They say what you know isn’t as important as who you know. This is often very true in the geek community. My friend, Jerry Mansfield, recently introduced me to Dan Fraizer.
Upon talking to Dan on Facebook, I realized this is a man I should interview. Dan is a fellow comic book collector. He has an extensive collection of comics like many collectors. Dan also had a mammoth collection of comic book art. Because Dan lives in Lansing, Michigan, I was unable to interview him face to face. We were able to have a casual and informative interview via the phone.
Dan Fraizer has over 800 pieces of original art by the best artists in the comic industry. Many of these original pieces of art are unique because Dan often asks for characters that the artist’s specialty. He has art by both current artists and many classic artist of the Silver Age.
Dan displays some of his best art pieces at various comic book/ geek conventions as an exhibit. Last fall, Dan displayed around 80 pieces of his best collected pieces at the Motor City comic Con. Dan hopes to display his art collection this Spring in Chicago at C2E2 (Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo). Dan loves to share his collected art with everyone.
I asked Dan about his previous experiences at various conventions. He told me that sometimes there are individuals that are a pain. Some will try to buy pieces from his collect (which are not for sale). Others will be rude out of jealously. But for Dan, it is all worth it to share the art with everyone. Dan is actively working to get into C2E2 but this hasn’t been agreed upon by C2E2. Hopefully the staff at C2E2 will understand the wonderful benefit of allowing Dan to bring part of his collection to the convention and share it with all of us with a display.
As I interviewed Dan, you could hear his voice perk up as we discussed his collection of comics and comic book art. He has around 30,000 individual comic issues. He estimated around 40% of his individual issues are signed by at least one of the comic creators.
I pressed Dan about his favorite comic in his collection. This appeared to stump Dan temporarily. He doesn’t have a favorite comic book but rather “a lot of them” are his favorites. It is like picking your favorite child. You love all of your kids and love different things about each for various reasons. But you cannot pick just one as your favorite.
When asked about Stan Lee, Dan proudly stated he has 3 classic comics autographed by Stan the Man. Dan was excited to share about his Avengers and Silver Surfer comics signed by Stan Lee.
Dan was inspired to start reading comics back in the 60s. He fell in love with the Marvel cartoons of the day. THE MARVEL SUPER HEROES (1966), The Fantastic Four (1967), and SPIDER-MAN (1967) helped bring Dan into this world of superheroes and comic books.
I asked Dan about his extensive original comic book art collection. He has over 800 pieces includes art from artist such as Alex Ross, John Romita Sr, John Romita Jr, Dick Ayers, John Buscema, George Perez, Jerry Robinson, George Tuska, and many more. I asked about his favorite piece of art. On the subject of his art, Dan did clearly have a favorite. He loves all of his art but his Alex Ross original of Darth Vader versus Doctor Doom is special.
I expect to meet Dan at C2E2 this spring. I hope C2E2 will give Dan a opportunity to share his art with everyone at the Convention. I think it would be a bright spot in an already awesome convention.
C2E2 tickets are on sale. The convention runs from Friday April 21st through Sunday April 23rd. It will be held at the South Building of the McCorMick Place in
Stay Geeky My Friends!
