Doom Patrol 13 – page 10

[continued from the previous post]

In one of my first email communications with Felix I asked him if he had been given to sell page 10 of Doom Patrol issue 13 and he told me that he was not sure. I don’t think he was stringing me along but that he himself was being given the pages in tranches so he genuinely did not know. There were months and it seemed like even years between Seth Fisher artwork drops and in the meantime I educated myself in Felix’s stable of artists, many of whom I had previously had no knowledge of because I was a child of the 70s – an old fogey. I managed to pick up some other pages from Felix of Seth’s, always Doom Patrol, but those uploads will have to wait until I sort out a larger format scanner – this year for sure, just as I have said for the last three or four years. When the final Seth Fisher drop came around in 2021 before Felix returned any unsold Seth Fisher artwork (if there was any) back to his family the page that I was after came up. For those who do not know or don’t remember the two issues of Doom Patrol that Seth drew they are, as fill-ins often are, not in strict continuity so can be read as standalones. The story is a sort of mash up of It’s a Wonderful Life and Freaky Friday as Robotman falls into an alternate reality where the bodies of the original members of Doom Patrol who are mostly dead have been inhabited by the new teen members of Doom Patrol. I find this page incredibly poignant – how would you react if you suddenly saw someone who you thought you would never ever see again? Would your normal staid inhibitions go out of the window and you would gather them up in a warm embrace? This is what happens in the third panel when Robotman thinks he has been reunited with his close friend Larry Trainor, Negative Man. Then he comes crashing down to earth when he realises that it is actually his least favourite member of the new team.

I can’t tell you how very pleased I was to snag this page, and I told Felix as much. If I never again am successful at getting a page at any of his drops, perhaps because the arthritis in my elbows has spread down into my fingers further hampering the speed with which I can use the keyboard, or maybe because the pages are already “on hold” before my ice-age internet connection is un-frozen I will, because I scored this page, still think I am ahead.

So, if you are reading this, thank you, Felix, for your big heart and generosity of spirit, and everything you have done to popularise, legitimise and promote the practice of original comic art collecting for both creators and fans. I would not be overstating it in saying you have revolutionised the business model, and also transformed the way I think about original comic art. They often say that the first years of any business are the most difficult so to make a massive success of it in your first ten years whilst contending with all the other matters you have had to deal with speaks volumes. Well done to you and everyone who has played a part in setting up and running Felix Comic Art. Here’s to very many more years.

One of the consequences of my communications with Mrs Sheridan back in the twenty-noughties was that when I told her that I did already have that LOTDK page she asked whether I could send her a scan of it. That was a request with which I was happy to comply. If, Mrs Sheridan, you ever read this and would like to see in person that page or any of the Doom Patrol pages again that I picked up from Felix, and you happen to be in the area then just give us a shout. They are in my permanent collection. I know how much Seth meant to you and how precious the pages are to you also. I am humbled, honoured and privileged to be the custodian of the pages. Thank you for allowing them to be released to Seth’s many fans, fans who cherish his work and the memory of him that shines through his artwork.

Happy Flowering Nose Day to one and all.