ImageFan-migration

Someone way overpaid on the 98 splash. Generic zombies, back of main characters, small art. $2000 could be easily seen with $2500 being a decent upper limit, but not 50% more. Several well illustrated zombie pages still available on Splash Page and all indications from All Out War point to many more to come.

This piece originally sold for $1700 upon release and subsequently was offered for sale on CAF for $2100 prior to being commissioned to ComicLink. It has some potential additional value having also been used as the inside front cover for TWD 17 TPB. It is a worthy zombie splash from the small-page era. It is disappointing to see such blowback at Katchoo's argument about lazy writing. I found the rape plot to be a common male written interpretation of a woman's worst horror in a post-apocalyptic scenario. It attempted to make the Governor a typically "evil" character, but actually took away from his craziness evident in keeping alive a zombie pet daughter and floating heads in tanks.

This is a quite unusual eBay stance, almost contrary to their neverending assault on the common seller that has rendered selling on their site an exercise in frustration. While there are unscrupulous and deceptive eBay sellers, at least we as the buyers have a choice when purchasing to ask questions, review feedback and pictures, and select a properly described item. When dealing with raw items, I can see how returns can be problematic however. Even with CGC grading, flaws can be graded very subjectively. Even a high resolution scan and a close-up picture will fail to illuminate minute flaws only visible to the naked eye under proper lighting conditions.

This splash page from Issue 98 should be a good indication of the desirability and escalation potential of recent zombie small art pages: http://www.comiclink.com/auctions/item.asp?back=%2Fsearch%5Fadv%5Fart%2Easp%3Fall%3Dy%26CATEGORIES%3D%2D1%26Artist1%3DCHARLIE%2520ADLARD%26PRICEF%3D%26PRICET%3D%26SORT%3DCATEG%26where%5Fauctione%3Dy%26where%5Fauctions%3Dy%23Item%5F986929&id=986929 Original value of $1200 IIRC just about 18 months ago. The piece was also used as the inside cover for the WD #18 TPB. It was available for just about a week on CAF for $2100 before the seller listed it on ComicLink. It will be very interesting to see if a couple of the usual buyers compete heavily at open auction.

wonder if one was Kirkman No, does not look like his regular Ebay account, unless he has a secondary one. I had sold to him once a couple of years ago, and his user ID does not appear on the bidder list for any Hero issues.

Escrow services and refusal of upfront payment are certainly great options to make the commission process equitable for both sides. However, this fails with certain artists who are rarely available for commission work, take on very few such tasks, and are in great demand where they can command terms and refuse any negotiations to the contrary. In such a situation, one is left at the mercy of the artists, desperate to the point where the initial payment is just a gamble on an investment that may never come to fruition.

I was "fortunate" enough to obtain a couple of Walking Dead pages before everything hit the fan with the TV series. It itsimply astounding how prices have skyrocketed considering the art has become much more simplistic in the last 30 or so issues. The last cover (which was actually changed in the published version) went for 5+ K USD from a European seller. And it was a horribly boring cover. I remember about 18 months ago Splash Page was sitting on about a dozen covers, all bleh, mediocre. I could not imagine spending the 700-900$ on them, for what basically amounted to minute line work amidst white backgrounds. When the Omnibus 3 cover came up for 5K USD, I was bewildered by the price difference, but at least saw how much art it had compared to the other pieces. I just do not see anything being fairly priced for Walking Dead out there. While art is based in a free market on supply and demand, IMHO the only fair pricing has come from panel pages available via open eBay auctions that have no reserve and are allowed to run their course. I would not be surprised to see these prices dip back down in a half dozen years or so as the show runs its course.