Art boner enlarge now)
Ok…this one is a biggie (not the boner) for me as not only is it a truly badass looking piece, but a serious investment for the long haul as well. It hits all the boxes which make this piece a coveted success and I’m over the moon to be able to add it to my ever growing Spidey gallery.
Ok…let’s do this!
I’d like to present to you the Original Art to the cover of Spidey Universe X Special. This beautifully painted cover is done by one of comics modern masters in Alex Ross. It features Spiders-Man (you read that correct) who is a character from the Earth X & Universe X storylines from about 20 years ago. This specific book came out in 2001 on the dot I believe.
I’ve wante…uh…needed…an Alex Ross piece in my Spidey collection and finally had to pull the trigger. As someone who has painted a slew of covers for Amazing Spider-Man, Mr. Ross has quite the impressive catalog. Along with that comes the need to have quite an impressive bankroll…some to the tune of $20 to $25 thousand dollars. (Sigh) Not quite there yet.
Buuuuuut when I saw this beauty pop up as available through Mike Burkey’s Romitaman Art website at around half that and that he was willing to work with me on payments…c’mon man…no brainer!
This thing took me about 9 months to pay off but I’m glad it’s here. It is the most I have ever spent on myself for a single item outside of my car and home. Kinda crazy saying that but I have a feeling that as my journey down the Original Art rabbit hole, I’ll be saying that again…and again…and again…
The art measures on an 11x17 board which is the rough standard in this hobby. The eyes are piercing and the blacks and reds are deep and dark which worked well with my choice of framing in which I’ll quickly add…Michael’s framing department in Toms River, New Jersey do a remarkable job. They have extreme patience as I bring 5 or 6 pieces at a time and carefully craft each pieces frames and mattes.
All of my framing choices are different and have some unique qualities which tie into the piece itself. I already have lots of cool blacks, silver, and other frame choices but I currently had zero red frames. That changed here as I chose this classy cherry red wood to house it. The black matte compliments it well as it’s a velvety material that resembles the deep blacks Alex painted into the background. Red and white mattes for the interior with just a smidge showing and BOOM!!! Instant classic that I cannot wait to hang up.
Eventually I’d love to snag an Alex Ross cover to Amazing Spider-Man and I believe one day I’ll have one, but for now this fills the hole. I already have 2 ASM covers in my collection currently with 5 others being paid off in bits as we speak. Let alone a handful of others that I’m soooooo close to securing. Fingers crossed…
If ya like seeing and hearing about comic original art stay tuned as I’ll be posting more this week. Also check out @mimerr as he posted a badass Thunderbolts page by Mark Bagley the other day. Love that there’s another Original Art collector here!!!
Stay tuned for more!!!
Blewitt