Andahaion

Yep, stickers for me too.  

On 1/28/2024 at 11:07 PM, Xatari said:

Hey @John E.,

I was born in 1980 and caught the big comic boom of the 90s just prior to the Image formation. Thats a lot of why I missed some of the nostalgia of Conan, Watchmen, and Dark Knight. It doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate those properties, it just doesn’t hit me in the feels the same way it does the crew 5-10 years older than me. 

I stopped reading comics when I got busy in high school (around 1994) and got back in maybe 10 years ago. Being at a place in my life with a bit more disposable income, I picked up a lot of big key books I wasn’t able to buy as a kid… Hulk 181, FF48, etc. My wife and I made an agreement that money for any hobby wouldn’t come from our family account, so I ended up buying and selling some books to be able to afford others.

During the pandemic I switch completely to OA and sold most of my books to fund art. In my opinion the art market lagged behind the comic boom by about 6-12 months, so it provided more buying power for me. 

I try not to sell art right now except in the rare instance it either provides some benefit to my family or helps me purchase a piece I don’t otherwise be able to afford. 

To answer your question about reading though, I read more comics today than in past years. There was a 20 year gap during which I missed things like Age of Apocalypse, but I am slowly making my way back through. There are some really good stories being told today though. Some of my favorites include Something Is Killing the Children, Ultimate Spider-Man (only one issue so far), Hulk (Klein is blowing me away), and Venom (I enjoy Dylan Brock). 

Aside from being born two years before you, this is pretty much my story.  I have some gaps in my reading, so I'm always buying trades of those missed stories.  But I certainly do read books from all eras.  I agree there are good stories being told today.  I tend to wait until trades are released as I prefer to read entire stories/arcs at the same time, so I'm usually months/years behind everyone else.  And for OA...I don't have a ton of pages, but from what I've bought so far seems to be definitely favoring modern artists/stories.  

I'm no help to you other than to say that those SS panels are pretty.  Carry on!

I do have a physical copy of the comic book containing the art for each of my pieces. 

On 12/17/2023 at 1:54 PM, Varanis said:

Less quantity, more quality.

Samesies. 

The artist's prediction (as posted in his Facebook group) is 26K.  He didn't specify if that was with/without fees, and that was posted a couple weeks ago.  I've chatted with some folks about this piece and can't come to a decision as to whether I'd want to own it or not...?  Owning for infamy isn't really my jam, yet it somehow compels!  Ha.

I’m an American and proud to be an honorary Smeg Head. #reddwarf

On 9/25/2023 at 12:39 AM, Will_K said:

Should've been more specific.  I wasn't trying to flatten something.  I'm really interested in protecting pastels and other kinds of pencil drawings from smudging.  But it seems the most important thing is avoiding pressure.

As a fine artist, you may want to check with the original artist to see if they recommend (or use) a fixative for their drawings.  Many do, and there are a lot of options on the market.  That should prevent smudging.  

I'm all for artists getting paid for their work, and see no issue with this especially since it's clearly marked.  Looks nice, quality print.

Sandra Hope seems to always deliver totally awesome work; and over such a long career.  Good for her.  

On 8/7/2023 at 11:18 AM, MIL0S said:

was your piece valued at $5k+? when I inquired about selling a couple of pieces last year I was told that was the threshold for them to accept anything. 

No, it was valued (their valuation) at half that.  Not sure why they told you no.  It was even put into a Signature Auction.

On 8/2/2023 at 9:45 PM, G.A.tor said:

now that my collecting OA has matured somewhat (I don't claim a lot), I find myself re-examining and re-evaluating many of my purchases... I think I've become a better collector over the past 3 years....and surprisingly, I've redefined what Surfer I really want to collect...

Personal growth/maturing is great and offers new opportunities to (as you say) re-examine your collection/focus.  You are correct in that time (generally) creates a better collector.  Time allows you to develop your eye and instincts (it helps me to say 'no', ha).  I certainly have pieces in my modest collection that I wouldn't buy now, in part because I feel I am a better collector and have a somewhat more mature understanding of what I'm looking for, or what moves me.  That said, your question about what to do with these pieces is a bit more difficult to answer.  Selling is an option, but once the art is gone, it's generally gone for good.  I've only sold one piece and that was because I was able to land an upgrade and used the sale to offset the acquisition.  I went with Heritage.  It wasn't a very expensive piece, certainly not good enough to negotiate any special terms.  I would imagine with your stuff Heritage would be the spot to go, but it all depends on the details.  I also agree with some of the advice offered above regarding being thoughtful about why you are selling.

Yes, but purchased in 2017 I think. I had never seen OA in person when I was transitioning from collecting books, so I wanted to just buy a page at a reasonable price to see in hand. Once I opened this I was a full convert. Sold most of my books to fund my first purchases in art. Haven’t looked back. 

This is Starlin from Death of the New Gods. Not sure why I picked this page as my first. I’ve never read the story. I think it was because I knew Starlin and I like Darkseid and it was like $250. 
 

Thank you for doing this, Mr. Grape + Ape!  Lovely Surfer piece there.  Excelsior!

On 7/19/2023 at 10:25 AM, BCarter27 said:

Yeah, I'd recommend the OP develop a network of other trusted collectors who he can bounce things off of. An original art "cabal", if you will...

I second this.  Unless you already have some friends in this hobby, it's super important (in my opinion) to develop a relationship with someone(s) who understands the hobby and to which you can go to for anything.  I didn't have anyone like that until this board and there's one individual in particular where we text back and forth all the time about all things OA related whether it's auction results, tracking pages, discussing deals, reminding each other of art drops, bringing pages to each other's attention, etc.  Very beneficial.  

I love that podcast!  Amps me up to read some funny books, baby.

I use the camscanner app pretty much exclusively. Works for my purposes. 

On 7/12/2023 at 12:49 PM, KirbyCollector said:

2020 (when Up in the Sky was published) was a looooong time ago... that might have been the last year it was OK to say you loved the US... a lot has changed culturally and it's much more fashionable to claim otherwise right now, sadly

Gotcha.  I sometimes have issues fighting cynicism these days, but try to channel Superman and still believe in something that resembles hope.  It's perhaps naïve, but these days a guy needs something to hold onto.  Cheers.

On 7/10/2023 at 8:09 AM, KirbyCollector said:

This is a true relic because DC no longer allows Superman to espouse these views

Curious why you say that?  Tom King put these very words in to his Superman: Up in the Sky arc (last page of Part 6).  I believe he also included it in his recent Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow arc as well, but I don't recall exatly.  For my money, that Superman trade is one of the best Supes stories in quite some time.  Likely since All-Star.

Pretty sure Disney’s not ‘going broke’ any time soon. 

On 6/6/2023 at 6:17 PM, Dirtcheap31 said:

I know in high end art they restore but it’s mostly cleaning

I'm a fine artist.  I'm not a conservator, but I am familiar enough to perhaps help provide some additional context here.  Yes, cleaning is certainly something that happens particularly with older work.  One has to be careful in the cleaning process because over aggressive cleaning with the use of various solvents can take original paint off of the ground (canvas, board, etc.).  But color retouching is something that's certainly available to damaged work also.  A good conservator will do everything in their power to preserve the paint laid down by the original artist.  What this generally means is that a quality color retouch will only replace paint where the actual losses have occurred.  Additionally, conservators can lay down what's referred to an isolation, or barrier layer over the original paint.  The conservator can then retouch over this isolation layer which in effect helps preserve the original paint laid down by the original artist (it is also easily reversible and hopefully poses minimum risk to the original paint layer).  Bad retouching results where the conservator uses an inappropriate amount of new paint directly over the artist's original pigments, often covering large swaths of the original image.  Then there are cases where the canvas is torn or has holes which need repairing.  Other "alterations" to old paintings can also include taking off and replacing the old varnish layer with a new varnish.  Relining, reinforcing, and various repairs to old/damaged canvases and structural supports such as wood panels.  I've seen some wood panels completely separated be joined back together with amazing results.  So, I guess my point is that there are a lot of conservation efforts that take off and put on various "things" to help preserve the art.  Lots of "mucking" around with the original, which to some degree takes the work further away, yet closer to the original.  

I am always torn with conservation in the context of comic OA.  One one hand, I see it as perfectly acceptable in order to preserve the art.  However, I am absolutely disgusted by amateurs, or dealers (you know who they are) who take action into their own hands to permanently deface the original in an attempt to make it appear as something it never was, or to appear in a light to make it more attractive to a buyer. 

Yet, on the other, I totally share sentiments expressed in this and other threads that even if the original artist retouched areas which may be at risk of losing their richness; that action somehow devalues or demotes the original to something other than the original.  It's funny how I'm fine with buying old, conserved paintings, but would likely not purchased conserved OA.  I think it may come down to if I know the conservator, and trust they acted in an ethical and responsible manner.  Not sure we have that option in OA as of yet.

I liked Eternals also.  But, I generally have a difficult time being very critical about most of these types of movies.  Generally.  There have been some in the 'nerd cinema world' I've wanted to walk out of.