John E.

Well, I like Alex Ross and I follow his market because I hope to snatch up a painted page for under market value on a mis-priced BIN one day. Yeah, the stuff on his site is crazy priced and most of that inventory doesn't seem to move. Every once in a while on CAF I'll bump into those 20K pieces; so like those SGM pieces, someone is buying, but not everyone. Alex Ross, I imagine, has been making a good living as a comic artist for a good 25 years so selling one 5-figure a piece a year is probably icing on a cake to his otherwise good "salary." Why sell great art for cheap? I don't know of any other "offline retail site" that sells Alex Ross art, other than pencil prelims and interior pages that pop up on auction sites. I have pointed out that Alex Ross' stuff doesn't perform at auction as well as sellers would like. That "Marvels" Human Torch page sold for under 8K when the original seller wanted 15K. An ASM cover with a huge Aunt May in the foreground retailed for about 10K, then sold on HA for about 7K. IIRC, that Kingdom Come "Special" that Ricky Bobby put up on Clink didn't meet reserve. I've also seen many painted interior pages be put up on eBay with starting bids at around 7K that don't receive a single bid. I don't know what other conclusion to draw from this other than the market has cooled. Oddly, I think the demand is there, but even if a fan like me could afford 7K on art, that's a lot money for something that isn't even the best page in the book. That image of Green Goblin that you posted is great. I bet that if I held that in my hand I would say, "Now I understand the price tag."

Well, Lee, it looks like we both got killed on the Transformer page. I got more murdered than you though. $550 final bid, $657 with the juice. Only the winner and underbidder know what makes this special, but my guess still is that there's a Transformer on every panel. Also, my theory that an auction ending on New Year's Eve would see many pieces flying under the radar was completely annihilated. I just noticed that this piece ended for the exact amount of that other Perlin/Aiken/Garvey page from Transformers #25.

That MOTU He-Man Meets Ram-man mini-comic page has already blown my estimate out the water

That Daredevil #10 cover. Wow. Looks like the Illustration House is a great place for a meet up. Thanks for the profile. Any chance you’ll do a field report on the NY Comic Art Con? I’d like to express my interest as someone on the west coast who can’t attend.

I think it'll take some time for this to pick up some traction. Right now it's the holidays and most people have an extra distraction or two. I don't see why this wouldn't be popular during the "Featured" auctions. What I like about this is that I can see my guesses be quantified, which is like giving me a grade, or batting average, for the intuition I have for the market. And just to say it, what I like about @Lee B. preauction estimates are his analysis and links to comps.

Hmm. I just typed in "350", etc. Also using Safari.

I just put in a guess for 3 or 4 lots. I looked at the previous results and whoa, there was a whole lot of under- and over-guessing...sometimes by the thousands of dollars. I made estimates for art that I kind of follow because of my interests, but there aren't a whole lot of recent comps for. Take for example that Texeira He-Man comic page. I would've estimated the hammer price at $250, but it's already at $225. Something like that is anyone's guess. Anyway, is there a simple way to explain the points system for right and wrong guesses?

PUBLISHED Superman #420 (DC, 1986), page 24. Pencils: Curt Swan; Inks: Dave Hunt.

PUBLISHED "But Wait, There's More," page 1 for the backup story in Lobo/Roadrunner #1 (DC, 2017), Pencils and inks by Bill Morrison.

Hey Lee, I'm no expert on Transformers art, but as a collector who'd like to pick up a nice example from my "first" comics, Transformers fits the bill so I've been paying more attention to comps. Like you, I also wonder if there is a preference for one art team over another? Which art team is more desirable is a debate better left out of this post. If you ask me, I don't think Transformers art is all that impressive no matter who penciled it. Covers not withstanding, of course. I hope I stir the pot a bit to get someone school me on why Transformers art is fantastic. That said, I think the reason why page 6 in Transformers #25 ended where it did is really because of the strong presence of Megatron with some decent action in it, and not because it was a Perlin/Aiken/Garvey production. IIRC, a fellow board member was selling that page with an asking price higher than the final auction price. Although I can't say whether he was the one who won it at that particular auction and tried to sell it later. It'd be great to hear his thoughts on the price though. As far as page 18 from Transformers #29? Every panel has a Transformer in it so I think that'll influence the price more than the art team. What might be pulling in the reins is that there isn't any "name brand" Transformers on the page. I'd also like to think that the auction ending on New Year's Eve will have a negative impact on the final price. I think that your estimate of $450 is a very good one. I'll play the counter argument, however, and say that it barely breaks $400 with the juice Thanks for these articles. I look forward to them each week.

My goals for 2017 were to pick up a nice Mike Allred Madman page and a Sam Kieth page, but that did not happen. I don't know if this counts as "collecting" goals, but I told myself not to buy anymore con sketches, and if I did, not to spend more than $50 a piece with the exception of Los Bros Hernandez. This is one goal that I met: with the exception of freebies, I paid less than $100 for three con sketches and I bought a pre-done piece of art from Beto and Xaime Hernandez. Generally, I resisted a lot of impulse buying at cons up until the last quarter of the year. My third goal was not to spend more on art than I did in 2016. Not blowing my money on con sketches allowed me to buy more and expensive art in 2017. But that became a double edge sword: right off the bat in February I bought a $1400 piece, which I funded through a Spring quarter sell-off you may or may not recall, but that blew my budget for the year, which resulted in me spending twice as much on art in 2017 (and still no Allred or Kieth!). I think I may have eaten into my 2018 budget. Talk about fiscal irresponsibility

Ha ha! That is a very cool DPS. And I didn't know Deodato was one to use photo references

I'm beating a dead horse here, but disappointment is the risk you take with commissions and sketches; that's why I rather not do them or not pay more than $50 for them. Now I understand that Chaykin may never draw and publish Phantom Stranger artwork so you did what you had to do; but, who knows? Maybe he will one day. Buy it, then forget about this commission or sell it. I remember reading in an another "commission" thread or in the "newbie advice" thread that throwing more money at an artist doesn't necessarily get you better art. There you go; you are not in solitary company. My take is the following: catch Chaykin at a convention and ask him to redo the hat on the spot. Bring a photo reference. I don't think that would be a big deal. Second, hiring a digital artist to clean it up sounds like a good idea to me. Third, knowing that paste-ups is the way Chaykin works makes it all that much cooler to me (but I get how visual wasn't executed to your liking). Fourth, the female (Tala?) is the centerpiece and I wouldn't even pay attention to PS. And lastly, my biggest point, put it away in your portfolio for long while--eventually your strong negative feeling will wane and you'll be able to look at this piece more objectively and not mind it as much. It's happened to me.

Thanks for the pics, Felix. I've been to the Schulz Museum once before I was a collector. Another trip, this time as a collector, is over due. And man did I worry about the Museum during the fires. I always wondered if the folks at Schulz would ever lend a hand in identifying fakes? What's your feeling? If anything, collectors in the Market for Peanuts originals should make a trip just to get a sense what an original is like. It's a cool place to visit even if you're not an OA collector.

Like the minority, I could do without the pre-auction estimates. I'd prefer a comp list instead. Anyway, like the veteran collectors have said many times here: it just takes two people to bid it up; sometimes the bidding is emotional; if you take the high bidder out of the equation next time, what are you left with?; and, one crazy auction doesn't make it a market. That said, I don't even take the investment angle into consideration. Otherwise, It's a great market report for specific auctions I don't follow. The conversations that ensue afterward are just as informative too.

Mick is a local to me (we'll be in the same restaurant from time to time). I've bought from him at conventions, but not online. He used to be active on eBay, but not so much, me thinks. Anyway, he's a straight shooter. His intention is to sell art; he has no real reason to jerk anyone around. He's also an original art collector though not as hardcore as us here. He gets it. I have no reason why you wouldn't have a successful transaction with him.

The Cartoon Art Museum?

The "video" is working for me right now. I'm listening to it on my smart phone, straight up on the website, not the YouTube app. Maybe try a different device?

I listened to the Mandel episode without any problem. I believe you have to be logged into your YouTube account (or Google) to listen. Were you logged in? Felix, I really enjoyed this two-parter. I do like the mix of having a veteran collector, a mid-veteran, and a new collector at the round table. That mix brings in fresh perspectives and it shows that this is everyone's hobby. It's also cool to get the professional comic artists' perspective. Lastly, big thanks to Andy for being a good sport about telling his side of the story. I certainly understand his side (both sides actually). Like he said, in this hobby there's lot of good stories and one or two bad ones.

Wasn't this page being sold on CAF for $11K (or 15k) for the longest time? Maybe I'm thinking of another? It's no surprise it went under 10K if it couldn't find a buyer at 11k. This is a definitive image of Torch and it set the tone for MARVELS. I guess because it wasn't part of the MARVELS continuity it didn't break 5 figures. Maybe it would have on HA or CLink. It's definitely one of my grails and I seriously considered cashing in my collection for it when it was on CAF.

Thank you all for your responses and your very interesting home remedies Apples and oranges here, but earlier this year I bought an action figure off eBay and it arrived smelling like smoke too. After some quick Internet research, I found that giving your toy a baking soda bath and airing it out should do the trick. Well, I gave it more baking soda baths than I cared to do that resulted in partial success. I then stuck in my pantry that gets some outside ventilation and forgot about it for a while. The smoke scent eventually did dissipate. Well, baking soda baths is not an option for this OA, but many of you did suggest using it in pragmatic ways. I did have a Board member with experiential advice contact me privately whose conclusion was that the scent will eventually dissipate over time. I used his suggestion of placing it in front of a fan which is what I did last night for a few hours (see photo of my setup). I can only fan one page at a time and the one that got the treatment now smells less of smoke than the other. I've decided to keep the pages after all and just let the chemistry take care of itself.

Hey Friends, Just in time to coincide with that "Your first comics" thread, I recently won an auction for two pages from one of my early childhood comics. I was so stoked because I waited so long for something from this issue to turn up; although to be specific, 5 pages from 4 different sellers popped up at once, of course. I got what I felt to be the better of all the pages. But, alas, the pages arrived smelling like tobacco smoke. It turns out that these are the inker's share of the pages and the inker was a smoker. Nevertheless, I'm put off by the smell, or otherwise, the condition issue. I already started airing them out, only at night because I don't want to unnecessarily expose the pages to light. After about a week of doing that, the smell is still present. I've already contacted the seller and he said I can return them for a full refund, no problem. I did state that these pages are nostalgic so I'm torn about the whole thing and that I'll mull it over for a few more days. So I ask the Boards: do any of you have any experience getting rid of odor from your pages? Is the scent of smoke even an issue for you like visual conditions? Would you keep the pages or send them back?

It's Modern Art collectors' heaven right now. Or perhaps for Vintage, too. Anyway, if we were at all discipline, or, and I speak for myself only--smart--we would just save all our money until this time of the year and just swim in the discounted art.

The grade shouldn't matter. What should matter the most is the authentication, especially for heavy hitter artists like Frank Miller or a legend who rarely does the con sketch. I will say that a friend of mine hits the con circuit for paid sketches on blank covers and he tends to be obsessive about having them slabbed, with a hope that they turn out 9.8. Don't know why he cares. So I guess it does matter for some.

I forgot that Eric Roberts owns Batman 497 I wasn't aware KJ let go of the other covers--likely because it's so beyond my budget, I don't even bother to ponder it.