Welcome to my space on the Web.  I collect comics and original comic art.  What you have in front of you is almost my entire collection.  Please take a look and let me know what you think.  This page is primarily a tribute to my two hobbies although there are a number of items for sale.  For bandwidth reasons, I have combined my price page and the art page together.  

New Art: recent additions to my collection.

Comic book art:  Original art from the funny books.  I have included comic strip art in this category as well because a lot of well known comic book artists worked on strips you may not be familiar with.(updated Dec 2012)

Classic comic strip art:  Original art for newspaper dailies from the famous to the obscure.(updated may 2006)

Jungle girl art:  My favorite theme for artwork.  Divided into several sections including convention sketches, commissions, pin-ups, covers and published art.(last update 2005)

Daredevil art:  My favorite comic hero.  Scans of most of the art I own from this character.(last update 2005)

Featured Artists:  Galleries on spotlighted artists.(last update 2005)

Links:   A few useful resources for the fans of this hobby.

New Jungle Girl Site:  Giant Jungle Girl site with covers, JG bios and stories.

Terms and Conditions of Sales:  Some more specifics regarding standard practice with me. 

Background:  Although comic artist have been producing art since the birth of the industry, it was not until recent decades that original comic art became collectable and had any established value.  There are stories of Hal Foster Sunday pages being used as floor mats on the print shop floors.  Now that comic art has been on the market and more widely available for the last 20 years there has been a great deal of collecting interest and prices on comic art have risen greatly.  One of the exciting things about this field is that it is still relatively new and the market has not reached maturity so there are still many excellent opportunities to find good deals on great art.  Although well deserving, comic art has not reached the stature of illustration art from the same period.  I feel it is only a matter of time before it surpasses this.  The comic strip and comic book are among the greatest new art forms and movements that have come out of the 20th century.

Typically an artist is given a story and direction by the editor/writer.  The penciler then sets about laying out the pages and doing the pencil work which can vary from being extremely detailed to fairly rough work.  The art then passes on to the inker who puts pen, ink and brush work to the original pencils.  Although the penciler is often considered as the primary artist the role of the inker can not be overlooked as their style may enhance or interfere with that of the penciler.  In many circumstances there was just one artist that did both, but in the more modern comics this is becoming much less frequent.  From there the art is transformed into the comic book.  Copies known as stats are made from the original art and shrunk in size.  If it is to be a color comic the stats are then colored by the colorist before being sent to the printer.  These other forms and steps of the printing process are also collectible and fit into the category of production art.  In this category are every thing from color guides and original stats to the four color acetate overlays and printing proofs.  Production art must be separated from original art but is still highly collectible.  Over the past 40 years the exact processes and methods have changed greatly and computers are removing some of these steps and as such collectible production art is becoming more rare.

How much is comic art worth? A good but difficult question.  There are several ways to look at this.  Remember that the comic artist has been paid already by the publisher (hopefully) for producing the art.  The images and content of that art are still the property of the publisher but the physical art is not and that is what is being bought and sold.  No rights to publishing or using that art comes with art, only the right to enjoy, frame and perhaps sell that art again one day.

In pricing comic art, many factors come into play.  The stature of the artist, the age of the piece, the characters, the story on the page and the condition of the page.  In valuing any art, you must remember that a great deal of time, effort and skill went into producing each page.   Pages with key characters, battles, story lines, origins and other key events command more money as do splash pages and covers.   One should also be aware that many artists use assistants and although they are not credited for their work, they can have a major impact on the final artwork.  For the purist who is collecting art for the appreciation of the lines and layouts on the page, lesser pages provide an excellent bargain and are often the best artistically.   There are several ways to approach collecting.  One can be character driven (i.e. only buying Superman pages) and the other is art or artist driven.  Other collectors want a wide spectrum of art from a number of artists.  There are many collectors that fall into any one category and many that fall somewhere in between.  Comic art should be looked upon as with all other art and hobby purchases. Always buy what you like and you will never be disappointed.  Although comic art has appreciated greatly in value, it is better to buy with the enjoyment of the art in mind and look at any appreciation in art as an added bonus.  Buying art strictly for investment is still a good investment but does remove the enjoyment from the hobby.