Will_K

I once read that John Byne described himself as a poor man's Neal Adams.

I once read that Adam Hughes described himself as a poor man's John Byrne.

I think there's room for a poor man's Frazetta. 

I do wish Hoffman would draw tighter sketches.  I'd probably buy more often.

19 minutes ago, delekkerste said:

Not in the dark and not with an army of security guards protecting it.  

True.  But I'm sure getting in to see that collection (even without guards) is not as easy as picking one of our homes at random and getting to see what we may have on our walls. 

For me, nothing on my walls.

He's been known as Samuel Clarke Hawbaker and S. Clarke Hawbaker.

Been "around" but I don't think he's been active as a professional comic book artist for many, many years.

He drew a few issues of Nomad for Marvel. 

Another notable work is Samuree 6 for Neal Adams' Continuity Comics.  That issue has quite a few Adams swipes/homages.  Not necessarily full panels but certain figures are hard to miss if you're a big Adams fan.

He drew the cover to Megaton 2 (early Erik Larsen's Savage Dragon appearance).  The cover is signed simply as "S."

I have a page, a cover and a commission in my CAF:

https://www.comicartfans.com/gallerydetailsearch.asp?artist=S.+Clarke+Hawbaker&GCat=13344

Hey, actually that's another currently ongoing thread.

I have a couple other sketches not on CAF.

I strongly suggest that you do not commission him "remotely", only get a drawing if you're at a convention and he'll do the drawing there.

37 minutes ago, Peter L said:

How do you search the want lists?  Is there an easier way than just clicking on each personal gallery link?

On CAF, it's under the Resources menu.

12 minutes ago, captain_em said:

How do I find out who is a "Strong" artist? 

You can look at Heritage's "auction archives".  It's pretty extensive.  Do a search based on the artist's name.  Check out the prices (hammer price plus bidder's premium) and when the auction occurred. 

As mentioned in other threads (but not in this one, so far), the HA bidder may determine their maximum bid by taking into account HA's bidder premium (and sales tax).  And you have to factor in your net (hammer price minus taking account HA's commission).  Basically HA is burning the candle at both ends.  As mentioned in other threads, the other auction sites only charge a commission to the seller.  So... now you also have to factor in whether HA's ability to market your art is worth them taking $$$ on both sides of the transaction.

Re: your question about Heritage being the only one auction site that closes lots one at a time

Of the 4 that I mentioned, I think so.  HA truly has enough staff when they use live auctioneers.  And their automated auction system is a monster.  Although it doesn't have long delays to close lots.  They'll probably find a way to automate that as well.

Someone mentioned Hake's but I don't have any experience with them.

16 hours ago, Rick2you2 said:

If I really, really want a piece then it doesn't matter because I will put in a bid which is sufficiently higher than market price (within my budget of course) that it will win. 

I like a drop dead time because I like to know the most something will cost me.

Understood, that is a bidding strategy.  Let's say you're interested in multiple lots in some auction and they close within minutes of each other, you've placed your maximum bids and walk away.  No problem because you'll just wait for your winning bid notification.  Now if you win the 1st lot for significantly less than your max (or you don't win the auction), you might increase your bids on the other lots using the "extra" $$$ from the 1st auction.

But my point is that anything that extends the bidding is good for the seller.  The drop dead is to the bidder's advantage.  When the Heritage auctioneer takes a seemingly long time to hammer the close to bidding on a lot, that's to the seller's and Heritage's advantage.   

I'm going to approach this question in a different way.  If I'm bidding on a piece of comic art at auction (the key word) and I really, really want the piece, which auction site would give me the best opportunity to acquire that piece.  To me, that also makes it a good venue for the seller.  I'm talking opportunity not price, every buyer wants a bargain.

To me, it would be Heritage and ComicConnect, mainly because there is no "drop dead" time for the auction.

Heritage, because during the "live" bidding, they roll up the automatic bids and then you can continue bidding on-line (or by phone in some cases).  This keeps the lot alive so if I want to go crazy and maybe bid over my head, I get that chance.  Then they move on to the next lot.  Yes, the buyer's premium sucks.  But you know that going in (or you should). 

ComicConnect for a similar reason.  You can keep bidding until a time limit (3 minutes) passes with no bid increases.  The biggest problem is that other lots are still alive and have their individual 3 minute limits.  If you're bidding on multiple lots, you have to keep you eyes on them.  They don't close lots in the sequence they were listed.  Yes, the website is mainly geared for selling comics, not art.

ComicLink and ebay have set times for closing the auctions.  This also allows for sniping bids.  I think we've all gotten "bidder's remorse" (in hindsight, you wished you bid more) at some point.

Based on the topic alone, only one thing came to mind... "Stan Lee"

1 hour ago, delekkerste said:

having only 30% up

Does that mean the other 70% qualifies as a black hole collection ?

Out of curiosity... I understand the concept of a black hole collector... but how many are there ? 

Without going into values, how many BHCs have 100 pieces, 500 pieces, 1000 pieces, 2000 pieces ??

31 minutes ago, artdealer said:

"Fresh to market" only pertains to art that has not been on the market for at least 20 years. 

"has not been on the market for at least 20 years"

Does that mean the same thing as "has not been seen for at least 20 years" ??

Who had this setup ??  Wow !!

28 minutes ago, glendgold said:

Wonder if they're Hefner's.

If that were true, HA would definitely tag it as from "The Hefner Collection".

All I can say is that I bought something (forgot what) from him in my early days of collecting (early 1990's).  I didn't have any issues with him or the transaction.

There goes the neighborhood...

Looks like D i c k Giordano.

With previous artist editions, you see the art.  And you can read the story. 

Noone has mentioned the actual story.  Granted, the text might take more pages than actual art.  But is there an effort to include the text, even if it's in really small print ?? 

Does anyone think that anything is lost by not having Mary Shelley's text with the art ?? 

OK.  So the latest example shows the "AR" is also consistent with previously posted examples.  And not consistent with Romita-man's example.

I think the latest example best illustrates how the "A" and "R" and done in a single stroke (pen not lifted).  In Romita-man's example, the "A" and "R" are 2 distinct strokes.

Just my opinion.  But since it's a stylized signature, you have to assume these things were done consciously.

... on the other hand, in the latest example, the "AN" is not consistent with AnkurJ's example.  However one is CGC'ed and the other is verified by McFarlane himself.  So even if they differ, they're both authentic. 

12 hours ago, Spawn1709 said:

To be honest with you two, the "FAR" in McFarlane are all bothering me...

I agree.

The "AR" does not seem consistent with the other 2 examples in this thread.

On 7/17/2018 at 1:15 PM, J.Sid said:

Good news: sketches of her are in very short supply!

Bad news: ...they are in short demand as well

Bad news update... there's a slight uptick in demand.

The question begs to be asked, why was it meant to be kept in-house ??  What are the other gems from other Artist Editions kept in-house?   Are they on par with Mrs A ??

5 hours ago, tv horror said:

I never thought I would live to see Aunt May getting hammered! Hic.

Beta Ray May - you've been warned.

9 hours ago, GreatEscape said:

I do respect that they treat their huge inventory as a valuable asset and are working harder and more creatively to maintain a high margins/low volume strategy.   While their ethics can be criticized, what they do isn’t illegal, just an outdated business model struggling to adapt. 

That is being very charitable. 

Without making accusations, the practices being described are mercenary.  And leaving out the prospective buyers and middlemen (e.g. auction sites), they (those practices) do not respect the actual drawing, the artist or the artistic process.  

Did you only learn about the artist's political views while you were transacting ( with the artist?? ) for the art ?? 

Does it bother you that maybe the artist's views contributed to WHY you liked the art ?  You obviously liked the art at some point.

So does that mean in the future, you will investigate an artist's political views before buying any artist's art ?

1 hour ago, delekkerste said:

the Robocop poster original image is pretty much the most iconic

On the plus side: Bob Peak... Star Trek... fan fave... it features the main cast

On the minus side: it's the Klingon Bird of Prey (not the Enterprise)... no whales... no Catherine Hicks (not a must but she would balance out the left side)... not a key image (ala RoboCop as per @delekkerste)

If you said Bob Peak and Star Trek, I would think of the poster for the first movie, not this one.

1 hour ago, delekkerste said:

Of course, if there are two people out there with deep pockets and a childhood love of this movie, anything can happen. 

You'd need 2 really big fans with deep pockets to get into the $40-80K range.

On 6/25/2018 at 3:08 PM, alxjhnsn said:

That's actually a mistake everyone in this hobby makes - buying all the bright shiny objects without considering whether or not they really make sense.

I wouldn't say there are "mistakes".

As you get older, your tastes change.  As time goes by, new styles (e.g. Bruce Timm, Darwyn Cooke) and techniques/types of art (e.g. Alex Ross, post-Adams Sienkiewicz) emerge.  New storytellers emerge (e.g. Alan Moore, Frank Miller)

The stories have changed.  Instead of the basic story of a super criminal merely robbing banks, now you have Watchmen.

The market has changed.  Instead of checking for a few posts in CBG, now you have regular Internet auctions and a few dozen seller sites.

Collecting original art was relatively "cheap" (e.g. $20 for a page of original art, $100+ for an original cover, convention sketches for $20)

You didn't have to be focused.  You just had a lot of art that you liked.  With all the art that's available at even higher prices, now it helps to have a focus. 

And it is a slippery slope.  A very high, very long, slippery slope.