Tuesday, September 7, 2021

Down in the Dungeon Auction

Some time ago, I wrote a post about a 1981 art book entitled Down in the Dungeon. A childhood friend's older brother, who was one of my gaming mentors, owned a copy of the book and we often sat staring at its weird and wonderful illustrations by Don Greer. 

I recently learned that many of the original paintings are being auctioned online, starting September 13, 2021. I know there are a few collectors of gaming art who read this blog, so I thought I'd share this news here. Likewise, please feel free to spread the word elsewhere, as I'm sure the auction will be of interest to others as well. Had I the resources to do so, I might consider snagging one of these myself. "No Exit" is a particularly appealing piece and I'd love to learn that it's getting a good home.

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Posted by James Maliszewski at 4:09 PM
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4 comments:

  1. T.G. MooreSeptember 7, 2021 at 8:27 PM

    I tried to get in touch with Don Greer a year ago via some of his old Squadron-Signal colleagues to no avail. I assume he is deceased but hope to be wrong.
    The Squadron-Signal, the origin publisher went bankrupt in February 2021. I believe that Knot Models now owns Down in the Dungeon through their acquisition of Squadron after the bankruptcy. That who is selling the original art. It would be nice if they would reissue the book as it only had one, maybe two printings.

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    1. Lee LeiboldSeptember 8, 2021 at 11:26 AM

      Hi TG, Then publishing part of the company was sold separate from the Squadron Mail-order/MMD. I bought the Squadron Signal Publications.
      We have digitized all the original art, but have not determined if we would reissue the "Down in the Dungeon" book. Don Greer is still alive and still painting. Selling the original art is helping us move forward with the publishing company.

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  2. Dick McGeeSeptember 8, 2021 at 7:54 AM

    Missed that one completely, never even heard of it before. Looking at the older post I can see why it would be one of those eternal nostalgia hooks, rather like the Terran Trade Authority scifi art books are for me (and many others).

    Is that the same Don Greer who worked in animation for years? IMDb credits him with doing layout work on Bakshi & Frazetta's Fire & Ice in 1983 (so starting about the right time period) and then a long, long list of character design credits in many cartoons up into 2005. If it is the same artist I'm really impressed - if you watched cartoons at all in the 80s and 90s you probably saw something he contributed to. I'm particularly nostalgic about Spiral Zone, Defenders of the Earth and Jayce & the Wheeled Warriors, although stuff like He-Man, GI Joe, and Captain Planet are much better known.

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  3. Lee LeiboldSeptember 15, 2021 at 1:33 PM

    Auction is now up at HA.com. You can find items by searching "down in the Dungeon"

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