Animal Man #19 Cover Prelim by Brian Bolland

Brian Bolland's cover work is legendary. His run of covers on Animal Man includes some of his best work. I wish I could afford one, but I have always found this neat little prelim a pretty good substitute.

When I've helped out some Western artists who visit Japan, I've sometimes had the opportunity to show my collection to them. Invariably, they almost always stop when they see this little piece of A-5 paper to admire it. On more than one occasion, an artist I admire has remarked that Bolland's preliminary pencils outdo most other artists' finished work.

This particular prelim (for one of the more trippy covers of his run) was created for one of my favorite comics of the 1980s. In it, Buddy sees "ME" and realizes he is just a comic book character. Further, he begins to understand that writer Grant Morrison causes all the bad things that happen to him, and that he may just have to go find him and kill him.

For the record, the word balloon in the prelim reads, "Some interesting dialogue here!" The actual comic reads, "ANIMAL MAN! WHERE ARE YOU? WHAT'S HAPPENING?"