lurker

Maybe if the art in question is all sold out everywhere ( think DWJ's Wonder Woman/Beta Ray Bill or Stegman's Venom ) but certainly not if there are still plenty of good examples left on Felix's website!

Also of note: Felix is a rep, you buy straight from the artists and he's the only intermediary. Mike and Anthony are dealers. They buy from collectors and then need to make their margin. Very different business model obviously.

I don't mean to be controversial but I don't think Mike and Anthony necessarily care if what they offer is overpriced. They can offer any piece at any price and it's not really their problem if you take the bait and end up overpaying. That's part of the game. Not implying that the entire business model of these claim shows relies on actively ripping off customers ( that wouldn't last forever ) but only you can decide if it's a fair price or not. Based solely on the few times I checked the end results I tend to find most of what they sell on the show overpriced for what it is ( lot of C level pieces, unsold inventory or things you have seen change hands many times over ) but I'm sure there are some good deals to be made here and there-- ironically because they don't always do their homework! Long winded answer short: it's your job to research the market in advance for things you are into. If you're uncomfortable with the format ( too little time to decide ) and not a risk taker maybe skip claim shows. But realize that time is of the essence everywhere. When Albert or others ( won't even mention Felix!) have new art drops on their site you often need to make lighting fast decisions too. If you go off researching market value and such there is a very good chance you'll miss the party. Also of note: Felix tends to be very reasonable with his pricing but to the point that it's become near impossible to snatch anything by certain artists he reps with everything selling out in a Flash. Just my 2 cents. Hope this helps.

I agree with most of what you are saying and this is one of the numerous reasons why I would not buy art on that particular show ( though the biggest hurdle for me would be to actually sit through it ). Mike doesn't always do his homework. Same with Anthony from what I can tell. Now you know this. However there is a clear difference between not being thorough and being a plain bad apple. That's why I would expect them ( or any dealer of their caliber ) to offer a refund if a crucial piece of information turns out to be wrong about a piece they sold ( as it seems to be the case here ). As long as you get your money back or work out a deal where everyone walks away happy ( and provided it doesn't happen too frequently ), I have no MAJOR problem with them ( still doesn't mean I'll buy anything on their claim show ). That being said, yes, it is still a shame many dealers don't do their homework in this hobby.

So I guess the voicemail story is just a Shillgate tie-in? I am aware of Shillgate. Not a proud moment for Mike but water under the bridge in my book ( feel free to hold a grudge ). I'll just add that calling up then 86 year old John Romita at home just to settle a score with Mike is not necessarily something I applaud. Mike is not really John's rep at his point as far as I can tell. And the fact that he calls himself romitaman on his website had no direct impact on the shillgate debacle at Ha. It's not like his consigned pages were listed on Ha with a special note saying "Bid with confidence, the art was consigned by a dear friend and business associate of John Romita Sr"

Not the main point of the argument but I will still say that the $400 ones on Albert's website are much rougher and look like breakdowns. The one Mike sold looks much closer to a finished page. Not that it justifies the price gap but sometimes you just make a bad deal. The key argument here is that McFarlane did not ink that page, not that Albert had other cheaper examples. If I was the buyer I would contact Mike and either ask to return it for a full refund or keep it at half off ( because, you know, no Todd = huge downer). But keep in mind that the buyer didn't do his homework either. It's not Mike's fault if the buyer didn't know Albert had pages for much cheaper. With that in mind if it is confirmed that Todd never touched the pages then Mike did make a mistake and I would certainly find his business practices deplorable IF he refused to work out a deal with the buyer ( provided that he gets in touch and is not happy ). Have never heard of the John Romita voicemail story so can't comment on that. Feel free to share a link ( facts please )

I believe they shared credits on everything because the almighty Toddfather would often digitally alter/redraw entire panels to take certain scenes in a very different direction than the one originated by Erik. After about ten issues Larsen opted to throw the towel and left, frustrated by the process ( to paraphrase: why hire me if you're going to constantly get in my way? ) I don't expect every art dealer to know the specifics of every artist collaboration on every run of every book. However we're talking Todd McFarlane here: He's the biggest commercial name ( with Jim Lee ) of the last 30 years and it is widely known that he's worked almost exclusively digitally for 2 decades ( and doesn't produce much to begin with ). Meaning that if you come upon a physical piece of art from that period that's credited to him it's either an absolute rarity or (in 98% of cases ) a page he never touched.

Mostly giving him the benefit of the doubt. And I often get the impression that Mike is less invested/has less zealous knowledge about most pieces published after 1990. Don't get me wrong, he knows his ABC but we all have our cut off point ( aka when the new comics being published stopped being magic ) and for him I feel that it's around the time the pre-Image boys took over Marvel. I have seen him list modern ( last 30 years ) art at very odd prices ( sometimes to his disadvantage ). Long story short I just don't see Mike as a 2012 Spawn fanatic, that's all ( not that he shouldn't research it more given his line of work ). Just my 2 cents and assuming a lot of things.

Oh, Larsen is back! Best news of the day ( I had stopped checking after his account looked deleted for several days in a row when Musk bought Twitter ). Thanks!! I am not on Twitter ( only read posts ) but I hope someone forwards him the page for clarification.

Thanks for posting the video link twanj! Now that i have seen it I stand by my previous comments: I am 99,99% convinced there is no Todd on that page. It's one of the more detailed Larsens but I don't see any ink lines that resembles Todd's ( and again their process on that book was digital adds-on by Todd over Larsen's scans ). Always better to confirm with Larsen himself for obvious reasons though ( not sure he is on twitter anymore, had the impression he deleted his account after Musk bought the place ).

To clarify I don't believe Mike ( if it is him who sold it ) intentionally mislead the buyer but he sure didn't do his 101 homework. But to be fair neither did I since I have not actually seen the page that sold on the show and only commented based on the general description made on the boards. Anyone can post a pic?? $4250 seems bonkers if it is Larsen only since Albert sells most of these for an average of $400 ( granted 2K for the more detailed action double splash)

From memory McFarlane added details and extra inks DIGITALLY after receiving scans of Larsen's. That's as far the collaboration went for the art. Perfectly legit to credit both in the COMIC but to advertise an original page as a Larsen/McFarlane would border on fraudulent IMO. 99,999% sure McFarlane never touched these. He's been digital only for 20+ years with only two known exceptions: a handful of Image United pages and Spawn 300 where he physically inked several guest artists ( Capullo, Opena, Campbell ).

Sorry, not sure what this was supposed to mean. I don't see any other post-Image Larsen Spidey pages listed in Ha's archives ( just ONE Aunt May/MJ page that sold for $500 ) For what it's worth ( ) I love Larsen ( vintage and recent ). From 2012-2015 ( before prices went bonkers ) I was always on the lookout for a good ( pre Image ) Spidey page of his. A couple of pages from that 1999 issue ( including the double spread that just sold on Ha ) were available time and time again on CAF for 1-2k. This double page did nothing for me then and on a purely artistic/enjoyment level I honestly would still not buy it today even at that 2015 price. To me ( not trying to rain on anybody's parade here ) it's simply a C- level example of his work ( combination of later time period, Spidey obscured, D list vilain, ink job that doesn't compliment Larsen's style ) and just because Spider-Man technically APPEARS on every panel and it's a double spread doesn't even begin to overcome all its other "flaws" ( again, for me ). Judging from the auction result at least two people found it appealing ( or at the very least thought it was a good deal - and good for them ) but since you were originally asking why it went so "low" I am going to insist ( sorry ) that the pool of potential buyers for this is simply a lot smaller than for most prime pages or it's collectors who have one less zero to spend. Similarly Byrne Hidden Years and 1999 asm/Chapter One pages now go over 10k: That's always going to look cheap compared to a 1979 Byrne/Austin page. But it's also a very high number for what it is ( not that they are all terrible but they are C level Byrne ). And more to the point the pool of potential buyers is just a completely different one VS his 1970's art collectors ( There may be a few double dippers but probably not that many ). Not to say that some of Larsen's pages from 2000 wouldn't fare better. His first (2000) Spidey issue had Venom, the Black Costume ( and inks by John Beatty) so yes, certain pages could fetch a hefty price. But that's not what we saw offered on ha last week. And these pages would probably appeal more to people who discovered Larsen at a later time and don't see any major difference between his 1992 and 2000 art ( I sure do even though I also love some of his current work on TSD ).

It went for "cheap" because it's not from his original run / glory days pre-Image. He briefly came back circa 1999 for 3 issues ( this double page is from these ). Much less nostalgia involved/ Not as fondly remembered/ R Ramos is fine but not usually associated with Larsen ( Janson inked most of his Marvel pages from that era: 3 issues of Thor and then Defenders ) and maybe not the best match. Same as comparing Uncanny Byrne/Austin VS Hidden Years. Or 1990-92 Liefeld NM/X-Force VS his brief returns a decade later. Apples and (blood) oranges. Also this spread is mostly of a big bad robot. Spidey is obscured on every panel. IMO it actually went for a very strong price all things considered. If I remember this correctly it was available on CAF for a while about 2-3 years ago at a much more affordable price.

Oh man. I think that's bad form for an artist to buy his own piece at a benefit auction... I remember it selling for under 5k but I couldn't get set up in time. It's one of my favorite pieces by either artist. One of the best ink jobs Todd ever did, IMO. Like I said, I'm not 100% sure it's the case, but I do seem to recall Joe Q mentioning this years ago on newsarama. Probably not too hard to confirm if someone can ask him at a con. As for Joe Q buying his own piece, I'm fairly certain he mainly wanted it for the McFarlane inks. Hey, it's not every day that you can get Todd to ink your stuff so I totally get where Joe Q was coming from ( It prob didn't hurt either that it was Todd's best inking job since his Spidey heydays ). Also, 5K wasn't cheap for a piece in 2001 or 02.