After four decades of collecting, I honestly didn’t believe that I had any collecting milestones left to mark. My current wants are probably, for the most part, fairly impractical and unrealistic. A lot of it having to do with the lack of time, money, and availability. But I have long since accepted the fact that there are just some pieces I will never, ever, have. For me, it was just a matter of gaining the maturity to learn to appreciate what I DO have. All the great art I’ve been lucky enough to acquire over these last 40 years. It’s been a great run. And I would have to be an absolute moron to complain about this journey and these experiences. That being said, I guess it’s still not quite over, yet.....
Which brings us to the aforementioned milestone. After 40 hard, long (but fun and rewarding) years, I FINALLY have my very first page of Golden Age artwork. And it’s not just any GA page. But a page by probably my favorite Golden Age artist, the great Matt Baker. I’ve been a Matt Baker fan even before I knew who Matt Baker was. And certainly well before I even knew that collecting original comic art was a thing. The full explanation of that would require going into my OA origin story, which I can tell you now would require so much more writing space than I am allowed here. So let’s just skip to the part that, as a comic collector, I was a regular buyer of the annual Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide. When I stopped collecting comics, I also stopped buying the price guide. But back then, the book had these amazing galleries (one in the front section, one in the back section, and sometimes in the middle) of various Golden Age covers. Each section was several pages long and done on nice glossy paper stock. Those images blew my mind and it got to the point that I looked forward to each new edition just to see what new GA covers would be featured. It was in those beautiful and timeless galleries that I first fell in love with the likes of Matt Baker, Jack Kamen, Bob Powell, Lou Fine, CC Beck, Mac Raboy, Will Eisner and so many others. Again, before I knew who any of them were (except for Eisner who I already knew). It was only after I began to gravitate towards certain styles and certain covers that I actually looked in the price guide to find their names. But I could always spot a Matt Baker cover as soon as I saw it.
Matt Baker did so much beautiful work in his all too brief (but brilliant) career. His life and time in comics were cut short when he passed away at the age of 37. When some comic careers can last 50 to 70 years, Baker’s lasted less than 15 (he actually died just three weeks before I was born). And yet his very limited body of work has garnered attention from fans, pros, and collectors of every generation. He’s been referred to as the Good Girl artist supreme. And if you take the time to check out samples of his work in titles like All Top Comics, Fight Comics, Jumbo Comics, Jungle Comics, Canteen Kate, Rulah Jungle Goddess, Seven Seas, Teen-age Romances, and his iconic Phantom Lady – you might understand why I think of him as the Dave Stevens of his time.
When I first started collecting OA, I didn’t even know GA art existed. I just assumed that either not enough of it survived, or that it was just too historical and precious to be privately acquired and owned. But when I started seeing GA examples in other collections and being sold by either art dealers or through art auctions, I couldn’t help but imagine how incredible it would be to own something by Matt Baker. The more time went by the more I began to accept that this idea would remain a fantasy. I would simply just have to add Baker’s name to that list of artists (and art) I would never own in my lifetime. Frank Frazetta, Dave Stevens, and Bernie Wrightson (Frankenstein).
Enter CAF’s own (and Canada’s own) super collector Jeff Singh. Long story short, I saw this page in Jeff’s gallery and we struck a deal just before he left for OAX earlier this year. Needless to say, the impact Jeff and this page has had on my collection and my collecting journey cannot be overstated. There are few things I can think of that I’ve waited over 40 years of my life for. So this addition is beyond huge. My profound thanks to Jeff for being so kind, gracious, accommodating and flexible. And thanks also for proving to me that it’s never too late for a new milestone.
To those of you who stopped by to witness this, I appreciate your time.
Oh, and a quick tip of the cap to my buddy Jonathan for the assist with my scan.
