Best of 2017.... The Results are in 4 4

[williamhlawson]

20 minutes ago, Pete Marino said:

I wouldn't mind if we split it up by comic age.

I thought that as well, but didn't think it would solve the issue I was trying to address.  If art changes hands

 

19 minutes ago, J.Sid said:

Wasn't this one posted several years back?

it could simply be in the mix owner by owner. 

Rather...I guess I'm thinking of something along the lines of best 'new' art of 2017. 

I'm not harshing, just got me to thinking it would be cool to see a group of THIS years best somewhere, on a year by year basis.  To be able to see the contents of that from the past would be fun I believe. 

[delekkerste]

2 hours ago, J.Sid said:

Wasn't this one posted several years back?  IIRC it did well, but did not actually clean up. Would have to revisit the Yahoo board archives to find out.

IIRC, Bill Woo had it up on his CAF page, but he sold it about 5 years ago.  I could be mistaken, but I don't think the present owner has had it up on CAF or entered into any "Best of"s since he's had it. 

[Brian Peck]

Three days until Best of 2017 starts. 

I had an inquiry about original art cover for a book. Wanted to know which category. The covers category is for comic art related work only. Anything not comic art related should go in other. Please feel free to post your questions here.

 

 

 

[alxjhnsn]

So, I had my 5 figured out before Christmas and then Kathy messed it up with a great Christmas gift. Sigh... #firstworldproblems

 

[Brian Peck]

The fifth one is always the hardest.

[alxjhnsn]

#truth

 

[Brian Peck]

Here are the rules and information on Best of 2017.

Below is instructions on how to upload images and descriptions for the entries. We have set aside a week for people to upload their stuff and then voting will begin. 

Best of 2017 Published and Unpublished (happens at the same time)
You will have up to 5 entries and they can be in any of the 7 categories:
Published Covers (Unpublished covers as well)
Published Splashes, Pin-Ups
Published Interior Panel pages
Published Strip Art
Published/Unpublished Commissions (work artist drawn outside of conventions)
Unpublished Sketch Covers/Convention Sketches
Published/Unpublished Other (all Published/Unpublished material which doesn’t fall into the other 6 categories (drawings, prelims, Style Guides, Rock Poster art, illustrations. etc.))

Posting Entries Begins: NOW!
Posting Ends: Jan 14 11:59PM (Sunday)

Best Published Acquisions of 2017.
This theme lists each participating member's best acquisition of 2017 that has appeared or is/was scheduled to appear or created to appear in a comic book or comic book related publication. This category includes all published material, unpublished covers, and similar items.

Best Unpublished Acquisions of 2017.
This theme lists each participating member's best acquisition of 2017 that has not appeared and is not scheduled to appear in a comic book or comic book related publication. This category includes all unpublished material (except unpublished covers and pages), drawings, prelims, Style Guides. sketches commissions ect.

Procedure for adding entries:

1) Goto http://www.comicartfans.com/Login.asp
2) Select Login then Admin/Edit User Profile
3) Select Manage/Manage Galleries Preferences
4) Select Your Lowry and add pieces (if you have not used the Lowry before)
5) Click the 'View/Add Pieces' link and then click the 'Add New  
Artwork' link.
6) Add a piece as you usually do to the caf but there is an additional field "Best of 2017"
7) Please include the artists names (both penciler and inker if it  applies)
8) There are 6 categories to chose from:

Published Covers (Unpublished covers as well)
Published Splashes, Pin-Ups
Published Interior Panel pages
Published Strip Art
Published/Unpublished Commissions (work artist drawn outside of conventions)
Unpublished Sketch Covers/Convention Sketches (artwork drawn at conventions)
Published/Unpublished Other (all Published/Unpublished material which doesn’t fall into the other 6 categories (drawings, prelims, Style Guides, Rock Poster art, illustrations. etc.))

9) Select Active

Voting starts Monday January 15th (Monday)
Voting end January 21th (Sunday)

In everyone's CAF there is a yellow section in the lower left there is a "Art by Year" section. It breaks down when pieces are posted by year.

I will post instruction on where and how to go about voting for the Best of before voting day.

[mister_not_so_nice]

Just submit your favorite 2017 purchases.

I'm certainly no BSD and manage to get a vote or two each year.  I tend to choose the pieces I enter based more on getting the artists name more exposure since many names in my CAF can only be found in less than a half dozen galleries.  It's less about comparing my $500 piece again a $50,000 and more about getting the art I like in front of more eyes.

 

Looking forward to seeing ALL entries 

[Brian Peck]

1 minute ago, mister_not_so_nice said:

Just submit your favorite 2017 purchases.

I'm certainly no BSD and manage to get a vote or two each year.  I tend to choose the pieces I enter based more on getting the artists name more exposure since many names in my CAF can only be found in less than a half dozen galleries.  It's less about comparing my $500 piece again a $50,000 and more about getting the art I like in front of more eyes.

 

Looking forward to seeing ALL entries 

Doesnt matter your criteria on how you choose your entries. The "Best of" is a way to highlight artwork that people may not have seen over the past year. Since the CAF gets alot of art posted every day.

[alxjhnsn]

Posted mine in my Lowry on the CAF. Thought I'd add them here with a little commentary.

Published Covers (Unpublished covers as well)

Archie Giant Series Magazine Presents Little Archie #549 by Bob Bolling
Bolling created the first alternative Archie-verse. He wrote and drew the stories for many years and I consider it some of the finest work to come from Archie. I'm probably overly fond of folks that do both the writing and art for their books, but I think I'm justified in Bolling's case.

This cover is a typical example of his work and I really enjoy it.

 

Published Splashes, Pin-Ups

The Unwritten #2 Page 2 by Mike Carey (writer) and Peter Gross (artist)

The Unwritten is the story of a young man who may or may not be a fictional character and the massive on-going battle between reality and fiction- more or less. It’s fascinating, well-told, and beautifully illustrated. This page finds Tommy transported to a dystopia from which he wishes to quickly extract himself. I love it. There’s more an more detail to the scene as you look. Also, as Peter freely discusses, he has essential tremors and can’t draw by hand any more so I’m glad to have a page where he was at his peak. His new work is done digitally on a tablet.

Another note about this page, Peter adds the letters as a paste-up after they are done for publication because he feels they provided needed context. I really like that!

Published Interior Panel pages

None

Published Strip Art

None

 

Published/Unpublished Commissions (work artist drawn outside of conventions)

None

 

Unpublished Convention Sketches

Pirate Ship by Jeremy Bastian

If you haven't read / aren’t reading Cursed Pirate Girl, you really should. It’s gorgeous and a good story to boot. I saw Jeremy at Rose City Comic Con and he was taking a list. This is not common especially on the 2nd day of the show. I asked if he could take one more and he said, “Yes. What do you want?” I said, “A ship.” He said, “That’ll be fun. No one’s ever asked for that before.”

 

Seriously, the artist of a pirate story was never asked to do a ship? I sent him a high resolution scan of the piece and he said it would be in his next sketchbook. I was thrilled.

 

Maleficent by Walt Simonson

This isn’t mine; it’s my wife’s. However, she doesn’t have a separate CAF so I’ll put it on my “Best of” list. Kathy has a fondness for the Disney villainesses and Maleficent is number one. In this case, we were going to SDCC 2017 and IDW had  a “Dinner with Walt” available for purchase. We bought two tickets and I immediately thought “What two characters do I want?” Then I realized that Kathy might want her own piece since she knows Walt and likes his work. So, I asked. She said, “Yes, I do want to pick.”

 

After some discussion, she went with Maleficent. It’s magnificent. Note her eyes and the way he positioned the dragon to call out the parallels in the design of M as a human and as a dragon. He crushed this.

 

 

 

Published/Unpublished Other (all Published/Unpublished material which doesn’t fall into the other 6 categories (drawings, prelims, Style Guides, Rock Poster art, illustrations. etc.))

 

Wonder Woman by Jill Thompson

This was an auction piece at SDCC 2017 for the CBLDF. Jill won the 2017 Best New Graphic Album Eisner for her graphic novel Wonder Woman: The True Amazon. I thought this image was outstanding though it is quite small.

 

Honorable Mentions

Cursed Pirate Girl vs. Grandfather Crab by Jeremy Bastian

Jeremy’s first ever CPG commission. It’s both my most expensive piece this year and one by a favorite artist, but I love my Pirate Ship (it was a big surprise to get it from him at RCCC since I got there late and he seldom draws). I didn’t want to list two by the same artist and besides I really like the other choices, e.g., my Little Archie cover and …

 

Odin by Walt Simonson

How does a Norse God by Walt end up on the top 5 list? In this case, Maleficent got the Walt Simonson slot. 

 

Allie and Larry by Thom Zahler

Seriously, could you have something better than this? It’s my daughter and her husband at their wedding (sort of). Giclee print and Pen & Ink original. My idea after seeing Thom’s cover for his newest book, Time and Wine #1 Cover B.

Here’s my entire 2017 list. It includes pieces that belong to my daughters and my wife, but which I put in my CAF because they never would.

 

Edited January 6, 2018 by alxjhnsn

[aokartman]

Hope I did this right.  Glare because this is a framed piece.  Best, David

 

[Caltex98]

Here are my submissions:

Published Covers

Fernando Ruiz - Die Kitty Die Christmas Special 1 - cover B

The B-cover by Fernando Ruiz (there is also a A-cover by Dan Parent) for the first Die Kitty Die Christmas Special (a stretchgoal in their Kickstarter campaign for the second series).
I am in total awe over both Fernando's beautiful image and Rich Koslowski's inking skills!

Published Splashes, Pin-Ups

Joëlle Jones - Lady Killer series 2 #4 - p12-13

Joëlle Jones keeps making the spectacular two-page spread a trademark of her own Lady Killer comic. In this rather disturbing sequence professional killer Josie Schuller disposes of a burlesque dancer by strangling her in her backstage dressing room. Once again it is very easy to get lost in all the authentic details she includes in her pictures. Obviously a lot of research goes into this labor of love.
When I showed these pages to Don Rosa he commented that "it looks like something out of a pre-code comic". And he should know.

It looks even more disturbing in color, BTW.

Published Interior Panel pages

Terry Dodson - Red One #3 - p6

From the third issue of Xavier Dorison & Terry Dodson's action thriller Red One comes this excellent example of sequential storytelling. It is simply one of the best staged car chases I have ever come across in a comic book.
The dialogue can be read here.

Published/Unpublished Commissions 

Joe Staton - Nova Kane (naughty)

When I commissioned Joe Staton (one of my all time heroes in the comic world) to draw a "naughty Nova Kane with the come hither look" at SDCC 2017 he looked almost too pleased with the assignment, and when I returned to pick it up on Friday morning I understood why. He really pulled out (almost) all the stops on this one. Both of us had a hard time stop laughing! Me from the surprise and he from watching my reaction.
The next day I asked Fernando Ruiz if he was willing to work his copic marker magic on it, and he kindly agreed to do so.
Needless to say Joe strongly agreed with his work and thought it was a great improvement when I showed it to him later on.

Unpublished Convention Sketches

Jaime Hernandez - Theresa Leeanne Downe (disdainful)

I never tire of the way Jaime Hernandez do facial expressions on his characters - they are always exactly the way they should be to express the character's feelings without having to use a word balloon for further clarification.
This time I asked him for "a disdainful Terry, loooking over her shoulder" and the result was this. I shudder to think how those who get that look from Terry - friends or enemies - would feel. Masterful!

Honourable mentions

Fernando Ruiz - Archie #612 - p6

Probably the best picture of Sharry the Spygirl in the entire "The Man From R.I.V.E.R.D.A.L.E." story arc. Too bad there never was a sequel! She was too good not to use again! Fernando's character design made her strong, sexy and independent.

Alan Kamieniarczyk - Hälge, Edwin & Uffe

At the Gothenburg Book Fair 2017 current Hälge artist Alan Kamieniarczyk (who took over the strip when its creator Lars Mortimer passed away in 2014) made this beautiful commission which besides the moose Hälge himself also features the strips two other main protagonists, Edwin (to the left) and macho hunter Uffe.

Translation (counter clockwise from top: -I am going to shoot him! -B..but I saw him first! -This may take a while!

Link to all my 2017 acquisitions here.

Edited January 6, 2018 by Caltex98
-

[aokartman]

I like the Nova Kane, Joe Staton seems to have loosened up.  I asked him about E-MAN art in the 1990s and he said he wouldn't sell any E-Man art.

Since then, I have gotten a nice later cover from the Michael Mauser/E-Man series and it is a keeper.  Joe Staton art is worth a look!  David  

[Brian Peck]

2 hours ago, aokartman said:

Hope I did this right.  Glare because this is a framed piece.  Best, David

 

If you take the pic again but stand off to the left and shoot it at an angle you wont get the flash in the center

[theflashunc]

Just updated with my picks for 2017. Looking forward to seeing all the submissions, as always.

[Brian Peck]

My Top 5 Entries for 2016:

 

 

Published/Unpublished: Covers

FOOM #14 cover featuring Red Sonja and Conan by John Buscema and Tom Palmer

Only time Tom and John did Red Sonja and Conan. Love the Foom covers

 

 

 

Published/Unpublished: Covers

Ironwood #6 cover by Bill Willingham

My favorite cover by Willingham. Great example of his colour work. Lucky to be able to buy it from him.

 

 

Published: Strip Art

Bloom Country 3-4-89 - Bill The Cat with Trump's brain by Berkeley Breathed

This last year I picked up a number of Bloom County/Outland pieces but this was the best. Love the gag

 

 

Published/Unpublished: Interior Panel Pages

Bizarre Adventures #27 page 13 by George Perez and Alfredo Alcala

Love all three stories from the issue. My favorite page from this story, I vividly remember it from when I first read it.

 

 

Unpublished/Published: Other

Blazing Saddles European poster by Don Stivers

Great poster from one of the best comedy films ever made. Don did some great likenesses.

 

 

 

 

Runners-Up for 2016:

 

Mrs Peel and Steed Introduction by Mike Perkins

Mike took some of my ideas for the commission and nailed it!!!!! I love how this turned out.

 

 

 

BEHOLD... THE MJ ! - Avengers #8 (Mary-Jane Variant) cover by Mike Alred

Mike did a great homage to it to one of my favorite covers by Big John Buscema. 

 

 

All-Star Companion #4 by Jerry Ordway

Loved Jerry’s work on All-Star Squadron and this is a great example featuring many of the characters.

 

 

 

The Thing 70MM rerelease (2017) by Dan Brereton

I recently saw The Thing when they showed it in 70MM at a local theatre. Dan really did a great job interpreting a classic film.

 

 

Excalibur #13 back cover by Alan Davis and Paul Neary

 

Love the back covers Alan and Paul did for the series. A unique cover not featuring the main heroes.

 

 

 

Unpublished Golden Age Green Lantern oath page by Paul Reinman

Been wanting an oath page featuring the Golden Age Green Lantern. Fine example.

 

 

Vampirella: Sad Wings of Destiny #1: Pantha and Vampirella pinup by Alan Davis and Mark Farmer

Alan and Paul did a great job with their interpretation of Warren’s Vampirella.

[Rune]

I didn't buy much art last year, but I've just added 3 published covers to my Lowry - the Lowry is indeed a great and fun way to showcase your art and share the art that you like 

http://www.comicartfans.com/MyLowry.asp?GSub=3384

Edited January 11, 2018 by Rune

[RabidFerret]

I've been collecting original comic art for almost 20 years. Somehow, miraculously unexpected, 2017 turned into my single best year of collecting. This was thanks to a trading partner with a love for Liefeld which allowed me to knock off some of my biggest wantlist items - the stuff I figured I'd be chasing for the next 20 years. In the end, I traded 9 Liefelds and acquired these 5 pieces in return. Presented in the order they were acquired.

1) Arthur Adams ~ Fantastic Four #347, Page 24(December 1991)

http://www.comicartfans.com/LowryPiece.asp?Piece=9256

I loved the 3 issue "new" Fantastic Four run Art Adams drew and Walt Simonson wrote in the early 90s. It replaced the FF with Spidey, Wolverine, the Hulk, and Ghost Rider. It was my favorite story of Arthur's, a rare arc for him within a continuous series, and was a complete blast to read! This is my single favorite and most remembered page from the story, an insanely epic 6-panel page that somehow seems to cram in a half splash of Spidey and another of the Hulk. The Hulk is so big he didn't even fit on the printed page! It was an absolute dream to get this piece and I honestly never woulda thought it was possible. Many thanks to Mark and whatever medications he mixed with his alcohol that day.

2) Jim Lee/Scott Williams ~ Uncanny X-Men #271, Page 23(December 1990)

http://www.comicartfans.com/LowryPiece.asp?Piece=9259

A Lee/Williams UXM page has been at the top of my list for years now, but the run is never as long as we think and I'm picky and wanted the right piece. Ideally Wolverine, in costume, claws out, Williams inks were a must, and I wanted art from their later work when things were really humming.

I ranked every page in the run and then moved down them until one wiggled loose. This ranked #5 for me, one of my favorite pages and one I'm still in awe of to this day! I love Xtinction Agenda, easily my favorite crossover of the era, and this page was from one of the best scenes in it, with Wolverine and Psylocke unleashing on Hodge.

I love how much energy is in the lines and inkstrokes in that first panel, and that last panel with Psylocke isn't bad either! I stare at that Psylocke hair and am in awe!! Scott's precision is amazing to behold.

3) Barry Windsor-Smith ~ Marvel Comics Presents #72: Weapon X, Chapter 1, Page 3(1990)

http://www.comicartfans.com/LowryPiece.asp?Piece=9258

I've always loved Barry's art but wasn't sure I'd ever chase a page. They were often expensive and never seemed to have the perfect BWS linework I was looking for in his work. I wanted a Thing FF page the most, but when I approached his studio about getting a piece of art I had to at least ask about this page, an early one that always stuck with me, possibly more than any other page in the series. It's a very civilized page, with Logan using a gun, dressed in clothes, a part of society. There's a lot of time and thought put into this page's layout, how the eye is led, where the shadows fall, how the wires line up. I think BWS's best work on this series was early, before deadlines crept in, and it's in full force here. And this was fully inked by BWS too, something a few other pages I'd looked at didn't boast, as well as being triple signed with two BWSs and one signature! I half suspect this page is a secret treasure map too.  Oh, and he made Logan British.

4) Robert Crumb(Written by Harvey Pekar) ~ American Splendor #3, 'Standing Behind Old Jewish Ladies In Supermarket Lines, Page 3(1978)

http://www.comicartfans.com/LowryPiece.asp?Piece=9257

I worked on the movie American Splendor and did the Crumb drawings that were used as props. Pretty fun moment in my life that I remember fondly. Not only did I always love Crumb's work, but after that experience I felt connected to him in a strange way and needed a Crumb Splendor page in my collection. This is from my single favorite story, featured heavily in the film. It was only five pages long, so finding a page is like finding a pebble in the ocean. It's also quite unique compared to most comic art, drawn on a spiral bound pad of paper with enormous margins and a nicely lettered title at the top.

5) Drew Struzan ~ Indiana Jones and The Secret of the Sphinx(March 1997)

http://www.comicartfans.com/LowryPiece.asp?Piece=9260

OK, this one is still absurd to me. The climax to my year was an epic pickup that instantly became one of coolest pieces in my collection - a finished painting of Indiana Jones by the great Drew Struzan!!

Drew was always one of my favorite artists on the planet, and one I'd sought out often since I entered collecting, always keeping my eyes out and hoping for a scrap. But he was always far out of reach, his art expensive and the iconic movie posters picked through by some dude named George. But that all changed this year when I got the chance to pick out one of the 12 covers he did for the Indiana Jones novels from the 90s. This beauty is on a full sized 30"x40" board, painted in 1996, the peak of his powers when he was doing things like the Star Wars Trilogy triptych, Harry Potter and The Sorcerer's Stone, and Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace...some gorgeous pieces of art!!

The piece is a wraparound cover with a huge Indy face, inset panels of Sallah and Brody, a gesso sunset reminiscent of Raiders, and even the gorgeous warm color palette I loved so much in his work. As a huge Drew fan this is a truly shocking piece to have hanging above my bed, and one I look at and oogle nightly!

HONORABLE MENTION:

Seth Fisher ~ The Flash: Time Flies, Page 27
http://www.comicartfans.com/gallerypiece.asp?piece=1431050

In my mind this piece was a dead heat for #5 on my year, a gorgeous splash by Seth Fisher from The Flash: Time Flies. My single favorite page from the entire book, an amazing choice of artistic perspective that I've always been blown away by. The pause, the momentum, the layout, the depth..it is unlike anything else I've ever seen in comics. I love Seth's work and this piece impresses and inspires me to no end.
 

Edited January 8, 2018 by RabidFerret

[marktom]

I don't typically participate in the yearly "Best Of" on CAF. But I do always enjoy looking over other's entries. And with this past weeks frigid weather, I'm getting a bit of cabin fever, so I thought I'd post a few of the things that I picked up this year.

1. Jack Kirby - Captain America #214 Cover.

It's often tough to pick a favorite piece from each year, but this was this years favorite for sure. This is Kirby's final Captain America cover. It's also from the era when I was a little kid just getting into comics, and I remember all of his Cap covers from this time like they came out yesterday. My thanks once again to my buddy Stan for helping me acquire this.

http://www.comicartfans.com/LowryPiece.asp?Piece=9296

 

2. Fantastic Four #306 Cover by Ron Frenz and Joe Sinnott.

I bought this cover from Ron Frenz back in the late 90's and traded it away a few years later. I was happy to add it back to my collection again this year.

http://www.comicartfans.com/LowryPiece.asp?Piece=9297

 

3. The Official Marvel Index to Marvel Team-Up featuring Spider-Man #2 Cover by Howard Bender and Paul Ryan. 

Maybe the longest title of the "Best Of" entries this year. I live near Howard and after talking with him I was surprised to learn that he still owned this cover. It was the last he'd kept. I was able to buy it from him, so it now has a new home after 30+ years. I love wrap-around covers -all the more room to fit on more characters 20 (plus a bird) in this case.

http://www.comicartfans.com/LowryPiece.asp?Piece=9299

 

4. Alex Toth - Superman Annual #9 page 22 featuring Batman.

I'm generally a cover guy. But Kirby, Eisner,and Toth are my 3 favorite artists, so I was thrilled to pick up this Batman page this year. They don't pop up very often. I'm always looking for more if anyone's selling BTW.

http://www.comicartfans.com/LowryPiece.asp?Piece=9300

 

5. Detective Comics #39 Cover by Yuko Shimizu.

Yeah, I don't care for most "newer" art. (Though many of Felix's guys seem to be an exception to me). Or maybe I'm just old and don't like new things. But most new art seems too busy, the colors are too dark and wash out the lines, and pages are not well laid out..... But I really fell for this cover when I first saw it. I love the textures Yuko was able to convey on it. A very unique take on Batman.

http://www.comicartfans.com/LowryPiece.asp?Piece=9298

 

--Mark T.

[ESeffinga]

That Shimizu Batman is so lovely! Fantastic.