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HOME EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW ! THE COLLECTOR'S SERIES: ALAN SHIH RAGING CHEETAH SITS DOWN WITH LONGTIME COMIC ART COLLECTOR, CONVENTION VETERAN AND RAGING CHEETAH EDITOR ALAN SHIH April.18.2008 By Sonia Yeh Staff Writer Raging Cheetah continues our series of exclusive interview content: THE COLLECTOR'S SERIES! We sit down with the fans - veteran collectors of comics, original artwork, commissions and convention sketches, to hear their stories and share their experiences from shows like Wizard World, Anime Expo and Comic-Con. So if you're a fan of comic book shows worldwide, read on! RC: How are you this morning? Alan: I'm good, doing well. How're you? RC: Great, thanks. Please tell us how long you've been collecting comics. Alan: Well, it's been a while... 20 years or so. I remember my first books were Amazing Spider-Man, Spider-man Versus Wolverine and Classic X-Men with those incredible Art Adams covers. Then I went to Dark Knight and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles when those flicks came out. RC: That first Batman movie really kicked off the comics movie craze... Alan: Oh yeah, and the Dark Knight #1 was a really hot book for us at the time! RC: Being the collector I know you are, I bet you still have a number one issue stored somewhere. Alan: Still do... somewhere hiding in my closet! RC: In terms of artists, who do you like right now? Alan: Jim Lee, J. Scott Campbell and Todd McFarlane. Those three are mind-boggling. Who doesn't have crazy props and admiration for Jim Lee nowadays? Otherwise, I also like Josh Middleton, Kenneth Rocafort, Frank Cho, Leinil Yu and Eric Basaldua. One guy I don't think we hear about enough, but who is awesome, is Gabriele Dell' Otto. Getting back to my original three, I'm not sure why we don't have some sort of Todd McFarlane commemoration or Appreciation Day or something. That man is a legend. If I could only get one more sketch for the rest of my life, it would be from Todd McFarlane. Todd, if you're reading this.... On the Anime front, it's gotta be Ugetsu Hakua of Burst Angel, Masami Obari of Fatal Fury, and Shoji Kawajiri of Ninja Scroll. My old school favs are Akemi Takada, who did the really wistful character designs for Kimagure, Orange Road, and Haruhiko Mikimoto, who did the character designs for Macross (or Robotech here in the U.S.). Many might remember him for Minmay, who some of my friends had real crushes on, sad as that might sound! Well, he was responsible for creating her. RC: Do you have a favorite sketch or commission piece from one of your "Big Three?" Alan: I love my Campbell pieces. He's a genius. But it would have to be the Dell' Otto Wonder Woman (although he wasn't technically in my "Big Three"). That painting is so gorgeous! And watching him compose it was astounding. He really just put so many subtle touches and layers that I think it's difficult if not impossible to fully appreciate them all at first glance. Y'know, her lasso is not just a simple yellow line. He actually went over her lasso with several passes, including a white paint to give it a sheen effect when looked at closely. Actually, I think I still have the video I took of him painting that piece from start to finish. RC: Have you YouTube'd it?? Alan: (shakes his head) Um... no, but I can give it to you when this is over. It's somewhere on my PC. RC: Nice! [Writer's Note: the video is in several parts. You can find three of them below.] Alan: Man, I guarantee that anyone who sees that video will be awestruck. The scan on CAF and Raging Cheetah do Gabriele absolutely no justice!
	"That [Dell' Otto Wonder Woman] is so gorgeous! And watching him compose it was astounding."
RC: Since McFarlane Toys introduced high-end, super-articulated figures, comics - as well as other media - has really branched out into the toys industry. Do you have any cool toys at home? Alan: Waaay back in my childhood I used to be a huge Batman fan. I've still got one of the old-fashioned MEGO Batmobiles tucked safely away in my closet, still with its original box. I have no idea how much it's worth today, but that thing is, like, two or three decades old!
		I've also got a set of these cool Marvel superheroes rubber stamps from way back in my childhood. In all these years of comics conventions, I've never seen anyone else with a similar set of stamps for sale. That set is definitely a treasured item in my collection. I think my favorite stamp is the Spider-Man. There's also a Thor, Hulk, Human Torch and Spiderwoman.
As far as recent releases, I have some of the Takara Transformers Masterpiece Line, direct from Japan. Those are unbelievably cool. They've gotten expensive, too! I've been looking out for the next release. RC: I heard the Grimlock might be up next. Alan: [shakes his head] That would really be amazing.... RC: You've got to get us that Dell' Otto Wonder Woman video. Alan: I sure will. RC: Thanks very much! Alan: Thanks for having me.

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