All Crime Comics Detective - Bruce Timm *Sold*

A Bruce Timm piece has always been on the list but I haven’t really been moved by most of the $800-$1000 sharpie head sketches on the market lately but when I saw these All Crime Comics pieces in Albert’s recent drop my interest was piqued. I’ve never really seen Bruce use this kind of rough, textured inking style and it seems deliberate rather than just a sketch, like a nod to the inking mid century illustrators would use for spot illustrations. It really appealed to me to have a piece by Bruce where he was experimenting or going for something new. Funny story- I actually had my eye on another piece but I fell and sprained my wrist and the drop happened while I was getting checked out but luckily I was able to snag this one before they were all gone 😄
Thanks to Matt Todd I know that All Crime Comics was a series published by a comic shop Bruce and a lot of pros frequent called House of Secrets but I’ve never seen any issues in person. It was unclear if this was a spot illlustration, a prelim, or just a warmup sketch so if anyone recognizes it let me know. The whited out part by his signature says “Mike Hammer” so this was supposed to be a portrait of the Mickey Spillane character at one point.

Update- Sold 2/23