Well, if you didn’t catch Bill Cox’s documentary on Mark Rindner on Comic Art Live, you missed a good one.
Mark started The New York Comic Arts Gallery in 1976. If you thought a comic book store was rare, a comic art gallery is even more rare. I think Mark was really humble and it’s amazing that the gallery was established through casual acquaintances.
While watching the documentary, one thing that really caught my eye was the Murder By Design piece on the wall behind Mark’s left shoulder throughout the documentary. And the art scrolled by, fullscreen, at the 20 minute mark in the documentary. The art was created for posters to promote a mystery writers club event at the NYCAG on Monday, March 17, 1978.
As this CAF gallery demonstrates, I’m a big, big Mike Nasser fan. I vaguely recall seeing the image before, probably in one of the Creation Convention program booklets of the day.
I really couldn’t tell if the piece was the original art or not. Whatever it was, I wanted to acquire it. Anyway, I contacted Bill Cox and asked him to forward my contact information to Mark. Mark contacted me and we made a deal. And this is the original art !! It's roughly 18 x 24.
After the documentary, Mark re-connected with a few people from the gallery days... including Mike.
This piece is an excellent example of Mike’s chiaroscuro style. But it’s also a touchstone for an early part of the business of selling comic book art. In a way, that was helping to give some "legitimacy" to comic books. Selling comic book art out of a brick and mortar location ?? We’ve come a long, long way from that.
Mark mentioned this was the last piece of original art in his possession. He doesn't have any more art. It’s a special piece that he kept for over 40 years. I'm honored that Mark is entrusting me with it.
Huge thanks to Mark and Bill.
Batman was created by Bill Finger and Bob Kane.
The Shadow was created by Walter B Gibson.
