Sideshow Bob

I was actually OK with that. While I like Lucas, I love Star Wars and I love American illustration and art, that was some primo real estate on the lakefront just to house one guy's (albeit a billionaire) personal art collection and Star Wars knicknacks. Better to see the city come up with a better use for it or just let it go fallow. As much as I love a good tailgate for seven home games a year (excluding playoffs), I'd still be overjoyed to see the Soldier Field parking lots go underground though and convert that into parkland.

Picked up the Batman #420 cover recreation in the last Heritage auction. Looks phenomenal. Says on the back "6th cover recreation" and "Apr '00". http://www.comicartfans.com/galleryPiece.asp?Piece=1494431&GSub=0&GCat=92556&UCat=92556

Have other commitments, so unfortunately I will miss the NYC show, but same here...the quick notice took me off guard. Or maybe I just wasn't paying enough attention that they were doing a Manhattan show + NJ. Seems like a lot of art shows to support this niche of a niche of a community.

Ah, George Inness...my 100% favorite Hudson Valley artist. Been looking to get one of his paintings for years (have the reference book), but always worried I'll accidentally buy his son's work. Easier to make that mistake than to accidentally buy JRJR. Someday I'll pick on e up at auction...

I've bought two Winsor McCay "Dream of the Rarebit Fiend" pieces in the last couple years (July 2015 and May 2017). So I was a bit surprised by the HA price today ($27,600 w BP), given each panel was cut and separately pasted onto a board. It was a typically surreal Rarebit and maybe the gag was more accessible than my two examples, but it went for almost double what I paid in '17 and triple what I paid in '15. Yikes.

Who did "constipated Batman" better? B426 or DKR2?

Well, it stalled momentarily at $70k, but wow, that tet-a-tet to $100k was pretty quick. $120k with BP. Wow.

I was thinking KJ stops at $70k, with BP added. Its a great page, and its the first page, but its not the BEST page. If you have $70k to blow on a page, you probably have an address or a friend with an address in a zero-sales-tax state.

It's funny. I just offered a piece to someone who said they paid for $500 for X, so wouldn't pay more than that for Z (same artist, totally different book). I pointed out that Z had two auction results at $1,000 each, so I would need that much for them. And that was the end of that. Moral of the story is, the market will bear what the market will bear. No one is forcing anyone to buy art from anyone. Comparables research can be helpful to get an idea of how much cold, hard cash a given person might be willing to part with for a given piece, but it doesn't have to justify how much someone needs to charge, and someone needs to pay. I have no problems with dealers marking up immediately after an auction...if I wanted it, I should have bought it then. If I want it now, I'd better pay someone for the privilege on buying it the first time while I dithered. When I first saw a piece I sold at Heritage (four years ago) show up on a dealer wall at NYCC for 3x what it sold for, I got a little miffed. But its was still there at the OA Con at the Penn Hotel this year and no one is buying it at that price, so the market is working as efficiently as it can. That works just fine for me. Bob

First L&K attempt was with Fox casting Miranda Otto as the mom. Fox went with Terra Nova as their big premiere after the Super Bowl. Bad choice, but I also watched that pilot and they jammed the entire first six issues into one hour of programming. It deserved better. It also didn't have Joe Hill writing the -script. Second time was for Hulu, and Joe Hill did write the -script, but upon finishing the pilot featuring Danny Glover, there was a leadership shake-up at Hulu and the new crew didn't include those that green-lit this project. So it died. Third time is for Netflix, and they are scrapping the Hulu pilot, but keeping Joe Hill on to co-write a new pilot. I have faith it will be done well, and with the long form of the comic in mind. Very excited! And in other IDW news, Wild Blue Yonder's six issues were adapted to an app that was released today, converting it to a motion comic book. Full soundtrack, voice talent including Gerard Butler, Zoey Deutch, and Ed Harris, plus you can move the art around for a 3D effect on the app as it plays. Pretty cool stuff! $4.99 gets you the app with all six issues, and I think its a panel-by-panel faithful following of the comic, so even from that point, its a deal compared to the HC trade.

Just put 4 copies of #1 CGC 9.8 on eBay BIN. Let's see what happens...

Wow. The Adventures in Babysitting poster is $80k...

New pages for YTLM are now up on CAF! Still looking for more interiors from issues #1-12 plus any interiors from Wild Blue Yonder. PM me with any updates, pages, or offers! Bob

Quick update...excited to have picked up three consecutive pages from YTLM, which are already paid for. If you have any pages from issues #1-12, let me know! Easy to deal with, no mucking around with time payments. Also, the artist on Wild Blue Yonder (Zach Howard) found the name of the buyer of the #1-6 covers and a old and broken email address, so now I'm waiting patiently on a snail mail response from Tuscon, AZ. If you know the current whereabouts of the Zach Howard covers and can help broker a successful deal, same 20% success fee to you applies. PM me! Bob

Another one of my Spectre and Batman commissions, this one from Simon Bisley! Fun stuff!

Thanks man! Already picked up three Y pages!

Looking for interior pages from the first 12 issues of Y: The Last Man (word balloons on the OA went away after #13). Also looking for pages from IDW's Wild Blue Yonder. Plus, there is a 20% success fee if you can help me find and acquire the six covers to WBY; last I heard, they were sold as a group to a guy named Anderson in Arizona. PM me with details. Sideshow Bob

So what are the DC equivalents of a "Snikt!" page that carries with it that hero's cache and associated price premium? Captain Marvel: SHAZAM! transformation? Green Lantern: Oath page? Aquaman: Finger to head with telepathy rings? Superman: Telephone booth costume change? American flag pose? Wonder Woman: Bullets deflecting off bracelets? Lasso? Invisible jet! Batman: Holding a dead Robin? Swamp Thing regrowing an arm? Zatanna with a backwards spell? Spectre creatively killing someone? Green Arrow shooting a boxing glove arrow? Beast Boy animal change? Constantine smoking? Flash running? Blue Beetle (shudder). As a DC guy, typing up this list really hits home that Marvel's pantheon of heroes is so much cooler... At least you have Batman's rogues that are 100% the best!

And I just saved $100 on a sweet Don Newton page from Batman! Thanks!

Taking a look at the bidding history, there were two bidders at the last second with $7k bids each. If one of them didn't turn up, it would have sold for a more pedestrian $4,400 instead of $7,100. The news that FX ordered a pilot last month certainly helped. I hope this spurs some other pages to come to market! Congrats to the seller!

Whoa!!!! I have been wanting to see this for years! Thanks so much for posting it. Can't believe that Fox chose Terra Nova over this....

Ugh. Friends don't let friends trade to the Donnelly's. If its any satisfaction, the auction payout on this piece is likely WAY lower than what their asking price a month ago.

Well, my cut bid on the Aparo Spectre cover did not do the trick. But the sage-like wisdom still holds true..."there's always more art to buy!"

So my dream of getting Amethyst: Princess of Gemworld #1 are now dashed?

eBay now showing the auction has been pulled, as the item is no longer available.