Michael Netzer Online

 

Original Art for Sale

 

Proceeds from the sale of this art
will be used to pave the way for the rise of
The Comic Book Creator's Party

M i c h a e l . N a s s e r ' s
Life Story
S u m m e r , . 1 9 8 1

 

 

In the spring of 1981, still Michael Nasser,
I arrived in New York from California,
after a winter there of some public speaking in the city squares
of San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego
and some other cities and towns in between,
raising the awareness of a coming
new political hierarchy to the world,
from the comic book industry.

With limited funds,
I settled into a room at the west side of Manhattan
from which I intended to pencil a Spider-Man script
I'd accepted from Jim Shooter at Marvel Comics.

 

 

Pondering the dilemma
of the thrust of my work as a comic book artist,
I came to a resolve that I'd produce a work
which would define the challenge and struggle
I saw for the soul of mankind looming over the horizon.

Realizing that in order to produce such a work,
I would not be able to supplement
a continued stay in my room.

 

 

Before finishing the penciling
of the first page of that Spider-Man story,
I informed Jim Shooter that I will not
continue and produce it.

Several days later,
I stepped out into the streets of New York,
which became my home for the next 3 months
as I produced this work.

 

 

A modern day 8 page
prose ballad comic book epic
depicting the primordial struggle
for the soul of mankind.

From park to park in Manhattan,
from square to square, from bench to bench,
I wandered the city for 3 months
and produced this 8 page work.

 

 

In September, 1981
I presented Life Story to Archie Goodwin
then editor of Epic Magazine at Marvel Comics.

Archie, who rests in peace,
of the finest of editors in the comics,
bearer of a gentle and courageous soul,
whom I miss dearly in this world,
returned the story, not to be published in Epic Magazine,
explaining gracefully that good and powerful as it was,
it was too personal a creation to publish in Epic,
or any other publication at Marvel.

 

 

Realizing that I'd come
to a dead end in comics and in America,
I took this work and began a 20 year sojourn
into the Middle East.

This is the most seminal
and definitive comics work
I have produced.

The dearest to my heart
of any other of my comics creations.

Unpublished, to this very day.

 

 

The work has weathered
the civil war in Lebanon,
the Israeli excursion into that country,
and come under fire of automatic weapons and missiles,
and survived.

It survived, along with me,
my escape from Beirut into Israel
and then again weathered and survived
two Palestinian uprisings
in the region of my residence
in a West Bank Settlement.

 

 

 

With a Clear Premonition

Of its value increasing into the Millions of Dollars
within the few years ahead,

I offer this work now at this humble price.

$750,000

And Call

On the Comic Book Community
Art collectors, Publishers, Fans and Creators,

And all those within their ability,
to take part in this monumental effort
to raise The Brave Spirit for America
and The Bold Hope for the World,

From within our comic book industry.

For the rise of
The Comic Book Creator's Party

 

$250,000
From the proceeds of this sale will be returned to
Neal Adams and his family,
Partial reimbursement for expenses and damages suffered
through their defense of the litigation brought
against them over Ms. Mystic and Crazyman.

 

$75,000
From the proceeds of this sale will be donated to,
The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.

 

$75,000
From the proceeds of this sale will be donated to
A.C.T.O.R.

 

$350,000
From the proceeds of this sale will be used
For establishing the communications and operations network,
needed for the gathering together of The Comic Book Creators,
in order to define our sociopolitical platform for

The Comic Book Creators Party

 

The art, 8 pages
Measures 15" X 20"
Produced on white art stock illustration board 1/16" thick.

Brush and ink, black on white.

For inquiries, please contact
Michelle Camilleri

 

With a Hopeful Stride and a Course Chartered

For the Comics