Hellboy, or, Anung Un Rama - Baltimore Comic-Con cover 2007

Some pieces of art are definitely worth pursuing and this wonderful piece was a ‘third time lucky’ score for me. It was published as the cover of the program for the 2007 Baltimore Comic-Con, where Mike was Guest of Honour, and as soon as I saw the original art come up for sale I just had to have it. First time round I bid hard for it at auction only to narrowly miss out (damn!), and then missed it for the second time a lot of months later when it was briefly offered for sale again on CAF (double damn!!). It felt then that I’d probably never get my hands on it. But eventually, following a series of speculative emails and an unbelievably fortuitous set of circumstances, not to mention a very helpful seller (massive thanks due to you, Jason), here it finally is - mine, all mine - worth every bit of frustration, stress and effort (not to mention the obligatory chunk of cold, hard cash) that it took to get it - and I absolutely love it!

For me it’s a significant piece and deserved something extra special in framing. So here it is - a heavy, deep and ornate, almost victorian-esque moulding (which felt like a good match even though Hellboy’s not set in that era), with a second inner frame of black-stained oak set under Clarity glass. I ordered an old-fashioned artist name plate coated in gold leaf which, when pinned to the inner frame, perfectly set off the distressed gold on the outer frame, and tied the whole thing together visually. An unmissable opportunity to honour Hellboy with his full title.