80's Indy Comic Art Thread 1 1

[PhilipB2k17]

I was tracking an interesting page from American Flagg #1 that sold for over $1200 in this past Sunday's Heritage Auction. That got me thinking about 80's independent comic art, and posting a discussion thread on it for people who are interested in the fun stuff from Pacific, First, Eclipse, Warp, etc. that happened during the initial direct market boom.

I think you'd have to say that Rocketeer, American Flagg, Love and Rockets and who else? Are the stars of that particular era. Cerebus, too. Any opinions, thoughts, value ideas?

Edited March 15, 2018 by PhilipB2k17

[artistlost]

I was watching that American Flagg #1 page too.

 

I'm a big fan of Jamie's Love and Rockets and searched for a long time to find the perfect page (that I could afford of course) to add to my collection. I was lucky enough to be able to add this nice and early page with Maggie and Hopey in it

 

http://www.comicartfans.com/gallerypiece.asp?piece=1443103

 

The pencil work is just so killer.

 

mathew

Edited March 12, 2018 by artistlost

[Panelfan1]

Seems like a lot of the items you checked off had longer runs. In that respect - some of my favorites include Nexus, Groo, Grendel, teenage mutant ninja turtles, badger, grimjack and judge dredd.

At the same time - shorter series that I still care to own art from include:  adventurers, elf lord, troll lords, whisper, eagle, mr monster, megaton man, adolecent black belt hamsters.

 

90s indy titles at the top of my list - madman, the tick and bone.

Edited March 12, 2018 by Panelfan1

[vodou]

29 minutes ago, Panelfan1 said:

whisper

Yes. Whatcha got?

[Pete Marino]

1 hour ago, Panelfan1 said:

Seems like a lot of the items you checked off had longer runs. In that respect - some of my favorites include Nexus, Groo, Grendel, teenage mutant ninja turtles, badger, grimjack and judge dredd.

At the same time - shorter series that I still care to own art from include:  adventurers, elf lord, troll lords, whisper, eagle, mr monster, megaton man, adolecent black belt hamsters.

 

90s indy titles at the top of my list - madman, the tick and bone.

The Edlund Tick was done in '88.  so he sneaks into the thread =)

But it's nigh impossible to find pages.  I had one, sold it, and have not seen one for sale since.

[Panelfan1]

5 hours ago, vodou said:

Yes. Whatcha got?

Not sure what you are saying.  I dont have any art from that series yet.  Keeping my eyes open.

[vodou]

37 minutes ago, Panelfan1 said:

Not sure what you are saying.  I dont have any art from that series yet.  Keeping my eyes open.

"Care to own", present tense, seemed you might have something...present tense

I think there are some fans of the series out and about, but I never see it brought up in the context of original art, got a little excited!

[alxjhnsn]

Elfquest - While Wendy Pini's work isn't for everyone (what is), she's executed it for 40 years. That's pretty impressive. Because she kept almost all of her EQ work and donated it to Columbia University, it's scarce as hen's teeth.

and if you expand the era a bit Bone (1991) and Strangers in Paradise (1993) certainly fit. Like Wendy, Jeff Smith donated his Bone art (Ohio State in his case) so it's even harder to find since he didn't do a lot of commissions.

Edited March 13, 2018 by alxjhnsn

[Garf]

This topic reminded me I really should catch up on my Mage... https://imagecomics.com/comics/releases/mage-the-hero-denied-1-of-15

It's not as if I haven't been waiting a while on this trilogy to complete

[lobrac]

Dalgoda #3 title page by Dennis Fujitake (Fantagraphics, 1983). You can close the thread now. 

[Panelfan1]

3 hours ago, vodou said:

"Care to own", present tense, seemed you might have something...present tense

I think there are some fans of the series out and about, but I never see it brought up in the context of original art, got a little excited!

there was a cool piece a short while back at heritage -but I missed it as I was bidding on other items. its not from the original series -but a very cool piece by Steve Rude.

heritage link

[Panelfan1]

3 hours ago, lobrac said:

Dalgoda #3 title page by Dennis Fujitake (Fantagraphics, 1983). You can close the thread now. 

ah.. makes me think back to the era of epic illustrated, void indigo and the like. Nice page. Incidentally Fish Police has come up often at ha. another long running series of the time.

[kpaqu1]

Great way to get less expensive art from guys that made their names with Marvel and DC.

 

[jjonahjameson11]

Peter Hsu's Quadrant 

[vodou]

8 hours ago, Panelfan1 said:

there was a cool piece a short while back at heritage -but I missed it as I was bidding on other items. its not from the original series -but a very cool piece by Steve Rude.

heritage link

That's definitely nice but not canon (if you will) Whisper, which I consider to be the Steven Grant issues. And it sat on eBay for years (literally) no bites at $5k BIN, $4k and other ridiculous discounted numbers off that ($3k or best offer but realistic offers always rejected, blah blah blah). The piece would have sold to me four or five years ago for the HA number if it had originally been on eBay at that BIN, but...by the time it went to HA it was 'burned' to me and I'd only want it for cheap, cheap ($750ish). Which is not what Rude painting will ever be. And I knew that. Barely followed it and am fine if I never see it again

[PhilipB2k17]

I think Mike Grell's early Starslayer stuff is really good. I'm not as big a fan of his Jon Sable stuff, though. I also think you can pick up some First E-Man pages by Joe Staton for a song, despite the fact that they are really fun.

Edited March 13, 2018 by PhilipB2k17

[alxjhnsn]

E-man! Loved E-man. I need to keep my eyes open for a page.

 

[Flambit]

I LOVED Pacific Comics!  The memories!  Like the kids in the 1960s who bought every Marvel book, I was the kid in the early 80s who bought every PC book.  Initially because Kirby was their big name, but later because the books were super cool - Alien Worlds, Twisted Tales, Rocketeer, Groo...  Waiting for Ms Mystic #2 to come out...   I don't have a scan but I did manage to score an early Captain Victory cover (#2) many years ago.  Not Kirby in his prime, but I still have memories of buying it off the rack.  

And what can be said about Love and Rockets?  I think Jaime Hernandez is one of the greatest living cartoonists.  

[PhilipB2k17]

58 minutes ago, Flambit said:

I LOVED Pacific Comics!  The memories!  Like the kids in the 1960s who bought every Marvel book, I was the kid in the early 80s who bought every PC book.  Initially because Kirby was their big name, but later because the books were super cool - Alien Worlds, Twisted Tales, Rocketeer, Groo...  Waiting for Ms Mystic #2 to come out...   I don't have a scan but I did manage to score an early Captain Victory cover (#2) many years ago.  Not Kirby in his prime, but I still have memories of buying it off the rack.  

And what can be said about Love and Rockets?  I think Jaime Hernandez is one of the greatest living cartoonists.  

Those Dave Stevens Alien World covers are all-timers. 

[Panelfan1]

7 hours ago, Bill C said:

I still wouldn't mind getting great examples from Elementals (both Willingham and Leeke), Ralph Snart, normalman, and more (GMC) Dark Assassin and (Silverwolf) Grips.

It seems all the major Elementals pieces are out there, so that's good to see. Snart, as many of us know, seems to be mysteriously absent from the marketplace (I have some theories). Dark Assassin/ Grips is in the hands of someone difficult to deal with. Surprisingly, I've seen almost nothing on the market from Valentino's normalman. A SDCC cover, a Journey cover, and one panel page is all I remember seeing. Guessing it was all sold cheap decades ago at conventions and in the hands of people not currently playing in the art game.

There is a ralph snart color guide coming up @ ha.com  - the image wasnt up when I found it posted via CAT the other day. Comes up in next week's Sunday auction.