Showing Off My New ARTGERM Original Art

I was fortunate enough to be able to snag 2 new pieces of original art for my collection at this year’s New York Comic Con. Sadly I didn’t set either of these up...my buddy @falcore was the middleman who handled it all and I’m grateful.

The first piece I got was by the master Kim Jung Gi and it’s a badass Mysterio piece. I popped up a post about it here If ya want to give it a look. If ya haven’t, there’s an awesome video I linked to on his Instagram that shows the progression of how he works. Fantastic watch.

The other is by another modern master in Stanley “Artgerm” Lau. You will know that name as every week when I show off the new books arriving in comic shops, I usually highlight a piece of his. He’s a machine and works often and pumps out some real beauties. So I was pumped to be able to get a piece by him. Here’s the quick story as it’s pretty funny.

I sent @falcore down to ask if he was taking commissions. I sent him down with a stack of our past exclusive variants for Batman & TMNT #1 that Artgerm did for us a couple years back. Just a stack of around 22 copies that was a gift as a token of our appreciation. Sadly this was the first show we were at together since he did it for us and we always enjoy giving the artist some comps. It keeps a nice relationship open and most of them appreciate it greatly.

With that I wrote a note thanking him and asking if he were to take on a small commission for me. If interested, I listed 5 characters just to make it easy. Artist’s choice I said. 😜 The list included...

• Evil-Lyn
• Harley Quinn
• Poison Ivy
• Maleficent
• La Muerta

I threw a couple of common regulars that he’s done a gazillion times and a couple of odd balls that might intrigue him. To my luck, he told Mike (@falcore) that he would take both of ours and we were pumped! Mike was getting a Venomized Captain Marvel on a blank cover that I have still yet to see as he sent it off to CGC and stupidly didn’t snap a pic prior. Dunce!

He was super appreciative of the comps she said he’d have it ready Sunday morning. Awesome! So I wondered which he would choose for the day and when Sunday morning popped around, I made my way to Artist Alley do I could introduce myself. I had a couple of minutes before the show started and was jonesing for it.

Here’s the funny part. After introducing myself, I thanked him for the piece. He looked perplexed and after an awkward few minutes, I came to realize that he had no idea what I was talking about. Now I’m not sure if it was Mike’s miscommunication, Artgerm not fully understanding, or having a different dude in me come down, but he basically acted like he had no clue about anything of what I was saying. I had to return to the booth before the show opened so I thanked him again for at that point...nothing...and vowed that Mike would be down later to discuss.

My walk up I’m like...did Mike talk to the wrong artist? Is Artgerm just reaaaaaally tired? Flash forward, Mike pops into the con and my booth all jazzed up to get our pieces. I explain the awkward encounter and he rushes to straighten it out. A few minutes later I get a call from Mike telling me all is good and it’ll be ready end of day. That he’s not sure where the confusion was. If you ever met Mike...you just gotta chock this up to business as usual and roll with it. So I said...cool.

Well a few hours later Mikey delivers this beautiful piece to me. The nicest part about it was Artgerm refused to accept any payment from me due to the confusion...or the comps...perhaps both. I dunno. All I know is this beautiful Maleficent is now in my overgrowing collection where it’ll remain until I croak....which is probably soon.

Blewitt