Andahaion

Appreciate the effort you put into these reports. As someone anxiously awaiting to find out if I've won (tonight!) and consequently entered the original comic book art world, I greatly welcome these and other avenues available for edification. I spent maybe a year or so researching and learning about this particular niche hobby. As I'm sure many others on this board do, I happen to have other interests. For instance I collect fine art, but was a little hesitant to enter this world given its nuances. For some reason fine art just seems less confusing to me. That said, I will greatly underscore your advocating for having a blueprint. Most of my hesitation was centered around just that, what is my concentration? Comic book art seems ubiquitous in that one can attain work quickly at various levels from a host of suppliers whether they are the artists, art dealers, conventions, or what have you. I decided upon a working vision statement along the lines of I will collect pieces that to me exemplify the essence of the characters I love in this hobby. It's vague and broad and I'm sure that may change, but at least it gives me parameters. I've found that OA has so much more context around it for me to sort through. What I'm trying to say here is that there are other factors that accompany a piece of OA. You have the penciller who may or may not be inked by another person (I still struggle with this concept). The pages also come from a story line, which brings additional nuance and context. For example, I was looking at a modern page a while ago featuring Superman. When I researched the story a little more, it turns out that it was Superman, but of a different time. So...nice art of my favorite hero, but at the same time not really Superman within the context of the story. I asked myself if something like that mattered to me, and didn't really have a good answer. Whereas with fine art (and not to say that OA isn't fine art) I find my collection largely driven by artist and period. At any rate, thank you again for your work. It is noticed and appreciated. Cheers.

Excuse me if someone already spoke to this, but because I just went through it yesterday thought I'd mention it here... I travel a few times a month for work. When I know I'll have a few hours to kill I search for stores to visit while I'm out of town. I like to visit stores that have back issues and a nice selection of graphic novels, toys, statues, maybe art, etc. But back issues are a must for me because I don't really collect anything modern. I was supposed to be in Albany, NY today (flight was canceled), so was looking at stores online last night. My suggestion to you is that if you have an online presence please give us some idea of what you have in your store. Doesn't have to be a catalog of books, but a simple "we carry current and back issue comics". Or better yet, maybe give a little more info on the scope/depth of what you carry...like "we carry current, bronze, and occasionally silver age comic books, plus statues, games, MTG...". Help me spend my money in your store, you know? More often that one may guess, a store's website is lacking this (obvious to me) info. I then search this forum (good practice anyway) to glean info about the store. I'll also read online reviews and scan pictures to see if any posters mention/show back issues. I'd much rather save myself some time and get this info from the store's website, but sometimes it's just not there for whatever reason.

That's a great question re: Silver Surfer statue to match. I've not come across one, but have my eye on the 2008 Bowen SS statue which I think would look cool next to this Thor. It'll cost more, but there seems to be a dearth of SS statues on the market.

Thanks! The base is really nice and overall it's a great rendition of Thor's pose from that cover. It is a heavy statue. The description says it's resin. Not sure where resin ranks on the statue quality scale, but I like it.

Diamond Select Toys, apparently. The sculptor is credited as Clayburn Moore. Midtown had a pretty nice sale the other week and I snagged one.

Arrived today! #726/3,000, and I'm very happy. I don't own many statues, so I may not know what I'm talking about, but it appears very high quality for $90. Love the homage to one of the best covers in all of the history of covers.

I like it! Especially the last panel, very cool. That said, I'm certainly not anyone to listen to as I just recently put in a bid on what would/could be my first piece of OA.

As a kid at some point in the 80s I watched Superman: The Movie. It was lights out thereafter. Which is ironic given the landscape of today's comic book movies. For example, I had a few friends over this past weekend and couple of their kids were wearing superhero apparel. I asked if any of them read comics, to which their answer was some version of "no, but I love the movies." I went from movie to comics, seems today's kids may be just movie oriented. Small sample size though, I'm sure it goes both ways (that's what she said).

More charcoal on paper and Daredevil.

Purchased some modern sets off of Erik and was very happy with the ease of the transaction. He was very responsive, shipped super quick, and packed the books securely. Would be happy to purchase from again. Thank you Erik!

I'll take Daredevil Yellow & Superman Birthright via PM. Thanks!

I'll take Daredevil #153 & #156, please. Thanks!

Playing with more charcoal tonight. I don't really do figures, but what the heck. It's a holiday weekend.

@RockMyAmadeus Thank you for taking the time to lay that out, very informative. Cheers.

I appreciate your words. I like CGC, I'm actually a paying member but haven't submitted anything yet aside from the Starlin SS at the con. I do buy my bigger keys slabbed primarily for two reasons: restoration check and preservation. Plus I like how they look, especially in the new cases.

Reading the comments on Mr. Starlin's Facebook page has been enlightening. Maybe I'm too disengaged from the hobby, but I did not realize the vitriol some have for slabbing. I met Starlin at Baltimore's Con in 2015. He signed my copy of Iron Man #55 which was subsequently sent to CGC for Signature Series. Very nice guy. He had a can out for donations to the CBLDF and I gladly donated. The book is proudly displayed on my small comic book case and I'm disheartened that these events have transpired in a way that appear to have been avoidable. Hopefully all parties can come to a sensible conclusion that works for everyone. This was my first (and probably last) experience with CGC and SS. Lots of moving pieces, and I'm sure my inexperience was unattractive to the regulars.

Generally speaking, if you follow the market at all then I believe one could come to certain conclusions that key books (especially older books and characters appearing or rumored to appear in movies/tv/netflix, etc) should be purchased as soon as you find the book that meets your purchasing criteria. In my personal experience, waiting only means I'm paying a higher price for the keys on my list. Warlock is a little different, as it seems there are three, maybe even four, books that get mushed up to constitute his actual first appearance. So I believe the cost to get in on Warlock tends to get spread over those three/four books. There are some good threads containing interesting discussion on that topic, as others have weighed which book to purchase. Speaking for myself, I think one has to attain them all to cover your bases. Hope that helps.

Just started playing with charcoal. I'm obviously not a pro, especially with the camera since there appears to be some distortion in this iPhone picture. That said, I really enjoy the therapeutic aspects of painting and art. It's a great escape from the day to day. Here we have Silver Surfer striking a Thinker's pose. I'm a big Rodin fan, so thought the two meshed well. Cheers.

A recent work trip brought me to Denver, so I took a cab out to the Jason Street store. Pretty impressive in person. I didn't anticipate picking anything up, but I actually did find some reasonably priced Daredevil back issues that I needed. Just two books, but I felt good about it. Here's a couple pictures...

PGM - FF #67 Hi folks, First time caller here. I recently acquired this FF67 with intent to submit to CGC (also will be my first time) for my personal Warlock collection. There are no major defects. The worst offender seems to be the top left corner. There are also a few spine ticks and a little pulling at the staples. I also learned that my scanner has some imperfections that create black marks on the scan. I tried to arrange the book between them but I did notice some on each scan about an inch down from the top on the right side. Hope that makes sense, and thank you for your feedback! Cheers.

I was just about to ask if anyone knew of an article, or story where Liefeld or McFarlane spoke about the influence. Seems they do not, which from an artistic perspective, seems odd. I mean, lots of artists whether comic book, or fine art, or Sunday painters like myself usually do not shy away from citing influence and artists they draw inspiration from, or who they have studied. At any rate I appreciate the heads up on Adams, this is yet another shining example of this board doing the good work of expanding my (and hopefully others') knowledge base. Cheers.

I just shake my head with how expensive everything is becoming, or rather how fast prices are climbing. I completely overpaid for my 9.6 not six months ago ($450) from a local shop and now I've technically made money. There are so many books I want to get that it's becoming near impossible to prioritize them because they're all climbing so fast. And I actually make a fair bit in my professional life. I don't want to imagine what young collectors just starting out are facing.

Thanks! And for the record I agree on MP1. That's my Warlock. Plus it's cheaper

Very excited about my recent acquisition. Whatever your thoughts on first appearance, sellers have built in premiums on all Warlock books based on the expectation of Him appearing in a movie soon. I generally agree, I mean how can we have Thanos and Infinity stuff sans Warlock? Based on market forces, I targeted this book first as it is (at least as evidenced by price) regarded as the desirable book to have, though FF#67 is close. I could argue either way, which is fun, but the market has its opinion. At any rate, what a gorgeous book! I found it on eBay of all places. I don't ever hit the BIN, but this was listed at about $100 more than 9.0s that I was shopping and they weren't as nearly as well registered.

I'm in the market for all three with hopes of purchasing a CGC 9.0 Thor #165 first (proving more difficult than anticipated). In my shopping around I noticed that another grading company actually lists #165 as the "3rd appearance of Him (Adam Warlock)" on their label. I'm not advocating anything, just thought it was interesting. I usually don't even look at non-CGC labels.