Stolen Art Alert: Linsner Portfolio Taken from Pittsburgh Comicon
Retailers are advised that a portfolio of original artwork belonging to
acclaimed artist and Dawn creator Joseph Michael Linsner was stolen at
the Pittburgh Comicon, which took place from April 30-May 2 in Pittsburgh,
PA.
The artwork, valued at approximately $2,500.00, was taken off of Linsner's convention table.
"It was about three in the afternoon on Friday," said Linsner's longtime assistant and colorist, Eva Hopkins. "It was one of those crazy-busy moments where there was a whole mob of fans swarming Joe's table. We were trying to get the line into some semblance of order, but sometimes it's hard to get people to move when you ask them to. You don't want to be rude to fans."
The stolen 11" x 14" Itoya portfolio contained eight pieces of original art, which Linsner had planned on selling at the show. Four of the eight pieces were paintings Linser had done of Marvel Comics characters, and were published in the September 2001 issue of Wizard: The Comics Magazine. The depicted characters were Thundra, The Thing, Deathlok, and Adam Warlock. (Please Note: The Marvel images accompanying this article are scans of the artwork as they appeared in Wizard, and vary slightly from the actual original pieces -- see the note accompanying the full-size version of the Marvel image for more details.)
Three of the stolen paintings were of Linsner's Dawn. The two that are rendered in red pencil were published in Linsner's Dawn: 2004 Convention Sketchbook, while the more detailed, black-and-white piece was all-new, and had been created specifically for the Pittsburgh Comicon. (Please Note: The Dawn images accompanying this article were directly scanned from the original artwork.)
The final stolen piece was a loosely rendered sketch of Marvel's Galactus, done in blue marker on white paper. (Please Note: No image is available for this piece.)
"Within moments of us realizing that the portfolio had been taken, Eva jogged across the hall to find [Pittsburgh Comicon Co-Promoter and Michael's wife] Renee George," said Linsner. "Their team was great; they checked bags and had security on the case for the rest of the day."
"We're just not used to that [kind of] thing in Pittsburgh, it's a shame that it did happen and we obviously hope it never happens again. We have a very strong reputation for security at our show and I want it made clear that it's [going to] stay that way," said Pittsburgh Comicon Co-Promoter Michael George. "It's [kind of] stupid of them to have taken it at all. What are they [going to] do, put the art up on eBay? The whole community is going to be on the lookout for this artwork, including us."
Linsner and Hopkins are asking art dealer, comics shop owners, creators, fans, and other members of the comics community to please keep an eye out for the stolen artwork, and Linsner is currently determining an appropriate reward. Anyone with information can contact Hopkins via e-mail at eva@linsner.com.
The artwork, valued at approximately $2,500.00, was taken off of Linsner's convention table.
"It was about three in the afternoon on Friday," said Linsner's longtime assistant and colorist, Eva Hopkins. "It was one of those crazy-busy moments where there was a whole mob of fans swarming Joe's table. We were trying to get the line into some semblance of order, but sometimes it's hard to get people to move when you ask them to. You don't want to be rude to fans."
The stolen 11" x 14" Itoya portfolio contained eight pieces of original art, which Linsner had planned on selling at the show. Four of the eight pieces were paintings Linser had done of Marvel Comics characters, and were published in the September 2001 issue of Wizard: The Comics Magazine. The depicted characters were Thundra, The Thing, Deathlok, and Adam Warlock. (Please Note: The Marvel images accompanying this article are scans of the artwork as they appeared in Wizard, and vary slightly from the actual original pieces -- see the note accompanying the full-size version of the Marvel image for more details.)
Three of the stolen paintings were of Linsner's Dawn. The two that are rendered in red pencil were published in Linsner's Dawn: 2004 Convention Sketchbook, while the more detailed, black-and-white piece was all-new, and had been created specifically for the Pittsburgh Comicon. (Please Note: The Dawn images accompanying this article were directly scanned from the original artwork.)
The final stolen piece was a loosely rendered sketch of Marvel's Galactus, done in blue marker on white paper. (Please Note: No image is available for this piece.)
"Within moments of us realizing that the portfolio had been taken, Eva jogged across the hall to find [Pittsburgh Comicon Co-Promoter and Michael's wife] Renee George," said Linsner. "Their team was great; they checked bags and had security on the case for the rest of the day."
"We're just not used to that [kind of] thing in Pittsburgh, it's a shame that it did happen and we obviously hope it never happens again. We have a very strong reputation for security at our show and I want it made clear that it's [going to] stay that way," said Pittsburgh Comicon Co-Promoter Michael George. "It's [kind of] stupid of them to have taken it at all. What are they [going to] do, put the art up on eBay? The whole community is going to be on the lookout for this artwork, including us."
Linsner and Hopkins are asking art dealer, comics shop owners, creators, fans, and other members of the comics community to please keep an eye out for the stolen artwork, and Linsner is currently determining an appropriate reward. Anyone with information can contact Hopkins via e-mail at eva@linsner.com.
