Will_K

"Stripes" reference ? In sticking with the Army theme ?

Jennifer Lawrence... massive Ed Hannigan fan... Natalie Portman... kind of a GI Joe fan... I wonder... for something like this... does someone fly to Dallas to pick it up or leave it in the hands of USPS, FedEx or whoever ....

I had a few thoughts on this piece but I'm not sure if OP posted because he wanted us to critique Sampere's style/methods or OP's taste. I think a medium and tools are only as good as the artist (and their experience) using it.

Sometimes I forget the world we live in. And threads like this do not help.

As of now... $125,000 ($150,000 with bp) with 16 bidders (39 bids + phone bidders)... Wow. I assume serious bidders will be camping out for the live auction, no matter what. I would never be in contention for anything like this with those bid increments. In general, at these "heights", what is the point in placing bids now ? Is the goal to scare off as many people as possible as soon as possible ?

Asking total strangers to pick artists and pick their subjects in order for you to buy art is generally not a good thing. It's like you having a random personal shopper spending your money. You SHOULD approach your purchases with a "buy what you like" mentality. Not that you should actually buy something. But decide what is important to YOU first.

That would be a pretty nice Phantom Stranger page to have. It would've followed over 100 lots after the Carrillo pages. This auction would've been a Phantom Stranger bonanza for the financially prepared. I've always wondered how much the ordering factors into the auction. As I mentioned above, HA closes lots in the sequence they're listed. With ComicConnect and Hakes, the initial ordering of the lots doesn't matter that much. Following each lot's nominal closing time, basically, a lot will close after a period of time has passed without a bid.

The previous piece in the same auction was Phantom Stranger 39 p 7. It went for less than the piece that you mentioned (about $1,500). It even features part of Deadman's origin and PS doesn't even appear. Go figure.

The link no longer works. It worked before. Let's see if the art turns up on CAF. The comic is nearly 30 years old so even if not a fan favorite, it must have some kind of following. I've acquired a few first appearances. I wasn't specifically seeking them out but they fit into my collecting niche. But I don't really hype them on CAF. Some of my CAF galleries mention the 1st appearance. For assorted pages, I mentioned it in the description but not the title. I guess for a lot of collectors, if you can't get a Number 1 issue, you might as well get a 1st appearance. Which might be even more desirable.

The hammer price could be due to the "men call me the Phantom Stranger" tagline, it being a page 1 and the Deadman appearance. it doesn't look like someone is trying to complete the book since there are pages in a few different collections on CAF. A few years ago, there was a topic asking for the best auction venue for selling comic art. My thought was that was Heritage and ComicConnect. I know CC has their detractors. But to me, their auction styles definitely squeeze the most $$$ possible out of each piece. By not having a fixed ending time for the auction, the art is in play for as long as possible. Throw in ego, thrills and the bid increments, you can get to $2,800 pretty fast. Now that I've bid on Hakes, I'll add them to the list. However, HA is different from those other 2 because one lot will hold up all the other succeeding lots. For reference:

When framing art with a printed example, things to consider are the cost, weight and overall area of the final display. Also, lots of examples framed art are here:

It's a high, steep, slippery slope.

Does anyone have an idea (even a vague idea) of how much these organization can afford ? There's plenty of "red meat" in the January auction other than GIJoe 21. Can these organizations outbid every individual collector on high-profile / valuable / desirable lots... let's say for the next 3 years ?

Not a GI Joe. Not really an Ed Hannigan fan. My only interest is that the book gets completed. Good luck !!!

No comment on the $$$ but does the Inhumans appearance hurt or help the valuation ? For future reference:

I don't know who is using "Ardath Bey" in the chat.

"Ardath Bey" sometimes chimes in via chat on Comic Art Live videos.

You can go to 17m15s in the podcast. I think the description was "collector / pseudo dealer who was at the show". You should listen to the entire podcast. You'll learn the fate of the Miracleman 1 cover recreation seen at the convention.

Yes. But you have to pick your battles.

Not referring to any particular dealer, piece or price... but I've been very wary to participate in any discussion regarding the $$$ for a certain piece whether before or after it sells. I'm not following sales closely so my opinion would be worthless. After all, the only price that really matters to me is what I've actually paid for a piece. Or the price of something I've sold (it's been a while). If I'm an underbidder or also-ran or non-buyer, well that was my state of mind and state of my finances. For me to have an actual opinion on a price before or after a sale, it feels like I'm spending someoneelse's money. If something sells for X, I might think "Wow, that's a lot of $$$". But I highly doubt I would think "Yeah, that sounds right, it's worth the $$$". This stuff is still a luxury. Of course, I don't mind paying less.

I saw this during ComicArtLive. It's definitely by Nick. But it is unusual in that I don't recall him drawing WG's face in that particular way, narrower than usual. Still, I like it.

Post on byrnerobotics.com. You'll get plenty of opinions.

My thoughts... It doesn't really look like a She Hulk drawing by John Byrne. Signature looks like it's trying to be a more recent version of JB's. I doubt he'd sign-off on that coloring job.

https://comicarttracker.com/ @NicoV https://boards.cgccomics.com/topic/478415-comicarttracker-v3-is-live/#comment-11457629