Showing posts with label Clyde Fans. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Clyde Fans. Show all posts

Thursday, December 29, 2022

Jerome's Copy of Clyde Fans: Book 1 by Seth

With all five books of Clyde Fans now complete and published as an omnibus edition, it seems that only Seth completists would be interested in a lone copy of Clyde Fans Book 1 from 2004. The market for such a book might be broader, though, if potential buyers realized the author had handled the volume himself, dedicating it to a fan, Jerome, and leaving a sketchy self-portrait in the year of publication. The book's original recipient Jerome, it seems pretty certain, is the same Jerome who last fall offered to sell the book from the UK on eBay.


Still, the decision to purchase this book on the other side of the ocean wasn't exactly a slam-dunk. The sketch is very small; Seth's best drawings are radiant on the full page. Also, the condition isn't perfect; it's a little smudgy. The price, $10.19 (or 9 GBP), was pretty reasonable, but the cost of expedited shipping to the US from London was fully three times the purchase price. Getting the book for a best offer of 7.50 GBP was a small victory, but cutting a sweet deal on the shipping would have been even better.


It turns out that the book that initially arrived was an unsigned copy of Clyde Fans Part One, a booklet from 2000 containing about half the contents of the later Book 1. No matter that the shipping cost to the seller thus had doubled; he graciously sent the correct volume, signed and doodled in.









Seth
eBay listing accessed October 19, 2022

Seth
eBay item description







04183

Saturday, September 18, 2021

Seth's Clyde Fans: A Lonely Place

Abe Matchcard visits his estranged brother Simon's emotionally desolate home in a preliminary page from Clyde Fans, Seth's tragic take on capitalism and human failings, to oversimplify just a bit. The page, which embodies a sense of isolation and spiritual emptiness, is unified by the klop klop of Abe's shoes on Simon's floor and the stench of his cigarette smoke in Simon's house. In 2015, the rough art sold on eBay for a respectable $429.64. The finished art may be seen in Palookaville #21 (2013) on page 55, and in Clyde Fans (2019) on page 344.

Seth
Preliminary art
Clyde Fans, part 4
Palookaville 21, September 2013, page 55
Clyde Fans (2019), page 344






Seth
eBay Listing Ended September 28, 2015

http://www.ebay.com/itm/SETH-Palookaville-21-p55-Preliminary-ORIGINAL-ART-Clyde-Fans-/400999188891?hash=item5d5d6a099b%3Ag%3ATQ4AAOSwyQtVtsN9&nma=true&si=Zv4PhLp6HocGRC23iqci2JeQ2LI%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

Seth
eBay Item Description


Seth
eBay Bid History
The bidding gets serious in the last eight or nine hours and the winning bid is placed only in the final twelve seconds.






Note:  Sorry, I have no scans of Seth's finished art today.





03753

Friday, September 17, 2021

Seth's Clyde Fans: "That Woman"

Back in 2013, Seth was working through Part 4 of Clyde Fans, continuing to publish installments of his magnum opus in Palookaville, by then his hardcover comics magazine. A page of preliminary art depicts the disillusioned salesman-turned-business owner Abe Matchcard avoiding his wife Vera—"that woman"—who is waiting for him to open the front door for her. It was sold on eBay in 2016. The finished art appeared on page 44 of Palookaville 21 and eventually on page 333 of the complete five-part "picture novel" published in 2019. Comparing the rough with the finished page gives some insight into Seth's working technique.

Seth
Preliminary art
Clyde Fans, part 4
Palookaville 21, September 2013, page 44
Clyde Fans (2019), page 333



Seth
eBay Listing Ended September 5, 2016


Seth
eBay Bid History

Seth
eBay Bid History
Six bidders, eleven bids
[End of eBay listing]



Seth
Clyde Fans, part 4
Palookaville 21, September 2013, page 44



Seth
Preliminary art
Clyde Fans, part 4
Palookaville 21, September 2013, page 44
Clyde Fans (2019), page 333








03752

Thursday, September 16, 2021

Seth: Clyde Fans Signed in 2019 with a Sketch of Abe Matchcard

More than two decades in the making, Clyde Fans (2019) is by far comic artist Seth's most ambitious work. An extremely nice copy of the slipcased book turned up on eBay with an original sketch of the character Abe Matchcard walking through clouds of silver cigar smoke. The eBay seller refers to this sketched-in copy as "remarqued," a potentially useful word for describing such unique books.

But is that really what it means? The term comes from printmaking. A remarque is a mark or sketch made in the margin of a plate that indicates the state of the print. In a limited-edition print, a ramarque may also be a small sketch in pencil made by the artist in the margin of the print. 






I don't know why sellers feel the need to post the same photo twice in one eBay listing, but the practice is widespread.

Seth draws in this copy of Clyde Fans at the Texas Book Festival in 2019. Chris Ware sits next to him.

Seth
eBay listing ended September 5, 2021

Seth
eBay item description

Seth
eBay bid history
One last minute bid






Note:  Pablo Portillo has posted a similar 2019 sketch of a standing (rather than walking) Abraham Matchcard surrounded by clouds of cigar smoke from a copy of the Spanish edition of Ventiladores Clyde signed in Bilbao. See it on the Comic Art Fans site here. Other interesting copies are no doubt out there, and there would be far more if the pandemic hadn't shut down comics conventions near and far. Readers fortunate enough to have interesting copies of Seth's magnum opus are encouraged to send photos or scans for use on this blog.





03751

Sunday, April 4, 2021

Seth's Clyde Fans: The Storefront

In a page of pencil roughs from the opening pages of Clyde Fans, Seth establishes the urban landscape in which the Clyde Fans Company is situated. We see the exteriors of city buildings before Seth zooms in on a single storefront window. Each panel is visibly held in place by tape. The finished art appeared in Palookaville #1 in 1997. The rough was inscribed "For Dan" in 2000, at which time it was signed by the artist. This piece was sold at Heritage Auctions in 2012 for $286.80. I first noted it on eBay in 2013 where it sold for $322. It took Seth many years to complete Clyde Fans and the full picture novel wasn't published until 2019.


Seth
eBay listing ended March 9, 2013

http://www.ebay.com/itm/SETH-original-comic-art-prelim-Clyde-Fans-Palooka-Ville-/130862841905?_trksid=p2047675.l2557&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEWAX%3AIT&nma=true&si=VJo29%252F7WbHpl1SY9gWmnl4%252FkT80%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc


Seth
Clyde Fans, Palookaville #1





The 2012 Heritage auction had higher resolution images:






03586

Saturday, April 3, 2021

Seth's Clyde Fans: Abe? I love you...

Much of Seth's preliminary art shows him working through the narrative flow of each comic page. In the example shown here, though, the artist takes great care with the design of a single important panel from Clyde Fans, part 4, of Abe Matchcard's wife Vera. Seth deftly uses one-point perspective with all lines emanating from the center of Vera's face, so that she appears radiant. Then he doubles down with the diagonal top rail of the staircase also leading to the vanishing point. 


Seth
eBay listing accessed May 8, 2018


Seth
eBay item description



The panel was conceived to serve as the central image on the following preliminary page, apparently, replacing an image of the younger Vera:
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/418975571579146952/





That rough of the younger Vera was not discarded; it was put to use elsewhere:
https://drawnandquarterly.com/clyde-fans




Note:  For some reason back in 2018 I did not follow this eBay auction to its conclusion. I would appreciate hearing from anyone who knows the selling price.



03585