Batman: Legends of The Dark Knight 192 – page 13

It is an indication of my advancing years and accompanying failing memory that even though I recall I picked this page of artwork off of eBay around about 20 years ago, I cannot say if it was shortly before or slightly after Seth Fisher lost his life at the age of 33 in 2006 in tragic circumstances. I am sure I would have been happy to have this as my one and only example of Seth’s artwork because it is so representative of his talent and how fully proficient he was in the art of sequential storytelling. There is the bat’s eye view of the perp which switches into a worm’s eye view in the half-page splash of Batman spectacularly swooping down on the same perp, and in between there is Seth’s cheeky humour in the use of a poo emoji (which DC editorial censored for the printed version) years before a poo emoji became a commonplace piece of visual communication. However, what I really wanted was a page from what I thought was Seth’s masterpiece – the two fill-in issues of Doom Patrol which he did as cover for the regular artist Tan Eng Huat, who was himself definitely no slouch. I have never been big on teen superhero books, even when I myself was a teen (I kept on getting New Teen Titans long after I stopped actually reading it and that was to just look at the gorgeous George Pérez art) but the John Arcudi/Tan Eng Huat version of Doom Patrol was an exception and I think that was because of the grounding presence of the character of Robotman who had been tasked with leading a confected group of superteens (I think they’re teens). Robotman conformed to the archetype I find particularly appealing: the outsider who really wants to just fit in, be “normal”, and find human connection. It would not be an exaggeration to state that the two Seth Fisher-drawn issues of Doom Patrol are two of my favourite comics of all time. I have read them many many times but I still am not sure who the old man who appears at the start and end is or what he represents; I am not sure whether you are supposed to know. The art is a joy to look at and the expressions Seth gives a robotic man are particularly affecting.

I am not sure how I got wind that Seth’s mother, Vicki Sheridan, was open to the possibility of selling off some of his artwork in the years shortly after his death. It might have been through the website she set up to celebrate his life and work. So I made some enquiries with her about some Doom Patrol pages but after some to-ing and fro-ing nothing came of it and even though I like to think that it was because it was then still too soon it may instead have been down to my social ineptitude and the ham-tongued way I went about asking, in which case, sorry, Mrs Sheridan.

Cut to 2018 and it is announced on the CAF newsfeed that Felix Lu of Felix Comic Art is selling Seth Fisher original comic art on behalf of Seth’s family and what is more he is doing it to solely benefit Seth’s wife and son in that he is not taking any cut from the sales. Is it any wonder that Felix is so well-loved in the community and no-one has a bad word to say about him? I had visited Felix’s site before when I investigated it for Tradd Moore art. I was in on the ground floor in picking up The Strange Talent of Luther Strode as a regular title but I did not pull the trigger in buying any of the artwork which is a pity because when I first looked there were many, and I mean many, pages including a fair few with Luther and Petra and all at reasonable three-figure prices, but I thought, ahh, if I wait long enough then they might come down in price (!) Well, the Tradd Moore ship has not only sailed for me, but it has docked on the other side of the world and all the gleeful passengers have disembarked and are looked at with envy by the misers and Johnny-come-latelys. But I have no regrets because if I had really really wanted a Tradd Moore page then I would not have hesitated a second in forking out for one when I could. So if there are any charitable OA collectors out there with a surplus of Tradd Moore pages who were going to send one in my direction then my response would be thanks, but no thanks. It would be better if you gave it to someone more deserving/wanted it more. I mean that. Anyway.

[continued in the following post]