If you could own one piece of original DC art, what would it be?

[Twice-named]

What is your “holy grail” of original DC comic art that you would love to own? If it was available and money wasn’t an issue, what would it be?

Mine is this

[caj]

Anything by Dick Dillin on Justice League of America. In particular, the splash page he drew for JLA 184 right before he died.

[Riv86672]

I’d pay an arm and a leg for the original art…:

[Twice-named]

Anything by Dick Dillin on Justice League of America. In particular, the splash page he drew for JLA 184 right before he died.

There are a bunch of Dillin JLA pieces up for auction at Heritage:

JLA #152 - Page 1
JLA #92 - Page 2
JLA #146 - Cover
JLA #168 - Cover
JLA #161 - Page 22
JLA #102 - Page 1

I’d pay an arm and a leg for the original art…:

Yeah, I’d love to own this cover. It would go for a lot at auction. The cover to NTT #22 featuring Brother Blood sold for $36,000 back in September. So, I can only imagine what #1 would go for.

[superduperman]

Some pages from DKR might be a little unrealistic. I actually could have once but wasn't willing to pay the $1000 or whatever it was for an original piece of art from the Maxima storyline in the Superman books.

[Twice-named]

Some pages from DKR might be a little unrealistic. I actually could have once but wasn't willing to pay the $1000 or whatever it was for an original piece of art from the Maxima storyline in the Superman books.

Page 17 from DKR #1 sold for $120,000 in January. And it's not a splash page or a DPS.

I would love to own the cover of Action #651:

[JThree]

Don't know how to paste it, But is was in the New Teen Titans "The Eyes of Tara Markov" part one. Art by George Perez. It was the page where Logan and Tara kissed with the sun setting. That one page communicated to the reader how Changeling saw Ms. Markov, despite the reality being different. It was the sweetness right before the sour hitting the fan. Loved it. I think it's what made Terra's betrayal so hard. We saw what she could be. Young Adult Romance? Perhaps Mr. Wolfman and Mr. Perez should have been writing YA books? They were really good with this one.

Any New Teen Titans fans here remember that page? For me, that one page is the apex of Mr. Perez's work. It made us care for those two.

Comments?

--jthree

[Twice-named]

Don't know how to paste it, But is was in the New Teen Titans "The Eyes of Tara Markov" part one. Art by George Perez. It was the page where Logan and Tara kissed with the sun setting. That one page communicated to the reader how Changeling saw Ms. Markov, despite the reality being different. It was the sweetness right before the sour hitting the fan. Loved it. I think it's what made Terra's betrayal so hard. We saw what she could be. Young Adult Romance? Perhaps Mr. Wolfman and Mr. Perez should have been writing YA books? They were really good with this one.

Any New Teen Titans fans here remember that page? For me, that one page is the apex of Mr. Perez's work. It made us care for those two.

Comments?

--jthree

This page, right? It's currently in the possession of a CAF user named Nick - Barry - Matt - Hal - Namor.

[kcekada]

Probably Dave Cockrum's two-page spread of Bouncing Boy's and Duo Damsel's wedding from Superboy & the LSH #200. Cockrum left DC when Carmine Infantino refused to give him the art for those two pages.

[JThree]

This page, right? It's currently in the possession of a CAF user named Nick - Barry - Matt - Hal - Namor.

It's beautiful. It really is.

--jthree

[Jim Kelly]

Probably Dave Cockrum's two-page spread of Bouncing Boy's and Duo Damsel's wedding from Superboy & the LSH #200. Cockrum left DC when Carmine Infantino refused to give him the art for those two pages.

That's an abbreviated version of what happened. In fact, Dave asked the editor, Murray Boltinoff, for the art back, but Murray refused. Carmine was then asked to back Murray up on this and he did so, being the publisher at the time. While it doesn't seem fair, I can see why Infantino backed his editor rather than the freelance artist. In management, there's a hierarchy and you have to side with the people in that hierarchy. Paul Levitz would have done the same if he was in the same situation when he was publisher (and he was in comparable situations where he backed management over independent creators).

Also it wasn't a two page spread. It should have been, but it appeared on one page and you had to tilt the page when you got to that part of the story.

But Cockrum was right to ask for his art back. However, they never gave art back as a rule. And yet they gave it away to fans. In the letter columns, going back to the early 1960s, they would give art and scripts to fans as rewards for their letters (a kind of "baldie" for the time period). And they conducted tours of the offices one day of the week, where disgusting fanboys would parade through the bullpen--and those ghouls were given free original art for their troubles.

Although, in the 1960s, the artists didn't seem to think their originals had any value. Original art pages given away to fans were sometimes signed by the artists like Carmine Infantino and Joe Giella.

By around the time that Cockrum was cheated of his original art, I recall Neal Adams complaining in the fan press that a bunch of his original art was lost--fell of the back of a truck no doubt. That was one reason he stopped working for National Periodicals.

So some original art that we see show up at conventions is actually art that was either stolen or at least acquired through underhanded means. And I am wary of these auctions, where criminals may profit from the their ill-gotten gains.

The only original art I ever got as a letter-hack was a cover sketch by Sam Keith--and it wasn't actually an original, it was a fax 'cause that's how they were doings things in the 1990s.

Anyway, you're not likely to get the completed coloured art for anything relatively recent. I doubt that comic covers are coloured on paper at all, anymore--since they do all that on their electronic devices. It would be interesting to see what the original original looks like--do they sketch anything on paper anymore, or do they do it all on a tablet?

The old old bristol boards are neat to look at, 'cause you can see where they whited out details and pasted up bits and what remarks are in the margins. I've seen these at some art shows.

Or you could commission an artist to recreate a work of theirs. That seems the most honest way to deal with artists. Pay them directly.

[Twice-named]

That's an abbreviated version of what happened. In fact, Dave asked the editor, Murray Boltinoff, for the art back, but Murray refused. Carmine was then asked to back Murray up on this and he did so, being the publisher at the time. While it doesn't seem fair, I can see why Infantino backed his editor rather than the freelance artist. In management, there's a hierarchy and you have to side with the people in that hierarchy. Paul Levitz would have done the same if he was in the same situation when he was publisher (and he was in comparable situations where he backed management over independent creators).

Also it wasn't a two page spread. It should have been, but it appeared on one page and you had to tilt the page when you got to that part of the story.

But Cockrum was right to ask for his art back. However, they never gave art back as a rule. And yet they gave it away to fans. In the letter columns, going back to the early 1960s, they would give art and scripts to fans as rewards for their letters (a kind of "baldie" for the time period). And they conducted tours of the offices one day of the week, where disgusting fanboys would parade through the bullpen--and those ghouls were given free original art for their troubles.

Although, in the 1960s, the artists didn't seem to think their originals had any value. Original art pages given away to fans were sometimes signed by the artists like Carmine Infantino and Joe Giella.

By around the time that Cockrum was cheated of his original art, I recall Neal Adams complaining in the fan press that a bunch of his original art was lost--fell of the back of a truck no doubt. That was one reason he stopped working for National Periodicals.

So some original art that we see show up at conventions is actually art that was either stolen or at least acquired through underhanded means. And I am wary of these auctions, where criminals may profit from the their ill-gotten gains.

The only original art I ever got as a letter-hack was a cover sketch by Sam Keith--and it wasn't actually an original, it was a fax 'cause that's how they were doings things in the 1990s.

Anyway, you're not likely to get the completed coloured art for anything relatively recent. I doubt that comic covers are coloured on paper at all, anymore--since they do all that on their electronic devices. It would be interesting to see what the original original looks like--do they sketch anything on paper anymore, or do they do it all on a tablet?

The old old bristol boards are neat to look at, 'cause you can see where they whited out details and pasted up bits and what remarks are in the margins. I've seen these at some art shows.

Or you could commission an artist to recreate a work of theirs. That seems the most honest way to deal with artists. Pay them directly.

The old art like Superboy and LOSH #200 and Dick Dillin JLA pages aren't colored either. They're black and white. I'm hard-pressed to think of any original art I've seen that was colored on the original board/paper other than a painted cover.

Every piece I own was purchased directly from the artist or their rep. I definitely prefer going through the artist because there's no question about provenance. There are pieces I want though that others purchased before I could from the artist.

[Johnny Thunders!]

I think I would want the 1st page of the old Silver Age Last Days of Superman comic.
If I remember correctly, the Kandorians are flying and carrying Superman’s lifeless body pieta style.
It’s a really gorgeous Curt Swan page.

[Robotman]

Too many to choose from, but this one immediately came to mind: