eschnit

Help me with something please.  I’m sure it’s a simple enough explanation, and I just haven’t thought of it.

On their auctions, I may bid $757 on one item, $1291 on another.  This, as opposed to say a standard $750 or $1250.  
 

Very often, the price lands right on my max bid over time.  Like the exact dollar.  So often that it would statistically impossible without there being a good explanation.  I just can’t think of what it is.

On 8/12/2021 at 11:47 PM, MrBedrock said:

$5000? May I suggest some Spawns?

Or part of a Spawn?

On 8/12/2021 at 10:34 PM, GreatCaesarsGhost said:

18 years later, this advice is about what I’d expect today

I find it funny that the OP specifically said., I want to buy 1 big book, and the advice starts out buy a bunch of books. Smh

I assume you guys caught the books coming up in the October auction. There are already some exciting books lined up for it as well.

It’s worth noting, I’m not sure of any Golden Age images of Wonder Woman or Catwoman that are particularly attractive.  Black Canary has a few, and obviously Phantom Lady does.  But even Phantom Lady wasn’t particularly a looker until Baker entered the picture.  We have Phantom Lady, Sheena, Firehair, South Sea Girl all right about the same time, circa V Day.

On 8/7/2021 at 10:07 PM, LDarkseid1 said:

Well I don’t know about 25 mil haha. But I certainly believe there’s million dollar collections out there waiting to be found. Not sure what the Fantucchio is going to finish at in total sales. I believe c-link amazingly still has books selling from that insane silver collection, been hitting their auctions for like 2 years now, different silver titles every time. It’s certainly somewhere from 5-10 mil though.

Lol, if we’re referring to original owner raw books, kept for 50+ years in exceptional condition , well, there probably aren’t too many more to be discovered, not on the pedigree level we’re talking about.  
 

That’s probably the simplest way to look at it.  How many more pedigrees?  I’d guess less than 5 legitimate ones.

But...how many incredible collections of the Fantucchio, Cage, Berk variety?  Many many many.  Dozens.  I’m not suggesting equals, or that the collections are the raw variety.  The top dealers and collectors know most of what’s out there in that regard.  
 

But there are collectors who will have a liquidation event or die over coming decades with collections that value $1-5MM, $5-10MM, $10-20MM, and probably a few $20MM*.

The irony here, is the only way to get the white pages designation from a grading service is to have the book entombed where you never see any of the pages.

On 8/10/2021 at 8:48 PM, Readcomix said:

I’ll answer the same way I did last time we did this thread. (Based on importance to the medium): Kirby gets the Washington bust; the rest is just chit chat over beers.

 

That said, we can have a lotta great chit chat, of course….Tough to narrow the rest to just three. Bodies of work and important fundamental contributions get a lot more comparable among the other greats as compared to Kirby’s influence. A couple odd ideas: Charles Biro may have pushed more envelopes than anyone else, and many an artist credited Burne Hogarth as as an influence. Just a couple different ideas for the mix.

Enlighten me, Burne Hogarth isn’t a name I’m familiar with.

On 8/10/2021 at 7:34 PM, Funnybooks said:

If Mount Rushmore represents the most important figures in the history of comic books, that would preclude any of the strip and pulp artists. If keeping to GA then:

Shuster

Kane

Simon/Kirby

H.G. Peter

 

 

So you named the artists that drew Superman, Batman, Captain America, and Wonder Woman.  I assume thought being, superheroes are the reason we care about comic books today.  By we, I mean, collectively. Also, we’re looking at pulp now, and saying most of the great art from like Fiction House or Fox could very well have been more copies than originals?

On 8/10/2021 at 7:13 PM, Bird said:

I am not a GA art expert, but I like to play art games so my own favorites and being loose with genre...

Mac Raboy, Winsor McCay, HG Peter, Alex Raymond

I've done Rushmore on other threads...likely went with Kirby, Moebius, Frazetta and Eisner. Eisner never hits me like he must have hit people at the time though.

 

Haha, for some odd reason Jack Kirby is someone I forget when thinking of the greats.  Ironically, he might be the single most important thread in comic books all-time.  Full stop.  Like the most consequential, the artist who more people know his work than any of the others.  He’s probably the single most deserving.  😭

On 8/10/2021 at 7:08 PM, Funnybooks said:

Ah...the Mount Rushmore thread...it may be "better" to break up the artists by era...Gold, Silver, Bronze, Copper, Modern, etc. However, if you're only allowing the top four most important artists as opposed to favorite artist, then subjectivity must be set aside? Are we strictly speaking American comic books? Would an artist/writer carry more weight than just an artist alone?

 

 

 

Ditko squeezes in if it’s not pure Golden Age.  Since this is Gold, I figured that’s the best place to start.  For multiple reasons, probably makes less sense to tangent off into the merits of a Neal Adams, Barry Windsor Smith, or whomever else.  That’s not why most of us are here  .  Does being a writer matter for this question?  Hmm.  Not much.  Probably not really at all, except perhaps this.  If a Stan Lee could draw as well as Alex Schomburg, he’d get a tie-breaker.  Of course, he couldn’t :).  Frank Miller, well, you get the point.  I don’t need to own the direction of where this goes.  It’s all opinions of what matters.  Miller and Lee are vastly more important comic guys because of a lot of things, the least of which is their artwork. So they wouldn’t make it, if it were all-time.  All-Time, not just gold, I don’t know.  I’d probably be interested in others opinions more than my own, as I’m not sure I really know.  Maybe something like Ditko, Schomburg, Eisner, and 1 of like Fine, Adams, Flessel, or that guy that did a lot of work of Spider-man, Daredevil, and Punisher, can’t remember the name, Romita maybe? 

A topic worthy of a thread? The opinions and taste of boardies, along with their reasoning would be worth noting.  I know I’m interested in opinions out there.

Top 4 All-Time might be more difficult, or at least there would be more potential choices to choose from.

Here’s mine...

Personal Taste (subjective):

Schomburg, Baker, Fine, Frazetta 

Overall:

Schomburg, Fine

...and then it gets really difficult.  Baker is a personal favorite.  But, he was not nearly as acclaimed until much later.  His star is on the rise, green arrow, bullish on his future regarding sentiment within the hobby, but could he crack the top 4?

Frazetta, perhaps the singular master craftsman of them all, but was he really a comic book artist?  Was it not tertiary in his scheme of things, the painter, who also did magazines, and at some point did a few comic books too.

Will Eisner, perhaps he’s the GOAT.  But was it his comic book art that made him so, or was it more his Stan Lee-ness of the Golden Age, ie Stan wasn’t really the greatest writer or artist, as much as he was a great comic guy.

Zolnerowich?  Probably, yeah.  Dude made some seriously stellar drawings.  He cracks the Top 4 in my opinion.  Prolific and prodigious.

Flessel, Whitman, Renee?  Anyone over at DC drawing the Bat-man or the guy with the red cape?

I suppose my thought on the 4 for the Golden Age, not my taste alone, but what my perception is, is Schomburg, Fine, Zolnerowich, and probably Eisner, simply because he’s Eisner.  Gets the nod over Frazetta because when people think of Eisner, comics come to mind.  With Frazetta, it’s likely paintings.

On 8/5/2021 at 1:41 PM, Wolverinex said:

Love that Frazetta has made an appearance finally

4 times over :), dude could do some serious drawings

...probably 30-40 books in the upcoming Heritage auction that I really want.  Hoping somehow I can get just one from that group where I don’t feel like my nose is bleeding. 😳

On 8/3/2021 at 12:08 PM, piper said:

 

Yes. I would also add Buster Crabbe 5.

I believe they came out immediately after FF 216

Frank Frazetta, Matt Baker, and Lily Renee were so good.  I don’t know if these are their individual best works, but I’d be comfortable choosing these 3.

On 7/29/2021 at 12:12 PM, Timely said:

...and my collection!

Did you own the book after Nic, and before me?

My thought is Matt Baker was inspired by one muse in particular here.  The Phantom Lady.  Not the comic book, though perhaps that too, but the actress Ella Raines.  Check this out...Baker was cutting his teeth in New York in the mid 40s, as Ella was in the spotlight.  Cinderella Love #25, a masterpiece cover, to my eye, is unmistakable.