A number of retailers who (uncertain about the investment potential of Divinity) under-ordered could have made good money had they gambled a bit more on their order. Divinity sold out almost immediately, and a second printing was soon released; and a third, fourth, and fifth! But it was Divinity #1 (LaRosa 1:40 Variant) that exploded with collectors and/or speculators, when on May 17th, 2015 Shamdasani wrote the following on Valiant Fans:“Based on the demand for the 1st print, I’m not surprised to see the 1:40 hit the $140+ range. The print run on the 1:40 is just 350 copies. One of our lowest runs ever (possibly our lowest). We’ve got big plans for Divinity going forward (his quick app in Book of Death #1 was beautifully rendered by Doug this week) and will be announcing several new printings for the current mini soon.” The market price for Divinity #1 (LaRosa 1:40 Variant) continued to increase, and eventually, the "Highest-Grade in Census" CGC 9.9 Universal Grade was discovered. After patiently waiting for several years, I was able to work a fair deal with the owner (a colleague of mine and respected collector) to add this magnificent slab to this registry set and collection. Prior to the addition of competitive Divinity sets in the Registry, I had already set my sights on building the World's Best Divinity competitive set in the Registry. To accomplish this goal, I understood that due to the "High-Quality" cover stock used in production for this series by Valiant Entertainment (which is known as "Prestige Format "), an above average number of submissions to CGC would grade 9.8 or higher, which basically meant that my set would require a significant number of of CGC 9.8 Signature Series if it was to be remotely competitive. Presently 41% of the books in my Competitive Registry Set are "Signature Series", which will (in due time) become 100% "Signature Series" as the series creators become available at Comic Conventions in the near future.  In September/October of 2015, several months after Divinity concluded, I was (as I often do) conducting art research on Comic Art Fans when I noticed that Shamdasani had purchased and displayed one of artist Trevor Hairsine's original art pages from Divinity #3 which featured the "1st Appearance" of two additional cosmonauts; one male (later identified to be Kazmir) and one female (later identified to be Myshka). This page can be seen HERE. Simons had posted a "Sneak Peak" of Divinity II on his Twitter Page (image seen HERE) which stated:
“Here’s a sneak peak of the first page from Divinity II! Scripted by @mattkindt with lovely pencils by @despotting.” (Note that "@mattkindt" is the Twitter handle for writer Matt Kindt and "@despotting" is the Twitter handle for artist Trevor Hairsine). As both Shamdasani AND Simons's pages clearly depicted (what I at the time (correctly) speculated to be) the same female cosmonaut (Myshka), I wrote the article Investing in Divinity: Devine Speculation which was read by thousands of collectors (NOTE: that article is now ancient and much has since occured). Overnight, the market value for Divinity #3 (LaRosa 1:20 Variant) increased significantly, and it subsequently became the second most desired book of the Divinity series -- and continues to be to this very day. On a hunch, I reached out to "Sonic" Dan to see if perhaps LaRosa's original cover art for Divinity #3 (LaRosa 1:20 Variant) was still available. Of all the artwork for the series, this cover was the only one that I (and many others) had not seen the original uncolored art for. "Sonic" Dan confirmed that color artist Brian Reber (who colored the published cover) owned the original cover art, so I contacted Reber directly to inquire. As it turned out, Reber still had the cover in his home (about an hour away from LaRosa's home). What had happened (as confirmed by a discussion I had with LaRosa) was that LaRosa's scanner was broken, with (of course) the publishing deadline for Divinity #3 (LaRosa 1:20 Variant) quickly approaching. Reber still had to color the cover digitally before sending to Valiant Entertainment. Reber drove across town (in the rain) and picked-up the cover from LaRosa's home. Due to the rain, LaRosa placed the cover art into a large garbage bag (so that it would not get wet), and Reber returned home where he scanned and colored it (that same night) to make the publishing deadline. LaRosa did not return to pick up the original cover art (it remained in a garbage bag on Reber's drafting table for nearly 8 months) until I asked about it in December of 2015. LaRosa and Reber spoke, and a deal was offered to me for the cover for an "undisclosed" amount. Along with the original cover art, LaRosa also provided a hand-written letter outlining the creative-process for his Divinity #3 (LaRosa 1:20 Variant) cover (complete with preliminary sketches for the four covers that proposed to Valiant Entertainment). That letter stated; “I can't remember where the final layout came from - me or Warren Simons. Thinking about it now, though, I believe Warren brought up 2001 back when we were creating the character. Looking at 2001 imagery, I thought paying homage to the posters with the fetus would work well as a cover. I also proposed Divinity in "The Thinker" position on an asteroid, but that was never used. The cover is a little more bare bones for me than usual. I'd only been using Copics for a month or two and was still learning, but I was still using micron pens to help with separation, definition, clarity, and aggressiveness. I opted not to use microns for this cover, however, as I wanted a softer look and feel. I remember being torn on whether or not to add stars. It looked plain without them but I also thought if we're going to pay homage to Kubrick then we had to go starless."
- Lewis LaRosa
12 - 28 - 15 LaRosa's original cover art can be viewed HERE.There are two significant parts to what makes Divinity special. First, the character Divinity is highly unique in an industry that only recently has pushed to create character diversity in its heroes (examples can be seen by numerous publishers and/or film production studios who have changed gender, race, sexual orientation, etc of traditional characters to create a more diverse and/or unique character line-up in their books). Divinity is not only as diverse as it gets, but he was created that way from the very start by a publisher that has one of the most diverse casts of characters in comics today; a creative risk that historically has not been taken by most publishers. Second, is the concept of the character Divinity himself who is basically a God who is able to do whatever he desires. However, at no point has Divinity engaged physically; rather he has chosen to alter time, reality, and space during those encounters to create distance in time, reality, and space from potential adversaries. He has given those who oppose him EXACTLY what their heart desires, which creates plot element potential that is unique to Divinity. While NOT part of the Divinity series, the battle between Toyo Harada and Divinity (which occurs in Imperium #7 and #8) remain possibly the greatest examples of Divinity in action to-date; as well as one of the best written story arcs of 2015. Over time, the Divinity story expanded significantly, introducing multiple characters titles, and alternate timelines along the way. Divinity II #1-4 was released in April of 2016
Divinity III: The Stalinverse #1-4 was released in December of 2016 Divinity #0 was released in August of 2017 Eternity #1-4 (which was basically Divinity IV) was released in October of 2017 Divinity #0 is also now included as part of this Competitive Registry Set, and has proven most difficult to obtain in 9.8+ condition due to a number of handling and/or production flaws. Perhaps the most difficult challenge was finding a solid 9.8 submission candidate for the Divinity #0 (Warped Tour Edition) which was only available at the Valiant Entertainment Booth during the Los Angeles date of Warped Tour music festival on 8/6/2017. As concerts in general are not the best environment for "mint condition" comic books, and the probability of most copies either being thrown away, abandoned, bent, damaged, or possibly even smoked(?) by those who attended the music festival is quite high. Fortunately, Ed Greenberg (who owns and runs Collector's Paradise in the Greater Los Angeles area) was also a vendor at the tour, and had a booth right next to Valiant's booth. This enabled Ed to obtain a few copies, which were subsequently made available to collectors such as myself. I submitted my only copy, and received one of the few 9.8s in the census! I have greatly enjoyed building this Divinity set, as much as I have enjoyed reading it and sharing it with others in discussion. While my Competitive Registry Set states that it is 100%, it will continue to grow and/or evolve as new artwork, signatures, and (potentially) higher graded copies become available. It should be noted that this set was both started and completed by myself while serving on a two year military assignment in the Middle East, which complicated the process quite a bit. A significant amount of networking was required to obtain these books at all, in addition to reaching out to creator for their schedules to gather signatures and sketches for this set. There are at-least a dozen collectors who were involved to support this effort, and there can be no doubt that it otherwise would not have been possible without their assistance. There was also much communication with Crystal at CGC to ship to a military base on the other side of the world. CGC went out of their way to make it happen, and for this I am most grateful. As for this set, well, the best is yet to come. |