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alxjhnsn

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Posts posted by alxjhnsn

    Jim Lee's marathon sketches

    in Original Comic Art

    Posted

    12 hours ago, Rick2you2 said:

    I don’t think Jim gets a deduction, beyond the cost of ink, pencils and paper. 

    Why not. He donated a piece of art that has a FMV. I know that for the charity gala's that my wife has worked, the people that donate to the silent auction deduct the FMV of their donation. Same situation for Jim.

    Jim Lee's marathon sketches

    in Original Comic Art

    Posted

    9 minutes ago, Unstoppablejayd said:

    these are smaller then the ones from that con.. those were 15k at 11x17 and you can still order- these are the 9 x12 that I think Moy charges 4-6k depending but you obviously can pick who you want but will have to wait ... and people told me I was crazy when I bought my 2 character 11x17 for 4k lol (shrug)

    So, I'd say that the auction prices are FMV. No deduction for the buyer.

    Jim Lee's marathon sketches

    in Original Comic Art

    Posted

    On 4/6/2020 at 6:57 PM, Rick2you2 said:

    I’m not a tax lawyer, and it has been quite a few years since I took tax law, but that doesn’t sound right to me. You aren’t supposed to get a deduction for the value of something received back. So, if you go to a dinner to raise money for charity, you are theoretically supposed to exclude the value of the meal, with the balance being deductible. The fact that it is a charitable foundation just means that the amount paid over the value received is deductible. Taking what Jim posted at face value would mean the value of his sketches is only 5% of what is paid? I doubt it. If someone has better knowledge on this (like some of our accountants here), I defer to them.

    Jim posted later that his misunderstood what he was told. 

    The buyer can deduct the amount over the fair market value. Jim can deduct the FMV from his taxes.

    The problem for a buyer is that this is an open auction, pretty much be definition, the winning bid is the fair market value for the item. Moreover, given what Jim charges for a straight commission, these may be thought of as being sold for less than FMV.

    All in all, don't expect a tax benefit.

    Disclaimer: I'm not a tax expert, but I have slept at a Holiday Inn Express.

    Jim Lee's marathon sketches

    in Original Comic Art

    Posted

    On 4/6/2020 at 8:15 PM, Rick2you2 said:

    I think he is looking for characters to draw who are not common.
    With that in mind, I hope someone has the guts to ask for Sugar and Spike, or maybe even Hoppy the Marvel Bunny.

     

    On 4/6/2020 at 8:27 PM, Bird said:

    I would think Alex Johnson has already asked for sugar and spike! But I really don’t know

    I have the courage, but not the money. :)

    For S&S to happen, I'd have to win an auction (~$7.5K), specify S&S, and win that auction (~$2.5K assuming moderate interest and no punishment bids). At the low end, that's $10K and might be $15K. Way to rich for my blood - besides, I have a house to remodel!

    Pricing Comic Art - Update

    in Original Comic Art

    Posted · Edited by alxjhnsn

    17 hours ago, Rick2you2 said:

    Helluva job. But is the comic art con really moving from Northern NJ to NYC?

    To be honest, I don't remember. I had it in my notes at one time, but ...

    Decided to change it and changed the link to the owner's site.

    Decided to list venues by cost.

    The OFFICIAL "This week in your ORIGINAL ART collection?"

    in Original Comic Art

    Posted

    13 hours ago, cbaileypacker said:

    Some new modern interior page pick ups for the collection.  Stay well and safe everyone. Cheers! 🍻

    Thor #4 - Sneaky Sif sends Mjolnir  away by Nic Klein 

     

    Ant-man #2 - 1st Macrothrax appearance by Dylan Burnett 


     

    Hell Arisen # 3 - 1st full appearance of Punchline by Javier Fernandez. bottom left panel is an instant classic.
     

     

    Thanks for looking, Cheers! 🍻

    Congrats on getting the real first appearance of a character that DC plans to make famous.

    I really enjoyed that sequence in Thor #4 as well. Sif's expression is priceless and it was a very clever use of her tools.

    Back of Marvel art, 1977 - Help, Who is this?

    in Original Comic Art

    Posted

    2 hours ago, Lee B. said:

    I can probably dig up a spreadsheet that I put together when I was working on the book with Dave.  Dave was very meticulous about recording all of his freelance jobs as they occurred, down to the individual pages.  He recorded all of the information on a bundle of index cards that he kept his entire life.  It was an amazing resource for the book.  Here's an example of some of the cards, listing several uncredited inking jobs he did for Joe Sinnott on Fantastic Four, among other things.  This is all presented in a much easier-to-read fashion in the book.  (And I am happy to sell a signed (by me) copy to anyone who needs some good quarantine reading!)  Best, Lee

    DH Marvel Index Cards Complete_5 (1).jpg

    I can recommend the book it was quite interesting. 

    The OFFICIAL "This week in your ORIGINAL ART collection?"

    in Original Comic Art

    Posted

    We are remodeling the house this year so I have taken a vow of abstainance from comic art except for gifts. [Got to conserve cash! Have to keep remembering that!]

    However, I have a few Kickstarters from the past whose perks included comic art. So, today, I have three new pieces that I did not buy this year!

    They are:

     

    Click to embiggen.

    image.png.061d82eaf2a33f7f49ffd4ded1d4c774.pngimage.png.0cdd99aea85f3276d1b33a04fc33e332.pngimage.png.056510f80b6e75176bcd0e7282d11f33.png

    Check them out. :)

    Comiclink Validity for Original Art Purchasing

    in Original Comic Art

    Posted

    @D2Do you have a copy of my write-up on pricing comic art? It might be helpful. PM me with your email address and I'll send it along. Or read it here:

    Spoiler

    Whether you are pricing to sell or buy, you might want to explore the following resources

    • The website Comic Art Tracker can help you find art and look at current asking prices for similar pieces.
    • The OA auction archive at Heritage Auctions – This archive presents the results from all of their OA auctions.. Once you sign-up and get an id, you can search for pieces by your artist and see what they have sold for.
    • The CAF Market Data - More auction results (more than 1,000,000) are available if you join the Comic Art Fans site, pay for Market Data access, and access eBay and other auction sites as well as Heritage.
    • The Comic Art Database. It contains transaction records entered by the owners of Comic OA.
    • Dealer sites. Dealers, generally, post their art with fixed prices though there are exceptions. There is a list of dealers on CGC OA board and the Dragonberry site has a list as well. The CAF site will search the inventories of several dealers for you. [Of course, Comic Art Tracker is better.]
    • Blouin Art Info which tracks sales at major art auctions. It can turn up some Comic OA as well. Look for the “Art Prices” item on the top right of the screen
    • Jerry Weist's Comic Art Price Guide - Heritage published a third edition of it. In my opinion, it's a good history book and might be useful for comparison work, but it was out of date a year before it was printed.
    • A topic  on the CGC OA boards, A-level panel page valuations by artist/run - thoughts/additions/changes?, holds a discussion that relates to your question. It provides some "generally agreed upon" ranges for popular runs by popular artists on popular characters.
    • The Biggest OA Prices thread tracked some of the largest sales in the OA space. While that particular thread has stopped; it's probably worth reading for the discussions. Meanwhile , the information is still being updated - just with a different mechanism.
    • Dealer quotations are valuable. To get one, you approach a dealer with the art (in person) or image (by email) and ask what they would offer for it. If they make an offer, remember that they need significant margin especially if they feel that the piece will not sell immediately. You might double their offer to reach a retail price. Of course, this is a very hard to manage approach. An excellent list of dealers can be found on Comic Art Tracker here. Check a few and use those that seem to carry art like you are trying to sell - some dealers do specialize.
    If you are pricing to sell, there are a couple of addition resource types:
    You can get a list of Auction Houses on the ComicArtTracker site here and dealers here. ComicArtTracker has the most comprehensive list on the internet.
     
    Another source of original art valuation opinions would be to ask on Facebook pages and the CGC Marketplace. However, prepare for odd/funny answers, unsolicited offers, and the usual social media snark. That said, here are some links from Facebook:
    I do not claim that this is either exhaustive or useful.
     
     
    Even with the information above, new buyers and sellers often find that OA is too hard to price. I agree that it is difficult. However, I think that there is a valid reason. Each piece is unique. Uniqueness make art sales generally and OA specifically non-linear. Examples of how piece can differ in ways that impact pricing include:
    • Content: Consecutive pages could and do sell for radically different amounts based on their content. 
    • Page Layout: In general, you might say:

     Covers > 1st Page Splash > Other Splash > 1/2 splash > panel page

    However, that's not always true either. The right panel page can be much more compelling than a bland splash.

    • Penciler vs. character: There are "A-list" artists, but not all of their books/characters have the same value. Kirby FF pages generally go for more than JIM/Thor pages which go for more than Cap pages (2nd run) which go for more than ...
    • Pencilers/inkers combinations - Kirby/Sinnott FF pages rank above Kirby and anyone else on FF, but a Kirby/InkerX FF page might be more or less than a Kirby/Stone Thor page. Hard to tell.
    • Production Technique:
      • Classic - pencils, letters, and inks all on the same page
      • Recent - pencils and inks on the same page - no lettering
      • Modern - pencils and inks on different pages - no lettering
    In general, Classic > Recent > Modern
     
    When looking at a "split" Modern page, consider what it might be worth if done in Recent style and then split the cost with 60% of the "Modern-style" page going for the pencils and 40% going for the blue-line inks. Why? The penciller tells the story and that's the page (s)he handled. The inked page has the advantage of being the published page, but even so most prefer the pencil page.
     

    Finally, you should join the comic book OA community. The main points of Internet contact are:

    The main points of physical contact are probably:

    • Dedicated Comic Art Shows
      • Comic Art Con (Spring/Fall) - A twice yearly show originally in northern NJ, but moving to NYC. The domain seems to have lapsed, but the show owner has a page for it here.
      • NYC Comic Art Expo - Annual spring show, nothing but art people (dealers, individual sellers, and buyers) and a few local artists. Held at the Penn Hotel opposite Penn Station
      • Torpedo Comics Collectors Convention (née LA Comic Art Show) - Annual art show one week before SDCC to leverage the dealer’s visit to the west coast
    • Conventions with High Dealer Attendance
    • Shows with a comic artist focus
      • Heroes Comic Con - Not a lot of comic art dealers, but a huge number of artists who generally will draw and have portfolios to sell
      • Baltimore Comic Con - Similar to HeroesCon.

    One last comment, if you are looking to buy or sell, spend the time to learn the market. That might take 6 months, but it's worth the time.