Men Tips

posted by HectorHeritage on Dec 3

A near-mint edition of The Incredible Hulk #1, considered one of the most difficult Silver Age Marvel comics to find in high grade, has sold for $125,475.

Barry Sandoval, director of comics operations at Dallas-based Heritage Auctions, said the auction Nov. 19-21 showed that the vintage comic market remains “quite strong.”

“Collectors took full advantage of great prices on a broad and striking array of superb books and vintage art and our consignors fared just as well,” Sandoval said. “We had seven consignors bring in more than $100,000 and four of those surpassed $200,000.”

The Hulk was Marvel’s second Silver Age superhero series, with his first issue dated May 1962. It was preceded by the Fantastic Four. Spider-Man and Thor followed before the end of 1962.

Unlike the Fantastic Four and Spider-Man, the green giant was not an overnight success and the book was canceled after six issues. “It’s probably why so few copies of the first issue survive,” Sandoval said. “Those that did were mostly in poor condition, as the midnight blue cover background ruthlessly exposed even the smallest imperfection in any given copy.”

The Hulk issue sold at Heritage Auctions’ November sale was CGC graded near mint 9.2.

At the same auction, a CGC near mint 9.4 unrestored copy of Human Torch #2 sold for $92,612. “This comic, which comes from the Gary Keller Collection, was purchased by Keller in 2006 for $74,750,” said Sandoval. “In just three years, the book gained almost $18,000 in value. The fact that it went for more now shows what a savvy collector he is and also that the market is still strong.”

A CGC-certified very fine/near mint 9.0 copy of Showcase #22 Green Lantern, one of the two highest graded copies known, sold for $59,750. Keller’s collecting savvy showed once again as this comic, also bought by Keller in 2006, more than tripled in value over what he paid for it, Sandoval said.

Original Peanuts comic strip artwork also performed well at the Heritage auction, led by a June 25, 1961, Sunday strip featuring Snoopy. It sold for $53,775.

Heritage Auctions set a record for original fanzine illustration art with Steve Ditko’s Comic Crusader #4 Mr. A “Debaters” splash page, from 1968. It sold for $38,837 against a pre-auction estimate of $5,000-plus.

Todd McFarlane’s original 1989 cover art for Amazing Heroes Preview Special #170 sold for $26,000. “In 1989, there was no bigger star in comic art than McFarlane and this cover appeared when he was still the regular artist on Amazing Spider-Man,” Sandoval said.

Hector Cantu is editorial director at Heritage Magazine (www.HeritageMagazine.com). For a free subscription, visit www.HeritageMagazine.com.

posted by HectorHeritage on Dec 3

Many art historians consider Mel Ramos a part of the pop art movement, grouping him with Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Tom Wesselmann, and James Rosenquist.

His nudes first caught the public eye in the 1960s when pin-ups were a popular part of American culture. In recent years, original pin-up art by artists such as Gil Elvgren, Earl Moran and Enoch Bolles have attracted attention from collectors, and auction prices for their images of scantily clad women have shot up.

But Ramos doesn’t consider himself a pin-up artist. “No,” he says from his California studio. “I’m not part of that group.”

Ramos, 74, says his inspiration was another art form. “I was attracted to comics back then, because of the eroticism before the Comics Code was imposed,” Ramos says. “After that, comic books got kind of boring. The drawings in those early comics books of Sheena and all those sexy comic queens, that’s what attracted me. Originally, I was just doing comic book images the way they appeared and then I decided I wanted to make them look more realistic, so I started adding the faces of celebrities, which I still do.”

Superman, Wonder Woman and the Green Lantern all got the Ramos treatment. His Sheena, Queen of the Jungle — like many of his images — features vivid colors within sharp contour lines, with the subject’s name spelled out in big letters. A private collector recently consigned Ramos’ classic Sheena painting to Dallas-based Heritage Auctions.

The New York Times has pointed out that modeling comic-book bodies on those of real women — movie stars like Jane Russell and Marilyn Monroe — was Ramos’ innovation. “So despite their nonrealistic comic style,” the Times said, “Mr. Ramos’ women had an erotic presence that comic-book women of the day never had.”

His later works combined nudes with well-known brands, including images of women, for instance, inside a Baby Ruth candy wrapper or kicking back on a giant roll of Lifesavers. He’s also known for his “peek-a-boo” paintings, where women are visible through keyholes. Ramos says he’s working on such a painting for actress Pamela Anderson.

Although he owns an original Elvgren painting, Ramos says he’s never been particularly inspired by the work of America’s great pin-up artists. “The [Spanish painters], Joaquin Sorolla, Diego Velasques, those were the main influences when I was younger,” he says. “I aspire to those kind of heights.”

As for contemporary artists, Ramos is more likely to identify with his colleagues and friends Tom Wesselmann and Allen Jones. “Most of my career, I have received the brunt of criticism from nudity in my work. It’s controversial. I’ve been the target of feminists over the years. Not so much anymore. But Tom and Allen, we’ve suffered the same abuse because of the erotic implications of the work.

“When Picasso or Matisse did a painting of an undraped model, a nude model, they were called nudes,” Ramos continues. “When I do it, they’re called pin-ups. Somebody has a pre-occupation with this. I certainly don’t. I consider myself a painter.”

Hector Cantu is editorial director at Heritage Magazine (www.HeritageMagazine.com), where this story originally appeared. For a free subscription, visit www.HeritageMagazine.com.

posted by articlelogin on Dec 3

A recent study has proved that more and more people are facing hair loss problems. Even though it is natural that most of us will lose our hair when we become older; this problem has been found in young individuals too. There are many reasons why people face this hair loss problem, such as hectic lifestyles, stress, worries and also because of poor dietary practices.

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posted by ChrisChew on Dec 3

Breaking up a relationship can be a an emotionally heart wrenching affair. Break ups can be violent unhappy separations or simple cold agreements between couples. Either way, the emotional and psychological anguish can be devastating at times and will usually leave a lifelong impressions.

It is a fact that almost everyone has experienced a break up sometime during our lives, and most of the time we just learn how to cope with it and move on. Life goes on, isn’t it?

What if you are one of those who refused to believe that breaking up a wonderful relationship is inevitable and want to win your ex lover back? Is there such a possibilty that you win your ex lover or spouse back to you even after a violent breakup?

The good news is that if you want your ex lover, girlfriend or boyfriend back and are willing to take some effort to make it happen, then it is very likely to succeed. The problem is that most people do not know how to go about it.

Do you know that about 90% of all breakups can be prevented or even reversed! That is, if you know the steps you need to take to win back your ex lover.

The first step in learning how to get back together with your ex girlfriend, boyfriend, lover, wife or husband is to determine why exactly the break up occurred. Although you cannot possibly go back into the past to change the reasons the breakup, you can learn from the mistakes and try to grow from there.

Most breakups occurred because of one specific incident, or from a behavior that your ex did not want to deal with anymore. Whatever the reasons for the breakup, you need to go down to the specifics so that you can learn how to deal with it. So at least the first step is taken.

The next step of affirmative action is to make sure you don’t make yourself seem needy. Although you may feel the need to express to your ex that he/she is the most important thing to you in the world, there is no point in telling him/her that. Instead be strong, let him/her see that you are okay by yourself and show him/her that you have high self esteem and that you are happy with yourself. Yes, I know this is going to be rather difficult for many of you, but it is just a mental condition that can be done if you choose to!

Being needy and desperate will only push your ex lover further away, so make sure to maintain your confidence to get him/her to admire your courage. If you are a man, she will respect you even more. Then you must also learn what to say and how to say in your communication either personally or through letters or emails.

Many heartbroken people will try to spite their ex with flings and try to arouse the element of jealousy in their ex. This is a serious mistake! Trying to make your ex lover jealous is one of the worst things you can do if you want to get your ex back with you. This is because all it is going to do is to show your ex that you have moved along and are open to new relationships and that your ex should do the same.

So, you should want your ex to think that he/she was the best thing in your life subtlely. By boosting your ex lover’s confidence in you without seeming needy, he/she will soon realize that the two of you were a wonderful couple despite the small fights or differences.

Setting up a meeting and chat with your ex is the best way to sort out the problems the two of you are having. If ex refuses to meet you, then get some expert advice on how to get her to meet you for a patching up discussion.

Expert guidance is important because if you go into the meeting unprepared or do what most people do, it will probably wind up making things worse and the consequence may well be a calamity!

Therefore if you are serious about winning your ex lover back after a break up, then you must be well prepared and make sure you succeed the very first time.

May your new relationship be a happily blessed one!

Chris Chew is a fitness, health and relationship consultant. Read his free articles at Save Marriage Stop Divorce and Sexual Attraction Pheromones