Going Ape
Painted Statue

 Back in 2006 I was fortunate to cut a deal with Michael over at Reel Art Studios to do the very first painted statue representing my father's art. DC, Marvel and anyone else for some reason just never approached him. He would see statues representing other artist work but not his own. I did a model kit called "Next.." based on an illustration of his and followed up with "Going Ape."  Going Ape is a pencil illustration that was a favorite of mine. I met Michael at Reel Art Studios shortly after and told him how it shocks me  that there are no Neal Adams poieces. Michael said he'd love to do one, and I showed him Going Ape. We arranged to do 750 statues as a limited series. To save money we did the first 500 intending on getting the remaining 250 manufactured later. Sadly, before the rest could be made, my pal Michael passed away. So only 500 were actually made while the box says 750. I thought they were all gone or for the most part, but I had recieved a call from a friend who took over the merch for Reel Art Studios and there was a pallet of them left which I could aquire. As it turned out, they also had the William Stout statue I did called "Dino Girl."  I made the jump and bought whatever was left. I called my father right after I paid it off, and he was delighted. He loves the piece and the history behind it. Later I would do the first Batman statue based on his work and followed up with Man-Bat. But Going Ape was the very first. 
Dad was not kidding around when he made notes and asked for corrections on this or any other piece I did representing his work. He put tracing paper over photos to draw corrections of it more times than I can count until it looked the way he wanted it to look. Same with Batman and Man-Bat which no other statue since went through the gruling process of his corrections on.
This is the very first statue that not only represents his art, but where he was given the chance to make comments along the way, so it looked the way he wanted. There are only 3 statues manufactured with his full approval, and this is the very first.