Peter L

Does anyone know about buying Milo Manara art or if he does commissions?  Thanks.

On 9/30/2018 at 10:52 PM, romitaman said:

thanks for the advice guys....i just downloaded this app and just practiced on some older art....

what setting is best for comic art? and older painted art?

i can clean it up in adobe photoshop as needed to fine tune it....but I was curious what is the best settings are?

...any help is appreciated as i have so so much older very large pieces of art and this would be AMAZING for me as a 1 man show to have a great app for oversized art so I dont have to scan halves and stitch together in photoshop.

also curious as to the setting that can still show the super detailed lines in artwork without losing any detail (or color for paintings)

Mike.

Mike

I just use CamScanner.  No settings needed and I have had good luck.  Photoshop or iphone photo editing features can adjust for white balance.  

BTW saw photos of the New York Avengers exhibit and saw your Ross Hulk.  Is the title and words part of the art or some kind of translucent stat that you put in?  How did you do that.  It looks great.

Clearly you don't understand what he was trying to do.

10 hours ago, Bird said:

I have something like 32 pieces of art on my walls, mostly comic art. My wife saw the #comicsgate controversy that has been happening online and mentioned it to me; I told her that we have art on the walls by artists on both sides of the divide. (She knows we have Sienkiewicz as she follows him on twitter.) She gave me a look and said something like "I am not sure that I like that" but I have no intention to change anything out. I have an editorial cartoon by Winsor McCay on the wall but it is more patriotic than political but I guess that I wouldn't have it there if it was about something I find offensive. I am not going to move the Sienkiewicz next to the Bretweiser or anything but in the current political climate where few talk and most yell I wonder if any of the pieces can be "ruined" for me.

So do you fear hearing the political views of your comic heroes? (This thread is NOT about those views, or even your views, but IF it bothers you when those views are not complimentary to yours.)

I must admit though, the wife has me thinking about it. 

I remember being in line with a lurker here who told me about how he almost came to blows with Barry Windsor-Smith and that BWS better not start that again this time. We have perhaps met our heroes who can be rude, is this issue different or just more of the same?

 

It doesn't affect my collecting.  Sometimes it's good not to meet your heroes.  Most of the time I've met my heroes in sports or in comics, things have not been that great.  No one can live up to the expectations that we put on people we admire.  

Hi all,

I'm looking to get the Runaways stars to sign a book at the Los Angeles comic con in a few weeks.  I can't tell if CGC is going to have a booth there or if there will be witnesses.  Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks!

I always meant to start to read this.  Where should I start?  I remember buying the first issue Marvel put out and then I never saw anything again.  Should I get the hardcover book 1 to read the story?

5 hours ago, cheekyj2112 said:

The Financial Times recently contacted me for an interview regarding comic artwork and the BritComicsArt.com website and the article is now up. Including quotes from the illustrious Mr Killackey.

It doesn't really say anything new but I suppose it's another sign that the sums being spent in the hobby are garnering attention.

https://howtospendit.ft.com/art-philanthropy/204268-collecting-rare-graphic-novel-art

Cheers

Joseph

 

Nice article.  It reminds me of the articles that were coming out around the time that Mickey Mantle rookie cards started to skyrocket and a hobby was starting to get more attention because of the money going into it.  

It is doing exactly what it was supposed to do.  Get publicity in the mainstream media for the new Black Label line, and to show these are serious comics for adults.  

I look forward to the onslaught of Lee Bernejo convention sketches and slabbed blank cover sketches of this coming soon to CAF.

Unlike Cap Hydra, I think this will have staying power.  

If most people would not casually know the color, would it matter that much?

Would it be easier to take paint swatches to the convention and compare at the time instead of a scan?  I would think it difficult to scan through a slab that could also distort the color.

23 hours ago, Twanj said:

To avoid sales tax?

They have an office in Palm Beach, Florida...and pretty sure tax is coming if it's not already here.

Does anyone know why Heritage would open offices in different states?  Is there an advantage to that?  It seems like that is just wasted rent as they could operate from one or two locations.  

2 hours ago, Mr. Machismo said:

ISO first full appearance of Batman. 

Everyone, this post wins.  

I would like a Brian Bolland and a Jae Lee.  I sort of feel the peer pressure to someday get a Jim Lee but I don't naturally gravitate towards his art.  I just don't want to regret not getting one of his and look back that I should have gotten some when he was "cheap."

28 minutes ago, Mr. Machismo said:

It is fully painted. Digitally!

I checked and you are right.  Whoever did the colors is an amazing artist.  

13 minutes ago, PhilipB2k17 said:

What do you think this would be valued at, if it came up for auction?

https://www.vox.com/2018/9/20/17882502/batmans--nude-comic-book

If the work is fully painted as it appears in print then I put it at $10,000.

If the series turns out to be a classic then maybe more.  Reviews were pretty good on it.  I thought it was interesting and will get the next issue.  Not sure if its going to be good yet or not though but the G rated art is great.

14 hours ago, BillRJ said:

Here's a Frank Miller piece I just posted in my CAF gallery.

https://www.comicartfans.com/gallerypiece.asp?piece=1489261

I love seeing the highlights of your collection!  Thanks for posting.  I noticed this didn't seem to match much of your collection from the Bronze Age.  Did you buy this recently or back with a lot of your older art?

Hi all,

Does anyone know where this art from Fables: 1001 Nights of Snowfall is?  I think it is by Vess and Kaluta.   

 

On 1/17/2018 at 8:37 PM, kat123 said:

With insane prices for Baker books, wonder how well will Original Baker St John Romance pages will bring on the open market....

 

 

What kind of portfolio is that?  Looks like a nice one to keep art safe.  

16 minutes ago, mister_not_so_nice said:

I think my solution if I were receiving persistent requests/offers  on a piece (not likely with my poor taste) would be to put something in the description like: "If you are seriously interested in this page I won't even respond to any offers below $X"

 

X=2(DBROSVALUATION)+FMV

 

 

On one particular piece of art, I saw the description "This is not for sale.  Do not contact me, I won't respond."

I can see why some are persistent though.  I have seen art listed as NFS and then when I ask where the art went, I was told it was sold by someone making an offer.  This has happened quite a bit.  

I usually try to answer but sometimes I'm too busy.

On 9/15/2018 at 12:37 AM, O. said:

New Article - 14/9/18

Report on ComicLink's September 2018 Featured Auction is up!

https://comicbookinvest.com/2018/09/14/original-art-aficionado-6/

 

Wow thanks to this thread I just discovered your great column!

10 hours ago, AnkurJ said:

Indeed! So sorry for your loss.

On a side note, and maybe discussion for another topic....setting up proper instructions on how to liquidate your estate or doing so hopefully before something happens to you.

9 hours ago, ESeffinga said:

Me as well.  That is a terrible blow.

I think on some ways the members here can see it as a cautionary tale, and I agree with Ankur that future/estate planning would make a very worthy topic for this board, and I suspect we might all learn a little something from such a thing.

Thanks for the comments.  Yes, the main reason I posted it was as a cautionary tale regarding black hole art.  If I were to pass away, he was the only one who knew or cared what was in my collection.  My family doesn't even know or care what I own.  I have tried to tell them often.  I could easily see them throwing away the art thinking they were posters or junk.  This is one of the reasons I started to post more of my art on CAF.

On 9/13/2018 at 5:08 AM, delekkerste said:

There is already a shocking gap in connoisseurship regarding vintage comic art between the Baby Boomers/Gen Xers and the Millennials and Gen Zers.  I don't think that gap will ever be filled, especially as the latter generations' tastes have largely migrated to artwork from the late '80s to the present.  

The art from the late 80s to the present is also more accessible and cheaper so it has a lower threshold of entry.  I don't think a lot of Golden and Silver Age comics and art will be popular unless it features characters still around or ages well.

I think the things that will survive will be the things that are easily accessible to new generations.  I think digital comics make this much more accessible than in previous eras.  I just saw an Iron Fist sale of all different Iron Fist runs from the Bronze Age to today.  No longer do you need to hunt down random issues in small comic shops or conventions, you can just go on your ipad and order.

I read an article that compared the CBR poll of the best comic book runs from their polls from (I think) 2011 and 2016.  It was interesting to see some of the things that completely fell off the list, from being in the top 50 to suddenly not even ranked and forgotten just a few years later.  Strangers in Paradise and Lone Wolf and Cub were two that I can recall that fell off the lists.  People have short memories but the things that are pushed by big companies will still be popular.

When you go to Disneyland, and finish the Guardians of the Galaxy ride, they sell comics there.  I think Disney is going to make their IP more accessible.  The characters that are made accessible will still survive. I love what Marvel is doing with their old catalog True Believer $1 line of comics and DC's push into Walmarts.

I am encouraged that there are signs of original art getting more visibility.  A few years ago I saw the traveling Alex Ross exhibit at a nearby museum.  It was the exhibit that started at the Norman Rockwell museum.  I just recently saw the Marvel exhibit at the Seattle pop museum.  

And if the original art market crashes I'll use that as a buying opportunity.


 

On 9/12/2018 at 5:36 AM, Taylor G said:

Spielberg has compared the current trend in superhero movies to musicals in the 1950s.

5 hours ago, zhamlau said:

Well, Superhero movies have been dominating box office for 20 years now and are one of the more popular genres on TV, and looks to hold much of that ground over the next decade. Hard to think of one broadcast genre that held utter cultural/financial dominance for that long. The world is enthralled with our comic book product. Westerns and Musicals while somewhat popular overseas never enjoyed, as far as i can see, the mass global acceptance and demand this genre has.

Basically, its sorta silly to compare it to any other style/genre in my opinion cause nothing seems to come close.

I agree that it is silly to compare it because the decline of musicals was a very specific set of circumstances and Spielberg may just be a poor student of film history.  Basically, the big studios had a lock over theater chains, so they continued to make musicals because it was easy with the talent they had under control in the star system.  So even if the musicals weren't very good, they could be profitable because the theaters had no choice but to show them and people had no choice but to see them.  Musicals were not really that popular among most people, so when there were alternate options like tv, and when the studio control over the theaters was ended, people stopped watching them.  

For those that are interested, here are some selected passages from a good article on the decline of musicals:
 

It wasn't until the late 1950's that things within the Star System started to fall apart, and it was just as much the studio's fault than it was that the audiences didn't want to see musicals anymore.

You see, for a long period The Studio System enjoyed Vertical Integration, meaning that they owned and controlled their entire production, distribution and exhibition processes themselves. This level of control may seem beneficial, but it whittled movie production into only 5 competing studios, 'The Big Five': MGM, Warner Brothers, 20th Century Fox, Paramount Pictures, and RKO. (There was also 'The Little Three', but as their nomenclature would indicate, they weren't as big!)

The result of this set up meant that Studios were only really competing with a small market, and as they had all more or less decided to keep out of each others pockets, very little even there. This meant that there was no competitive market to decline or bargain for movies, so the only thing that could influence what sort of film was being made was a studio executive in his office, who were hardly representative of the masses!

It wasn't until 1948 that the Supreme Court ruled that this system should be broken up, and it was itself only delayed because of the focus on the war. This meant that the studios' control was finally broken up, but it had very little real effect to the Big Five who had used their time wisely to consolidate their assets into a firm grip on the industry.

However, for the time being, the studios continued to prosper. Different Genre's came in and out of popularity, and so not being a genre itself, but more of a method of application Musicals survived by simply adopting the genre a la' mode and wearing it like a mask for a while.

It didn't matter whether or not people actually wanted to see these movies, there was no choice in the matter and as a result of that, they enjoyed the illusion of popularity, not to mention being genuinely popular anyway as a means of family entertainment in a very conservative America.

When this all finally came to a head in the late 60's, the industry was in crisis. It didn't know, or more accurately didn't care, what their audiences wanted anymore.

The only solution to this was tantamount to almost total replacement. Crew and Cast from leading men to lighting operators, Directors to set designers were systematically replaced for younger, fresher and more in touch counterparts. This became known as The New Hollywood, and produced what many people consider the greatest movies of 20th century's second half.

Furthermore, many of these directors looked up to the writing of Cahiers du Cinema, and the European cinematic giants who wrote for it: Bresson, Goddard, Truffaut to name a few. These were figures that hated Musical Cinema, not only for what they considered to be unoriginal copies of stage productions, but for the American Imperialistic intent these films harbored as they washed over Europe. This hatred found its way stateside and embedded itself into the New Hollywood.

The Hays code was finally lifted in 1969, giving these film makers a freedom no one had experienced since the mid 1920's. And what did they do with this freedom? They ran as far away from Musical cinema as possible.

So, until the late 60's, audiences were forcibly saturated with Musicals, and came to collectively loathe them, even if it took a bunch of pretty spiteful up and comers to point this out to them.

9 hours ago, Ironmandrd said:

Far be it for me to confirm or deny the existence of the illusive (or imaginary) Cabal.   I was using the reference to stress test the definitional black hole hypothesis - even a supposed Old World sect of Illuminati collectors couldn’t possible know most/all of the black hole collections out there, many of which collections are by virtual definition unconnected to other collectors.  

I had one of my closest friends pass away last year.  He was a single older guy who lived by himself and just had a heart attack one day.  When he didn't show up for work his coworkers sent the police.  I found out a week later.  We went to comic con for maybe a decade every year and he was the best man at my wedding.  He played things close to the vest and wouldn't really tell me what he bought or collected, I think partially because he was embarrassed as he once said he collected good girl art.  Only by accident he let slip that he owned some slabbed Shoemberg comics and maybe things like most issues of Phantom Lady.  He was humble and didn't want to brag about anything but I think he had a lot of stuff.   For my birthday he once gave me slabbed Neal Adams comics out of his collection.  Once at comic con,  I was with him at an artist's booth and he checked that I didn't want to buy the covers.  When I passed on them, he bought them all.  He was the one to first introduced me to Heritage and initially would send me links to things he thought I would be interested in.  I suspect if I was not interested in them, he would get them.

Now a year later I think to write his family and say if they need help identifying what he had in his collection.  His friend who I never met writes me back saying they had a memorial party and the brother put all the things out and let people pick what they wanted to take home, and the rest he took to a comic store and said give me whatever a good offer is.  I would bet that no one knows the significance of the original art or what they are the covers for but it is a mildly big historical deal.  My biggest fear is that they end up in someone's trash because none of those friends of his were into comics.  

It was a sad end to his collection.  He was the one who told me with great sadness about the widow who sold the comics to Mile High.  I would say his collection was a black hole that may be lost to the world.

17 hours ago, Rick2you2 said:

I think you should be a little less optimistic. The fads of fifty years ago, like Westerns, have basically died off. Its replacement, space opera like Star Wars, is actually showing signs of slowing down at the box office (yes, the numbers still seem huge, but Disney was expecting more, particularly from Solo). In 50 years, I expect people will figure out a way to do a lot of the stuff in the comics, or end up laughing at how absurd some of it is.

And don't count on craft mattering either. Great 19th century furniture has dropped in value, as have exceptional quality Persian rugs, for examples. Sometimes, the list price will stay where it is, but the piece just won't sell.  

Don't misunderstand: I love this stuff. But, I can't see it as being a long term investment vehicle (20+ years) no matter what is going on in the world. 

The decrease in popularity of superheroes caused the cancellation of Captain America and all superhero books.  The year was 1948.

Stan Lee and John Romita tried to bring back Captain America and the company tried to bring other superheroes back and failed.  Their attempt lasted about a year and Captain America was cancelled again.  The year was 1954.   

"Comics had always been a cyclical business, and almost everybody in 1971 thought that super heroes must inevitably be on their way out again. That's why there was such a gold rush on to find the next big genre--sword-and-sorcery looked like it might be a contender, and there were a lot of new mystery (watered-down horror comics without much horror), war and western comics being churned out in this period. But the classic Marvel, Stan's Marvel, was still seen as something of a fad (even by Stan himself), and the common wisdom was that everybody was going to be doing something else very soon (possibly in another field entirely.)" - Tom Brevoort

Due to a continuing decline in sales, pressure from parent companies, and a new lawsuit affecting distributors, Marvel was in crisis.  According to Jim Shooter, Marvel would have gone bankrupt in the late 1970s if it was not for Roy Thomas fighting to persuade them to do a Star Wars comic. Those sales were the one factor that kept Marvel alive.  The year is 1977.

The late-1970's nearly saw the demise of comics publishing. The precipitous drops in newsstand sales more than offset the ability of Seagate Distributing to grow comics sales by shipping comics directly to comics shops.  While the Direct Market comics shops did manage to transfer a great number of fans to themselves that otherwise had been purchasing through newsstand outlets, the harsh reality was that newsstand sales were dropping far faster than the Direct Market was growing.  DC Comics, without warning, suddenly slashed over 30% of their entire line in a single day in the infamous DC Implosion.  Marvel considers shutting down operations completely.  The year is 1978.  

Under innovation both at Marvel and DC, comic sales continue to grow again.  Jim Lee's X-Men #1 is reported to be the #1 selling comic in history at over 1 million copies sold.  The year is 1991.

A combination of too many new comic shops (a classic investment bubble) and a series of bad decisions at Marvel (such as great increases in cover price and number of titles) all started to fall apart in 2003. The last straw was DC's Death Of Superman in 1992. Fans invested in the last issues expecting high returns, only to find it was all just a trick. Collectors lost interest. Marvel tried more gimmicks and price rises to maintain their income, and bought the distributor Heroes World and stopped selling through others, hoping to force the industry to play by its rules. Marvel attempts to salvage their business by making a mostly stock offer to Jim Lee to buy his studio and make him chief creative officer.  A few months after Lee turns down the offer, Marvel declares bankruptcy.  The year is 1996.

Comics eventually have the worst sales in history.  Marvel would not be profitable again for over three more years.  The year is 2000.

The Christian Science Monitor reports "July 2014 is the most profitable month ever in comic book history, and comics are only getting bigger." And of course the movies and merchandising bring in many, many times that revenue. Stan Lee worked out of a single office, but now Marvel has a big flashy global headquarters. The future looks even brighter: the movies are raising awareness of superheroes, and the industry is slowly learning how to sell via the Internet, which solves the distribution problem, always the biggest problem in comics.   The bottom line is that the comics industry is now mature, and so it knows how to make money. 

Avengers Infinity War becomes the fourth highest grossing film of all time at over $2 billion, and Black Panther becomes the ninth highest grossing film of all time at $1.3 billion.  The Academy wants to invent a special Oscar category of Popular Film just to honor Black Panther.  Spider-man on PS4 becomes the highest selling game of the year, more than any other exclusive on any other platform.  The records don't stop there. Spider-Man is not only the fastest-selling Spider-Man game ever, it is now the fastest-selling Marvel-branded video game ever. The previous record holder, Lego Marvel Super Heroes, was beaten by a wide margin.  (DC fans, don't worry - Batman: Arkham Knight holds the record for the fastest-selling comic book hero game release this console generation.)  The year is 2018.

The top two trending topics on twitter for most of the day were 1. Henry Cavill, 2. Superman.