If you’ve ever stopped to check out any of the nonsense that I’ve put up here, it should come as no surprise that a decent portion of my comic related posts revolve around Spidey. As a comic reading kid, he was a pivotal part of my life and that only strengthened throughout time. These days, I don’t really “collect” much in terms of the variety of product like I used to. I pretty much stick to the comic title The Amazing Spider-Man which I am happy to say I almost have a complete run of. As far as other comic books go, I mainly stick with key issues. First appearances of major characters. Basically blue chip books. But on top of that…my passion is comic art.
I’ve posted lots of cool pieces I have and have tons more to post…but today I’m going to share some images of some tasty pieces that I’m sadly currently still paying off and waiting to receive. The following are 4 pieces of original cover art for 4 different issues of my favorite title…The Amazing Spider-Man. Let’s dive right in…
I’ll post the published version along with the original pencils & inks.
This first one is not even out yet. It is for issue #74 so don’t mind the wrong issue number on the “published version” as it was just an early digital mock up to show what the published version will roughly look like.
I’ve been wanting a piece by Marco Checchetto for a while now. He’s been doing some beautiful work on Daredevil for some time now and has ignored every single one of my attempts to reach out to purchase art…sigh…
Luckily, I got in Touch with his art rep where I by someone stroke of luck, found out about this upcoming beauty. He named a price. I asked for 4 payments over 4 months. Done deal. 3 more months left before I get this fucker but I’m over the moon to secure this beauty…
Next up is the cover to ASM #59. This is super exciting as it is a Mark Bagley cover who…if you know anything about this world…is one of the definitive Spidey artists…ever! He worked on the title in the 90’s when he co introduced Carnage. Then on Ultimate Spidey where Miles Morales was brought in. All the way to today where he still works on ASM regularly…among other projects. The pencils are masterfully inked and brought to life by the ever so awesome John Dell.
The cover featured Spidey in a tricky situation against Mr. Negative. I have 0 Mr. Negative pieces in my gallery, so I’m a happy camper with this. I paid this one and the following piece off in one chunk with more to come in the coming months. These should be here any day now and I’ll post once in.
Onto…yup….another Bagley/Dell piece. This time it’s ASM #57 featuring a…I dunno…Bad Day Spidey? 🤷♂️🤷♂️🤷♂️ Regardless of how his day went, I’m Glad to have it…
Finally for today we have a tasty treat from Mr. Outrage…AKA…Frank Cho. This beauty is being chipped away in 6 payments…2 remain. It’s the cover to Amazing Spider-Man #663 and it was released in 2011. I saw this pop up in my nightly art searches and jumped on it immediately.
Frank’s work and detail is so precise and gorgeous that I am kinda in awe that this will be hanging in my home in the near future. The cover features the Web Head, Anti-Venom, Wraith, and a fuck ton of pretty smoke. Art boner…activated.
All of these will be framed up properly and displayed in my ever growing Spidey gallery. These are long Haul pieces that I don’t intend to move…at least not for decades. With the comic art market getting nuttier and nuttier, I know it’s just a matter of time when the me in my current situation will be priced out of being able to snag these. My hopes are that this silly crypto world will afford some different luxuries down the line. Maybe a McFarlane Spidey piece…who knows what adventures the future holds?!?
That’s it for today as I don’t want to blow my wad in one post that 3 humans may read. Until next time my friends…
Which will be in like 10 hours…
Blewitt
Such greatness! I always admired people that have the focus to put together really great collections for their favorite. Spidey is one of the best to do that with too.
I have A.D.D. and my collections show it haha. Daredevil was my favorite as a kid/teenager. Iron Man literally changed my life so I think I have to give him the favorite title now. Always loved the Thunderbolts though so as far as reading comics, that usually gets my attention. And I really like fantasy and indie books too.
Sometimes I think maybe if I just sold/traded all my other stuff and concentrated on Iron Man or Daredevil, I could have a cool collection like that too. But then I realize I couldn't even choose one when typing that sentence... haha.
You have so many awesome Spidey pieces just from what I've seen so far. How do you display them all? Running out of space yet? 😅
I had to set rules for myself. Otherwise it’s too easy to spiral out of control and go down the rabbit hole. I figured, I’ll have a really killer Spidey gallery rather than a gazillion different titles and so forth.
I still will occasionally buy non Spidey stuff, but it’s usually with the intent of flipping down the road. Basically, too good a deal to pass up if it comes across my plate. But 99% is Spidey.
If you are a DD guy, I say go for it. I could help you find a cool page or cover! Lol
...typed a book here, sorry, may get a little carried away when talking comics haha...
Setting boundaries is a good idea. Spidey is a great choice too. There are few characters that someone can eventually have a top notch collection with. Spidey, Batman, Superman, Wolverine I think are like S-class potential for collectors. Always room to grow with them and lots of great potential even without being super rich. Even mid range collections of those characters can put other maxed out collections to shame. 🤣
I do love DD. Think I have about 2/3rd of the comic books up to the point I stopped collecting new issues. My #1 is not super high grade but I have it! Have a cool convention marker sketch by a guy named Nate Lovett too. Also one by Daryl Banks that is probably my favorite convention sketch overall. No pages or covers though, so if I go all in on DD I will have to take you up on getting something good! DD is probably a B tier character to collect. Definitely can amass a cool collection. Has some good history. Collectibles in general. Art. etc... Can't quite match the top 4, and quite a few A tier outpace him.
Originally I went with Thunderbolts because I really like the comics. I have all of them. There really is not much else to collect though. This is what pushed me toward my first original art. There was nowhere else to go with the collection haha. But collecting over all, this group is like D or F tier haha.
When I watched the first Iron Man movie, it literally changed my life. I got into STEM and sci-fi. Went back to school. Got a career. Started collecting. Have every issue from #1 to when I stopped collecting new books a few years back. Tales of Suspense I have a few issues, including #39 at 5.0 (my only graded book.) Lots of figures, statues, etc... A couple convention sketches. Went a little Iron Man crazy. Before the movies, I'd have said Iron Man was a C tier character at best. Now I think, for collecting, he is A tier, borderline S tier. Not sure he quite has as much as the top 4 but he is close now.
I actually have a decent ASM collection, nothing super great. Always liked Spidey but never went hardcore collecting. Same with X-Men and Fantastic Four.
Didn't get into DC much, way later I collect Flash, Shazam, and Blue Beetle. But I don't think I'd choose any of them to be my main collector focus.
I really love a lot of indie stuff. Dreamwave is dead but I liked a lot of their books. Cyber Force and Ripclaw also great. But all indie books except maybe Spawn have almost no collector potential, besides a small stack of comics and maybe a little art or an action figure or something...
If I had to choose one to focus it'd probably have to be between DD and Iron Man. My Iron Man collection is a decent amount ahead of DD too, despite collecting DD longer. But I consistently go back to DD as a character. I like Iron Man but I think it is the movie magic and the allure of the technology and such that bring me to it more than the character himself.
Tales of Suspense #39 in 5.0 is an absolutely killer book brother! I have a raw that I’ll get graded one day. Probably like a 3.0 or somewhere in that realm.
I collected shit for 30 years and while I love it all, in the past few years is when I’ve come to the realization that I don’t want most of it any longer. Space, clutter, not looking at or appreciating fully what I acquired. That’s why I decided to shift my focus to the art, my Asm run, and key issues. That’s it for me. All the rest is for sale and will hopefully find new homes in the coming years with folks who are excited to receive that stuff as I initially was.
Show off that Tales of Suspense bud! Do a piece on that. I’m sure the community would love to see it as it’s truly a piece of history.
Space is a big issue. Do you display all your art? I have mine in a little portfolio thing I got from Hobby Lobby. I don't really have anywhere else to put them at the moment. And not sure any of them are really frame and wall hanging worthy (yet!)
I have a handful framed up so far. The rest sit in a portfolio. Or 2 portfolios. The plan is to have a bunch of framed art in the basement and hallway leading down to it but I’m already pretty much Done with the hallway. I’d love to have a cool little gallery one day but that is just a dream at this point. I’ll post some pics this week of the framed pieces.
Will have to do one of those room tour videos! I can waste hours on YouTube watching those... so many awesome collections/mancaves/etc...
You r really talented
I wish these were mine but alas…I can’t draw a circle properly…