11" x 17" The Crow Convention Sketch. Growing up with comics in the mid 1980's and 90's, all eveyone talked about was The Dark Knight Returns this and the Watchmen that... There's no doubt that Frank Miller, Klaus Janson, Alan Moore, and Dave Gibbons are all comic book hall of famers, but for me, the book that will always stand out as "The" book from that time period is The Crow by James O'Barr. Rage. Anger. Loneliness. Sorrow. Pain. Cruelty. Revenge. Justice. And, most importantly, Love. The images that James put on paper were a far cry from those that graced the pages of the Amazing Spider-Man, my favorite book of the time. Hell, they even made Ghost Rider and the Punisher feel G Rated! It wasn't until years later, when I read a biography of sorts on James that I understood where all those feelings were born. And, today, I believe James' work has touched... and saved... more lives than just about any other that I'm aware of in the Comic Book genre. It's just a masterful piece of work. So, fast forward to the year 2019 and Realmscon in Corpus Christ, TX. When I found out that James O'Barr was going to be in attendence, I knew I had to go. I showed up several hours early expecting there to be a huge line to meet James. I was shocked when I was able to walk right up to his booth. I wanted to jump on the PA system and say as loud as I could "Do you know who this is? This is James F’n O'Barr, the creater of The Crow... the greatest single Graphic Novel of all time. Needless to say, I didn't make it to the PA system. But, I did visit with James for a few minutes and was humbled by how genuine and nice of a guy James is. To this day, I have never met someone who has impacted as many lives as James has that has been as down to Earth and kind as James was that day. Just an incredible person. At that time, I had tried many times... and struck out every time... to obtain a piece of OA from The Crow. So, I did the next best thing and asked James if I could commission a piece from him at the convention. I paid James what I thought a piece of his original art was worth, which was far more than what he was asking (in an industry where many artists ask for crazy sums of money for what amount to a half-ass sketch, James’ fees are well below FMV). I think he was taken back because he asked if he could work on it that night at his hotel room and have it for me the next day. I said of course. When I picked it up, I was absolutely floored. James actually went to a local art supply company and purchased a sheet of 11" x 17" Strathmore and created the piece you see here. It's the most special piece of original art that I have and I can't describe how proud I am to call it my own. Thank you, Mr. O'Barr, for everything.
