and exciting way. (This also goes for Archie vs Predator even if I personally found that "make believe-story" too disturbing to be able to enjoy it.)

According to Holly Golightly herself I am the only OA collector who has been able to pry one of her Sabrina-covers away from her. But one can always try for more, I guess.

And just as Will K. I am a big fan of Jeff Shultz. I have both covers and story pages and one-page gags by him in my collection, as well as some of my favorite commissions. Check out the Super 'Suckers comic for more of his great art!

What art to buy has a lot to do with who the inker is. Early Dan DeCarlo should be inked by Rudy Lapick, but lateron (until his untimely death), his son James DeCarlo was his best inker. I also like Jon D'Agostino's inks on DeCarlo, but there are diffetent opinions around about those. (D'Agostino always liked to put his own twist on the art.)

On Goldberg I think D'Agostino's inks look terrific! This also goes for Jeff Shultz (but his own inking is also great).

All the modern artists benefit a lot if they are inked by the masterful Rich Koslowski. And don't forget that Bob Smith is an (more or less) unsung hero of inking who can make almost any artist look good!

Good luck with finding the stuff you want!

Edited by Caltex98
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I collect Archie OA. Three years ago I acquired a very large collection of OA which consisted of Archie art that ranged from the 1950's through to the 1980's. It's been both a blessing and a bit of a crutch, as I lucked into a literal treasure trove of complete stories, dailies/weekend strips, and covers. Unfortunately trying to add to it since has been difficult. Being able to pore over the art as I have, I realized a great deal of the beauty is not only studying the beautiful lines of some incredible cartoonists, but the sequential nature of reading through a complete story. I don't have a favourite artists per se, but I do have a greater appreciation for their breadth of work. No one drew Jughead like Samm Schwartz, and it's not only his style, but his story writing that have led to my appreciation for his work, especially throughout the 60's and well into his later years. Stan Goldberg is another artist who I hold in high esteem, and I've been extremely fortunate to own art from his tenure at Marvel and Archie. DeCarlo's strip art brings immense enjoyment to me, and it was my exposure to this format that led me to collect strips from other publishers who I grew up reading as a kid.

I still have a lot of scanning to do, but there's a link to my CAF in my sig with roughly 100 pages of Archie art there now if it's something you appreciate. Good luck in your searches.

Edited by comicwiz
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One thing I meant to articulate in my previous post - one of the things collecting Arche OA has really allowed me to recognize is that the OA hobby unjustifiably rewards breaking up stories - to me, there is absolutely no doubt , complete stories should experience a value enhancement. It's not only the deterrent factor of breaking up story art, but that the art really should be aesthetically enjoyed this way.

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I agree with you comicwiz. I also try my best to only collect entire story art as (to me) it significantly enhances the context in which the art can be enjoyed. But of course, that means ponying up more $$$ (which I rarely have)! 

Edited by soulcage
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37 minutes ago, comicwiz said:

One thing I meant to articulate in my previous post - one of the things collecting Arche OA has really allowed me to recognize is that the OA hobby unjustifiably rewards breaking up stories - to me, there is absolutely no doubt , complete stories should experience a value enhancement. It's not only the deterrent factor of breaking up story art, but that the art really should be aesthetically enjoyed this way.

That's one of the things I like about collecting Archie OA as well -- the satisfaction of being able to acquire a complete story in most cases. I appreciate that a lot of sellers don't break up the art, or if they do, a lot of the time it seems reasonably priced to purchase all of the pages. It's rare that I'll consider buying any Archie story pages that are sold singly and out of context . Maybe if I ran across an older Hartley or DeCarlo page that stood out... Along with pinup pages I like finding and getting the puzzle pages now and then. BTW, thanks to everyone for posting links to their CAF pages -- some really good stuff all-around. It's opening my eyes to some artists I've haven't known about, or appreciated in the past.

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I picked up this Stan Goldberg cover for Betty And Me #200.  It came all double-matted and lovingly framed, doubtful about archival, but it tugged at my nostalgia heartstrings.  My access to comic books was limited, to be generous, as a youth.  Harvey and Archie.  Still catching up!  Best, David S. Albright

bettyandme.jpg

bettypic.jpg

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