Saturday, March 20, 2010

Guess what the Postman delivered today? #11

Wow, it seems like a very long time since I had a big bunch of Bart Sears goodies arrive on my doorstep. But that's exactly what happened yesterday.

As I've mentioned in previous posts, I have pretty much bought up all of the Bart Sears items that Mile High Comics has that I still require, so I've been forced to look for alternate sources to get my Bart Sears fix. And while Mile High will always be my favourite place to go, MyComicShop is proving to be a very good place to visit as well. Their prices are often better than MH, and their packaging is just insanely good.
So I placed an order for 11 items with them a few weeks ago, and now that they're here, I can share them with you.
So let's get to it shall we?

First up, I've finally been able to get my hands on these two Virgin Comics issues-
Bart Sears 'Blade of the Warrior: Kshatriya #1' coverBart Sears 'Ramayan 3392AD Reloaded #7' cover
On the left we have 'Blade of the Warrior: Kshatriya #1,' with a very nice cover by Bart. The credits page states that Randy Elliott inked it, but I believe Bart inked it instead (Randy's signature is normally easily found on a piece).
On the right is 'Ramayan 3392AD Reloaded #7,' with a really cool cover by Bart (this time definitely inked by Randy). I've never had a good scan of this cover, and I was surprised to see the detail in it, which is perhaps above the level Bart would normally do for a piece like this nowadays.
So I'm pretty happy to finally have these two pieces in my collection.
Next up-
Bart Sears Green Lantern Gallery pin-up
This awesome pin-up is from 'Green Lantern Gallery #1,' from December 1996. It is pencilled & inked by Bart, with some rather spectacular colours by Mike Atiyeh. I have had a copy of this pin-up for about 10 years, but now it is re-laminated and looking good.
I believe Darrin Wiltshire has a copy of this comic for me as well, but it is yours to keep now sir!
Also, Andy Smith has a great pin-up in this comic, so it is worth getting a hold of.

I also got this-
Bart Sears 'The Spectre #22' cover
I have owned a copy of this comic for at least 17 years, and I did laminate it a few years ago. But I'm just not happy with the laminating job on it (I used a thinner laminating sheet), so I bought another copy to get re-laminated. Bart was at one stage going to be the regular penciller of this title, back in the late 80's, but this is the only comic he did for it, before getting moved on to Justice League Europe.
This issue, though not his best work at the time, is still a great Bart Sears comic to have, and is a rare enough pre-JLE comic that Bart actually did the interior art for.

Last of the comics to come out of this shipment was this-
Bart Sears 'Zoom Suit #3 Metal Sketch Edition' cover
This is the 'Metal Sketch Edition of Zoom Suit #3' and is the final cover I needed to get to own the complete set of Bart Sears Zoom Suit covers. And it only took 4 years.
Some of you may recall that in a previous post, I pointed out a printing error on the Sketch Edition of Zoom Suit #2, well this cover suffers the same fate. You won't be able to see it, but in the bottom left corner, just to the right of the man's mouth, is the text 'LIVE AREA' that somebody forgot to take off. I still find stuff like that very amusing.

Anyway, as a bit of a departure, the next two items were these-
Bart Sears 'Who's Who: Eolongated Man' pin-upBart Sears 'Who's Who: Furball' pin-up
These two items are from the 'Who's Who in the DC Universe' Loose-Leaf series from the early 90's. Again, I've owned copies of all of Bart's entries in this series for a very long time, but they are on the re-laminating list, and these two were going cheap at MyComicShop.
The Elongated man entry is from WWITDCU #7, and if you're thinking that it doesn't really look like Bart's work... well, you'd be half right. It is actually pencilled by Carmine Infantino, with Bart supplying the inks. You can sort of see in a few areas where Bart has inked it how he would draw it. The bottom three images are actually from the back of the page, where all of the character stats and history are, but I thought I'd show them here as well.
On the right is the Furball entry, from WWITDCU #8. I love this picture, if only for the fact that Bart has drawn mushrooms! He's only done this a few times in his career, perhaps most notably in the famous Trenin image from The First #4.

And finally, what would a big pile of Bart Sears goodies be without a few issues of Wizard!

As previously stated, I have never been sure when Bart's Wizard Mascot, Poof!, started appearing in the magazine. I had previously thought it was #4, then I got a copy of #3 and he was in there too. So I thought I should get Wizard #1 & 2 just to be sure. And wouldn't you know...
Yes, Poof!, the mascot that Bart drew some 11 different versions of, appears in Wizard magazine from it's very first issue.
Three different Poofs! appear in Wizard #1 for a total of 5 times, and Bart is also listed thus on the credits page-
Bart Sears Wizard #1 staff credits
It is quite fun to look at how Wizard humbly began, to the monster it has become. I much prefer the Wizard of old, when it was about comics, not comic-related media. I can fully understand why they have gone in the direction they have, but I still prefer Wizard #1-50.

Wizard #2 had 6 different Poofs in it, including three on one page!-
Bart Sears Wizard #2 Subscription advert
As you can see, they all have Bart's odd little signature on them too.

Wizard #2 also had it's first Top 100, with Bart's Legend of the Dark Knight #23 coming in at #22.
Bart Sears Wizard #2 Top 100 comics
This is by no means the highest something of Bart's has gotten, here's a few other items that sold well-

JLE #2 - #8
Eclipso the Darkness Within #1 - #9
Turok Dinosaur Hunter #1 - #6
and the best-
Violator #1 - #3!

I also picked up Wizard #56-
Bart Sears Wizard #56 cover
This is definitely one of Bart's cooler Wizard covers, and it's good to have it again and through the laminating machine. Bart's name isn't mentioned at all in the rest of the magazine, but I really don't mind, considering how good that cover is.
Lastly, I got a bagged copy of Wizard #100. I ordered an unbagged copy of it last year, unaware that there was a 43cm x 66cm poster in the bagged version, showing all of the first 100 issue covers and variants. I do intend to somehow scan this poster in, or maybe take a photo of it, and as soon as I do, I'll post it here.
So there you have it, a really good shipment of Bart Sears comics, with a few new items for me, and some addition to the Bart Sears Checklist.
I have yet another shipment of Bart Sears items nearly on the way from MyComicShop, with a few more Wizard's, some Dagger Entertainment comics and a few other choice pieces, which, naturally, I'll do a post on when it arrives.
As a side note, I have set up a Bart Sears Fanclub on Facebook for any interested parties, so come join in the fun, won't you?
Until next time...

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

My Bart Sears Card Collection- COMPLETE!!!

First off, allow me to apologize for not posting here in a while. I've been as busy as can be lately and haven't been able to find the time or energy to put up anything new.
My Bart Sears collecting has been on the light side recently as well, but not completely without anything arriving on my doorstep.
I recently managed to get my hands on another copy of Bart's Cremator #1 cover, which was quite exciting, as it is so very hard to come by these days. As you may have read in my post dedicated to this cover, it is my favourite single piece of Bart Sears artwork, and it felt great to give the new copy the proper laminating treatment it deserves.

I also finally got my hands on this, just last week-
Bart Sears 'Marvel Overpower: Magneto - Repel Object' card

There is a story behind this Overpower Magneto card, a card I've been looking to get a hold of for a very long time. But I wasn't always looking for it, because, back in the late 90's, I actually did have a copy of it. I knew that Bart had done some cards for the Monumental Overpower expansion, but I wasn't absolutely certain if he'd done anything for the other sets. So I grabbed anything that looked even remotely like Bart's work from a comic shop that had a sizable number of the singles from most sets. This card was included in that list.

When I got the cards home, what was first noticeable was the difference in artwork from the two sets Bart produced cards for. The Overpower base set used a colouring method very popular at the time which was essentially paint by numbers with a heavy dose of airbrush. The Magneto card is a perfect example of this, where there are no traditional comic ink lines. Rather, the artist wouldn't even use ink, and would simply draw detail outlines, leaving blacks open and no rendering, see Bart's Overpower Thor card for a better idea of what I'm getting at.

So anyway, after some consideration, I came to the conclusion that Bart did not do the Magneto card, or the Thor card, rather that some inhouse Marvel artist had probably tried to make the art look like it would be Bart, maybe they were even a fan of his! I must say at this point that I was not in contact with Bart by this stage, though I really wish I was. Because, not long after making contact with Bart, he mentioned that he had done the artwork for those Magneto and Thor cards, not to mention the Deadpool one. I rushed back to the comic shop, only to find that they had recently sold their entire collection of Overpower cards to some guy! And so my quest began.

But I now have all of those three cards again, and the purchase of that Magneto card also means that, to the best of knowledge, I now have every Bart Sears trading card in existence.

I thought it might be a good idea to actually list all of the Bart Sears cards in existence, taken straight from the Bart Sears Checklist. So here we go...

#DetailsCompanyYear
#1DC Backing Boards Series 2- Card #50 - r: JLE #1 coverDC1989
#2DC '92 Series 1: #45- Doctor LightDC1992
#3DC '92 Series 1: #47- Elongated ManDC1992
#4DC '92 Series 1: #62- MetamorphoDC1992
#5DC '92 Series 1: #69- PeacemakerDC1992
#6DC '92 Series 1: #154- Invasion! Card ADC1992
#7DC '92 Series 1: #155- Invasion! Card BDC1992
#8DC '92 Series 1: #156- Invasion! Card CDC1992
#9DC Cosmic Cards '93: #124- DesperoDC/Skybox1993
#10DC Cosmic Cards '93: #125- StarroDC/Skybox1993
#11DC Cosmic Cards '93: #143- EclipsoDC/Skybox1993
#12X-O Manowar & Turok Promo card - r: X-O #14 coverValiant/Upper Deck1993
#13Turok Dinosaur Hunter Mail Away card - r: Turok #1 coverValiant1993
#14Turok Dinosaur Hunter Promo card - r: Turok #1 coverValiant1993
#15The Dark Phonecard - r: The Dark #1 cover- 500 madeGlobal Link1993
#16Creator's Universe: Pheros Promo cardDynamic Ent.1993
#17Creator's Universe: #60- PherosDynamic Ent.1993
#18Creator's Universe: #87- ThrashurDynamic Ent.1993
#19Creator's Universe: #97- WolfhoundDynamic Ent.1993
#20Valiant Era 1: #73- X-O Manowar - r: X-O #14 coverValiant/Upper Deck1993
#21Valiant Era 2: #154- X-O Manowar - r: X-O #15 coverValiant/Upper Deck1994
#22Valiant Era 2: #230- Turok 1 - r: Turok #1 coverValiant/Upper Deck1994
#23Valiant Era 2: #231- Turok 2 - r: Turok #2 coverValiant/Upper Deck1994
#24Conan Chromium 2: #13- Pin-up 2 - r: Conan Portfolio 1 imageComic Images1994
#25Conan Chromium 2: #26- Pin-up 5 - r: Conan Portfolio 1 imageComic Images1994
#26Conan Chromium 2: #42- Pin-up 3 - r: Conan Portfolio 1 imageComic Images1994
#27Conan Chromium 2: #58- Pin-up 6 - r: Conan Portfolio 1 imageComic Images1994
#28Conan Chromium 2: #67- Pin-up 1 - r: Conan Portfolio 1 imageComic Images1994
#29Conan Chromium 2: #82- Pin-up 4 - r: Conan Portfolio 1 imageComic Images1994
#30DC Stars: #21- Metamorpho - r: DC '92 Series 1 cardDC/Skybox/Wal-Mart1994
#31DC Stars: #22- Elongated man - r: DC '92 Series 1 cardDC/Skybox/Wal-Mart1994
#32DC Stars: #35- Peacemaker - r: DC '92 Series 1 cardDC/Skybox/Wal-Mart1994
#33Dark Horse- Comics Greatest World: #27- TitanDark Horse/Topps1994
#34Wildstorm Set 1: #22- WinterAegis Ent.1994
#35Hero Special Editions #3- Violator - r: Violator pin-upTodd McFarlane/Hero1994
#36Violator Green Card - r: Violator pu - came with Violator figureMcFarlane Toys1994
#37Marvel Overpower: Deadpool- Super SpyMarvel/Fleer1995
#38Marvel Overpower: Magneto- Repel ObjectMarvel/Fleer1995
#39Marvel Overpower: Thor- Protect TeammateMarvel/Fleer1995
#40Spawn Chromium: #64 - r: Voilator #1 coverWildstorm1996
#41Spawn Chromium: #65 - r: Violator #2 coverWildstorm1996
#42Monumental Overpower (MO): Adam Warlock- Soul GemMarvel/Fleer1997
#43MO: Alpha Flight- GuardianMarvel/Fleer1997
#44MO: Captain America- Sharon CarterMarvel/Fleer1997
#45MO: Henry Pym- Ultron 1Marvel/Fleer1997
#46MO: Hydra- Madame HydraMarvel/Fleer1997
#47MO: Inhumans- TritonMarvel/Fleer1997
#48MO: Serpent Society- Diamond BackMarvel/Fleer1997
#49MO: Serpent Society- SidewinderMarvel/Fleer1997
#50MO: Shi'ar- D'kenMarvel/Fleer1997
#51MO: Silver Surfer- Shalla BalMarvel/Fleer1997
#52MO: Starjammers- CorsairMarvel/Fleer1997
#53MO: Power Card- Energy 8- Dark PhoenixMarvel/Fleer1997
#54MO: Power Card- Strength 6- ThunderbirdMarvel/Fleer1997
#55MO: Universe-Teamwork- Black Bolt, Gorgon & MedusaMarvel/Fleer1997
#56MO: Universe-Teamwork- Firestar, Nova & NamoritaMarvel/Fleer1997
#57MO: Universe-Teamwork- Supreme Intelligence, Ronan & KreeMarvel/Fleer1997
#58MO: Universe-Ally- Wyatt WingfootMarvel/Fleer1997
#59MO: Mission- Fatal Attractions: Misguided Efforts- Rusty CollinsMarvel/Fleer1997
#60Marvel Premium X-Men '97 Timelines: #73- Black KnightMarvel/Fleer/Skybox1997
#61Marvel Premium X-Men '97 Timelines: #74- ConstrictorMarvel/Fleer/Skybox1997
#62Marvel Premium X-Men '97 Timelines: #76- KaneMarvel/Fleer/Skybox1997
#63Marvel Premium X-Men '97 Timelines: #77- Rama-TutMarvel/Fleer/Skybox1997
#64Marvel Premium X-Men '97 Timelines: #79- StryfeMarvel/Fleer/Skybox1997
#65Zoom Suit Promo Set 1: #2 of 7- Zoom Suit #1 coverSuperverse2006
#66Zoom Suit Promo Set 1: #5 of 7- Zoom Suit #2 coverSuperverse2006
#67Zoom Suit Promo Set 1: #6 of 7- Zoom Suit #3 coverSuperverse2006
#68Zoom Suit Promo Set 2: #4 of 9- Zoom Suit #2 coverSuperverse2006
#69Zoom Suit Promo Set 2: #7 of 9- Zoom Suit #3 coverSuperverse2006

I have a new shipment of Bart Sears comics on it's way as I write this, and I'll be doing a full write up of everything in it as soon as it arrives, so come back soon!