Reed Waller: Omaha the Cat Dancer Art Nouveau poster

This is one of the reasons why I still attend San Diego Con, because you never know what or who might walk in the doors. The Omaha the Cat Dancer story started almost 30 years ago, and came to an end with the release of the 8th collected volume at San Diego. Reed was invited to the convention by NBM, which turned out to be his first San Diego appearance in 20 years. He brought a portfolio crammed full of artwork to the convention, and I was intent on making up for not buying some of it 20+ years ago when I first met Reed. These images represent a grail find for me, as Reed's take on Art Nouveau-style artwork was instrumental in myself deciding to start a themed art collection on that subject. When I met Reed and asked about images like this, he said "I brought those originals with me, would you like to see them?". So, 20+ years after they were drawn, they left the artist's care and went into a fan's collection who will appreciate them just as much. This is actually the true original, done for a Moscon (Moscow, Idaho) convention poster. Every bit of work (other than the zip-a-tone shading) is Reed's original pen and ink, unseen for more than 20 years in this original form. The image proved so popular, it was reused as both a postcard, and the cover to the 5th collected Omaha volume from NBM. Thank you Reed, for making an old fan very happy.