COCHRAN, RUSS

I have been buying and selling original comic art since 1968. For many, many years, all of the Frank Frazetta and Carl Barks art which came to the marketplace passed through my hands. When I started selling Frazetta sketches, they were selling for $35 and up. Every year I would leave my home in Des Moines, where I was a professor at Drake University, and drive to Frazetta's house in eastern Pennsylvania. I remember sitting and watching in wonderment while Frank sat with a sketch pad and drew ink sketches. Sometimes he would work from a pencil outline. Other times he would ink directly on the paper with no pencils to guide his pen. That was fascinating, watching that. He had such perfect eye-hand coordination that what he wanted to see on the paper with his eye magically appeared through his hand holding the pen or brush. It was truly genius at work. Many times I spent the night there with Frank and Ellie and the kids, staying up late to watch Frank work. I was there when he was working on several of his greatest paintings, too. I watched them develop right before my eyes. Next morning, with maybe a couple of hours of sleep, I would take the ten or twelve sketches he had finished, take a few Johnny Comet originals, put them in my art case, and head for Phil Seuling's July 4th convention in the Big Apple. Frazetta collectors tried to be the first to see me coming. Of course, these sketches were priced to sell, at prices from $35. up to maybe $100, and it was first come, first served. So if you saw me first, when I was just checking into the hotel, you got the pick of the litter. I remember guys finding me still unpacking my trusty Dodge truck (her name was Ruby) and begging me to show them the Frazetta sketches before checking in. Those were the days! I have published more than 100 art auction catalogs, including all the catalogs for the sale of the EC artwork. Every single piece of EC artwork that's floating around out there was once in my hands. It was great stuff, and a great time for me, and I felt very honored to be the exclusive representative of Frazetta and Carl Barks. I sold my company and my art collection to Steve Geppi in 1993 and continued to work for him as a publisher and an art seller through my auction. I stopped traveling so much and lost touch with the Frazettas as the prices for Frank's drawings and paintings continued to soar. And now, I'm back!