Comic Artists Direct

I don't usually recommend sites on this site - I mean, you're here, what else could you want? But I came across a website every comic fan should know about, devoted to stolen, missing and fake comic book artwork.

"Website owner, webmaster and mind" behind the site is Enrico Salvini, and Italian comic book art dealer, art representative for Giorgio Comolo, Alex Horley, Alberto Ponticelli, Tom Porta and Saverio Tenuta and founder of Red Sector Art.

As of my last communication with Enrico, the website lists 43 pieces of stolen artwork, 43 pieces of missing artwork and pieces of fake artwork. Two pieces of stolen artwork have been recently recovered.

"You can be a part of this effort too," he wrote to Comic Artists Direct. "If you're a collector or a dealer and you had some artwork stolen, please send us a copy of it and a police report. If you're an artist and had artwork retained by your publisher, agent or former studio-partner against your will, please send us a copy of it with an explanation of what happened. If you're a bidder and find out that a piece of art for auction is counterfeited or misrepresented, please notify us so that other collectors won't fall for it in the future. Join forces with us to make this a better and safer hobby."

Legal advice is provided by fellow collectors who also happen to be legal eagles. Like Enrico, they donate their time for love of the hobby we all enjoy.

Missing or stolen pages by McFarlane, Brunner, Mignola, Ormston, McCrea and Tuska are listed and more are being listed all the time. I recently suspected a Kirby page I was thinking of buying - it just didn't look exactly like the '60s comic it came from - and I checked with this site to see if it was listed. It wasn't, but, after communicating my cautions to the seller through email, I passed on the sale. If anyone is going to copy ANYTHING, I figured it would be a classic Kirby - expensive and an easy to sell. Remember, too, the seller might not even KNOW if a page is faked.

Which brings us back to this important website. Enrico says he's open to information from anyone. "Artists, dealers, collectors, you name it." The site is simple and light and easy to navigate, a minor miracle on the web.

"I'm not making a cent out of this and all the hours I've spent on its construction and will be spending on its maintenance will be pro-bono," wrote Enrico. "I love this hobby and I'd like to do something to help keeping it safe and fun. Also, I'm a strong believer in karma and don't mind building up some credit."

So, do you have stolen at your booth or home? REPORT IT! Won a page on Ebay and never received it? REPORT IT! Your publisher never returned a piece of artwork? REPORT IT! The page you sent to your friend never showed up? REPORT IT! Found a piece on Ebay that Comicart-L or SequentialArt deemed a fake? REPORT IT!

Visit the Stolen, Missing or Fake Comic Book Art website at http://stolen.redsectorart.com/ and bookmark it for future reference, and if you talk with Enrico, tell him Gary from Comic Artists Direct sent you.

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