Charles Burns page from Judgement Day

Cool page from Charles Burns from what I consider to be his peak creative and developmental period. The page is from 1986 while he was still working for RAW Magazine. Sequential art by Burns is rare and this little gem is from an unfinished story and therefore unpublished story called Judgement Day. Several pages from this story were published as images in a 2009 edition of Skin Deep with a short description. In additional images you can see that short segment. It is unlikely we will ever see this story completed or printed but I'd sure like to know what happens next. Regardless of published or not, it is a perfect example of his style and the oddness of his angst ridden characters and tales.



That is the short form of my write up. Now to get into the TLDR part.


In recent years I have spent a lot of time thinking about collecting and my collection. There has been tremendous changes in my collection over time. I started as a black hole collector with a focus on a few things but more of a shotgun approach to collecting early on. Over time I began to focus on want lists and found this a much more rewarding way to collect. At the end of the year I could look back at what I had accomplished as opposed to just what I had accumulated. As that want list got smaller and smaller, the price tags of the remaining items got higher and higher. I also curated and downsized my collection a lot. I am down from well over 5000 pieces to probably 1200 or so now. I'd estimate that I have had about 10,000 pieces pass through my collection in the almost 30 years I've been at it. That deacquisition gave me the funds to go after the bigger pieces and about 2 years ago I completed my collection with a Little Nemo Sunday and a Corto Maltese page. I had gotten examples of art from every artist I really had wanted. The few exceptions like a Calvin and Hobbes, Byrne X-Men, Watchmen and Dark Knight page were priced such that I had come to terms with never owning an example and I was OK with that and enjoying them in the collections of others(of course I have added 2 Watchmen pages and a Byrne X-men page since, so never say never). My collection was done. I wasn't done collecting though but was moving into more of an upgrading and curating phase. There are always want list items and I've added a few these past 2 years to my collection but they were not essential for the completion of my collection. A Charles Burns page has been a long time coming. I have owned an illustration and still own a head shot cover for Believer Magazine but with Burns his sequential art is what I really wanted to own and the placeholders were not enough. That search really began 15 years ago when I started to read his work. Although I knew his art as it couldn't be more distinctive, his stories and storytelling were what I wanted in my survey of the sequential arts. His panel pages are extremely rare. I tried going through Galerie Martel in Paris and Adam in NYC, both who represent him, but was never able to scrounge up a page. There have been a few at auction over the years but I sometimes had other priorities, not enough scratch or I sat out for friends. As I am hoping for an early retirement in the near future, I also see the window for me picking up a larger piece as diminishing. I decided a quest for a Burns page was needed and I went actively looking. I approached a few collectors on CAF and 2DG about pages and although most were not for sale, one inquiry led to a conversation, potential trade deal and eventual purchase of this page. I have tried similar approaches in the past with other artists and collectors and you never know how they will work out. The fundamentals of this approach are to be respectful and not a pest. Ask first if they would consider an offer or parting with a page before making an offer. It might be seen as rude and entitled just to assume a piece you would like to own is available just because somebody shared it.

The page is a very classic layout and harkens back to the EC horror pages and artists that Burns has often quoted as influences. I see Kurtzman's fingerprints all over this. Herge was perhaps the biggest influence on Burns but I think those roots are more subtle. The strong contrast and lighting are classic Burns as are the cartoony and somewhat dysmorphic characters that inhabit his worlds. The main character is Ricky Bilk who is part of the Burns-verse having shown up in various places including his Goon Squad trading cards as well as makes an appearance on the iconic Brick by Brick Iggy Pop album cover (see additional images). I also like the use of patterns on this page to add to character definition and the visual impact. Even the dialogue is a lot of fun. This page has everything I am looking for in Burns and so very pleased to have it in the collection.