Best of 2018 - Discuss your nominees here 2 2

[alxjhnsn]

7 hours ago, Oddball said:

Not in my case. I would love to add a nostalgic story or a long hunt or tooth and nail auction battle. Only picked up a couple of modern covers in 2018 from books I've never read or even heard of. Basically: Oh, I like this image - (clicks virtual button online making the piece mine). 

I did have a great experience with Claudio here on the boards when I picked up his 90's Lady Death cover in January. Never read that book either but the cover was burned in my brain from seeing it at comic shops everywhere in the mid-nineties. I also ended the year with a Jock Batman cover that replaces the last Jock Batman cover I had traded away. (Regret)  Both are similar with close-up on Batman's face.

I find all of that fascinating. There's always something to say about an item you buy within a hobby. (Less to say about toilet paper and toothpaste, I guess).

[Eltanin]

2018 has been a slow year for me, I got barely more than 5 pieces, including small head sketches. So, to stay in the spirit of the "Best Of", rather than posting almost every single sketch I bought, I decided to select only 1 piece which was my favorite of the year. 

It's a commission I've been in love with since I first saw it posted online in someone else's collection. I recently got the chance to buy it and jumped on the occasion.

 

https://www.comicartfans.com/LowryPiece.asp?Piece=9764

[williamhlawson]

On 1/4/2019 at 1:37 PM, alxjhnsn said:

 

Unpublished Commission    Mouse Guard - Kenzie    David Petersen

Kathy and I are fans of David’s art and we’ve tried for several years to get a painted piece. We finally got lucky in 2018 at Heroescon. David prepared two pieces one for auction and one to sell for the same amount after the auction. We got the latter which is fine since it’s the one we liked better!  Read more about our long search and see the pieces that we missed on in the link.

This makes my heart do something I'm not sure what yet, looked at it repeatedly, can't think of anything neat to say. Stunning and LOVE this palette when he uses it.

[rsonenthal]

Thanks to Bill and Brian for keeping this going.  I try to keep up with CAF, but there is a staggering amount of artwork added on a daily basis.  The "Best of" let's me see what I've been missing!

For me, I've loaded the following in for my top 5 (Golden, Kirby, Ditko, Raymond, and Powell - it's been a good year):

Covers:  The 'Nam #42 - Michael Golden returned to the book he started for a number of covers.  I am a long time war book fan, but The 'Nam always was a special book.  It was realistic, and told a story without being too preachy.

Splash pages;  Tales of Suspense #60, page 1  - Jack Kirby and Chic Stone.  Kirby on Captain America at the height of his power.  I'm thrilled to be the custodian of this one.

Panel pages:  Showcase #73, page 6 - Steve Ditko introducing the Creeper to the world.  I love Ditko's "other" characters.  The Creeper is at the top of the list and this page is from his introductory book.

Strip Art:  Rip Kirby  11/24/1954 - Alex Raymond could do more with a brush and india ink than anyone of his time.  Look at the use of lighting here.  It fascinated me, and made this piece a must have for me.

Published/Unpublished other:  "March" is a graphic novel illustrated by Nate Powell and follows the civil rights movement in the United States through the eyes of Congressman John Lewis.  This piece is a quote from the speech he gave in the march on Washington.  He was the sixth speaker.  The tenth?  It was Martin Luther King, and he gave his "I have a dream" speech.

Ron Sonenthal

[alxjhnsn]

7 hours ago, williamhlawson said:

This makes my heart do something I'm not sure what yet, looked at it repeatedly, can't think of anything neat to say. Stunning and LOVE this palette when he uses it.

We feel much the same way. Did you read the link? It was a long search to finally get a painted piece. You can see pictures of all of the pieces that we failed to get along the way.

[zhamlau]

I dont pick up much stuff for me anymore, less then 5 pieces a year on average (sometimes 1 or none). In 2018 I picked up a few but decided to actually share one publically cause it was special to me.

My only lowry addition, the cover to 249 Daredevil. Its posted now, it means a lot to me.

 

[The Voord]

For the best part of 3 years now my collecting focus has mostly been channeled towards collecting original Movie Poster paintings which, in many cases, have proven to be surprisingly affordable.

As a long-time fan of movies, and the posters that promoted these films (in pre-photoshop days when artists sat down behind an easel and painted such images), this is probably a natural progression for me in 36 years of collecting OA. 

Top of my list of favourite Movie Poster painters has always been the great Reynold Brown.  His Horror and Science-Fiction movie art is in the highest of demand, but he painted for many movie genres . . . often depicting an image that was better than the movie it represented!

2018 was a good year for me in which I manged to snag a total of FOUR Reynold Browns!  As such, this year's Lowry entries are heavily biased in favour three of the four RB paintings I was lucky to land:

THE WORLD IN HIS ARMS (1952) - which was the very first movie campaign that Brown was assigned to.

DAWN AT SOCORRO (1954) - a really exquisite Western example by Brown.

BEHIND THE HIGH-WALL (1956) - a gritty film-noir example by Brown, complete with femme fatale!

In addition to the Reynold Browns, I also snagged two really good Tom Chantrell paintings:

THE 300 SPARTANS (1962) - The movie Frank Miller saw as a young boy that inspired him to re-visit the tale in his '300' graphic novel  that also spawned a feature film adaptation.

THE PEOPLE THAT TIME FORGOT (1977) - Based on the Edgar Rice Burroughs novel.

Link to my Lowry, where you can see larger images and read full write-ups:

https://www.comicartfans.com/mylowry.asp?gsub=1670

I don't usually bother mentioning runners-up, but this year was a pretty close call on one or two entries, so here's what nearly made the line-up:

KELLY AND ME (1957) - Reynold Brown.

THE GREAT BANK ROBBERY (1968) - Robert McGinnis.

And in order of the aforementioned discussion here are the seven paintings which, as mentioned, only the top five made it to the yearly retrospective:

 

 

[chromium]

Ah the time of year when a young man's fancy turns to Lowry.

Happy to be participating again, thanks to the people who put all the time and effort in to make this a fun event every year. You know who you are

 

 Anyway, I sold more than I bought this year, but still managed to get about 10 pieces...went back and forth which three to post and in the end decided to post the ones that made me happier than a Long Island Ice Tea after a hard day at work.Hope you enjoy these as much as I do.

Thor 207 p14 ...Come get some - John Buscema

Let's face it, everyone loves a good dust up, especially one where arch-foes go all out.

Aided only by good old Mjolnir and the odd cool sound effect, Thor dishes it out and "Crusher" Creel...well absorbs it.

 

Hellboy Conqueror Worm #3 P23...The Attack of the killer B-characters - Mike Mignola

I've been lucky to acquire a fair deal of Mignola Hellboy pages, but this time I bought one without Hellboy !

"Infidel !" I hear you cry, but come on, if Hellboy was on this page as well it would explode.

The Story is called "Conqueror Worm" and there he is in all his slimy g(l)ory in panel 1. But Mignola gives us even more..there he is as well...the original jar-head Herman von Klempt himself (past and future !)

But the crowning glory must be a rare appearance of probably Mignola's greatest creation (and the reason I went hog wild to buy this page)...the Superior Specimen of the Simian Species...the all-conquering Kriegaffe.

If DC had put War Apes instead of Monkeys on all those 60's cover I bet their circulation would have been even higher.

 

Astonishing Tales #2 P8 DOOM !!!

Doom !!! Wood !!!

What you were expecting more ?

Take a look at this glorious page and try to convince yourself there's better match.

It's like Marvel and EC comics had a quickie in Stan's broom closet and this was the result. Thank you Wallace Wood for making me smile every time I look at this page.

 

Edited January 9, 2019 by chromium
i before e except after c

[malvin]

Thanks again to Brian and Bill for having the best of, here are my entries and runner ups

Entries

1. Covers - Bernie Wrightson Captain Sternn cover Lowry Link

I always enjoyed the Captain Sternn miniseries.  I was hunting for a representative page and I guess this cover works!

2. Covers - Gary Frank Hulk 414 Hulk Cover with Silver Surfer Lowry Link

Maybe this is a theme, but the Surfer issues of Hulk was something else that I wanted and representative page for, and I ended up with a cover!

3. Interior Pages - Todd McFarlane Hulk 338 page Lowry Link

I'm one of the few people that like Todd McFarlane's Hulk run more than his Spidey run, but maybe it was due to the writing, but always glad to add more examples from that run.

4. Splash Page - Frank Quitely All Star Superman Splash Lowry Link

People have said that Alan Moore's Supreme is a tribute to Superman.  I think Grant Morrison's All Star Superman is his tribute to Supreme :P.  Glad to have this splash

5. Convention Sketch - Frank Cho Daisy O'Dare Lowry Link

I don't get as many convention sketches these days, since I go to less cons and also have most of what I want. But I still bought this one because it was checked off so many things

Runner Ups

The say the runner ups reflect how good your year was, and this year certainly reflects that.  These would have been sure fire entries any other year except for this one:

1. Mike Zeck Punisher Cover Recreation - http://cafurl.com?i=23552

2. Bisley Lobo page - the spelling bee! - http://cafurl.com?i=23553

3. Grant Morrison Animal Man page with Animal Man! - http://cafurl.com?i=23554

4. Dale Keown Hulk Sketch - http://cafurl.com?i=23555

5. Steve Dillon Punisher Cover - http://cafurl.com?i=23556

Thanks for looking and thanks again to Brian and Bill!

Malvin

[Ted_L]

This is probably the happiest I've been with my Fave 5 for at least several years.  I had to sell a lot of other art to fund this, but it was worth it to me.  You can click the icons to see the full scans.

Entries:

1) Covers - Legion of Super-Heroes #275 by Dave Cockrum

Cockrum is my favorite artist and apart from X-Men, the Legion is what he's best known for.  I'm pretty sure Dave only drew 2 Legion covers (not counting fanzines) and this is the second, done between his two stints on X-Men.  I had missed the chance to own this in previous years and was thrilled to finally get it.  

2) Interior Pages -- Superboy #89 page 18 by George Papp

Keeping with the Legion theme, this is a page from the first appearance of Mon-El, my favorite Legionnaire growing up.  This page features the cover image as well as the fateful decision by Superboy to paint lead balls to look like Kryptonite, which would result in Mon-El being stuck in Phantom Zone for a thousand years.

3) Splash page - Marvel Universe: The End (2003) #5 pages 19-20 by Jim Starlin and Al Milgrom

I stumbled onto this art on eBay and fell in love with it.  As you can see, Starlin was doing quality work well into the 2000's, particularly when inked by Al Milgrom. I'll have to try and identify all of the characters one of these days.

4) Covers - Earth X #9 by Alex Ross

I've been a fan of Alex Ross since Marvels, and his art is beautiful to behold in person.  This cover features an alternate future version of the Inhumans royal family.  

5) Covers - New Avengers #25 variant cover by Kevin Nowlan

This is the "Deadpool 75th Anniversary Photobomb Variant cover".  This is another piece that I wasn't specifically in the market for, but couldn't resist when it came up for sale.  It's a great homage to the classic Kirby Avengers #16 cover.

Honorable Mentions:

Not easy to choose, but here are 5 favorites:  

1) Marvel Two-In-One #5 page 26 (2nd Guardians of the Galaxy) by Sal Buscema and Mike Esposito

This page retells the origin of Vance Astro and also features the first meeting between Vance and his idol, Captain America. Vance would go on to wield Cap's shield in the 90's Guardians series. 

2) Defenders #28 page 30 by Sal Buscema and Frank Giacoia

Here's another great Guardians of the Galaxy piece, from the first full appearance of Starhawk.

3) Alias #19 page 22 by Michael Gaydos

While I mostly collect older art, I became a big fan of this series after watching Jessica Jones on Netflix.  A lot of the artwork includes stats, but this splash page (featuring Jessica Drew) is all original.

4) Black Panther #14 cover prelim by Dave Cockrum

I collect Cockrum cover prelims and this one is my favorite due to the great image and level of detail.  The published cover by Bill Sienkiewicz is very similar.

5) Imperial Guard by M.C. Wyman

The first comic I purchased for myself was X-Men #107 and since then I've loved the Sh'iar Imperial Guard and Starjammers.  I was very happy to pickup this commission at the beginning of 2018.

You can see some other 2018 favorites in this folder:
https://www.comicartfans.com/galleryroom.asp?gsub=194951

Thanks to Brian and Bill for organizing and hosting!  I'm sure I'll have fun (and a challenge) picking entries to vote for!

Regards,
Ted

Edited January 13, 2019 by tlatner

[chefkv]

Here is my meager acquisitions compared to some of the awesome pieces showing up on the Lowry!!

RETURN of WOLVERINE #1 pg. 30 by Steve McNiven and Jay Leisten

 

EAST of WEST #36 Virgin Cover Variant by Nick Dragotta

 

Wizard Magazine # 85 Basic Training pg.3 by Dale Keown

[John E.]

@chefkv

That is some quality art you picked up this year. I especially like the East of West cover. 

[GreatEscape]

My 2018 collecting focused on pieces that bring me a great deal of joy, nostalgia and personal appreciation.  I found opportunities to upgrade a few core interiors including Miller DD, Wrightson Swamp Thing and Starlin DOCM pages while crossing off a few key want-list pieces like McFarlane Spidey, Steranko X-men and Liefeld New Mutants with Cable.  Plus, a BWS pre-Raphaelite painting and John Romita’s ubiquitous Captain America licensing art from the 70s. 

I’m proud to submit a few pieces as my “Best of 2018” nominees:

COVER: Moon Knight 17 cover by Sienkiewicz

PANEL PAGES: Daredevil 161 p5 by Frank Miller and Swamp Thing #2 p2 Origin Recap by Wrightson

  

SPLASH:  Spider-man 12 p15 (Spidey #1 homage) by McFarlane

OTHER: John Romita’s Captain America Licensing Art

I look forward to seeing all the great 2018 nominees in the Lowry...should be fun!

 

 

 

 

[Sideshow Bob]

My favorite time of the year! A chance to go through and pick your favorite 5 pick-ups from the prior year. 2018 was a lot bigger than I expected, but with that came a lot of unexpected happy-happy. Even though I really beefed up my Don Newton Batman collection this past year, this year I wanted to showcase a couple different pieces. 

COVER: Batman: White Knight #2 variant cover by Sean Murphy - A very cinematic feel to this variant cover. Sean had penciled in a working title on the cover that was then changed to Batman: White Knight, but inked in the final title after publication.Love the take on the Joker and the blending in of the cover elements. The Joker design is the basis for an upcoming Black & White statue.

PANEL PAGES: Dark Knights: Metal #6, pg 24 by Greg Capullo and Jon Glapion  - A Joker, Batman, and Batman Who Laughs all on one Capullo/Glapion page? Done! 

SPLASH:  Detective Comics #600 pinup by Mike Zeck - Bought this issue at my LCS! Brings back lots of great memories, but also, damn, its a Zeck Batman from the late 80s! Doesn't get much better.

SPLASH:  Camelot 3000 #1, pg 9 by Brian Bolland - A dramatic full-page splash from Bolland. Sets the stage for this great 12-issue series. 

SPLASH:  The Cape: Fallen #2, pg 22 by Zach Howard - Not a well known series, which is filling in a gap during the lead character's absence from the original Cape mini-series by Joe Hill. Demented story, and a insane bit of work here by Zach Howard. His inking is off the charts, and this splash should highlight that. He has a project that is more mainstream coming up in 2019, so I hope you all can see more of Zach's insanely detailed work that he pours onto the page!

 

[Stefanomjr]

Just cast my votes. Fantastic collection of entries in every category. Was hard to pick just 5! 

[Rick2you2]

On 1/8/2019 at 6:31 PM, The Voord said:

For the best part of 3 years now my collecting focus has mostly been channeled towards collecting original Movie Poster paintings which, in many cases, have proven to be surprisingly affordable.

As a long-time fan of movies, and the posters that promoted these films (in pre-photoshop days when artists sat down behind an easel and painted such images), this is probably a natural progression for me in 36 years of collecting OA. 

Top of my list of favourite Movie Poster painters has always been the great Reynold Brown.  His Horror and Science-Fiction movie art is in the highest of demand, but he painted for many movie genres . . . often depicting an image that was better than the movie it represented!

2018 was a good year for me in which I manged to snag a total of FOUR Reynold Browns!  As such, this year's Lowry entries are heavily biased in favour three of the four RB paintings I was lucky to land:

THE WORLD IN HIS ARMS (1952) - which was the very first movie campaign that Brown was assigned to.

DAWN AT SOCORRO (1954) - a really exquisite Western example by Brown.

BEHIND THE HIGH-WALL (1956) - a gritty film-noir example by Brown, complete with femme fatale!

In addition to the Reynold Browns, I also snagged two really good Tom Chantrell paintings:

THE 300 SPARTANS (1962) - The movie Frank Miller saw as a young boy that inspired him to re-visit the tale in his '300' graphic novel  that also spawned a feature film adaptation.

THE PEOPLE THAT TIME FORGOT (1977) - Based on the Edgar Rice Burroughs novel.

Link to my Lowry, where you can see larger images and read full write-ups:

https://www.comicartfans.com/mylowry.asp?gsub=1670

I don't usually bother mentioning runners-up, but this year was a pretty close call on one or two entries, so here's what nearly made the line-up:

KELLY AND ME (1957) - Reynold Brown.

THE GREAT BANK ROBBERY (1968) - Robert McGinnis.

And in order of the aforementioned discussion here are the seven paintings which, as mentioned, only the top five made it to the yearly retrospective:

 

 

Just out of curiosity, do you find, in broad terms, that the worse the movie, the better the art? Or is it a coincidence from what's been posted?

[The Voord]

1 hour ago, Rick2you2 said:

Just out of curiosity, do you find, in broad terms, that the worse the movie, the better the art? Or is it a coincidence from what's been posted?

Not quite sure what you mean? 

'World in His Arms', 'Dawn at Socorro' and '300 Spartans' are decent movies (unless you've actually watched them, don't write them off).  'People That Time Forgot' is fairly good.  'Kelly and Me' and 'Behind the High-Wall' I've never seen (so am unqualified to comment) . . . 'Great Bank Robbery' is a well-made movie with a decent cast - though as a comedy it's not very funny.

I think most artists consistently tried their best to satisfy the client.  There are lots of of great movie poster artworks better than the films they represent . . . but there are also lots of great comic-book covers that are far better than the stories they front.

As such, no conspiracy here!

Edited January 15, 2019 by The Voord