'Staying Alive' to Witness Rare & Collectable BBB Books

 January 4, 2021

   Our intrepid editor, Stuart Rosebrook, has been rounding up some great images for our next issue, including this sweet, little piece:

Early Lone Ranger artwork

  Great color and action. I want to apply this to a couple things I'm working on, which is a nice way of saying, I'm stealing it.

Lost A Couple More Friends Last Year

   On days like this, I miss my friends who have passed. Mostly I regret not being able to call them to ask them what they think of the current insanity. This is so true of my best friend Charlie Waters, who passed six years ago. Not a day goes by that I don't want to call him up and say, "How did we end up here, Charlie, and where the hell is this all going?"

   And, the thing is, he would have a good, solid answer!

   On another front, I have now lived long enough to see the prices on some of my books begin to enter the Rare & Collectable Zone. It took some time. The first—and most painful—phase is when you go into a used book store and see your precious titles on sale for less than the original retail price!

    That will keep you humble—for decades.

   This year a couple of benchmarks have appeared on the horizon. I got an email from a book collector named Josh, who bought one of my books from the estate of the legendary Ed Bartholomew. Here is the title page with my personal note to Ed.

The Title Page of "El Chivato"

my first book on the Kid, published in 1992

   This morning I heard from a Billy the Kid researcher and friend, Chuck Usmar, who informed me he just bought a special collection, first edition of the same book, "El Chivato," and that it is signed to Bob McCubbin. In fact, it came out of the McCubbin estate sale where it was bought by Kevin Mulkins of K&B Books in Tucson, who then sold it to Chuck. It's not polite to reveal the prices they paid but let me just say, they made me smile.

   Meanwhile, in the new year I intend to return to earlier work with the hope and desire of reviving story ideas that inspired me before the lockdown.

Daily Scratchboard Whip Out:

"Olive In Shadow #2"

   Here we go. Wish me luck. Where do I start Pablo?

"To know what you're going to draw, you have to begin drawing."

—Picasso