Garf

Looking for something from the original run. Issues 24. 30, 31, 32, 51 or Hexbreaker. Am already aware of what is on eBay, CAF, and available from Bill. I just wondered if there is anything else out there available? Thanks

Transformers > ... all the others.

Sorry... but if it is originally from one of the many ebay sellers dealing with these in bulk (or via someone who bought from them) I doubt anyone here will be interested. More to the point the pieces being sold on ebay are knock off copies run off yesterday with someone that has a photoshop and a printer. When it comes to being knowledgeable the comments on here are usually based partly on what real vintage production art of a period looks like and common sense. I have read comments on conversation about printing process from editors but on the whole they were fleeting and about when certain processes started/stopped. I can only assume that most fans with the opportunity to talk shop with someone involved in comics production are not going to bring these up. Just stop and think about it for a moment... The people selling these in the vast majority don't ever have any variety in the kinds of materials used in their items that range from stuff published in the 60's to around 2009. Really old vintage stats/production pages looked nothing like what they offer and the only way to explain that away would possibly be that they are selling stuff produced in reprints. I have seen such sellers offer real vintage stats before but over time they have just stopped trying, from their perspective what's the point once you are established. Have a look here for examples of what old production stuff looks like https://www.anthonyscomicbookart.com/artistgalleryroom.asp?artistid=1968 … and even if it is a dealer or an auction house like ha.com it doesn't mean you should automatically trust what is on offer, do more research (Disclaimer: Anthony is a reputable dealer). However, back to these denizens of ebay… they have a catalogue that spans the entire spectrum of comics, literally everything. There are no limitations based on publishing house, geography, etc on what they can obtain. They would have to be someone who was involved in the printing process, someone who just so happened to have access to somewhere that was used by everyone who ever produced comics at the same time for the last 50 years. They never really offer any "filler" items. Alllll killer...…. All of what is on offer is crisp and clean and from what I have seen that's actually quite a big no for "production used" material when you are dealing with it in bulk. There should be annotations, numbering, names, crumpled or torn pages, coffee stains, scratches, noise/grain on the transparencies... signs of life from production or a previous owner. There are cases where it isn't there but without it there isn't really a story to be had. There are production pieces out there that are worth having IMHO... they are not everyone's cup of tea but they have an appeal as a special interest, something cheap and fun to own, they might have something cool in the margins or perhaps they might just be a consolation prize because the cost of the original is other worldly. I just would not go looking for them on ebay unless I already knew exactly what I was looking for or I know the seller.

My page... just pencils which were then lightboxed to produce the published page. https://www.comicartfans.com/gallerypiece.asp?piece=1097030 Just happy to have anything from this series

Yes. You should be able to search all of that out on Amazon or at a fairly decent art supply store by name. I wouldn't worry too much about getting bogged down in the brand and details, as long as you have a pencil, a few different sizes of fineliner and a brush pen that should be all you need to start with. Just check the ink is permanent/lightfast before buying. I totally agree. At established conventions that is more often than not going to be the case, especially if a well known guest is only there for a panel or has a table and no tools. I would imagine that the situation posed in this topic is going to be an artist changing their mind on the day/at the end of a day/when it is really quiet... or maybe at something something a bit more informal like a store signing or a signature line? I think throwing the word "commission" in there as opposed to a random sketch makes it sound a bit odd when you are talking about professionals not having tools.

That's a fair comment, and I would hope that anyone who has been around the block a few times would know quite soon when to back off. I doubt any regulars here would rock up with pens on someone's break or at an after show party/pub. There have been quite a few times over the years though where I would have missed out without pens e.g. over an hour before a convention starts when bumping into an artist who was drawing that day anyway and was happy to kill time, or from an artist that had only intended to sell prints, a quiet signature line that turns into a sketch op. These weren't situations where I was expecting a "commission" level piece. More often though there have been a occasions where artists have only brought a few sharpies and even basic sketches look a lot better and last better when done with nicer pens. Some artists I know produce vastly different sketches if they only have sharpies to hand e.g you might just get their "go to" headshot. I don't think there is any harm in politely asking for something other than sharpie, especially if it is on a sketch jam. You could even find yourself in a situation where the artist hasn't brought something big/decent enough to fill in large areas of black or finds that a pen is running dry.

As far as basics go take a range of fineliner type pens, 2 -3 brush pens and a couple of types of mechanical pencil. That's it. If you wanted to flesh it out then you could add an eraser, a white out pen/white gel pen, a ruler, refills/cartridges and possibly a different colour refill your mechanical pencils i.e. blueline. Anything more than that can start to feel a bit overkill and is just going to be too heavy to carry around with you for a whole day. Personally I pack... Black pens: Faber-Castell F167116 Pitt Artist Pen (Wallet of 6 with Assorted Tips) Zig Brush Pen No.22 + 1 refill Pentel (Manga) Brush Pen + 1 refill Rotring Tikky Graphic 0.1 pen Tombow ABT dual brush pen Pencils: Mechanical pencils - 1x 0.7mm 1x 2.0mm either Staedtler mars technico, or Faber-Castell Tk / Tk-FINE ...+refills Other: Large white eraser that I have tried out beforehand (brand doesn't really matter as long as it doesn't smudge, currently using a Helix) Sakura Gelly Roll 08 white gel pen Tipp-Ex Shake 'n Squeeze (white out) pen Small ruler This all fits easily in a 30cm clear plastic pencil case which makes it easy for anyone to see exactly what I have with me. I keep the refills in a smaller clear ziplock bag. Anything else that has found its way in there over time is either a dupe or is just something I or my daughters use for our own endeavours. I try to stick with products that I know work for me, use fairly decent permanent ink and are usually the cheaper option. I'm sure that there are more expensive "better" options but I haven't had any issues so far when they have been used by someone else or even after loaning them out for the day :)

@vodou IMHO overall it is a fun read... certainly has enough stand out moments to be memorable. Agree that it is interesting to see how this all plays out in the market now that we have a beginning, middle and end. It's still going to be quite some time before the true impact of nostalgia is seen on this one though. ----------------

... Edit: took me a little while to gather my thoughts... Still shocked it happened this way... but yeah it either needed to either go somewhere entirely new with what was being explored or finish. The real reason that I am sad to see it end isn't because I wanted to see more of the same, or that I was truly emotionally invested in the story for quite some time... it's because it was the book which brought me back into the fold after years of being an uber casual occasional TPB reader. TWD during its first few years was refreshing. It felt like a well needed kick to the arse of the campy capes and costumes I was mostly fed up with. Obviously there is plenty of other gritty/horror/indie stuff out there ... but maybe without it I wouldn't have found the time to go back over a lot of old indie/imprint books with that spark of originality which I hadn't previously made time for, or moved forward into what this era has to offer... or now currently be churning though a lot of Franco-Belgian comics as there is a real wealth of storytelling there which is where I know I want to be, miles away from the often bland offerings of the big two (it's a joy that so much of it has been translated in digital format now and that I have decades worth of material to catch up on, I still pick up some physical copies in French when on holiday, and I can get by, but it's sometimes hard going). I'm not going to knock the DC and Marvel stuff I used to love as a kid, I just have to pick and choose a lot more as I have gotten older. So yeah... a journey of 193 issues and everything else that went with it.

Norm Breyfogle - Batman Bill Reinhold - Badger Jim Balent - Catwoman Geoff Senior - Transformers Steve Ditko - Spider-Man Barry Smith - Machine Man Jack Kirby - X-Men

I don't collect/spend outside of what is comfortable and to be honest I am glad that I don't have the burden of curating a collection full of expensive pieces. As mentioned earlier what I am considering wouldn't be my most expensive purchase and I have only ever spent over $1K on a single piece once. It's still been useful to get the thoughts out instead of having them stuck in my head when considering the value of something fairly niche within a niche hobby. (For anyone interested this is my CAF https://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryDetail.asp?GCat=91382 , it's bit of a mix.)

At least after all these years I think I already know where I stand on this one as far as the market is concerned. I think had I discovered OA much earlier in my life then I would have had my "ramen" days... Not so much now. It's interesting to see see that brought up. I am definitely getting the overall impression that the lines are out there to either be redrawn or eventually ignored. I know there are a few others that I used to live by and ditched, like making the hobby fund itself. That eventually became too much of a second job to maintain. It was great while it lasted. @Ironmandrd thanks for sharing that. You reminded me that I have been there too but with a guitar purchase where I was still able to see the original sale on eBay. However, I didn't really care that I was on the sharp end of a flip because it was a super clean example that must have been a cupboard / loft find. Why take the trouble to wait out for something else cheaper that I probably wouldn't have been as happy with?

Thanks for the comments, welcome food for thought. To round out... I don't really do credit, other than my mortgage. I probably wouldn't consider a purchase that would cause either short or long term financial problems for very long before discarding it... This one has made me pause though. I have already mentioned the art to my wife and she is OK with it. It wouldn't even be the most expensive OA I own. However, knowing that it's quite a bit above market value is the only cause for a bit of anxiety. I'm pretty much used to the occasional fun purchase that is a good deal, or break even. I do think that the loss is something I will forget quite quickly given what it is. It has been part of my somewhat relaxed focus since I found out about OA. I'll probably decide on it after running it around my head for another couple of days. The only other thing left nagging me was if I should put out a WTB thread out there first to see if something from the same run is hiding out there under a rock at a better price. I guess I will probably do that another time anyway. I currently see WTB threads as a bit of a double edged sword.

To put this into a digestible context I am at that point again where something has caught my eye and it has me pacing up and down whilst weighing up all the options before me. I don't currently have a strict collecting plan/ordered list that I adhere to, I just have few goals across a shortlist of some of my favourite comic runs. I think this hobby favours a certain amount of flexibility as the next thing that becomes available might not be one that you are expecting. Anyway some of what I am after has become a bit of a stretch given how anything popular or well regarded is getting pricier, and in the majority I have mostly written them off. As such they have become a bit of a personal yardstick by which I measure things, or at the very least the direction in which my slippery slope angles steeply downwards :) So what makes what I am currently considering different from what has gone before is that I think I would have to eat a loss of anywhere up to 70% of the asking price as soon as it becomes mine. Usually I wouldn't think twice about this because most of what I buy is at the lower/lowest end of the market... however this one isn't. The price is more about what someone being willing to let something go for as opposed to what the market would bear. So I am left wondering where I draw the line on what the heart wants. Really really love the art, but eating quite a large loss out of the gate really really sucks, especially when I consider other pieces out there. I guess I have different red lines that I try not to cross to make sure that I have boundaries. Without any guidelines, consideration or self reflection for me personally collecting hobbies can otherwise become a bit of an addiction where the thrill of aquisition takes over. Perhaps it will help to think out loud. Do I really think of this as money that I am throwing away or is it just the price of enjoying art?

I voted pencils as I prefer them overall, however I am not averse to owning inks even if the pencils are in someone else's hands. The last piece I bought was inks on blue line stat. I did ask the penciller if he would consider selling some of the pages I was interested in but he said he didn't have the time to dig them out. The inks in this case also are a much better representation of the published page... in an ideal world though it would be both on the same page. There is a certain level of stupid to this question because even if the two are done by the same artist then not all will put the same amount of work into the pencils as the inks. There are several who love to just get the basic layout, lines and movement of the piece in there and then just go for it with the inks.

Well it's still on Frank's own CAF pages https://www.comicartfans.com/gallerypiece.asp?piece=341366 , I remember seeing it when I was looking at the other WoW piece. "Steve Morger is my art agent. Bother him." .... I assume you have already been there?

I agree that the mat cutting aspect is pretty easy and that tool (or similar) is all you need if you are going for standard pre-built frames. I usually also use a sheet of acid free paper as backing to stick corners on... oh and you are going to want to search online for clear UV protection plexi (don't go for anti-glare unless you are framing posters or something you are wanting to lay the plexi directly onto without a mat, anti-glare does not present with good clarity if it isn't laid directly onto what you are framing). I always seem to lose the motivation to do more because I know I will buy more and then want to plan a different layout. So I put it off. My problem could probably be best solved by having shelves for my frames but I know that my family will either end up knocking everything over or complain about being constantly paranoid about knocking everything over (as my art is mostly in a stairwell). Going to have to settle for command strips https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B004051TE2/ref=asc_df_B004051TE258710440 and put up with buying new each time I rearrange.

Some painted TCG art from Dan Brereton just landed for me https://www.comicartfans.com/gallerypiece.asp?piece=1530814

Thought this might be worth a mention.... personally I would love to have something similar framed up at home.

He was in the UK just over a year ago https://www.comicartfestival.com/news/sergio-aragonés-heads-kendal-present-first-ever-sergio-aragonés-international-award , seemed perfectly with it, wouldn't think he is slowing down.

Well I got a reply 11 days ago saying he was working through over 400 orders and he would get to me when mine was the next one in the list. Unfortunately for me I want something unrelated to the sale or cons but it just so happens to be that time of year.

Go and look at what is listed here. You have a massive lot of recent results to draw your own conclusions from. Things are a bit all over the place, but you might find a high/low dollar value across those examples: http://www.comicartshop.com/forsalesearchresult.asp?Page=8&txtSearch=&selOwner=75&TimeSpan=&Order=Date Would it BIN somewhere in the middle at $450? Probably. There are over 1150 pages for sale via Charlie's rep at source and fairly decent panel pages with action are $725 - $1250, so the secondary market is more bang for your buck. Would it do better or worse on any given day as a no reserve auction? Errr... you just need enough interested bidders not to whiff :P The comic connect auction was really well promoted so it won't always follow that eBay will get you the same attention on BIN. Have seen some decent ones relisted multiple times without sale. The page your friend has is certainly a memorable one and a really good example of what made the early story so gripping. Also kind of but not really a "death of" page as it happens across several pages. I don't see why it wouldn't get a reasonable amount. A bit too gruesome to put on the wall IMHO.

I have a piece that had an additional full page stat attached to the front with notes and instructions on it. I just carefully peeled back the tape and stuck it to the back instead, it seemed like the easiest option in my case.

I didn't really add much at all in 2018 so I'm just going to stick with an unpublished con sketch https://www.comicartfans.com/gallerypiece.asp?piece=1505749 Love the stuff that has been posted in this thread, it's encouraging to see the quality of the pieces from the shallower end of this hobby just from the last 12 months.

Hah!