Little, Big

Web Goblin here.

Two years and five blog posts ago, we were introduced to the 25th Anniversary edition of Little, Big or, The Fairies' Parliament, by John Crowley, with art by Peter Milton.

At the time, there were 300 numbered editions, all of which had been pre-sold some dozen years earlier. Deep Vellum has since managed to produce another 65 copies of which around 40 are available for purchase.

Additionally, around 200 copies of the trade hardcover are still available. This is the "green edition" featuring a dust jacket containing an essay by Mr. G.

Deep Vellum is offering a 10% discount code, "littlebig40", which can be used for the trade edition, numbered edition, and/or for a poster between now and the equinox, September 21.

More details here.

Labels: John Crowley, little big or the fairies' parliament, webgoblin words

Heritage Auction wrap up

I'm starting to hear that the money that came in from the Heritage Auction is going out to people and doing what I hoped it would do, which is make life easier for artists and writers.

So this is a reminder to those of us who may have bought comic art long ago, often directly from the artists, when it was cheap, that now it's worth hundreds of times what was paid for it, the artists never see any of that. 

Tracking down the artist and sending them a share will be a welcome gesture.

Or donating to The Hero Initiative, who are helping many elderly and infim comics creators, or to the Authors League Fund, or (if you are in another country) seeing if there is a charity that helps artists and/or authors that you could donate to would be a good thing to do. 

(And for those who don't know what this is about, it's about this: http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2024/03/in-which-i-can-now-worry-significantly.html)

Labels: Authors League Fund, heritage Auction, Hero Initiative

The Dead Boys Detective Agency. It is a very silly name. But accurate.

 

April 25th. DEAD BOY DETECTIVES. It's really good -- it's funny, it's smart, it's scary, and it even has a few familiar faces...

(And no, you won't be cheating on Sandman or Good Omens if you watch it...)

Labels: Dead Boy Detectives

In which I can now worry significantly less about something terrible happening to 126 things...

 I spent yesterday in Dallas, at the Heritage Auction headquarters -- I had decided to auction off some artwork and memorabilia to benefit two charities (The Authors Literary Fund and the Hero Initiative, which help authors/writers and comics creators who have fallen on hard times or who need help), and, just as importantly, I wanted to give something back to the artists whose art I was entrusting to new custodians. 

It seems to me fundamentally wrong and inequitable that art that artists sold for $50 or a hundred dollars thirty or forty years ago now sells for hundreds or thousands of times that amount, but the artists, most of whom are old, some of whom are no longer working or not working as they were, never see another penny. I decided the best way to change that would be to set an example, and show people another way of doing it.

Here's the New York Times article before the auction: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/23/arts/design/neil-gaiman-auction-collectibles.html?unlocked_article_code=1.Xk0.5PkB.9iQtuvn6Bwof&smid=url-share

And here's me in Dallas two nights ago, walking around the exhibition before the auction with Robert Wilonsky from Heritage, with guest appearances by my oldest friend Geoff Notkin, whose fault this all is: 

and for the very curious, the whole live auction is also up on YouTube. I tell a lot of stories about the things that are up for auction.

The auction made a lot of money, and it's going to do a lot of good, and that makes me very happy. Thank you to all the lovely helpful people at Heritage Auctions, to all of the bidders, lucky or otherwise, and to all of the artists, craftspeople and geniuses without whom it could never have happened.

Labels: artists, auctions, Authors League Fund, geoffrey notkin, Hero Initiative