Collecting Comic Art: An interview with Georg Schell (Germany)

The Green Room Comic Art wouldn’t be anything without our wonderful and loyal customers, who trust this humble online comic art gallery to acquire and locate some of the most unique and fantastic pieces from our artists who make up this great team.

Building an art collection is no easy task and often takes time and dedication. That’s why we’ve decided to start a section on our website where we give voice to some of our customers, who fortunately, we can also call friends. :^)

Very kindly, they have agreed to answer some of our questions and share not only their experiences but also wonderful advice to encourage other collectors, whether they are taking their first steps or embarking on new adventures.

This first chapter is inaugurated by Georg Schell, a German collector with over 45 years of experience building his incredible personal collection of comic art. We hope you enjoy it as much as we did conversing with Georg!

 

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How did you get into art collecting? 

It was somehow the logical consequence of my great passion for collecting the Legion of Super-Heroes, which I began 45 years ago with the German-translated editions and then continued a few years later with the original English editions, and, of course, a few other series. And when I could afford it many years later, I treated myself to some original pages and commissions.

 

What’s the first piece you bought? 

The first piece of original art I received was for free when Don Rosa – one of Donald Duck’s most famous illustrators after Carl Barks – visited my favorite comic store in Bonn. You could wish for a drawing – and I wished for Donald Duck handing my wife a bouquet of flowers. My wife was very happy about it and it still hangs framed in her craft room today.

The first paid piece by a cartoonist who also made his mark on the Legion of Super-Heroes was a piece of Dawnstar and Wildfire by Mike Grell (see left picture) that I commissioned. Over the years I’ve commissioned several earlier couples of LSH from him, so I now have a wonderful series hanging on my wall. Mike himself even likes these commissions so much that he sells prints of them at conventions.

Finally, the first original page was of course also from the Legion. In this case, I was lucky to find a page by Geraldo Borges (pencils) and Mario Alquiza (inks) from Adventure Comics #521 on eBay for a reasonable price.

 

What’s your favorite piece of comic art you own? 

My favorite piece is my aforementioned first commission of Mike Grell with Dawnstar and Wildfire (see left picture). My wife allowed me to have it scanned in high resolution and then applied to a high wall in our home by a specialist company at a size of about 3.90 meters high and 2.50 meters wide.

What leads you to select some pieces and not others?

I collect almost exclusively according to my personal taste and not according to whether a piece might increase its value in the future. As a result, a large part of my collection has to do with the Legion of Super-Heroes and my favorite artists such as Mike Grell and Barry Kitson in particular.

What’s your favorite piece from our gallery? Tell us what makes it so special for you!

Of the drawings I bought from The Green Room, I like The Troll Bride from Inktober by Daniel López the most. Although the troll under the bridge is very large, it is usually only noticed at second glance – which I really like and was also the reason I bought it.

 

What advice would you give to someone who wants to start collecting art?

1.- Think about what (penciler, hero, series) you want to focus on as early as possible so that you don’t get lost in the gigantic global offering.

2.- Buy what you personally like, not what someone else says you have to like.

3.- Don’t buy in the hope that the value of your artwork will eventually increase beyond measure.

4.- If possible, only buy from sources you can trust – there are counterfeits in this area too; especially with more expensive pieces.

5.- As a resident of an EU country, you must keep in mind that purchases from the USA and UK, for example, have to be cleared through customs (normally with duties) and often incur in high transport costs. Therefore, find out about the customs duties and fees beforehand so that this is taken into account in your personal price calculation.

6.- If you often place smaller orders in the USA – for example via eBay – you will notice that the seller does not always ship outside the USA or that shipping to Europe is very expensive. For this it may make sense to use a shipping service provider. He will give you a delivery address in the USA and will collect the orders, which means that the shipping costs to Europe are still not cheap, but lower than if each item was shipped individually to Europe.

7.- Enjoy your passion for collecting.

 

Do you have any questions for our artists? Ask them anything you’d like. We’ll make sure you get the answers you’re looking for. :^)

Not at the moment 😊. I only would be very happy that they let me know if they ever have a drawing regarding the Legion of Super-Heroes.