Artist Sketches

Earlier, I listed a bunch of my comic collecting goals for 2008. Unlike many members on the CGC Forums (my usual haunt), I have a relatively small collection: 3 long boxes packed full of around 750 comic books. I am proud of my collection, however, as it is a tightly focused compilation of the heroes that interest me most namely Spider-Man, Batman, and the X-Men. Nearing the end of the run of Amazing Spider-Man comics, I find I'm looking to begin working on some of these other goals for the year, most notably artist sketches.

If you take a look at my Comic Art Fan (CAF) site, you'll see I've already started making some headway into this branch of the hobby- art including some statues. It's just fun, especially when you get an artist who has done work on comics that are forever sketched into your nerdy brain. There are a number of these artists for me, but one I have made two acquisitions on is Ron Frenz who did the art for ASM during the 1980s- right when I was growing up. His cover for ASM 252, the recreation of the Amazing Fantasy 15, is probably the most wellknown of his body of work. Having a nice signed print as well as a piece of published work by him is especially cool to the kid inside me.

If I am ever well-off, I want to get a Todd McFarlane Spider-Man sketch. Something nice and simple would be A-O-K, and hopefully even personalized. I know this will cost a bit if it ever happens, but this is the guy who took me from really liking comics to being obcessed with them as a kid. Appealing to my adult collector side, however, I want to try and get a John Romita Sr. sketch. Again, published OA from Jazzy John is simply out of my reach. I'll have to be a tenured college professor before that'll even come close to happening. But even a sketch of some sort would be nice... but these too will cost you well into the hundreds of dollars. As a compromise, I'm looking at getting a Herb Trimpe Classic Wolverine sketch. Besides, I have no X-Men OA at all and this would be the perfect way of meeting that goal. It's just fun to think of this as a way of coming into contact with these artists who created characters I loved and continue to love.

And it's a great way to make my office look even more cool (though not how my wife would phrase it ;) )