Gallery Comments by Jake G.

Owner:

34th Ave Comics !!!

Beautiful piece! It'd be great if Brian actually turned this into a cover =)

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Joshua Tan

I've loved this piece for years. I'm glad someone was finally able to afford it =)

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matthew reed

I've always loved this piece.

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A Williams

Beautiful piece that really captures Lady D's original Heavy Metal Magazine style of design. I miss seeing artists draw her like this, cuz this is a fantastic look =)

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Jason Coats

I so love this piece! Congrats on owning it =)

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Jason Coats

Another amazing addition to your collection! One day you're gonna have to tell us your secret to getting these (or at least reveal that you're actually Dawn in disguise posing as the greatest Lady Death art collector, lol)

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Bo Roberts

Fantastic piece! I grew up with this art, and it really is mind blowing when you can own something that you saw every day in magazines and posters when you were younger =)

It'd be great if you would upload a pic of what this looks like framed on your walls.

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Amazingly beautiful piece!

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The paint pen era of Campbell sketches was awesome! His art style was less complicated, while still being detailed, and his characters were a bit more "pleasantly rounded" than they are now. This piece was definitely one of his best =) Congrats!

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Jason Coats

Wonderful piece! Eric outdoes himself every time he specfically draws the Queen of Hell. And is this your first Basaldua in your collection? This is an especially beautiful piece, even if it isn't =)

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I was really worried about asking for this inking commission, let alone posting the results here talking about it. I don't know artist-etiquette, and I wasn't sure if asking for an inker to change original art because of my own view of it "missing something" is insulting or not. But I tried asking other professional artists about this, and they all kinda gave grey-area answers about you not being wrong to have inkers do changes to art if you wanted it. But then they would also say that it's not something they would enthusiastically do themselves, so it took me awhile to even gain the confidence to finally decide to look for an inker.

So, I started looking for an inker in 2022, and it took a good year's amount of time until I found someone who was up to the challenge of working with Diego's amazing original pencils and trying to add in a missing arm - which I think the inker (Matthew Seaborne) nailed and did a tremendous job with here. But it did take some trial-and-error for him to finally figure out how to even add to this (higher-brow commissioned) art that's a JSC homage piece drawn expertly by Diego. So, I know real work went into his process, and I'm genuinely happy not only with the result he came up with but also with how that arm now makes the original piece art not stick out like a sore thumb for me anymore. Plus, I had him digitally ink over the original just cuz I think that could be insulting to the original artist (artists in general) if the original piece itself was somehow "destroyed" by overlaying these inks that change it.

In any case, all credit goes to Matthew for his willingness to work with me. We even did a few back-and-forth messages through Twitter to try and figure out what to do, so I know it was definitely tough to figure out where to even start (especially since there were other inkers that I did talk to about this inking idea who just couldn't figure it out before I finally found Matthew)

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Jason Coats

Beautiful piece! But you gotta take a break soon and start letting some of the rest of us have a chance at getting a Dawn piece =) It's getting to a point where it's "cosmically unfair" at how many awesome OA's you have in your collection, lol

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Thank you so much! I wish I had a fraction of the pieces you have in your collection =)

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Frank Lanza

Great piece, great summary, and great video! I really love when people share their experiences with the art they post here, so thank you for your efforts in sharing this with us =)

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matthew reed

Thanks for the follow up and detailed recollection =) I remember you posting that story somewhere (it musta been here on CAF if not on some other comic collector forum), and I remember all of us really feeling bad about it. But then when we heard you got a replacement from JSC himself, that was such a great moment! And what's funny is that I actually ended up buying that red Baroness replacement piece you got (did I buy it from you, actually??), and I held on to it for as long as I could before I had to sell it off for my own bills (I think you chraged something around $3000 for the piece?). But more so, whenever I think about that piece, I alway wince a little because I bought it only 1 month before the Gen 13 #12 cover emerged and went up for sale, and I just couldn't afford it minutes before Dan Gallo bought it =/ Ahh, the love and heartaches of collecting original art, lol

Thanks again for the reply!

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11 years and counting =)

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Simply stunning! This is one of the truest pieces of original art that homages Stephen Hughes Lady Death style that I've seen in a long time! Congrats on the pick up =)

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Jason Coats

Beautiful piece! Mike's definitely in that upper echelon of artists, who when you think of Lady Death you immediately associate her with a few select pencil styles that capture her pefectly =)

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Fantastic piece! JSC's colored paper works from those years were some of the best drawings he ever made. This Psylocke in particular is definitely in his top 3 all-time Betsy pieces =)

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Thanks for the message! But I can't take any credit for the colored version. So far, fans of V. Ken have done their own inking and their own coloring for this piece all on their own =) And that's why I haven't posted any of those pics to my gallery here (I certainly don't want to take any credit for unpaid commission work that they did). But I did see the colored version on Twitter, and it does look great!

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I remember seeing this piece in person at San Deigo Comic Con ('09? '10?), and it was really fantastic. And honestly, that whole first calender's original art are all supurb, and the owners of each piece are super forunate to own anything from it =)

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Kin W

Love this piece! I remember reading his kickstarter and seeing the price he wanted for these pieces, which was a little too rich for my blood. But I must say yours came out terrific =)

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Frank Lanza

The idea that you were ever able to find these pieces for purchase is amazing. But the fact that you own them puts you on another level of being one of THE Lady Death collectors of our time, lol! This is an amazing piece that I'm totally jealous of =)

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Amazing to see these all in one collection! Superb!

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Frank Lanza

Mike is very underrated and underused by the industry. Seeing these pencils, and the rich use of lines in those tentacles, is really frantastic! What a great piece to own =)

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I feel this art represents Lady Death with a rare power and epic presence that goes above and beyond the standard "Lady Death in skimpy outfits" cover designs that you often see these days. The organic lines of this piece, mixed with the classic Lady Death s&m design, emboldened by the rich colors of cold death and fiery hell, are simply superb in my eyes. And while I'm so happy to finally own an Eric Basaldua original art piece, I also feel extremely lucky to own this specific cover. For me, Lady Death is an iconic character from my youth in the 90's who spearheaded the bad girl era of comic collecting (for all the good and bad it did to the industry), and this art represents her true potential as being an icon versus just existing as cheap eye candy that some comic purists want to relegate her to.

Eric offered this original art for sale on his FB account when he posted his original message, and it sold relatively quickly. And of course it sold well before I figured out why this piece was so amazing (cuz I'm dumb like that, lol), so I've kinda always had an eye out for it just in case it was ever put it up for sale again. And wouldn't you know it? One random night, on a generic 'Lady Death' search here on CAF, there it was =) I figured it was fate to see it, and I immediately knew I needed to own it - even knowing it was going to be a struggle to afford during this worldwide Covid period.

A huge thanks goes out to fellow art collector Dean A. for selling this, working with me through messaging, and making the transition as smooth as possible!

Note:: From all I can find out, this art was used as an alternative cover to the 2019 'Lady Death: Scorched Earth #1' Kickstarter. It's been reprinted in multiple ways within that project - a metallic art card / bookmark / art print / art book. Then, two versions were created out of the colored art - the Go Ass! regular edition and a "naughty edition" that removed her thong and garter belt straps to reveal her bare bottom while adding a lower back tatoo.

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Ben Bressel

Thanks for the reply =) I didn't even notice the lower right panel missing the backgrounds, lol. The Team7 cover not having much cross over/blending stuff from the other images other than the jacket from the panel below makes it look that much like an afterthought image =)

Thanks again!

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Ben Bressel

I just happened to be going through an old comic box of my Image stuff, and I came across these covers after years of not seeing them. To see the original inks here is a real treat!

Ben, it's a shame you don't have them anymore (and a shame that the new owner has posted these up in his/her own gallery), but I'm wondering if you know what the story behind the top left/Team 7 panel is? Why does it not look like it was originally drawn to be in with the rest of the covers? Was there another planned comic that was going to be use before it was slipped in, or did Whilce just get tired at the very end and kinda just added in T7 without (as much) effort?

Thanks! =)

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Love this piece! AH! can never do any wrong, and he definitely gave you quality with this one =)

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matthew reed

It was many, many years ago, and I don't remember specific details. But I remember that this piece was somehow involved with a guy buying Campbell original art from another collector, and him (the guy) posting the art on CAF and saying that the package arrived to him with the art inside having been stolen (I remember the guy saying something like it was sent in a thin sheet of packing material, he didn't notice the top of it having been opened with a razor until after he signed for it, and that he could see how the art was taken out of the package when he did open it completely). The guy did make it a point to say that he believed the collector/seller wasn't trying to scam him by sending an empty package without the art, so we were all being led to believe that the theft was just a random mail theft (the guy did say he was able to get his money back through USPS' insurance).

Then, after the guy posted the image to CAF and made the comments about the theft, Campbell somehow got notified of it, and the guy said he (Campbell) was going to create a new Baroness piece for him. So either this is the piece that was "stolen" (the guy could have been lying about everything for all we know) OR this is the piece Campbell drew for him as a replacement because it was stolen - I just don't remember =)

Whichever piece this is, it's still one of my favorites of all Baroness art, and Campbell art, in general!

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matthew reed

I remember years ago someone bought this piece and told everyone it was stolen in the mail =( I'm glad to see it's not lost and you're able to show it to us again =)

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Eric B

Fantastic piece! I saw it in person when JSC pulled it out of his portfolio for me to look at as an example of what I wanted my piece to look like when he offered me a commission in  2008 =)

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Edit:: I finally got this piece framed with Museum Acrylic "glass" on one side and standard acrylic on the other. The framing concept was to have the original art on the front and then for reference sake to have the colored art print on the reverse side for future generations to be able to immediately turn over and see. And since when I purchased this art the previous owner provided me with a reprinted art print anyways, I didn't have to unframe my first run Michael Turner signed print and could use the Peter Steigerwald signed-only print instead =)

Edit 2 (12/18/18):: The original penciled piece was published in the hardbound book 'Superman/Batman: Michael Turner Gallery Edition, 2015' by GraphittiDesigns

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Batt's signature:

For months, since I first purchased this art, I had been trying to get in contact with Matt "Batt" Banning to get his signature added to Silvestri's (who signed it back at his webstore when I bought it) before I would get it framed. Silvestri's webstore would only ever tell me "We can't give you Batt's email address, but with your permission we'll give him yours and he can contact you." Over the next couple of months I never heard anything from him, and I wasn't about to harass Silvestri over and over again for it, and so I dropped it.

Months later I figured out how I was gonna get to San Diego Comic Con (that same year), and I knew it would be my only chance to get a hold of Batt since everyone in the industry goes to SDCC. I decided to drag the art along with me in the box it was shipped in (from Silvestri's store), hoping that nothing bad would happen to it at the convention (bent up, stolen, etc). I first showed up to Top Cow's booth on Thursday, and I got the attention of their main booth organizer who said he knew Batt was around but that he (Batt) didn't have a dedicated booth and was floating between other artists booths who were friends of his (mostly the old Image comics guys). Since I didn't know what Batt looked like (at the time) I had to rely on the Top Cow or D.C. organizers to point him out to me. I told the Top Cow guy my story about the piece, and he said that if by Sunday I didn't find Batt that he would get me his email somehow.

So, Marc Silvestri was only ever at the Top Cow booth, and he had his posted hours for signing and sketching on Friday (he'd do about 4 hours a day). On Saturday, I went back to get a sketch from him, and while waiting in line I asked a different booth organizer if he saw Batt recently. He told me to hold on and introduced me to Silvstri's wife, Bridget, and to my surprise she knew my name from buying this piece off the webstore from months and months ago. She was super friendly and listened to my story, saying that she and Marc didn't actually run the website, and that they would have had no problems giving me Batt's email at any time. She then said that she would email Batt about me, give him my contact info, and hopefully connect with me before the show ended the next day (Sunday). Again, she told me what the booth organizer told me that if I didn't hook up with Batt that she would give me his email address at the end of the show.

Less than one hour later after having left the Top Cow booth, my phone rang and I didn't pick up in time. Looking at the random number, I was thinking it was Bridget, when I suddenly get a text message from Batt himself. He says that he just got an email from her, that he's literally out the door, and that he'll wait for me across the hall at his friends booth if I wanna run over real quick. I texted him back, saying I'll be right there, and I ran my ass off from the 4800 aisle to the 300 aisle in prime Saturday SDCC traffic (and anyone that's ever been to that convention knows how crowded that day is). I weaved in and out of the convention center, walking the aisle, walking the sidewalk, and walking the in-between reception area, trying to get around large groups of people that were standing still, and I somehow got to him in 10 minutes flat. We then started talking, and he was saying that he just finished a D.C. comics panel that happened to get reshuffled to a later time in the day and that he had been planning on leaving the show as soon as it was originally over (12pm - five hours prior). Once the panel did end (it was now 5pm), he said he was walking towards the exits when his phone buzzed and he saw the email from Bridget. He said for some reason he decided not to wait and he opened it up right before he actually stepped outside. And even luckier for me, Bridget had sent him my cell number to call, and he called me without even replying back to her first. Fate really lined up nicely for me that day because he said he was leaving the convention entirely and wasn't going to show up on the last (next) day, Sunday at all.

So, I got him to sign this piece, he said he probably got my email address from the webstore but that he was super lazy and just never got to it (and apologized profusely about it), and he handed me his business card with his direct contact info for anything I might ever need from him. More so, he said "I've got your number in my cell phone, so call me if you've got any problems getting a hold of me again." Friggin' awesome! After I thanked him and he left, I went back to see Bridget to thank her, and she was genuinely happy to see that everything worked out and gave me hug =)

Batt was awesome, Bridget was far beyond awesome, and everyone at Top Cow really went out of their way to get me in touch with him (Batt) that weekend

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Dave W

Awesome piece!

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Awesome piece! Batt and Kirkham look really good together!

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Awesome piece! You need to get a second with all the remaining villains now - Ivy, Rha's, Red Hood, Bane, etc

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Batt's inks are always awesome! Add Kirkham to the mix and this is an excellent piece!

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Excellent piece! Talent can do no wrong, especially when he's drawing Supergirl =)

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Excellent detail all around this piece! You should consider getting it inked and Copic markered =)

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Excellent piece! I'd love to see you get a whole set of Venom'ized character commissions in your collection!

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Kenneth can never do wrong! It must have been a one in a hundred shot to get him to draw this for you =)

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Excellent piece! You might consider getting it inked and copic marker-colored one day =)

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Pretty damn excellent! I've never owned a painted piece, so when you have it framed would you put it behind glass or would you just add a frame box around it?

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Thanks a lot! Slowly, but surely, I'm creating a decent collection for myself :)

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If you ever EVER want to part with this, please let me know first! It's really gorgeous!