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The Frank Quitely Superman Art That Wasn't

This original All-Star Superman artwork purporting to be by Frank Quitely was posted on eBay for $699.

s-l1600-9

But it really wasn't. The person who owns the original art this is taken from, fellow A-Lister comic artist Nick Pitarra, states,

Indeed, last year Nicky posted something very similar.

And, yes, Frank Quitely confirmed it, saying "that's not mine." So I approached the seller who, quickly ended the listing, saying,

To be honest, I'm pretty pissed, for several reasons…but they all kind of lead back to the fact that for the last year and a half I've been proudly displaying what I thought was an original piece by one of my favorite illustrators, only to find out that, no, it's actually a worthless piece of garbage. I'm out the $150 I paid for it last year, but also any money I would have gotten from selling it now (when to be honest, I could really use it, otherwise I wouldn't have even thought to sell it).

And of course, I just feel like a chump. I think I am normally pretty good about watching for and being wary of forgeries on ebay. I must have just been too smitten with it, because I just looked at the ebay listing from when I bought it, and there are obvious red flags I ignored for some reason.

Of course, I will follow up with ebay to see about a refund, and/or some kind of consequences for the seller (who is still selling on ebay, and claimed to have witnessed the drawing being created by Frank, in addition to being the original owner. I don't know what ebay's policy or process is for this kind of thing, especially because of how much time has passed, but I have low/no expectations, and will assume that I am just out the money.

Thanks for pointing this out. I ended the listing once I saw your message this morning. Someone else asked about it shortly after your message came in, saying it looked like another fake one up a few months ago, which was also a surprise to me (that identical forgeries exist and show up occasionally, I haven't seen another one).

Anyway, thanks again. While it's a huge bummer overall, it could have been a lot worse if I would have sold it, and unknowingly been party to fraud. Ultimately, I lose out here, but at no one else does.

Thanks,
–Eric

That listing would appear to have been this one that Pitarra referred to from last year.

This is a Great Original Sketch that I got drawn for me at the UK Comic Art Convention which I attended.

*I can Authenticate that this is real as I personally watched him draw the sketch in front of me*

*Sketch has been drawn on an acid free 100gm sketch pad piece of paper*

Sold by unjayace in Brisbane, Australia… I have an (unanswered) question in with them too…


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Rich JohnstonAbout Rich Johnston

Founder of Bleeding Cool. The longest-serving digital news reporter in the world, since 1992. Author of The Flying Friar, Holed Up, The Avengefuls, Doctor Who: Room With A Deja Vu, The Many Murders Of Miss Cranbourne, Chase Variant. Lives in South-West London, works from Blacks on Dean Street, shops at Piranha Comics. Father of two. Political cartoonist.
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