Category: Comic Books

Artist-Man, Artist-Man, Does Whatever An Artist Can

I have an account with Heritage Auctions but, so far, haven’t acquired anything through them. Much, if not most, of the high-end original art for comic books, comic strips, and cartoons is handled by Heritage. The high-resolution scans provided by HA are valuable resources in studying the work of many noted artists.

There are only a few days remaining to bid on page #9 from Amazing Spider-Man #7. Right now it’s going for $54,000, including the “buyer’s premium.” This early example of Steve Ditko’s work on the series clearly shows where he inked with a pen, and where he instead used a brush.

Click now to enlarge!

E.nterprising C.ochran

Physics professor turned publisher Russ Cochran of West Plains, Missouri, has passed away. Cochran’s friendship with MAD magazine’s Bill Gaines made it possible for him to reprint every E.C. comic book from the 1950’s in hardcover box sets, starting with Weird Science in 1978. I subscribed to the series and received each set as they were published, which took upwards of ten years to complete, as I recall.

Some of the finest pieces of original comic strip art found today on Heritage Auctions passed through Cochran’s hands decades ago, from his own art auctions as well as his personal collection. In 2005 Cochran published ‘Les Paul In His Own Words’ in collaboration with his brother Michael.

Sven Flintstone

Scott Shaw! (exclamation point included) is a professional cartoonist specializing in Hanna-Barbera characters, especially the Flintstones. A couple of weeks ago I did a favor for Scott by posting this video.

https://youtu.be/yy1uZqdF3wM

I’m a Svengoolie fan, and I record his MeTV show on my PC-DVR every Saturday, so it was easy for me to grab the segment with Sven’s shout-out to Scott. I was careful to include the action right before the break, so that Kerwyn’s joke made sense.

Eddie Muller on 4-Color Noir

Kudos to Eddie Muller for his Noir Alley introduction on Turner Classic Movies to “While the City Sleeps” (1956). Based on a novel where a serial killer was a religious fanatic, the film instead blamed the influence of comic books. Muller says, “I spent my entire youth, and a lot of my adult life, reading these… and it didn’t harm me one bit.”