Rune

My one true grail to rule them all would probably be...

I don't recall ever seeing the oa.

On 18/11/2017 at 2:49 AM, Brando- said:

I finally got a shelf for my CGC boxes and a humidity monitor to go with it. It looks like I'm right where I need to be on humidity levels but the temperature could be a few degrees lower. 

Awesome  - Especially if you can keep those levels all year! And nice to see the temp-humidity disease spreading  

I'm starting to think that books are easier to keep than art  At least when hung on walls, art pieces should be monitored for humidity, temperature - and light exposure - and effects of gravity. Just had another acetate overlay give in to gravity - had to open the frame and fix it, so everything looks ok until I can get it back to the framer. And then the horror when word balloons fall off a piece 

18 hours ago, SquareChaos said:

I think what you're talking about is a low enough subjective cost for something to be somewhat of an impulse buy. Perhaps a more interesting version of the question is who has paid a high subjective price for a piece of art 'they have no connection to'.

When I was 9-10 years old I loved reading The Incredible Hulk, and Sal Buscema was - hands down - my favorite artist. Buying some of these pages would be true nostalgia to me - maybe also some Conan pages from John Buscema. But looking at these pages now, especially Hulk pages, I have a hard time justifying buying such art. The stories and the language feel childish, and I nearly feel some kind of nausea when considering buying my childhood favorite pages. Instead I love to find pieces I'd like to see on my walls as an adult, granted some pieces may have nostalgic value, and most are not bought impulsively (well, at least there're a few weeks to consider a piece before an auctions ends ;-) I think much of the art I've bought is like shopping at a gallery - you buy what you like or love. 

On 2/10/2017 at 12:20 AM, Brian Peck said:

Have you ever bought artwork that you don't know the artist, read the comic/series its from or know the characters featured?

Here are three I have bought over the years.

Deadworld (1988) #19 - Emergency Only by Vince Locke.

 

 

 

 

 

Mouse Guard piece for the Baltimore Comic Con book by JK Snyder III

 

 

 

Odin and Thor, The Mighty Beaver by Jeff Pidgeon. Pixar Auction piece to raise money for CAM.

Ok, actually I may own a few pieces where I didn't "know the artist, read the comic/series" or knew "the characters featured". I have these pieces from books I never read and where I did not know the characters (much):

I did buy all the Prime books from Mile High Comics after getting the cover to #15, it was a fun read. And I bought the next cover without knowing anything about Firestorm - I just thought it was a cool cover, still haven't read the books 

And then Man from Atlantis - read all books after getting the following page, never knew that series existed before getting the page:

Of course I've read Creepy, Eerie etc., but I'm not sure I ever read Unexpected  Just thought it was an extremely funny cover - and an awesome situation to be in - if you're the ape 

Last, but not least, haven't read about the Specter for decades. I probably didn't have many conscious recollections about him just before buying the following piece, and yes the artist isn't unknown to me, but I primarily thought it was a great piece of comic art illustrating how to draw perspectives. I remember Barry Smith writing in a Conan the Barbarian #8 panel: "I must be mad to sit here and draw all these coins" - and I think Adams could have written something similar here, like "I must be mad to sit here and draw all these bricks" 

Guess the rest of my pieces actually do contain charaters that aren't unknown to me...

Most of my pieces are love at first sight - from published comic books I read after buying the pieces. I'd don't like buying my childhood memories or being directly driven by nostalgia, although of course my (subconscious) preferences will play a role in my decision making :-)

If I really like a piece, I don't care much about the artist or the book. Guess most pop or rock bands don't make hits all the time, but only occasionally deliver truly great songs, so far I'd never buy a piece just because a specific artist made it unless a piece really connects with me.

As I've grown older I found that I typically like the modern, darker and more energetic covers more than older pieces, although I rarely read modern comics. I appreciate it when persons who know nothing about comics look at some of my wall-hung pieces and like what they're seeing - or just are fascinated that anyone can draw or paint like that...  

6 hours ago, nepatkm said:

Yeah you have a great piece there!!  Love all the Teran covers myself. 

( I'm still keeping an eye out for you. Thought your raw copy might have been able to make the grade? ) 

That was an interesting idea - as part of the Mag award I can get 4 books graded by CGC for free this year - I'll check my raw copy 

Still getting a 9.8 seems like a gamble  I can't help hearing Clint in my mind 

Bought this original art cover some time ago, each day I seem to like it more and more - Teran really did a great job:

http://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryPiece.asp?Piece=1297861

The published book:

I'm still looking for a CGC 9.8 book (hi Nepatkm  )

1 hour ago, Flambit said:

About fifteen years ago I bought a 1950s Peanuts Sunday.  I couldn't quite figure out how to store it properly so I decided to trim it so that each panel was a separate entity, that way I could store it easily, in sequence, in an 8x11 Itoya, one panel per page.  Whenever I desired, I could essentially flip though it like a Big Little Book.  Plus, I could effectively break up the strip and sell it off piece by piece if the need arose.  

Juuuuust kidding.

 

Don't do that  - you nearly had me running for my antihypertensives and CNS depressants before I read your last two words, GP says I shouldn't get worked up too much emotionally

Yes, just kidding too 

10 hours ago, Unca Ben said:

So... Anyone trim their art to fit in a portfolio, sleeve, or frame?  Do most folks here leave their art alone regardless of the consequences?  Does anyone trim their art regardless of the consequences?
Does anybody care?

Confession time.  

 

 

I'd never do that  - but I've seen a nice painting showing people who trimmed art to fit in portfolios 

BWS' unpublished cover to TOD #8 sold on HA.com yesterday, but although I'm a great fan of BWS I think the published ToD #8 is *much* better (Dracula looks weird on the BWS cover, like he's looking down at the ground and not really connecting with his dinner )

On 25/3/2017 at 10:45 AM, Rune said:

Hi Mollie,

Right now there're two Savage Sword of Conan sets - one collecting #1-100 and one collecting #1-235. 

Boris Vallejo kick-started the series with his amazing cover art, and #15 was his last cover for the series. 

Would it be possible to make a new and smaller set of Savage Sword of Conan mags #1-15? Just like you have three sets for Conan the Barbarian - that would be awesome  

Thank you very much for creating this great set!

https://comics.www.collectors-society.com/registry/comics/SetTypeDetail.aspx?SetTypeID=4381

3 hours ago, Amazing Spidey said:

Do you have another one laying around for sale? 

Yes and no  My 9.6 is WP and my 9.8 is OW-W, and the 9.6 looks just as good to my eyes as the 9.8 - so I can't make up my mind if I want to sell the 9.6  I'll be happy to let you know if I decide to sell it.

I just sold Savage Tales #1 CGC 9.6 WP for $1400, according to GPA it's the second highest price ever recorded.

The highest price was 1495 July 11 2004 - but back then Census was really low in numbers. So there may be increased interests in these great mags 

Reason for selling was simply that I have two of these mags in 9.6 WP and one in 9.8, and I don't need that many. 

11 minutes ago, Jordysnordy said:

Generally I am happy with off white to white pages - it is a subjective process. Look at these 2 Godzillas. It was originally off white - white and then I sent to get signed and it came back with white pages. For this reason, I usually don't pay a big premium for WP. I prefer better centering if I had to chose between the 2 but I generally will not buy a book that has less than off white pages. (unless it's a hard to find book or something I really need to have).

I'm sure many of the Romita books that you are looking for will be rare in 9.8 with WP - there aren't many around, especially when you consider most are 50+ years old.

 

Another boardie freed two CGC 9.6 books from the holders and got back two 9.8 books. I guess it's all about statistics - with 9.8 WP you may generally get less damaged and less faded books compared to 9.6 OW-W. But there's no guarantee, especially when grading is subjective (even the OWL card may be difficult to use in some cases). I have one 9.2 book and a few 9.4 books, and I can't find any flaws - maybe I need better glasses  Still I tend to sleep better at night with 9.8s, but like GhostTown I don't mind Spidey 9.6 books when 9.8s are much more expensive, carrying in mind that grading is subjective even for experienced CGC graders. 

I can see you care for great cover centering too - you've got an awesome Godzilla set!

2 hours ago, Jordysnordy said:

I agree that it is very time consuming - the web is both a curse and blessing when it comes to collecting. I have a pretty high grade run of SSOC but the OCD in me keeps me looking for better copies . I've been collecting SSOC for 25+ years    I think a CGC run would may put an end to that but I"m not sure!

I bid on a Savage Tales 5 9.8 in Sunday's HA auction and lost -  it didn't have WP so I didn't put a great bid in - it sold for $227.05 with BP

You'll probably get another shot at #5 soon, there are 25 9.8s in the Census - but MyComicShop has #9 CGC 9.8 with pure WP - and there are just 3 copies in the Census - and because I've got one, there are really just 2 mags out there 

http://www.mycomicshop.com/search?ItemID=41724056

Originally I only wanted 9.8s with pure WP and near-perfect centering in my Savage Tales set, but after a few years my collection was going nowhere - so I've settled for 9.8s with OW-W or WP, maybe I'll upgrade some OW-W mags whenever possible (then again maybe one of my friends is right - he keeps saying that WP is not that important, in some decades everything printed before 1980 will be OW or worse; still I love the idea of trying to get the best possible page quality )

BTW, I just noticed your truly amazing Spidey collection - and AF SS #15 in 7.5  I'm trying to collect a few Romita Spidey books in CGC 9.6 or 9.8 with pure WP, and I thought collecting Conan mags was hard 

2 hours ago, Jordysnordy said:

It certainly is an ambitious project but I'm a long term collector so the long process to find all the books was a labor of love, not a chore. Even after all these years of collecting, it still gives me a thrill when I'm able to find an upgrade. But I do see your point. And if you ever decide to sell your Savage Tales run - please send me a PM - that is a crazy set. A CGC 9.8 Savage Tales set is in my future.

Good luck with the sets  and of course it's not a chore collecting these great mags, although it's time consuming -  especially the time I spend manually searching for CGC books on the web, and currently I spend much time searching for art.  I'll let you know if I ever consider moving some of these mags 

On 2/8/2016 at 10:17 PM, Jordysnordy said:

Where it all started ( Well Savage Tales may have a say in that!)

 

Congrats - you've got some amazing mags! 

Going through your thread I'm still convinced I shouldn't collect much more than the first 10 or 15 issues, it's simply too much work. I think it took me 7 years just to collect the first 10 mags 

1 hour ago, visarspike said:

and a few FF covers (22' x 17' each)

Awesome covers - I'm a great fan of much of Hitch' work, but of course there're variations in quality as there are with other artists. Personally I greatly appreciate my FF 556 cover  Those of us knowing the feeling of losing close relatives may relate to this piece in ways others can't - I think Hitch really nailed the expression of grief and despair in this piece

I don't think Hitch is a threat or a menace, like Spidey he's doing an awful lot of amazing things 

On 29/7/2017 at 6:01 PM, Jordysnordy said:

Upgrading my 9.2 is high on my list of priorities. It is such a great book. Congrats on owning such a great copy.

Thank you - #1 is a great book.

Thinking of it, actually to me Conan the Barbarian #4 is the true Conan the Barbarian #1, like Roy Thomas has explained:

"From the beginning I had wanted to adapt Robert E. Howard‘s stories as well as make up so my own, but our contract with the REH estate gave us rights only to use Conan, not any particular stories. Now I got permission from Glenn Lord in a letter to adapt the story in which the Cimmerian is chronologically youngest—"Tower of the Elephant," which had quickly become my favorite Conan tale of all-as an issue of Conan. Either Marvel or I-I suspect Marvel-paid a little extra for the right to adapt the story, but at this point I‘ve totally forgotten how I swung that or how much it cost. Working with Howard's actual prose, not just my couple of pages of accompanying notes, apparently turned Barry on, and he did a wonderful job. From the time Barry drew "Tower of the Elephant," there was no looking back for either of us." 
Excerpt from "The Barry Windsor-Smith Conan Archives Volume 1" 2010 (the foreword by Roy Thomas). 

In an interview May 1998 Barry Windsor-Smith mentioned that Conan the Barbarian #4 was quite special to him:
"Roy had sent me all of the Lancer paperbacks some months prior to our beginning the first issue, so my prior affinity was merely months old but, as it happens, that made my perceptions energetic and fresh because I was utterly hooked by Howard's writing style. "The Tower of the Elephant," in particular, was a real head trip, to use the vernacular of the time".
Excerpt from "Comic Book Artist" #2

Had Marvel not acquired the rights to adapt Robert E. Howards original Conan stories, Marvel's Conan the Barbarian books would probably never had reached similar popularity. Published during the year 1971 these Robert E. Howard adapted stories won the "Academy of Comic Book Arts Awards Best Continuing Feature". Roy Thomas also explained in the extra material on the 2011 Conan Blu-Ray movie, when Marvel's Conan books were selling at their best, Marvel's Conan earnings were twice as high as Marvel's earnings on The Amazing Spider-man and The Fantastic Four combined.

Thus Conan the Barbarian #4 is the key book in my opinion - sorry if I got carried away! 

I've got all #1-24 + Annual #1 books in CGC 9.8 except #11 (Carlo/CarlD has the single #11 9.8). I've used a flash trying to bring out the nice colors on the covers, so here's a non-OA tour of the great old covers if anyone wants one ;-)

http://www.myslabbedcomics.com/GalleryRoom.asp?GSub=2512

(It's like keeping a garden and I've just updated all texts in the CGC Registry - https://comics.www.collectors-society.com/registry/comics/SetGallery.aspx?PeopleSetID=9292 - but not yet on MySlabbedComics, and photos are generally bigger and better on MySlabbedComics) 

If it wasn't because I could be accused of blasphemous writings I could have introduced these pieces in one sentence: "When visiting the CAF church, suddenly I saw God and two angels"  

I think an improved title to this thread could be "Amazing Spider-Man Romita covers #40, #46 and #61 now on CAF" - just now I saw this thread only by accident.  

To better show the fantastic and historic art I've tried to make photos bigger, sharper and I've enhanced the contrast slightly:

If put on HA, could #40 be the first OA super hero cover to reach $1 million  (I only remember one Frazetta painting - which strictly speaking wasn't even comic art - and a Tintin piece going for more than 1 mill). 

Strange why #40 hasn't been highlighted on CAF a week ago. 

1 hour ago, delekkerste said:

Funny, I was just on Robert Dennis' website a a few days ago and saw the unrestored image of this cover for the first time.  I was surprised at how the cover looked like beforehand...BUT, I have to say, I do prefer the restored, finished version more than the original.  It just presents so, so much nicer IMO.  If I had been the owner, I would have instructed Dennis to keep the top border, and I would have at least explored having the color-matched stats put on an overlay.  But, between having a choice of using (archival) glue to paste on the stats or leaving the art alone...I would have opted for the glued-on stats.  

Regarding your question about the ASM #98 cover, yes, the previous owner did have Robert Dennis clean up the piece after winning it at Heritage.  I would have done likewise - I don't normally mind the usual signs of aging and have erred on the side of leaving well enough alone in the past, but, in this case, I felt the glue stains were a bit too distracting. 

I did think that Dennis probably had cleaned your new amazing Spidey cover - it looks much better now. I wouldn't consider removing glue stains or anything that has nothing to do with the original art as a problem - but for Conan #4 I would have preferred a less invasive solution. Of course getting the piece to look the best vs. preserving the original may be quite troublesome, I don't know how hard it would be getting an overlay to fit

To me Conan #4 is very special - like Roy Thomas has explained:
"For #4 I decided to do something different. From the beginning I had wanted to adapt Robert E. Howard‘s stories as well as make up so my own, but our contract with the REH estate gave us rights only to use Conan, not any particular stories. Now I got permission from Glenn Lord in a letter to adapt the story in which the Cimmerian is chronologically youngest—"Tower of the Elephant," which had quickly become my favorite Conan tale of all-as an issue of Conan. Either Marvel or I-I suspect Marvel-paid a little extra for the right to adapt the story, but at this point I‘ve totally forgotten how I swung that or how much it cost. Working with Howard's actual prose, not just my couple of pages of accompanying notes, apparently turned Barry on, and he did a wonderful job. From the time Barry drew "Tower of the Elephant," there was no looking back for either of us." 
Excerpt from "The Barry Windsor-Smith Conan Archives Volume 1" 2010 (the foreword by Roy Thomas). 

In an interview May 1998 Barry Windsor-Smith mentioned that Conan the Barbarian #4 was quite special to him:
"Roy had sent me all of the Lancer paperbacks some months prior to our beginning the first issue, so my prior affinity was merely months old but, as it happens, that made my perceptions energetic and fresh because I was utterly hooked by Howard's writing style. "The Tower of the Elephant," in particular, was a real head trip, to use the vernacular of the time".
Excerpt from "Comic Book Artist" #2

Had Marvel not acquired the rights to adapt Robert E. Howards original Conan stories, Marvel's Conan the Barbarian books would probably never had reached similar popularity. Published during the year 1971 these Robert E. Howard adapted stories won the "Academy of Comic Book Arts Awards Best Continuing Feature". Roy Thomas also explained in the extra material on the 2011 Conan Blu-Ray movie, when Marvel's Conan books were selling at their best, Marvel's Conan earnings were twice as high as Marvel's earnings on The Amazing Spider-man and The Fantastic Four combined.

Conan the Barbarian #4 is a key book in my opinion, and thus the original art cover of great historical importance. 

1 minute ago, Pete Marino said:

the top was not trimmed. look at the ink mark on the top left side.  it's exactly the same, they just put the logo all the way to the top of the board.

That's my thought too.

It looks like some of the original inked art was changed too (or hidden beneath a stat) in order to extend the web. 

Normally I think light restoration of comic art is a good thing, like gluing a stat to its original position when it has become detached. But I just saw this piece and I couldn't help thinking that something precious may have been lost in the restoration:

Original

Restored

After checking HA.com I don't think the new stats can be easily removed:

https://comics.ha.com/itm/original-comic-art/barry-smith-conan-the-barbarian-4-the-tower-of-the-elephant-cover-original-art-marvel-1971-/a/7084-92354.s?ic4=GalleryView-Thumbnail-071515

Note that HA did disclose that the piece had been restored: "The upper margin has been closely trimmed right to the art; there's some overall wear and light soiling; and note that all of the masthead, logo, and type elements at the top are carefully color-matched replacements". 

I'm not sure I prefer the restored version  On the original you can see some original art (one of the spider's legs in pencil) now being hidden and it seems that Barry Smith marked both placement of the title and comic code stamp in pencil. 

My question for this thread: what do you prefer, the original or the restored piece?