Simon Bisley “Slaine” art offered (and much more) in latest Comic Link auction

The Spring Featured Auction at US auction house Comic Link starts closing next week – and along with rare US comics includes a wide range of original art, from creators that include British artists Simon Bisley, Alan Davis, Dave Gibbons, Bryan Hitch, Tula Lotay and Barry Windsor-Smith.

Art by American artists – among them Darwyn Cooke, Jack Kirby, George Perez and Jim Steranko , to name but a few- includes Gene Day‘s cover for Marvel Premiere #59, featuring Doctor Who

This Gene Day cover to Marvel Premiere #59 (1981) features Doctor Who encountering the alien Brains Trust. This story was published during the period when actor Tom Baker was playing the Doctor on the TV series and the cover features his likeness. Day was a fine artist who sadly passed away when he was very young.Marvel Premiere #57 though #60 presented adventures originally created for Marvel UK to an American audience. With the exception of a single Dell one-shot during the Silver Age, this was the first time Doctor Who appeared in American comic books.

This Gene Day cover to Marvel Premiere #59 (1981) features Doctor Who encountering the alien Brains Trust. This story was published during the period when actor Tom Baker was playing the Doctor on the TV series and the cover features his likeness. Day was a fine artist who sadly passed away when he was very young.Marvel Premiere #57 though #60 presented adventures originally created for Marvel UK to an American audience. With the exception of a single Dell one-shot during the Silver Age, this was the first time Doctor Who appeared in American comic books.

Art in the auction from Simon Bisley includes a terrific battle page from 2000AD‘s “Slaine the Horned God”…

Simon Bisley illustrated this sensational Slaine illustration in mixed media on heavy illustration paper. This colourful example of Bisley's work features a highly detailed battle scene. This large piece looks amazing in person.

Simon Bisley illustrated this sensational Slaine illustration in mixed media on heavy illustration paper. This colourful example of Bisley’s work features a highly detailed battle scene. This large piece looks amazing in person.

The cover to Excalibur #62 (1993) by the esteemed team of Alan Davis and Mark Farmer. We see X-Men member Nightcrawler during the period in which he moved to England to join Excalibur for several years. The usually jolly Nightcrawler looks unusually intense as he engages in battle with the alient warpies. Both Nightcrawler and the Davis/Farmer team have devoted followings, which should lead to some active bidding around this awesome offering!

The cover to Excalibur #62 (1993) by the esteemed team of Alan Davis and Mark Farmer. We see X-Men member Nightcrawler during the period in which he moved to England to join Excalibur for several years. The usually jolly Nightcrawler looks unusually intense as he engages in battle with the alient warpies. Both Nightcrawler and the Davis/Farmer team have devoted followings, which should lead to some active bidding around this awesome offering!
Davis had his first big break working on Captain Britain stories for Marvel UK in in the early 1980s. Starting in the late 80s, Davis teamed with acclaimed X-Men writer Chris Claremont to incorporate Captain Britain and his supporting cast, including his girlfriend Meggan, into the the X-Men spin-off book, Excalibur. This was a major title published in the U.S. to leverage the huge popularity of comic book’s #1 franchise of the era, the X-Men. Popular X-Men team members Kitty Pryde and Nightcrawler were relocated to Great Britain for several years to appear in the title.

Bryan Hitch drew this epic double page splash for Captain America: Reborn #2 (published in 2009, the first issue of a high profile series that brought Cap back to life after his apparent death in 2007 in the pages of Captain America #25. It features Steve Rogers in battle with the Nazi menace known as Master Man. Inks are by Jackson Guice, the veteran artist who did some of the best work of his career working on Captain America during the era that gave us this page.

Bryan Hitch drew this epic double page splash for Captain America: Reborn #2 (published in 2009, the first issue of a high profile series that brought Cap back to life after his apparent death in 2007 in the pages of Captain America #25. It features Steve Rogers in battle with the Nazi menace known as Master Man. Inks are by Jackson Guice, the veteran artist who did some of the best work of his career working on Captain America during the era that gave us this page.

Guardians of the Galaxy Cover #16 by Tula Lotay

Guardians of the Galaxy Cover #16 by Tula Lotay

The Spring Featured Auction’s Original Art session features hundreds of world class items including the Todd McFarlane Spider-Man #4 cover with Spidey vs. the Lizard from the “Torement Saga”; the Barry Windsor-Smith Grail-level 1971 cover to Conan the Barbarian #5, “The Claws of the Tigress”;  the Mike Mignola Hellboy: Wake the Devil #4 cover; Gene Colan Captain America #120 cover, and a Daredevil #20 page 1 title splash by Gene, with a strong image of DD in action. This is one of the earliest and best large art Colan Daredevil splash pages ever to hit the market.

This is the first ever published page of Gene Colan Daredevil artwork! Published in 1966, it's a rarely available, prime-era "Twice-up" Silver Age Daredevil title splash with a strong image of DD in action! On it, we see a classic image of Daredevil swinging in on a crime scene through an open window. Starting with the issue featuring this title splash, #20, Colan became the primary artist on Daredevil all the way through #100, missing only four issues along the way! He would return to the title for two additional shorter runs in the late 1970s and late 1990s. So, this is quite a significant piece.

This is the first ever published page of Gene Colan Daredevil artwork! Published in 1966, it’s a rarely available, prime-era “Twice-up” Silver Age Daredevil title splash with a strong image of DD in action! On it, we see a classic image of Daredevil swinging in on a crime scene through an open window. Starting with the issue featuring this title splash, #20, Colan became the primary artist on Daredevil all the way through #100, missing only four issues along the way! He would return to the title for two additional shorter runs in the late 1970s and late 1990s. So, this is quite a significant piece.

There’s much more too, and, including Jack Kirby art such as a Fantastic Four Annual #2 page with the FF vs. Doctor Doom and an Annual #3 page with Doom gathering several popular villains to attack the wedding of Reed and Sue; and his New Gods V2 #2 cover with the Black Racer.

Jack Kirby returned to his epic New Gods feature in 1984 when DC repackaged his original 11 issues from 1971-1973 as a deluxe six-issue mini-series with new covers by Kirby. This cover to New Gods #2 (1984) covered the reprinting of the original issues #3 and #4, which included #3's introduction of the Black Racer, one of the DC Universe's versions of "Death". Kirby took inspiration from his own earlier creation, Marvel's Silver Surfer to create the Black Racer. Instead of a surf board, the Racer is on skis. On this cover art, we see a large image of the Racer coming right at the reader--it's pure Kirby magic showing that even toward the end of his legendary career, the King was still at the top of his field.

Jack Kirby returned to his epic New Gods feature in 1984 when DC repackaged his original 11 issues from 1971-1973 as a deluxe six-issue mini-series with new covers by Kirby. This cover to New Gods #2 (1984) covered the reprinting of the original issues #3 and #4, which included #3’s introduction of the Black Racer, one of the DC Universe’s versions of “Death”. Kirby took inspiration from his own earlier creation, Marvel’s Silver Surfer to create the Black Racer. Instead of a surf board, the Racer is on skis. On this cover art, we see a large image of the Racer coming right at the reader–it’s pure Kirby magic showing that even toward the end of his legendary career, the King was still at the top of his field.

More Original Art highlights include Frank Miller Detective Comics #1000 Variant Cover featuring Miller’s iconic Dark Knight and Carrie Kelly Robin and a  Ronin #1 Double Page Splash; Dave Gibbons Watchmen #7 page with Nite Owl and Silk Spectre taking the Owlship out for its first ride in years;  Gil Kane‘s Defenders #52 cover with a Hulk vs. Sub-Mariner battle scene and his Giant-size Master of Kung-Fu #3 cover with Joe Sinnott inks featuring Shang-Chi in battle with the Si-Fan Assassins (A huge Shang-Chi movie is currently in pre-production through Marvel Studios). Plus, there’s George Perez’ New Teen Titans Archives #1 cover, an ideal portrait of the fan-favourite team of the 1980s by their legendary co-creator – and two gorgeous giant prints of Starwatcher on offer by Moebius!

Watchmen by writer Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons is widely considered to be the best superhero comic book series ever created and originals from the series are among the most desirable artwork of the era. Offered here is a memorable scene from #7 of the 12-part 1986 series. We see Nite Owl and Silk Spectre taking Nite Owl's Owlship, which he calls "Archie" (short for Archimedes), out for its first ride in almost a decade since the Keene Act had outlawed superhero activity. It is a significant moment in the series and a memorable scene.

Watchmen by writer Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons is widely considered to be the best superhero comic book series ever created and originals from the series are among the most desirable artwork of the era. Offered here is a memorable scene from #7 of the 12-part 1986 series. We see Nite Owl and Silk Spectre taking Nite Owl’s Owlship, which he calls “Archie” (short for Archimedes), out for its first ride in almost a decade since the Keene Act had outlawed superhero activity. It is a significant moment in the series and a memorable scene.

The beloved Darwyn Cooke, who redesigned Catwoman for the 21st century, created this illustration of his popular subject in ink and tonal marker on board. It really captures the joy that Cooke was able to build into his work on Batman's greatest femme fatale.

The beloved Darwyn Cooke, who redesigned Catwoman for the 21st century, created this illustration of his popular subject in ink and tonal marker on board. It really captures the joy that Cooke was able to build into his work on Batman’s greatest femme fatale.

A beautiful over-sized silk screen features one of artist Moebius' most famous subjects, Starwatcher. The image area of this "Starwatcher II" serigraph measures an impressive 19" x 26.5" on 22" x 30" paper -- this image is huge! It was issued by the French art publisher Aedena circa 1985 in a limited edition of 300 signed and numbered by the artist. Moebius described this serigraph as "truly a magical drawing"...

A beautiful over-sized silk screen features one of artist Moebius’ most famous subjects, Starwatcher. The image area of this “Starwatcher II” serigraph measures an impressive 19″ x 26.5″ on 22″ x 30″ paper — this image is huge! It was issued by the French art publisher Aedena circa 1985 in a limited edition of 300 signed and numbered by the artist. Moebius described this serigraph as “truly a magical drawing”…

Comic book sessions close next Tuesday through Thursday, and original art session lots close the following Tuesday. If you haven’t reviewed the auction lots yet, there’s no time like the present.

•  Auction Close Dates (1st Lot Closes at 8.00pm Eastern Time / 5.00pm Pacific Time Each Evening): Session 1: Comic Books: Tuesday 28th May 2019, Wednesday 29th May 2019 |  Session 2: Comic Books: Thursday 30th May | Session 3: Original Artwork: Tuesday 4th June 2019



Categories: Art and Illustration, Comic Art, Doctor Who, downthetubes Comics News, downthetubes News, Other Worlds, US Comics

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Discover more from downthetubes.net

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading