Flash 203 MECHANICAL COVER ART Neal Adams 1970 MUST-SEE Adler Photo C. 11" x 14"

$

250

FLASH #203 Original Mechanical Production Art, Note Some Elements Are Added By Hand, And There Is Some Whiteout, Along With Note/Numbers, Plus The Big Note At Bottom "This is new copy!!" (confirming what a work-in-progress it was at this point!) For Classic Cover to the popular HALF-PHOTO COVER from the start of the seventies.  The photo covers were one of Adler's proud achievements, and THIS piece reveals just how he MADE THEM!  Awesome cover, by NEAL ADAMS.  It is on three distinct layers, one of clear acetate with the hand-painted logo and flash character (at upper left) along with the back-painted word balloons.  The left-only layer is actual glossy photo, while the base is the large silverprint, a high-quality photostat made from Adams' original inked work, and note the upper middle area has all the white, all hand painted.  The overall size is a big 11" x 14".

CLASSIC COVER WORK BY NEAL ADAMS, COUPLED WITH THE PHOTOGRAPHIC SKILLS AND PRODUCTION MASTERY OF JACK ADLER.

This is a rare DC silver-age super-hero production piece by one of the most talented and influential artists of all time!

This showpiece includes cool imagery of one of the cult classic character, a DC superhero that has become synonymous with "the Fastest Man Alive"!  Production Piece Utilized By D.C. Comics in 1970, NOT something used in the last couple decades for some compilation or archives or essentials or TPB or graphic novel or other such reprinting.  These old mechanical art pieces were few and far between in the Adler load, as most of the Adler trove was regular paper cover production art since so few covers combine both photographic portions with line-drawn elements, so this is an extremely rare offering of such material.  Since such unique material is among the more desirable, you may want to jump at this museum piece. 

Fan recognition and the desirability of rare vintage DC items have grown over the years, thanks in part to the ever-growing fame of DC heroes such as the Teen Titans, Hex, Green Arrow, Watchmen, Batman and of course the legendary Superman, the Man Of Steel, who is arguably the most iconic character ever created, in any era.  As far as this Scarlet Speedster character, he has appeared in many different titles over the decades since this vaunted long-running series.  As a star member of the JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA, and countless JLA appearances under his belt, plus major media plans for the character, the name recognition is sure to grow in the coming years. This time period is one of the most revered: The SILVER/BRONZE-AGE of Comics, which many current long-term fans can remember well...  It doesn't get much more "Blue Chip" than this!  

Items like this only surface ONCE. The lucky auction-winner will be the only one to have this rare production art to this beloved issue. So don't miss this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!

 This is too big to fit on our scanner, so I took a photograph of it next to a random DC comic of the period; (Comic is for scale and is NOT included, this is for the production artwork only.)  is is a must-have part of DC history for any fan of vintage comic-books and/or unique superhero ephemera, or of original production art to Bronze-age DC comics, or just the serious Flash fan who likes having true rarities but cannot afford to shell out five-figure$ for the black & white line art (if it even still exists!)

NOTE: We also have other production art from this renowned pedigree, running on ebay now!

Many of you have read about this significant find in C.B.M. and/or C.B.G.
(Comic Book Marketplace #85 and Comics Buyer's Guide #'s 1399, 1402, 1414, etc.)
We are secure packagers and prompt shippers so expect to be pleased.

PROVENANCE:  Jack Adler worked through all the major periods of the comics: Golden-Age, Silver-Age, and Bronze-Age.  He even colored the plates for the very first golden-age comic, the landmark introduction of Superman, in Action Comics #1, when he was but a youth back in 1938. He continued his freelance work, including work for the comics and the fashion industry, and eventually became DC Comics' premiere colorist, on staff from the early '50's through the mid '80's, and was head of the art department for much of his tenure, doing much of the hiring and training.  He graduated from high school at the age of fifteen, and quickly got a degree in fine art.  He became proficient at sculpting, pencilling, inking, painting, and photography. He pioneered the washtone/graytone effect which became so popular on the DC "Big Five" war titles. Plus, he inked many '50's, '60's, and '70's comic covers as well. Moreover, he also developed the "3-D" process used on the Batman 3-D and Superman 3-D comics in 1953; --so we're talking about a major contributor to DC history!  During the summer of 2004, the living legend himself, Jack Adler, (thought by some to have passed away years prior), at the urgings of his kind family, made his very first public appearance, at the San Diego Comic-Con.  He was honored Thursday afternoon at the ever-popular convention with the Inkpot Award For Excellence for Outstanding Achievement In Comic Art, and a rousing standing ovation from the many onlookers at the panel of Golden-Age and Silver-Age Greats. On Friday at the Comic Con, there was a one-on-one panel, with just Mark Evanier and Jack Adler, titled "Spotlight On Jack Adler", and many questions were answered for the large crowd of audience member, who were kept entertained by the charismatic and respected living legend.  It is amazing how many great names were hired on by him!  I also found out that he invented the 3-D image technology popularly used in Viewmasters, but was unable to get the deserved patent, as the film itself had been patented, (but not in a similar 3D format, so he got burned, as viewmaster was able to capitalize freely!)  Plus, the method that made integrating photo cover and line-drawn cover art easily into a single cover image was also pioneered by this influential innovator.  (The technology was supposed to be kept a secret, but was leaked immediately by a DC exec!)   Julius Shwartz had told him "don't tell me about it, just do it", and when it worked, it worked, and was immediately utilized, as the articulate and charming Adler related.  As an accomplished photographer, he created covers using photographs he had taken of his own grandchildren, producing his own copies of Shazam #2 and #6, which were displayed on an overhead projector to the glee of many enthralled listeners.  The picture of Captain Marvel, sitting reading to the innocent youths, was actually of Jack Adler reading to his grandkids.  (These same grandkids were present at the panel, and turned out to be pleasant, gracious, and kind adults.)  Moreover, he highly touted the art skills of good friends Neal Adams and Joe Kubert, (relating entertaining stories, of course.)  He helped Kubert set up his now legendary School Of Comic Book Art. Once the school was set up, he was supposed to head the school, but had to back out, as he couldn't bring himself to move to New Jersey. You could write a book on the contributions Mr. Adler has made to the medium many of us know and love.  As with too many of the great talents of his day, Jack Adler passed away, in the summer of 2011.

 Back in the "good ole days", DC normally burned or discarded such production art once the comic went to print.  Mr. Adler painfully remembers himself and fellow DC artist Jerry Serpi cutting up thousands of pages of original comic line art and production art.  He said it broke his heart to destroy all that beautiful artwork;  But back then, nobody foresaw the future value of such exclusive pieces of comic-book history.  Fortunately, during the period of 1967 to 1974, this award-winning artist pulled aside many prime examples, representing each step of the comic-making process. Nevertheless, there's an extremely small amount of these that were saved, considering the volume that was produced in those days. It is estimated that out of 840,000 pieces created for the production process over that time period, only about 4,000 or so survived, thanks to Jack Adler; ~A miniscule pecentage of less than one half of one percent.

This is the actual COVER MECHANICAL ART for this popular hero comic. This is where they combined all the elements, including background, and added the month and the logo, and then they could make stats to add color, from this masterpiece. 

Back in the late eighties, in Texas, Mr. Adler and his grandson sold almost his entire collection, comprised of the DC Archives of comic production art, in one fell swoop. Then, years later, it changed hands again, with the vast bulk of the load still untouched... Eventually, after lengthy negotiations, a longtime friend and I were able to acquire the whole load, except for the horror, from the Southern California art collector who possessed this landmark find since 1997. The horror genre took me an additional three and a half years of wrangling, but now they too are finding their way into the hands of the true fans, who can preserve and cherish them the right way. For additional information regarding this popular pedigree, check out the lengthy color article on the Adler Collection in the September 2001 issue of Comic Book Marketplace (which is still available in another of our auctions!) Additional art can now be found by checking the other Key Comics ebay auctions (user ID: keycomics). Buy aggressively, as such items are one-of-a-kind, and DC production pieces from forty-plus years ago are notoriously rare.

A Certificate Of Authenticity is included, forever guaranteeing the provenance of each piece from this major historic discovery.  These items are still supple, clean, and white, (obviously very well preserved), and they are blank on the reverse side, and are slightly larger than comic size; since they were part of the editorial process they can include tack-holes, indentations from a paper clip, staple-holes, chips, pencil notations, creases, tape, and/or edge wear. (This one is in stellar shape, no major problems.)   

As Usual: LOW ASKING PRICE AND NO RESERVE!

KEY COMICS was previously a long-term CBG, Combo, Comic Book Marketplace, CVM, Wizard, & Overstreet advertiser and CBM Market Report Contributor, and is also a long-term CGC Member Dealer that has specialized in Mail-Order Comics for a quarter-century;
Buy with confidence.

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('30's to '70's)
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For more samples from our diverse inventory, including superb CGC-Graded Comics, plus more DC COMIC ART from the historic Jack Adler Collection that is listed in assorted categories, please see our other auctions: CLICK HERE TO SEE OUR OTHER AUCTIONS!

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