Archive for ‘Marvel Comics’

33 items.

Colleen’s ebay sales…THE FINAL FURY! Sandman, A Distant Soil, Book of Lost Souls, Power Pack, Legion of Superheroes UNPUBLISHED, plus Lord of the Rings swag!

by Colleen Doran on October 5th, 2011
Posted In: Blog, Colleen's Work, Culture, Comics, DC Comics, Culture, Comics, Marvel Comics, Culture, Comics, DC Comics, Sandman

I set aside many more pieces of art to sell, but I just can’t take it any more. This is the last round. I won’t be posting anything else for at least six months.

THANK YOU SO MUCH for your VERY generous support. Not only am I absolutely amazed at the great response to these sales, I am so very happy to know I can rely on my pile o’ art to fund a good deal of the end of A Distant Soil next year. How far that will go, I do not know. But I had no idea people would be so interested in my sketches and prelims. Holy cow. Very flattering and encouraging!

OK, here’s the last of it.

A very nice and tight Sandman prelim intended for The Sandman Gallery. I am stunned to find this. I did not know when I got the assignment that I’d have an opportunity to paint a piece, and did this sketch with inks in mind.

Go HERE to bid.

One of the few pieces I have ever made available from the A Distant Soil prequel Seasons of Spring, which is out of print. This piece was a promotional pin-up showing the Scott family with tiny Jason and Liana, siblings, mom Jessica, and alien dad Aeren. Pen and ink.

Go HERE to bid.

An unused splash page from Power Pack issue #1, showing Julie Power battling a snark. Pencils.



Go HERE to bid.

An unpublished page from The Book of Lost Souls issue #7, showing the new villain who will probably never get published now, using tarot cards to scare the crap out of a football jock with a girlie underwear fetish. This was part of the Kranner Art Museum’s exhibit “Out of Sequence”.


Go HERE to bid.

And wow, here’s a treat. Back when I was in high school, I was in The Legion of Superheroes apazine, INTERLAC. Keith Giffen saw my art in the zine and asked if I would like to audition to be the series artist on Legion. Alas, I already had a letter of agreement with Publisher Zero to do A Distant Soil. And we all know how that went.

But behold, my audition page. I doubt I would have gotten the job, but I was cognizant of the need for speed as a pro artist, and wrote in the margins how much time it took me to draw each page. This page took 3 hours and 28 minutes.

At some point, I went through that page and erased all my lettering. I did not know artists weren’t supposed to add that stuff. And my writing sucked.


Go HERE to bid.

I have a couple of other auctions up as well, but the big stuff is all Lord of the Rings collectibles, payment from a vendor who owed me a lot of dough. I got paid in Samwise Gamgee heads. Among other things. Since I am going to New Zealand in a matter of weeks, what better way to finance cocktails at the base of Mount Doom then by selling a few of these babies? Check out the great low prices on a few of those toys!

I’ve been hanging on to this stuff for years hoping to get my investment back. Providence, don’t let me down!

After all this, a frantic week of shipping. Oh, boy!

And we are only 225 people away from my 2000 followers goal on Twitter. When I hit the magic number, ONE of you will win a $300 prize package of books featuring my work and original art from A Distant Soil. You’ll get Orbiter by Warren Ellis, The Book of Lost Souls by J Michael Straczynksi, Amazing Spider-Man 326, Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #600 AND an advance copy of MANGAMAN, my NEW graphic novel by Barry Lyga, not in stores for a month!

Also, FIFTY followers will get an autographed comic from me! ANY follower in the first 2000 can win!

Sign up!


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A Letter from Jack and Roz Kirby

by Colleen Doran on August 28th, 2011
Posted In: Blog, Colleen's Work, Culture, Comics, Marvel Comics

It’s Jack Kirby’s birthday. The entire comics industry remembers him with great fondness and respect on this and every day.

I hope it’s not out of line to post this lovely letter I got from Jack and Roz Kirby. It’s so sweet and kind, and there’s a nice story behind it.

Years ago, I worked on many Marvel Comics as a fill-in artist. Looking back, I realize how generous both Marvel and DC Comics were to me. My work was often rough, and the hazard of the fill-in artist gig is that you are often brought in to pinch hit in tight circumstances and can rarely do your best work. I drew some pretty rough jobs.

Now, here I am working on Gone to Amerikay, the best work I’ve ever done. I have the luxury of good page rates and long deadlines. I’m in the final stretch, inking the last batch of a couple dozen or so. This story of Irish immigration is a lifelong dream of mine to bring Irish stories to comics.

But…I forgot that way back in 1993, Marvel had me do the art for Guardians of the Galaxy Annual #3, featuring Ireland’s superheroes Shamrock and Cuchulain! My very good friend Jim Valentino was Guardians of the Galaxy artist for years, and we like to swap stories about it now and again. So, I guess I’ve done an “Irish” comic after all. I’ve never worked on Guardians before or since, so I wonder if I was hired for my Irish cred. (Cover drawing by Kevin West after Barry Windsor Smith).

Anyway, in the story, one of the characters, Major Victory, is a great admirer of Captain America. Major has a shrine built to house Cap’s shield.

My agent Spencer Beck saw this and liked it. He was a good friend of Jack Kirby, and thought it would make a nice gift for Jack. So this original and another piece (can’t recall what,) were bundled off to The King.

Then, I received this kind letter from Jack and Roz, for which I was deeply grateful.

My work is really quite rough on this issue, so to get such a gracious letter in response to my very humble offering was incredibly generous of them.

Hand written letters are always so special. Those of you who have ordered original art from me know that I go out of my way to hand write a note to every customer and to have special stationary made for them. I never forgot how it felt to get a lovely letter from a favorite artist, so I like to do the same for my readers.

I only met Jack Kirby the one time, but it was such a great moment!

I hope you enjoyed this small remembrance of a big man, Jack Kirby. And how a big man took the time to take a moment for a very small artist.

Thank you for everything, Jack and Roz Kirby.

And it’s back to work for me. Still auctioning off many goodies on ebay, including unpublished Sandman, Wonder Woman, and Legion of Superheroes prelims, with more coming over the next week. Please check back often.

Have a great week!

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FINAL Wonder Woman concept sketches for J Michael Straczynski

by Colleen Doran on August 23rd, 2011
Posted In: Blog, Colleen's Work, Culture, Comics, DC Comics, Culture, Comics, Marvel Comics

The last of my Wonder Woman sketches, which were commissioned by J Michael Straczynski as part of a brainstorming session about a possible high-fantasy oriented Wonder Woman story, now for sale on Ebay. I’ve included a print out of the digital color comps as well.

Previous Wonder Woman concept sketches are HERE, HERE, and HERE. And the story behind it all is HERE.

More goodies added to my ebay store, including Sandman unpublished prelim sketches, A Distant Soil art, and some trading card Artist Proofs, like this nifty Thor.

PLEASE NOTE THAT ALL MY ART AND BOOKS GO OFF THE MARKET IN A FEW WEEKS. THAT INCLUDES ALL WEBSITE SALES. I WILL BE OUT OF THE COUNTRY AND WILL NOT BE ABLE TO SHIP AFTER MID OCTOBER. IF YOU WANT TO GET A CHRISTMAS PRESENT, NOW IS THE TIME TO ORDER. I WILL NOT BE SELLING ANYTHING AGAIN FOR SIX MONTHS, NOR WILL SHE BE MAKING ANY US APPEARANCES FOR EIGHT MONTHS OR MORE.

And I realize that is in all caps, but I am too lazy to redo it all.

Thanks for dropping by to have a look! Don’t forget to check out the webcomic.

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Unpublished Sandman Preliminary sketches, Star Wars, A Distant Soil more

by Colleen Doran on August 19th, 2011
Posted In: Blog, Colleen's Work, Culture, Comics, Culture, Comics, DC Comics, Culture, Comics, Marvel Comics, Culture, Comics, DC Comics, Sandman, Culture, Star Wars

To purchase any of these pieces, click this link to my ebay shop.

First, this page of preliminary sketches for The Sandman Gallery, circa 1994. Alas, I think the sketches are more interesting than the final painting.

This is drawn on DC Comics paper and is in excellent condition.

A classical study of a Greek youth. Quite like this.

Here’s two very nice Artist Proof sketch cards from Marvel Masterpieces II and Star Wars Clone Wars. Storm and Padme.

An unused prelim sketch for a base card for the Star Wars series for Topps. Here’s the one that was actually used for this project.

I also have unpublished A Distant Soil art and other goodies in my shop.

As annoying as ebay can be, it’s much easier to sell art there than here at my website. So far, all transactions have been very smooth, and I must say, all the buyers have been super-nice.

All of my auctions must be completed and shipped by the first week of October. I will be closing ALL my art and book sales until next year. I will be out of the country for over a month, and will be unable to process any orders during the holidays. If you want to buy books or art, please do so over the next few weeks.

All ebay sales must end, and my website sales must be shut down until March 2012, or later. So please, if you want to purchase books or art, especially for the holidays, please do so as soon as possible. I must make sure that everything has been processed and received by customers before I leave.

Naturally, I also need to make some good sales to make up for the fact that I will be doing no mail order for a good six months. Even though I have plenty of assignments, the loss of mail order will be quite a hit.

Take advantage of the sales and get books while you can. I am very happy to sign any books you order direct from me, too.

HERE IS MY BOOK SHOP. Order limited edition hardcovers and other books direct from me.

AND HERE IS MY EBAY STORE where you can find the above art for sale. I’ll be adding more pieces in the coming weeks, but then all my art and books go off the market for about six months.

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MUST READ: Copyhype on the Kirby Case

by Colleen Doran on August 3rd, 2011
Posted In: Blog, Culture, Comics, Comics History, Creator Resources, copyright/trademark, Creator Resources, Legal, Culture, Comics, Marvel Comics

Super-busy today, but can’t let this go by without urging you to read this extensive and interesting article at Copyhype on the Kirby vs Marvel case.

Like most people, I did not have a grasp on the way 1909 copyright is applied. Most contemporary creators believe that there was no work for hire provision until 1976. But the 1909 law was not wiped out by the 1976 copyright law. Terrance Hart, who is probably the best art and entertainment blogger out there, explains in detailed layman’s terms.

Factors that a court might consider include “the skill required; the source of the instrumentalities and tools; the location of the work; the duration of the relationship between the parties; whether the hiring party has the right to assign additional projects to the hired party; the extent of the hired party’s discretion over when and how long to work; the method of payment; the hired party’s role in hiring and paying assistants; whether the work is part of the regular business of the hiring party; whether the hiring party is in business; the provision of employee benefits; and the tax treatment of the hired party.”

Also, MStein popped in with some comments to the previous Kirby post, with a look at how the Kirby case differs significantly from the Superman rights dispute. A pdf of the relevant documents is here.

It is instructive to read and compare the decision in the Superman case, which explained why Action #1 was not a work for hire and therefore could have the assignments terminated under the 1976 law as the Kirby family contended they should have been able to do.

I’ve angered a few people by stating that I don’t really thing the Kirby heirs have much of a legal case here, but I’m not sure why my stating the obvious is substantive to anyone. I am not a lawyer, so my opinion doesn’t matter much.

The moral issue of whether or not a corporation might see the benefit of granting a substantial gift to the children of a creator is a completely separate issue. I don’t think the art and entertainment industry has a track record of doing that sort of thing.

Creators, the lesson was hard won by our forefathers. Don’t sign away your precious creations without the full understanding of what you are doing. I’ve signed many work for hire agreements, and have never had cause to regret it, because the work for hire contracts I sign with DC Comics are substantially better than anything creators got 50 years ago.

Yet there are many publishers, including small ones who sell themselves as little mavericks fighting against The Man, who will sell you a bill of goods about what they want on the cheap.

You can be Jack Kirby.

Or you can be JK Rowling.

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