zhamlau

i can confirm the BEY facebook ID is Richard, sadly had a run in with him.

+1

You cant tell its a photocopy in the original listing, right? Its only after days of being up that he adds that fact. If that's the case, its possible the buyers saw it first day, read description, and put in bids or at least watched it. I know I don't constantly check descriptions to see if they have been updated later in the auction. That's what happened here most likely. Expect this sale to be returned.

Wow, its a beautiful piece. I actually LOVE the finished pencils almost as much as the painting! Had no idea he was so good at that.

There are a few broken up issues ive seen. But he has the majority of his work still. Part of the reason its so nuts expensive.

Yeah, I don't get that. Do they actually possess the art? I mean who actually physically has it? I don't think Metro would sell art they don't physically have on hand.

Sal is one of my favorite all time artists so I like this topic. I've always put him on par with John. I believe Sal to be a top 3 comic artist of all time for one reason...longevity of relevance. How many artists have been working consistently for 50 years straight....and stayed relevant to both older and newer readers? He worked on nothing but high end books for major publishers. His style evolved and became influential on generations of newer artists. John Romita and Ditko worked as long but they became stuck in the style they were known for in the silver age. Sal's style evolved with the market and the desires of more current standards, but as we have seen recently in commissions he can still knock out that lush bronze style work so many of us love and respect. I cant think of any other artist who really is on his level in terms of quality, quantity, and era. Its almost like David Bowie, constantly changing constantly producing constantly working. Happy Birthday, Sal! Here are my two favorite Buscema pieces i have shared publicly.

I got in 4th in "Other" with the rest of the illustrations with 20 votes...Im honestly shocked since there is so much great stuff and plates in that category. Its an oddly satisfying feeling to get the votes, not gonna lie. What a fun contest.

Nice Topic, only Romita I own might as well share. Captain America 140 page 3. Cap and Grey Gargoyle going to war. I dont know where the other pages for this book are ive only seen 2, figure john has em or someone hording.

I just went over the art...I dont see one item of good interest actually selling. Why do they keep doing this, its just such a bad look.

1. Be happy 2. Buy items I really want 3. Sell items I don't want 4. Turn profits into something worthwhile.

First time participating, why not? http://www.comicartfans.com/MyLowry.asp?GSub=2936 1. Joe Jusko Marvel/Dynamic Forces 2002 Original 20x40 Acrylic Painting [unpublished/Published: Other] 2. Mockingbird and Black Canary Greg Laroque Commission [Published/Unpublished: Commissions] 3. Keith Pollard King Conan issue 8 Hyborian Pin Up Page [Published: Splash Pages, Pinups] 4. Saga of the Swamp Thing issue 20 page 4 Moore/Totleben [Published: Interior Panel Pages]

Question: are your overseas buyers middle aged foreigners? Middle age expats? Or european and asian teens? If they are middle aged and currently in the buying pool, I think you have to discount them completely in looking at demographics because they will get just as old just as fast. On the other hand, if they are teenagers or in their 20s, I can see where you're coming from with your argument. Ultimately, I think readership in those foreign countries is what's most important. What's that like? I don't get the sense that's any great chunk of business, but I have zero clue about that. Asian and European mid 20s to late 40s usually. People out of college but not closing in on retirement...the only people who have ever in history collected anything that costs more than pocket money. I think the stratification will be the overall effect on the market, not the total lowering of the tide for all ships. I think right now we have a host of buyers and relatively few sellers hence these steep price increases. As time goes on that will even out as it always does and as it evens out the desire for the top end material will remain but the mid and low tier stuff will stagnate and eventually even begin to dip. Someone else brought up professional investors and firms coming into this market. I don't think it happens (could just be naive on my part) much now but I think as more track record of prices and establishment of whats desirable/blue chip occurs, we will see more and more entity buyers rather than individual buyers. Again I believe they will drive the top end of the market and ignore the middle ground, but it will bring fresh cash into the mix. could be wrong of course, but I think my reasoning is sound and only time will tell.

See, im not hoping for the "whale" scenario at all, Oleg isn't gonna be paying me 850 for my late 80s Romeo pages no matter how much oil he pumps. I'm just saying that I've personally seen nearly 1/2 of all of my art sales originate over seas, from multiple European and Asian countries. You see what I like, it's purely American based dudes in tights and capes. I believe that diffusion and cultural adoption has occurred and will occur more completely as time goes on. That "emerging" market has done emerged to some extent and I think it continues. I think we will also see more stratification as well. Common bronze and copper pages will stagnate price wise like you see with Buscema Conan and lesser Pollards and the like. But the exceptional unique image, the splash, or just truly representative panel pages will continue the growth trend we have seen over the last 10 years. The ride will continue for those, the rest have hit their stop and will hang there for a while. When prices start lowering I think those will be the ones to feel the effect. The exceptional will continue their ascent for decades. It might slow, but I don't see it giving back anytime soon.

I think people are missing a major piece of this puzzle, globalization. What you will lose in direct love and dedication from American youth when it comes to comics and comic art, I believe through the movies and the general cultural export you will offset those losses with gains in Europe and emerging Asian markets. Most of my direct sales for art go overseas these days, even with a strong dollar. Im not just talking England and France either. I think as the "geek culture" that has dominated the US for the last few years fully translates abroad, those collectors (that I have seen) will start to gravitate to art and high dollar comics in general. Its the last (and maybe greatest) American export, our culture and in specific our pop culture. Yeah, they will have their own products as well. But I think keeping the medium and the field in general relevant to a wider audience I think keep this hobby and field in a good place for the next few decades at least.

You know whats funny? I had never read a Krazy Kat until i picked up a daily. I started reading and really looking at it, its mindblowing how good of a a strip that really was...and that its pushing 100 years old is insane. Talk about being ahead of your time. The writing, the pacing, and just the energy of the art. I 100% get the prices and I think they are undervalued on some level. Not to derail (again) but I just wanted to chime in I think you are correct as can be on that strip.

Not to derail but Ethan used to talk about going to the first comic/comic art convention back in 1964 in NYC, the one convention Steve Ditko ever attended. Did anyone ever interview him and document/preserve his stories and recollections? I thought that tale would have been fascinating. I know someone was working on it at one point but I never heard any follow up.

If it could be 2 (dont want to lose my shirt on this deal) it would be the Uncanny 268 and Captain America Annual 8 covers.

looks like a John Vuscema to me Actually when you look at what a piece of garbage this piece is, Im pretty sure the "J.V." stands for Junior Varsity.

Because people keep buying from them and putting up with their B.S. Honestly I don't know of more than 2-3 times in the last 5 years anyone I know has bought anything from them. Their Ebay ID's show little/no sales completed. I don't know who these phantom uninformed or "don't mind getting ripped off' folks are who are supposedly keeping them in business. I think they actually might not exist. Its seems as if the brothers make few if any sales each year, its just i remember these guys as buying a lot back in the 20 bucks a page days. I think they just sank a ton in back then and now can afford to have 2-5 sales a year at insanely over market prices. That's probably why no one can really punish them for their games, they don't need the money more than the art because they effectively have nothing into the art. They can play these games because it doesn't matter to them if they sell or not. Its almost like they have nothing to lose, so you cant really push em so on these antics go for decades.

Its been said already, but again...avoid them and their "alternate" and "first take" covers priced at 400-700% market value and all other associated Donnelly shenanigans. Nice enough guys, but you cant realistically buy anything from them at any price even remotely in the range of current market. Once they acquire a piece, in my mind I think of it as "lost at sea". As long as they have it, you have to treat it as non-existing. Then eventually they will either sell pieces at a legitmate auction or unload in bulk to a major dealer, at which point it will all be "rediscovered" and will be realistically available to the market again. On a side note, when all those thousands of prime era pages go live, don't you think it will sorta crash the market value? I always wonder about what will happen one of the mass-collector's finally does sell off.

Considering how many years its been, and likely there was never any police report filed for stolen goods...I'm not sure how exactly the Kirby estate could actually strong arm anyone into paying a rake on anything they are selling. Maybe media based shame tactics, but really how much would that really hurt?

I have a friend who actually bought kirby pages out of the trunk of mark evaniers car as well I believe at a San Diego Con in the 70s. Jack wasnt signing art at the time because so much of it was stolen, but he ended up signing my friends pages because mark gave him the OK since they came from them. I was shocked when I heard the story, but apparently thats how it went back in the day.

Its not a great image, I kept meaning to scan this. I normally dont collect material like this, too modern and I have no idea what if anything it was used for...but it was so good I couldnt pass on it. Its by Charlie Adlard from Walking dead and other things. He did this on Topps paper he probably had lying around from his X-Files day. So judgey and angry looking .

I'm not a fan of reserves. I tend to gloss over an auction item with one (even if i want the piece). I sort of wish there were no reserves allowed in any major auction to be honest, or if they have them on a piece just start the bidding at the reserve. I've consigned hundreds of items between HA and CL and I have never put a reserve on anything, whatever it sells for it sells for. Maybe if I was dealing consistently in 10k+ items I would feel differently but if something is worth less than 5k I usually feel the market will find its balance why ruin it with a reserve? Sometimes you take a loss, sometimes you make a killing....usually I find you just get dead center market because folks aren't fools and they tend to not let things go for a steal to someone else. Anyway, my penny's worth.