Dr. Balls

A little weekend bump to stir up some action!

I see $2000 original art covers marked up to $20,000-$30,000, I think some people hope to find that one guy who doesn’t price check and just hits the BIN in a googely-eyed frenzy of self-defined FOMO.

On 5/29/2024 at 9:02 PM, Kevin76 said:

I hate this type of advice...cause what most people love is Wrightson, Neal Adams, Dave Stevens, Mcfarlane, Jim Lee, Frank Miller and Jack Kirby and most collectors don't have that kind of money to spend 6 figures or millions to just "buy what they love"  "Buy what you love" doesn't mean "Buy garbage that you love"  

For me, that's the challenge. Finding art you love by artists who are not household names, but have immense talent that can be admired is a sure fire way to get enjoyment and embrace the hobby. Sure, it might be of non-classic characters, but I've learned to really admire many less-known artists. I'm not going to land a Stephen Platt 'Prophet' cover, but I really like the Shelby Robertson 'Morbid Angel' cover I have - they have a similar style. I admired the skill it took for him to create a hyper-detailed Platt-esque cover.

Do other people covet my Morbid Angel cover? Probably not, and probably never will - but that's not why I bought it. I came back to the OA part of the hobby knowing that I'll never likely touch the stratosphere artists, but I found a whole area of art that I really enjoy that fits my price range.

Life is too short to pine over things I can't have instead of enjoying the things I do have.

As a longtime fan of the original comic and movie, I think this is an interesting reboot. I'll check it out, even if Ernie Hudson isn't in it. My only criticism is how does that guy who plays The Big Bad in every other comic book movie continue to get cast? Are villain-types really that hard to find?

We just rented this, and I really liked it. I found it to be less of an "action" type movie and more of a drama. Lots of specific imagery that they were going for, and the very odd (but fitting) soundtrack, and bizarre visuals/situations that were not weighted down with political messages or backstory. It drops you in like you know what's happened in the country (or can put it together quickly), and I enjoyed it from that aspect.

My wife thought it was ok, and a little slow for her - but she's not the type of movie person who likes to "take it all in" on movies. My single impression that I came away with is that this is very much like a modern version of 'Apocalypse Now'. It has a lot of parallels to that film both in message, music and visuals.

Always fun to hear stories about long-time art negotiations coming to fruition. Congrats!

Before I got into comic art, web and print referred to Splash Pages as the introductory page to the content the viewer was about to take in. I've seen lots of people use terms like "half-splash", "full splash" for pages within the comic, not just the first page. I tend to use those terms if I am selling, only because everyone else is doing it. 

I refer to first page Splash Pages as Title Page/Splash Page to try and get both terms in there. Splash Page should be the first page in the book and that's it. But, I don't think there is any correcting it now, we are stuck with splash, half splash, quarter splash, etc - when honestly, I prefer the panel counting method: six panel page, four panel page, etc.

On 5/28/2024 at 3:53 AM, Michael Browning said:

Anyone who commissions him at this point needs to be asked: “Are you on dope?”

11 days left, let's pump up those placeholder bids or if you feel like Big Dawgin' it, throw out the Big Bid!

Sabrina the Teenage Witch #3 Cover by Dan DeCarlo from 1971

and

Brickman Begins Inside Back Cover by Tim Sale from 2005

Since we're on the topic of burgers - this is the special for this week:

On 5/22/2024 at 2:43 PM, Will_K said:

I respect @Dr. Balls for "not going home again" when he restarted his collection from scratch.  Much of it has to do with his previous collecting habits being no longer economically feasible.  And yet, his new collection and focus is still consistent with what he loves.

That's what I really like about this hobby - there is so much to love, old and new - you can find appreciation for art, writing and creativity everywhere in comic collecting. It's a lot of fun delving into new aspects of comics and appreciating what these creators give to us in exchange for our hard-earned dollars!

On 5/22/2024 at 12:50 PM, John E. said:

I caught the rerun this morning. 
 

Let’s say you were pursuing another enterprise. I don’t know…maybe you want to franchise. Would you sell your art collection again? What would you do or would have done differently in a pursuit to raise a large amount of funds?

Boy, I dunno if I have it in me to expand into another large-scale endeavor. We'd explored franchising, but it comes down to my wife and I have limited time, and our main focus is making sure our restaurant maintains standards and keeps customers happy. That leaves not much time for exploratory endeavors, but the beauty is that we've built a restaurant that does have franchise potential. Maybe someday someone comes along and wants to take it to the next level.

I think now we've done well enough I wouldn't have to part with my art collection - it will be sold off someday, but I'd rather have that be on my terms, not because we need some seed money.

At the time we were looking at opening the diner, I was comic rich and cash poor. It was also one of those life decisions where I felt that at 42 years old I was running out of time to take a risk that would either fail miserably or help get us on the long road to retirement. My wife was an ER nurse and without getting in too much detail, I desperately wanted to get her out of there - and I couldn't do it in my current job vocation (advertising). So it was a worthwhile sacrifice in my book, and thankfully it all worked out. It's also kind of fun to say that comic books and art paid to open the restaurant.

On 5/20/2024 at 8:43 AM, Benedict Judas Hel said:

Good luck!  Try not to say “it is what is”, “literally” or “right”!  You’ll get people drunk way too fast!

I'm working on trying not to say "The great...Mike Deodato.", "The great...Gonzalo Mayo", "The great...Mutato".

On 5/20/2024 at 1:21 PM, JC25427N said:

If it helps, I would probably believe that R.Horie was the actual cover artist for this and Maximum Press just slapped Benes's signature on it. They were known for mislabeling covers like this. The cover to Glory #8 is known to be drawn by Ed Benes even though Maximum Press put Deodato's signature for the printed cover

That's a HUGE help - I kind of surmised as much, as the dealer I bought it from got it from Richard Horie himself. It's just good to get some other input to help confirm (as much as we can) what likely happened - I appreciate it!

I got one of my pickups two days ago, but only had time today to unpack and work out the overlay trade dressing. Glory #19 cover - oddly the original artwork is signed differently than what is attributed on the final cover. But it's an exact match, so it's not a repro or recreation - it's got a little mystery to it that I'll have to sort out. Got emails in to Richard Horie and Jon Sibal - who are both out of comics, so I'm not sure if I'll hear back. But kudos to Danny Morales, who ships practically immediately. My third or fourth purchase from him, always a great experience.

On 5/18/2024 at 10:12 AM, Michael Browning said:

Tulipmania, indeed.

I, for one, enjoy this reference.

I still don't understand the valuation of Tradd Moore's pieces at this level - but I also don't understand why people watch The Kardashians, so I'll just shrug my shoulders at this point.

On 5/18/2024 at 10:02 AM, RICKYBOBBY said:

 not sure that that means but I could care less about his art. 
What’s proof for you? Only heritage listings ?

Here's a better screen capture of the ComicConnect listing in English. It was also a cover:

On 5/18/2024 at 7:20 AM, Michael Browning said:

I cannot find a single example of Tradd Moore art reselling for the huge amounts people have said they resell for.

I'm a novice in this arena, but I spent about 45 minutes banging away on the internets trying to find some information as well - and I came to the same conclusion.

Tradd Moore's art is cool. Are people stepping on handicapped grandmothers to buy it? It doesn't seem like it, but $25k modern pages are not my thing, so my perspective is limited. I do know that big art purchases are a tax deduction for some people who use it as part of their business endeavor, and that capital gains on reselling the art are at a punishing 28% - which are both great reasons to buy and hold. Maybe this is where they ended up.

Aside from the enlargement from 11x17 to 16x24 (which is not an exact ratio of enlargement) the depth of color on the Ebay listing seems questionable. Please take my assessment with a grain of salt because there is always the chance that there is variance on the photos. The chroma, shading and sharpness of the original is missing from the Ebay listing - which is usually a sign of a inkjet-printed-on-canvas, even at the giclee level this can get missed. Changing the black level would darken the image, but it wouldn't add the subtle gradation of shadows in his arm if there weren't there to begin with.

Shadows cast on originals have a different look than photographing the originals and then reproducing those shadows via a second generation on a printed surface. Details get lost due to printing limitations - which can happen if you are not doing super-high end giclee reproductions.

Good on the OP, though - a lot of this stuff can't be noticed unless you're looking at the authentic one side by side. Of course, the original painter would know best, but there are some things there that can be compared.

Original via HA

Ebay listing: