August HA Auction 1 1

[romitaman]

On 6/26/2019 at 4:32 PM, batman_fan said:

 I didn’t realize he sold anything. 

The FF 70 cover in last heritage i sold to Dave in the early 2000s

Edited June 29, 2019 by romitaman

[tth2]

On 6/27/2019 at 11:02 PM, batman_fan said:

BWS was a okay artist in my opinion but he was no John Buscema

[batman_fan]

2 hours ago, tth2 said:

I was waiting for you to respond 

[tth2]

8 hours ago, batman_fan said:

11 hours ago, tth2 said:

I was waiting for you to respond 

Sometimes I'm Pavlov and you're the dog, and sometimes you're Pavlov and I'm the dog.

Either way, we're both very consistent!

 

Edited June 30, 2019 by tth2

[batman_fan]

4 minutes ago, tth2 said:

Sometimes I'm Pavlov and you're the dog, and sometimes you're Pavlov and I'm the dog.

Either way, we're both very consistent!

 

  Truer words have never been spoken.  But a real question, what are your thoughts on BWS?  I actually didn't like his early Conan stuff.  The anatomy seemed a bit off and Conan looked more like a kid than a Barbarian.  Once you got into the teens for issues, I thought his stuff looked a lot better.

[tth2]

He definitely didn't hit his stride until the title hit the teens.  Some of the covers of the earlier issues are decent, but the interior art tended to be pretty mediocre in my opinion.  In fact, I'd say that the interior art even at his peak remained pretty mediocre.   

[batman_fan]

55 minutes ago, tth2 said:

He definitely didn't hit his stride until the title hit the teens.  Some of the covers of the earlier issues are decent, but the interior art tended to be pretty mediocre in my opinion.  In fact, I'd say that the interior art even at his peak remained pretty mediocre.   

Wait, are you agreeing he was no John Buscema? 

[comix4fun]

2 hours ago, tth2 said:

Sometimes I'm Pavlov and you're the dog, and sometimes you're Pavlov and I'm the dog.

Either way, we're both very consistent!

 

Either way...you both answer the bell. 

[Brian Peck]

1 hour ago, tth2 said:

He definitely didn't hit his stride until the title hit the teens.  Some of the covers of the earlier issues are decent, but the interior art tended to be pretty mediocre in my opinion.  In fact, I'd say that the interior art even at his peak remained pretty mediocre.   

Some of his later covers were not good while his anatomy improved somewhat his graps of how the human body truely moves and weight distribution was poor. He was no John Buscema on Conan.

[ESeffinga]

Waiting on Gene and others to join in...

[tth2]

9 hours ago, batman_fan said:

10 hours ago, tth2 said:

He definitely didn't hit his stride until the title hit the teens.  Some of the covers of the earlier issues are decent, but the interior art tended to be pretty mediocre in my opinion.  In fact, I'd say that the interior art even at his peak remained pretty mediocre.   

Wait, are you agreeing he was no John Buscema? 

The way I would've answered the question if you'd asked me about JB:

He was incredibly consistently bland throughout his entire run.  All of the covers of the earlier, middle and later part of his run are bland, and the interior art was also always bland in my opinion.  In fact, I'd say that the best way to describe his work throughout his career is "bland".

[batman_fan]

2 hours ago, tth2 said:

The way I would've answered the question if you'd asked me about JB:

He was incredibly consistently bland throughout his entire run.  All of the covers of the earlier, middle and later part of his run are bland, and the interior art was also always bland in my opinion.  In fact, I'd say that the best way to describe his work throughout his career is "bland".

[ESeffinga]

Kaluta 167... THAT is a nice Conan cover.

 

 

[delekkerste]

I have fondness for both BWS and Buscema on Conan, who has always been one of my very favorite pop culture characters (I discovered the original REH stories in 1982, about a year before I discovered comics).  

I enjoyed all of BWS' Conan issues.  First, the Roy Thomas stories are great.  Second, BWS' art improves with almost every issue - it doesn't take long for him to get away from looking like he's purely aping Kirby as he did in issue #1.  Third, while I still appreciate Buscema's take on Conan, I think BWS' Conan is actually closer to REH's intentions - more lithe/leaner, more cunning, less of the brute with a thuggish appearance when drawn by Buscema. Certainly by his later issues, BWS' Conan looks like the finished article, and any criticisms about him looking too young or too lean are misplaced. And I have to disagree regarding the knock on BWS' interiors - every page of The Frost Giant's Daughter is sumptuous, while The Song of Red Sonja and Red Nails are the best Conan artwork ever created, full stop. Now, don't get me wrong - there are certainly some poorly drawn interiors from the run, especially on some of the later issues where Smith was on a deadline and the pages were finished by a hodge-podge of inkers (issue #21 is probably the worst offender, but, #23 is certainly not what anyone would consider to be vintage BWS art despite coming just one issue before the magnificent Song of Red Sonja).  But, then you look at Red Nails and it's one of the best things ever to be drawn in comics (though, for sentimental/nostalgic reasons, The Song of Red Sonja in Conan #24 is my personal favorite BWS work, and the cover is top 5 all-time for me). 

Edited July 2, 2019 by delekkerste

[Bronty]

10 hours ago, ESeffinga said:

Kaluta 167... THAT is a nice Conan cover.

 

 

Of the studio artists, Kaluta was initially the least appealing to me, and today, he might be my favourite.   I love artists who manage to not only stave off decline but actually iMprove after many years in the business; it’s a feat so few manage to pull off.   

Early Wrightson is my favourite “Studio” work but 15 years later his work was already in steep decline IMO (Batman:  cult, the weird, etc.    Still decent and in some spots still very good but a shadow of 1972 era work). 

Edited July 1, 2019 by Bronty

[vodou]

10 hours ago, Bronty said:

Early Wrightson is my favourite “Studio” work but 15 years later his work was already in steep decline IMO (Batman:  cult, the weird, etc.    Still decent and in some spots still very good but a shadow of 1972 era work). 

Wrightson ran into a number of personal issues in the 1980s that took a toll on his output, similar to Frazetta's stroke and the other thing (horrible memory today, but it was undiagnosed thyroid situation or something iirc?) And of course the sacrifices made "for" Frankenstein over a decade or so meant that much "not Frankenstein" necessarily followed the next three decades.

I still cannot muster great enthusiasm for Kaluta, early, middle or late. But I get that it's "just me"!

[ESeffinga]

4 hours ago, vodou said:

I still cannot muster great enthusiasm for Kaluta, early, middle or late. But I get that it's "just me"!

Good.

Edited July 1, 2019 by ESeffinga

[stinkininkin]

12 hours ago, vodou said:

Wrightson ran into a number of personal issues in the 1980s that took a toll on his output, similar to Frazetta's stroke and the other thing (horrible memory today, but it was undiagnosed thyroid situation or something iirc?) And of course the sacrifices made "for" Frankenstein over a decade or so meant that much "not Frankenstein" necessarily followed the next three decades.

I still cannot muster great enthusiasm for Kaluta, early, middle or late. But I get that it's "just me"!

Not just you.  Certain prime Kaluta pieces are terrific, but he'll always be a distant fourth place to the other Studio artists for me.

[jjonahjameson11]

8 hours ago, stinkininkin said:

Not just you.  Certain prime Kaluta pieces are terrific, but he'll always be a distant fourth place to the other Studio artists for me.

+ 1

[batman_fan]

There is a lot of Charles Schulz material in this one