John E.

I do have experience filing successful insurance claims on damaged art among other things, like comics. My educated guess is that your cousin paid for insurance going one way; USPS honored their end of the bargain and delivered it to Europe, but the insurance went null and void when it became a “return to sender” scenario. It is also possible that your cousin didn’t file correctly, by not uploading the proper documents that proves damage and value.

I don't mind them at all. I think they speak to a certain, nostalgic era in comic books. My grails have always been covers to childhood books and one of them is Strange Tales (1987) #2 (cover by Bret Blevins). This Kevin Nowlan Strange Tales split screen that Albert sold is also cool...wouldn't mind having that. In conclusion...they sure beat the no-background, no-trade dress covers of today.

If Marwood is able to find a scan of the original pencils, then who’s to say there aren’t more scans or pencil-only pages out there that anyone, especially professional inkers, can download or scan and print out blue line copies to ink as practice?

I hardly ever read the “updated user agreement” in this case for eBay, but did this time. Looks like a lot of states will be collecting taxes soon. It’s just not clear to me if eBay will be collecting taxes as buyers check out, ala Zhamlou, or they were deduct from a seller’s PayPal what they owe in taxes. Read both practices in two different eBay users agreements. Here’s one. Anyone care to research and verify? Voudou? You love taxes. i know that eBay gets dogged a lot and understandably so, but it was looking as a good alternative for OA (when the quality stuff popped up) because there was no BP or tax. That’s all the bygone days now.

This is where you and I have common ground: 1. We both wouldn’t pay $15K on a Jim Lee commission; 2. We both (more or less) like the art of Jason Shawn Alexander. I did read The Empty Zone a few years ago. I enjoyed the art, though I don’t remember the story, which probably says something. Yes, when commission prices were announced they were a sticker shock. But on the other hand, so are Moy’s prices on Jim’s modern covers. One of my points is that it makes sense that Jim’s commissions are so high because they are proportionate to his published prices. But to your point, I think 99.9% of fans who are priced out of Jim’s rates still shake their head at those prices. I don’t think that’s changed. What I’m saying is that this is Jim Lee here. Not some flash-in-the-pan newcomer. So where I get confused is when you say “...it isn’t just artistic style, it’s the quality of work.” Do you feel the commissions are of poor quality? Or, “Why pay Jim 15k to draw Subby when you can pay Jason Shawn Alexander $500 for something just as good.” That’s what I’m not getting. They are not in the same level. If Ditko were alive today and he opened a commission list with a $15k cover quality option I think quite a few people would jump on that. Sure it would disappoint a lot of collectors, but that’s his value. And his work would probably not be intricate as Jim’s or Alexander’s. But more grounded: I’ve not known Alex Ross to ever open a commission list (unless you’re Chip friggin Kidd.) If he did open one, I’d guess it’d be around $15k too. But would you say, “Why pay $15k for Alex Ross when you can commission Mike Mayhew and get the same quality?” Mike Mayhew is great but he’s not Alex Ross. Mike’s painted commissions for a single figure is 5k btw. Also, I don’t expect Ross to roll out of bed for less than $15k, but for some reason we expect Jim Lee to.

This is where it’s hard for me to see your point. I mean I get what you’re saying, I just don’t get it. Jim Lee and Jason Shawn Alexander aren’t even on the same level...of legendary status. These collectors aren’t paying Jim Lee because he could draw well, they are paying Lee because it’s Jim Lee. Jim Lee who drew the best selling X-Men comic on which these collectors grew up on. JSA drew...??? I mean I’m reading the equivalent of “Why pay Jack Kirby $15k when you can pay Sal Buscema $1500 for something just as well.” It’s not about the art, it’s about the artist (and their style.) As far as the high cost of Jim Lee’s commission, the standard pricing of a *new* JIm Lee cover is $25k which people happily pony up. Albert has sold better, modern covers for $40-$50k. So selling commissions for $1k doesn’t make economic sense for the businessmen. $15k sounds about right for cover quality. And if they get picked up as a variant, now it’s a $25k piece.

The only thing I got to say is that in the age of variant covers, who’s gonna be the one laughing when these commissions get picked up as 1:100 retailer incentive covers.

Yes, buh-buh-but scarcity doesn’t drive value, demand does.

Egads! Hide yo wife from this guy y’all.

Well, that’s interesting.

Unless you are trying to sell on the CGC OA Marketplace...

Nice website. I was browsing through it today.

It's from Birds of Prey: Batgirl/Catwoman #1 (2003). Hence the "BG/CW" you see at the top. 52 page Prestige format. Writer is John Francis Moore. Pencils by Darrick Robertson (obviously) and inks by Jimmy Palmiotti (more obvious).

Or sitting in flea markets for $45.

And I would reckon that those for whom the copyright has been infringed upon would have to know that their art has been printed and bound in such a book, but how would they know if they have never seen what’s inside the book? If the book-maker is just showing it off among a tight group of collectors, the artist should never find out. Besides, if this was me, and I got “caught,” I would argue that a facet of this hobby is sharing, and it’s too big of a risk to carry around hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of art to a collectors’ gathering and that photocopies mitigates the risk of losing the art or having it stolen.

Have we learned nothing from the “Purchase of the Year” thread? Keep this stuff to yourself. If you need to unburden yourself, tell it to your barber or bartender. 🙃

Oh ok — that makes a lot more sense if the cost also includes a cleaning. Good luck with the auction!

The current bid is $950. So it costs more than $1k to make a stat?

That looks really familiar. I think it's by Jose Luis Garcia. I'm thinking merchandising art. I'm probably going to make a fool of myself here, but didn't @Gal Schwartz own them once?

Never been to this show but did go to the L.A. show last year. Generally, all dealers are open to trade for “quality” art. I can’t think of a better place than an original art show. My concern would be trades that favorably benefit the opposite party. I just did a trade with Anthony Snyder in person. I thought the trade was fair. He doesn’t accept independent stuff though. If really have to explain to him what you’re holding it’s probably a no.

Not sure what other options you have but passing up on Metropolis would be a missed opportunity for me. You might not end up buying anything but you never know what might materialize in the future from that visit.

I won my first auction at Heritage. I guess that means I get to wear big boy underpants. Heritage describes this Punisher piece by Gray Morrow as an unpublished illustration and I bid accordingly. However, upon receiving it I noticed a number 17 followed by a period like a page number, prompting me to believe it might have been published somewhere, but the Comic Book Database doesn't credit Morrow on any Punisher titles. If it did find its way published anywhere, it may be in an obscure issue of Marvel Age or a pin-up somewhere. The other reason that makes me wonder it might be published somewhere is the hefty price tag of $400. The best I can date the board is early 90s, so $400 seems to a lot of moolah for that time. I'm making assumptions here, but it looks Morrow laid down the price as opposed to a dealer who is often more discreet with penciling in a price. I thought at first that this was a commission but why price it so high if it was? So I have three questions: 1. Has anyone seen this piece published anywhere? 2. Can anyone date the era of the board? It's a board for "full bleed" and not for interiors or covers. Interior and cover boards in the early 90s look different than this one. 3. Can anyone provide general insight to Morrow's output? How common were illustrations like this? He didn't do a lot of Marvel work after the Bronze age, so I'm wondering why he would have a "modern" board to work with? Maybe someone here knows the story behind this piece, published or otherwise.

I like Punisher. I like Tim Bradstreet. I follow Tim's market. And yes, even Tim's better Punisher covers sell for no more than $2K. I bid on this thinking it was going to be the same ol' comp but tapped out when it was apparent that it was going higher than that, but I didn't expect it to go that high. My reasoning for the price is that it's a "milestone" issue (#50) and it's a very nice, broody, ideal image of Bradstreet's Punisher. A lot of the Tim's cover that have gone on the market lack a great shot of Punisher--you might get a face, a skull, or a gun, but often not all three at once (with GreatEscape's an exception). Yeah, I agree with Chris--I'd love a Bradstreet cover but his process makes me balk at paying too high of a price.

That's a really nice cover. I wish I hadn't missed it!

I was mildly interested in the film until Stu shows up to the old location of his shop. When we start realizing that Stu has some daddy issues he hasn’t come to terms with that’s when I really got sucked in. To me the human drama is what interested me, too. We are all in this hobby for nostalgia. Collecting these artifacts from our childhood is supposed to relieve our stress, that “looking back on the better times of our past gives us hope for the future.” What happens, then, when pain is anchored to these artifacts? Is it nostalgia or trauma? And yet it’s through these artifacts, and Stu’s return to them, that Stu had his moment of catharsis with his dad. The film’s premise asks what happened to the card market, when really it’s about Stu asking what happened to his family. In other words, he’s investigating (or his producers are prodding) the collapse of two different but related things. That’s what I found interesting about the film.