Perhapablog

Monday, March 23, 2009

i've got pages...

(note: i don't know whether it was blogger or me, but i wasn't able to upload a lot of the jpgs i had for this post. sorry...)

okay...

in my career as a writer in comics, i have been blessed to've worked with some truly amazing artists. and i've been lucky enough to've been gifted with a page or two from most of the projects i've worked on. i have a page from a spectacular spider-man story i did that was drawn by the great sal buscema (and inked by bill sienkewicz). i have several pages that humberto ramos gave me from our jla; world without grown-ups mini that introduced young justice (yes, i have the bart's "grandpa?" page...). i have a page from both ethan van sciver and carlo barberi from my run on impulse, and a page--this is true--from walt simonson from the impulse issue he guest-artisted in!
i have pages from rich case from the spider-man story he and i did back in the day and a few pages from karl kesel from our more recent spider-man family/looter story that was our tribute to mike.
i, of course, have a bunch of pages each from mike and from craig--a page from the first sensational spider-man mike and i did, from our x-men 1/2 story, from the first issue of tellos, and a bunch of other pages, my favorites from sensational and tellos. from craig i have a page from our first perhapanauts book, the hostess fruit pies page from the not gigantic color special, the original for choopie's "hey! jerks!" ad.



my originals from nick cardy are in a special place; he drew me a gorgeous black canary several years ago that hangs by my bed, the sherlock holmes poster that he made for me (and the production) when i was in the play a few years back, the "jake steals my sandwich" pitcures...




i have pages from, andy smith, derec aucoin (now donavan), rich faber, mike mckone, howard porter, and many more! most are framed and in rotation here in my (too small) house.
yes, i am really lucky.

so, that's my collection of stuff i've worked on. so very nice of the artists to give them to me--i offered to pay them for them, but no go--and i can't thank them all enough for these great treasures.

my other collection of comic art is considerably smaller, mostly 'cause i just don't have the money. and because what i'm looking for are very rare pieces. these are the nostalgic pieces, the ones from my childhood wish list and, sadly, the guys i'll never have the chance to work with.

when i started reading--and loving--comics as a kid (and remember, i was mostly a dc guy to start out with...), two of the guys who really got me, the guys who really knew how to tell a story and carry you along for the ride, were jim aparo, and dick dillin! jim's stuff on brave and the bold and aquaman (not to mention those moody, spooky spectre and phantom stranger stories...) was just everything to me! yeah, i dug neal adams at the time the most, but neal was all about graphic spectacle and, sorry, not really that great at storytelling. jim would strap you in and you were off with stunning shading and shadows, dynamic action and clean storytelling! you could ALWAYS tell what was going on!
dick dillin, on the justice league, was, in my mind, a hero just for being able to juggle all of those characters and make them work! a lot of people say that dick's characters were sometimes stiff and mechanical looking...well, yeah! when they were under the mind control of starro or dr, destiny!!! i loved his work and you could see how much he loved doing it in every panel--he had such respect for both the story and the characters!

sadly, like so many other great artists of the time, jim and dick have passed on, leaving behind two wonderful legacies and generations of appreciative fans. my little regret is that i never got a chance to meet them. or work with them. and so those are the two names that i throw into the search on ebay from time to time, looking for a page or two that i might be able to pick up, something from that magical time period when i just couldn't get enough of their work, an early to mid-seventies brave and the bold or a justice league. they are few and far between. and often, far out of my price range.
but you can dream, right?



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my pal, terry, sent me this video/link yesterday and i thought it was cute/cool, so check it out and see if you agree...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2FX9rviEhw


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and here,
once again,
are your
"five for friday"

1. mark twain once said that the worst winter he ever experienced was summer in what american city?

san francisco

2. what is the princess' actual name in disney's "sleeping beauty?"

princess aurora

3. united states currency is printed, not on paper, but on a "fabric" that is 25% linen and 75% what?

cotton

4. powered by the larva of moths, what nervous novelty items are called brincadores in their native country?

mexican jumping beans

5. from the book of revelation, name the four horsemen of the apocalypse.

a. war

b. famine

c. pestilence

d. death



gotta go finish a story!
have a good monday!
smell ya later!
todd

9 comments:

Heywood Jablomie said...

HEY I HAVE THAT SPIDEY PAGE!!

i know how ya feel on the art collection thing todd. for a while i went on a rampage on ebay buying up stuff from different people and of course i bought a butt load of pages from craig. i've long since stopped due to financial constraints but from day one of ebay i had been trying to get certain things too from people-but alas some of those pages got too pricey for me, especially a rare Tellos page that i saw go up. i've always wanted a good piece from joe staton or walt simonson.....ah but one can dream right?

todd said...

yeah, mike~~that was my problem.
blogger wasn't letting me upload from my own scans for some reason and so, out of frustration, i used your page just to have something up there--hope that's cool...

portalcomics said...

original art is one of those things that I've always wanted to be able to have but just can't find the disposable cash to get!! LOL!! I've got a lot of conventions sketches and stuff and like you Todd, have at least a page from about every project I've been involved with... I also started to build a collection of convention sketches for my son of characters he likes... it's a lot of fun!

Heywood Jablomie said...

i expect a royalty for every time you use the picture. =P

nah it's all good! hehe

Adam Hutch said...

Mike, that's a pretty sweet page, and I'm with you Mike, I'd love a Simonson page. The only two pieces of original art (they're just too expensive) I have are a page from the -1 issue of Sensational Spider-Man and a page from the near universally hated Mantlo Alpha Flight run. I loved that run when I was younger, and stole it from my older brother when he went away to college.

A few years ago, I started collecting convention sketches, and have managed to get a nice collection going. I've even started a "Big Book of Super-Heroines" for my daughter.

Brian said...

Great post, Todd.

Mostly convention sketches and commissions for me as well.

I could not touch a Neal Adams page with Black Canary on it, but I was able to stretch and get a Black Canary pin-up he did and posted on his site for sale.

Anonymous said...

Humberto is uncannily kick ass.

Brian said...

Man, the more I see the Cardy Sherlock Holmes piece, the more I like it.

That is just a great, great illustration.

Warren said...

You have a great collection as it is. You've been blessed to work with some of the best artists in comics (and they've been blessed to work with one of the best writers).

I entirely agree with you about Aparo and Dillin. Both waaay under-rated. Aparo is my favorite Bat-artist ever. He was so versatile too. Dillin's *the* JLA artist, IMHO. I miss those days.