1993 Marvel Holiday Special cover prelim by Arthur Adams (from Jonathan Mueller)

Part of this story begins about 15 years ago, but the other part began almost 27 years ago. In the early summer of 1993, I was at work and on the phone with (then art dealer) Scott Dunbier. Those of you who know Scott know that he is one of the premier good guys in the hobby. I can’t recall who called who, but it was a few weeks before SDCC and were talking about the upcoming show. Of course I had to ask if he was bringing anything I might be interested in. By 93’ I had already been collecting for about ten years and I’m pretty sure everyone who knew me knew I was a big Adams, Mignola, and Nowlan fan. So Scott tells me that he did indeed have a couple of pieces that I might be very interested in. One was the Art Adams published piece for this prelim. The wraparound cover for the Marvel Holiday Special (see additional images). Being a huge Art Adams fan, it would be easy enough to assume that I just stopped him right there and said I’ll take it. But when he told me he also had the original art to the Mike Mignola Cable & Wolverine Marvel Press poster, all bets were off. Naturally, my first question was if the art was done poster size, or was it done as A3 and enlarged in production. Scott confirmed that it was indeed poster sized. Next question, price. As it so happened, he had priced the two pieces exactly the same. Now remember, this was 1993 and Arthur’s market was stronger and more active than Mike’s at the time (of course that all changed with the release of Hellboy Seed of Destruction #1 in 1994). When I look at the two pieces today, for me it’s not even close. But back then, I had a huge decision to make. So why not just buy both? Again, it was 1993 and I just didn’t have that kind of money. Still, it only took me a few minutes to make up my mind. I told Scott to hold the poster for me and I would see him at SD in a few weeks to pick it up. As for what happened to the Adams holiday cover, it eventually (and fittingly) ended up with my friend Jim Reid who is an avid collector of Christmas themed pieces. All’s well that ends well I guess. Although Jim, if you’re reading this, I wouldn’t mind another shot at that cover. LOL

The other part of this story has to do with my friend and brother Jonathan Mueller. According to Jon, he posted his first ever comment on one of my pieces back in June of 2005. Just a few months after I joined CAF. I guess we’ve been friends ever since, although we did not meet face to face until 2007 when he came down from Sacramento and we attended WonderCon together. I was happy to learn that he was just as nice in person as he was online. But what really knocked me over was something he did during the show. One of the people we met at the con was the artist Buzz (HEY BUZZ). Jon and I spent quite a bit of time at his table looking at art and chatting. And yes, Buzz has since become a good friend. At one point, I started asking about a commission. We discussed prices and started throwing around a few ideas. It was early on in the show, so I told Buzz that I would think about what I wanted and come back to discuss particulars. Little did I know that after we left his table, Jon at some point had snuck back and arranged his own commission. Later that weekend, when I told Jon that I was ready to go back to Buzz, he asked if I was really serious about getting a commission. When I told him I was, he confessed to me that he had already set one up for himself, but that it was actually going to be a gift for me. Now keep in mind that I’ve only JUST met this guy for the first time in person. And yes, we corresponded quite a bit so technically he wasn’t a stranger, but STILL. Anyway, I was completely blown away by his generosity. Very few people in this hobby surprise me. And the gifts of artwork didn’t stop there. Over the years, whether it was a birthday, or Christmas, or (as in this case) just because, Jon has continued to gift me with some truly special works of art. I also wanted to point out that this is the same guy who sold the bulk of his collection not too long ago to raise money to go back to school. He sacrificed his own art collection, but has no qualms about spending hundreds of dollars on Heritage just because he saw something he thought I would like. I mean, who does that?????

Thank you my brother. I love you man!

Stay safe everyone!