John E.

Hmm. I had it on my watch list for a few days (maybe three?) and I was surprised it hadn’t been snatched up. But you know, maybe my memory falters after tracking so many pieces. It’s just weird that I could have sworn it was up for about 72 hours. But like you said, it doesn’t matter as long as you got it in time.

100% agree. I’ve always liked the McHulk and they go for a fraction of the McSpidey. I’m sure there will be a run on that bank now.

I’d say you got lucky when you saw it when you did. It had been posted for a few days already. It was priced to keep causal collectors at bay, but not so high that any motivated collector could have snagged it. Again, congratulations.

Very cool cover. It’s no wonder that the take down happened so quickly. Congrats on acquiring this grail.

That looks like a pen and ink example. I've owned one convention sketch of Tim's done in pencil. If he knows he's doing a pencil-only piece, then he'll do a tight drawing with shade--something that is not meant to be inked. I know what you mean by "underrated," but in what respect? Anyone who knows Tim Vigil's work and who likes detailed art puts him in the rank of Master. I know I do. But if you're wondering why there isn't more hoopla about him, it's because he's never drawn for the Big Two, which is why he doesn't have wider recognition (re: demand). If you love his stuff, then go for it. Take this free advice for what it's worth: I've been less enthusiastic about his superhero work. Tim really excels in horror. If you go for something in the superhero genre, I'd try to stick close to horror/grotesque as possible, e.g. WWBN, The Joker, Killer Croc. You know, monster looking stuff. Lastly, I've seen some female hero stuff of his that didn't do it for me.

Just curious, and so not to start another thread, but is the toning due to exposure to light, or will the paper tone nonetheless over time because (I assume) the paper itself isn't acid free?

As far as I know, assuming nothing has changed recently, CGC will slab “witnessed” art, not published art, or art that hasn’t been witnessed. They certainly don’t slab anything that measures 11x17. Even 9x12 seems big to me; I thought their dimensions were smaller, like magazine size. I believe all this information is on their site.

Glad this worked out for him. Still waiting for my pieces to show up on auction with $1 starting bid and no reserve. Last September a CAF acquaintance of mine bought a cover from the Donnellys at a show and months later I found the cover still up for auction on eBay via Coolines. Not great housekeeping on their part.

And of course, when I read your anecdote, the first thing that popped into my was: "What's that?" "It's Japanese." "How do you know?" "I bought it in Japan." So disregard that whole "Bruce Vain" thing at the end of the clip!

Chuck, I think you just had your "Bruce Wayne" moment.

I have shipped to France and its surrounding countries via eBay without any "problem." If I remember correctly, I shipped a sketch cover to France and it didn't arrive when it should. I called USPS to inquire and to make a long story short, the recipient had to pick it up from customs, but that didn't seem to be a problem for him and was happy overall. I think that's the worst experience I've ever had internationally. If you ship via eBay, you and your buyer automatically get a tracking number. I have see a disclaimer at mailing label time that says that "tracking is not available in this country" but it always tracks it. I don't know about buying insurance for int'l delivery because I've never tried. It's my understanding that if you want insurance you must ship Int'l Priority Mail and I think you can't buy more than $200 worth. There may be more flexibility (or not) if you ship Priority Mail Int'l EXPRESS. Shipping overseas always makes me anxious but it has turned out well each time. Just make sure you pack well because it's a long bumpy ride from here to there.

I’ve never known Ron to have a rep. Ron has always sold his art at his con appearances, not that that’s a good indicator of NOT having a rep.

Ron has doubled his rate due to his resurgence in popularity thanks to the upcoming Infinity War film. His convention sketches are $200 for a single figure in pencil with minimal background. This a flat rate whether you want it on paper or a blank sketch cover. Not sure if he’ll do 11x17 though for that much. If you want a commission talk to him at the con. I can’t speak to his reliability or otherwise, but you know how it goes with at-home commissions. Ron is a super nice guy so don’t be shy to approach him and ask.

Yes; the last one I saw go up for auction was Buzzsaw (late last year? Jan of this year?). Starting bid was $399.99 and ended without any bids. I didn’t see it relisted.

Just FYI: the cover was sold at the show.

What makes most sense to me is that not every one is interested in sharing or showing off. I have other collectibles besides OA (I'm sure we all do) that is pretty cool or unique but I have no desire to post them anywhere or receive kudos for them. I imagine it's likely a similar thing to others.

I agree with this valuation. The median price for a Cho cover is about $6k. If prelims are 5%-20% of a cover, than one of these is worth about $300-$1200. $1200 is likely too high, but $300-$500 for a Wolverine sounds about right. Knock the price down a notch if the character is not that popular, and put it up a notch or two if it was a female.

Yup, I certainly agree on the rendering. It's probably as close (re: affordable) as you can to those covers. Funny, like how you don't mind the silhouette-style, I don't mind the t-shirt outline. I guess it's these differences in tastes that prevent bidding wars in some cases.

Although I prefer Marvels over Kingdom Come, I'm still a KC fan, but I just can't get over the silhouette-style of the piece. The size, the popularity, the "finish" is not even a consideration to me. Any thoughts on that Kingdom Come t-shirt piece? I really liked it. I'm split on the final hammer? Too low, just right, too high?

Well, I'm comparing a prelim to a published cover by Alex Ross. Kingdom Come or not, it's still a bunch of characters in silhouettes. I'd choose the one nicely painted figure over that.

I own a page from this book so I watched with vested interested. On one hand I wanted it to do really well to protect my "investment;" but on the other hand, I didn't want the price to get too crazy in case I wanted another one down the line. I say it landed around FMV. Scott Eder puts a ~$1K price tag on them on eBay (I paid way more for mine). I'm not sure what these pieces originally sold for when they were first released, but there hasn't been much movement in price within the last year. And yes, these don't pop up often--this is the first one to appear in the public market in a year. I will admit that since this was a full background piece, I was expecting it to hit $1,000 or $1100, especially because the bids flew out of the gates. Nevertheless, congrats to the buyer and seller.

Congratulations to @Claudio for getting $5.1K on that Kingdom Come piece. Someone should've jumped on it when he was selling it on CAF for less. Although, Claudio, sorry that the color guide didn't get close to your original asking price. I'm really surprised with that final price on the KC piece, especially for a prelim. A few JSA Alex Ross covers just sold on HA for a little over $4K as a comparison. I don't know what could've attributed to the value. It's from Kingdom Come maybe? Nevertheless, Claudio, I hope that made you some gains on your overall consignment.

It actually sold on eBay for $2,604 (+$12.75 shipping).

That is quite a bit of money. In the $1k-$2k I'd understand, but $2600? For comparison, ROM #15 p. 10, also by Buscema, sold on eBay for $450 on February 2, 2018. Not too bad of a price, but out of seven panels, ROM appears in only one. And for what it's worth, I'm looking for pages from a particular late issue of ROM. So maybe the nostalgia is really kicking in?

I’m amazed that that it stayed complete for that long. Glad to know pages are out there. Maybe one day I could afford to get one.