Q&A with Dave Kopecki

Which piece in your gallery is your favorite and why?

I have a hard time picking just one, but when forced I would have to say my Gen13 #1 cover by J. Scott Campbell. I was a teen when the title launched and it was my favorite of the period. I related to the characters and the age thing connected it more than most superhero books. Getting the art was the first time I used every trick in the book as it was WAY out of my league. But it was important enough that I sold 5 of my best pieces to get it, and that really says a lot.

Please tell us a little about yourself.

I am a married father of 3. I work in the Audio Visual Technology field in the Bay Area/Silicon Valley and I also am a Writer and Editor in Comics, where these days I run the Amryl Dark imprint where we were tasked with relaunching Razor and the London Night Universe from the '90s and taking Budd Root's Cavewoman in a different direction, in a new shared universe. I write all the books for the line, which includes Cavewoman, Razor, Morbid Angel and the rest of the London Night Universe of characters. I have literally loved comics my whole life. I learned to read before kindergarten just so I could know what the stories said in the comics my dad would buy or give me when he was done with it. I grew up working in comic shops as a teen and my heyday was the late '80s through the '90s, and that was an exciting time with so many diverse independent comics and companies, the Image and Valiant beginnings, etc.

How long have you been collecting comic art and what prompted you to start?

I got some sketches from artists at the comic shops I worked in around the mid-'90s and stuff but didn't buy actual published comic art until the early 2000's. Like others I found it on eBay by myself, I didn't know any other collectors or have friends that started me off. I just did a San Diego Comic Con with my brother one year and was bitten by the bug. I have been collecting comic art ever since, at least 15+ years now.

How do you display/store your collection at home?

I have a lot of paintings and they are generally quite large and are difficult to store safely, so I get those custom framed and matted and hang those throughout the entire house. (my wife is extremely tolerant of me lol) B&W ink art I keep in portfolios, with the most valuable in a fire safe. I print exact copies of the inks on art board and use those in nice but cheap frames to have the pieces I want out for looking at without worrying about fading the inks or yellowing the paper. (I also write copy/print - Not actual art" on the back of all framed prints so there is no confusion after I pass)

What are your top five most wanted original pages or commissions?

1) A nice page from Batman Hush by Jim Lee 2) A Frankenstein or Stephen King related by Bernie Wrightson (ironically book illustration art over comics) 3) A nice Frank Miller Daredevil page 4) A Hostess ad featuring Spider-man, Hulk, or Daredevil 5) An Uncanny X-men #266 page featuring Gambit by Mike Collins.