John Biernat Collection

This gallery is a tribute to my good friend John Biernat who left us too early in September of 2023. Although three decades separated us in age a love of comic strips and characters from a by-gone age melted that gap. John was especially fond of Milton Caniff's work and in particular Terry and the Pirates so we were already kindred souls before having met. When I walked into his house the first time to visit and pick up a piece of art I had agreed to purchase I was floored. On his walls were prints of Corto Maltese by Hugo Pratt. I can count on two fingers how many people in the world I know who love Caniff and Corto like John and I did and he was only an hours drive away. Our friendship grew over the next decade and we were a fan club of two. I'd visit John monthly for the better part of the decade and would always bring with me recent comic art acquisitions to show him and he loved to look at them. On occasion he would sell me pieces or give me pieces to sell for him but John was always a shrewd business man and I never got a good deal! I should also mention that John was the former owner of the two Dragon Lady Comic shops in Toronto, Canada. One was more papers and tear sheets but also comics and later transitioned to half and half when the other shop closed. In addition John was the Dragon Lady Press and his numerous reprints of various comic strips played a big roll in keeping those strips available to collectors and keeping strip art collecting from disappearing into history. We had so much in common that the monthly visits never seemed long enough. I already miss those now that he is gone. I was in the fortunate position to be able to purchase the bulk of John's art collection from his estate and family. It was a very expensive purchase and one I'll have to sell some art in order to help pay back what I used to buy this but I am so glad it came here where a good portions of it will stay together and will be loved by another fan of the art. In this gallery I will show you the works that came from his collection but a few strips like Carol Day and Terry and the Pirates already have their own gallery and so there will be pieces in there from John's collection too.