Old Comics

An iconic — and, they say, ironic — Roy Lichetnstein painting based on a drawing by William Overgard is expected to sell for $35-45 million at a Christie's auction. In 1988 the painting sold for $2.1 million, but a recent Lichtenstein sale for $42.6 million suggest the market for his work has expanded a bit more. The painting has been shown at the Guggenheim Museum of Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Chris Illuminati at TheFW marshals the evidence, and it is quite compelling.

What makes a great comic book cover? We think it has to do with hats blowing off.

I would read the hell out of this comic.

Flashpoint is going to end in new #1 issues across the board and new origin issues for everyone, that much is clear. Will it be the earth shattering annihilation of Crisis on Infinite Earths, or the long-forgotten supposed reboot of Zero Hour?

Via Yesterday's Papers, aging goodness from Knockout.

That's the original from "Silver #22" but the reimagining by Robert Goodin is even more disturbing -- please click on the link to enjoy! But we couldn't help wondering...what is this "Silver"? An early comic by Jim Woodring or Hans Rickheit? The work of an unknown cousin to Fletcher Hanks? Or a spin-off from KRAMERS ERGOT? Surely only the fecund imaginations of a contemporary indie cartoonist could imagine a calfskin giving birth to an Indian, face first, through a large vagina in its throat. Right?

As The Beatrix, on vacation up country, deals with the new server and its delusion that it's an electronic bulletin board from 1982, I...

Via

If this cover to FOUR COLOR No. 423, September 1952 were published today it would totally be hipsteriffic.

Case of the Explosive Vegetables! John Broome, Carmine Infantino and Murphy Anderson THE FLASH #152; May, 1965

Can an old-fashioned comic book company that lasted about a year in the newsstand era find happiness in the modern world of licensing and Hollywood exploitation? That's what Stan Lee's cousin (by marriage) is counting on, with the relaunch of Atlas Comics. Atlas/Seaboard was founded by Martin Goodman, founder of the original Marvel/Atlas/Timely. After selling Marvel to the distributor Cadence, Goodman got back into the publishing game in 1974 with Atlas Comics, a short-lived but innovative outfit that offered art returns, profit sharing, and other ahead-of-their-times perks. However, it didn't last long -- by 1975, it was dead.