Peter L

On 7/12/2020 at 11:29 AM, Randall Dowling said:

Thanks for the rec!  I was just looking at The Fade Out and thinking about picking it up.  Now I will!  

I agree on The Fade Out.  I think it is the best film noir plot and story in any medium.  I hope they will make a HBO series or something similar just so people could be exposed to it.

On 6/18/2020 at 2:53 AM, David Mandel said:

I do.

I would love to see a show just where you show random pieces of art that you have and like and discuss them.  

20 minutes ago, Real Elijah Snow said:

For modern art I can think of a few good examples of guys producing so much work that their OA prices suffer. 

First name that comes to mind is Ed Benes. I bought a stack of his stuff in the early 2000's and was getting close to $500 a page for the better Gen 13/Wildcats pages. He's been steadily pumping out work ever since and those same Gen 13 pages I've seen sell for half of what I got for them 20 years ago. I wish I had the same opportunity with Campbell pages because those are 5-10x what they were selling for at the time. 

I think part of it is that Benes has been on big books for a long time, so those dollars are going more towards his JLA etc stuff. There's just a lot to choose from and Gen 13 is probably near the bottom of most people's list. 

That era Gen 13 was terrific.  I think the drop in price has more to do with Gen 13 and Wildcats not really being featured in big comics anymore.  

2 hours ago, Brian Peck said:

$78K Hammer

NYX #3 cover with X-23

I thought it was crazy price last time it was in Heritage.

2 hours ago, malvin said:

agreed, that is insane, there are aspects of our hobby I don't understand..

Malvin

Of all the pieces in this auction, this is the one I got the most questions about in private messages through CAF.  It looked like it had some of the most followers of any item before the auction so the interest was there, even if money at the top of the bidding wasn't yet there.   I think it is like some previous posters mentioned on how it is a little early for the fans of X-23 having enough money to make a big bid on this, but as that generation of fans starts to make money, it could make sense.  Then again people like what they like.  I'm surprised the Superman/Spider-man went for what I considered below what I thought it would have been worth.

 

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/amp/thr-esq/court-rules-photographer-gave-up-licensing-rights-by-posting-instagram-1290170?__twitter_impression=true&fbclid=IwAR3KBkumofXHfXSw5CqNAzX1NWVupSr2HsMJko-FiK2CDV4zpL7uQPDUxGQ

I guess you have to do what you can live with.  I personally would go with the bragging rights.  

I amend my previous good experience.  I think I will have the worst story that I have experienced in over 15 years of comic art collecting....

2 hours ago, comicartcom said:

as Alex Johnson posted from my facebook comment, I'm pretty sure this is a Gary Coddington fan drawing that he had Joe sign. Gary did lots of such drawings and being a friend of Joe, it would not be out of the ordinary for him to have Joe sign all sorts of items. Gary used to show me some of his fan drawings way back when (as well as others) and If Gary Carter (friend of Gary before he passed away) was asked and shown this image, I'm sure he would come to the same conclusion.

for absolutely certain, this is not drawn by Shuster and Hakes blew it when they indicated it was. If the piece was still owned by that buyer, it would be my recommendation that they return it, although it probably is no longer owned by that winner and any claim the current owner might have, would be against the person they got it from. (and backwards from that person to each previous owner, until you get to the Hakes buyer vs Hakes.

By the way, this is what happens in this field now, because many of the older experts like myself are no longer in the hobby, or dead and as a result, that expertise is absent here.

the proper descritpion & attribution of this illustration should be "Fan Illustrated Drawing of Action #1 Cover Autographed By Joe Shuster"

BTW: that picture of the action #1 on the newsstands is fake. The picture can be found in it's unedited state.

 

Thank you for this great answer.  The biggest reason I can find in favor of posting on CAF is to avoid future challenges as to authenticity or lack of provenance long after any bad deal can be unwound.  Let's say I bought a piece that I think is real.  I post it on CAF.  If it is disputed then I can unwind it perhaps closer to the event.  However let's say I pass away and my heirs try to sell something.  20 years from now it will be harder to challenge a bad deal or claims of other ownership.  If the art community knows that it has been in my CAF for the last 12 years and there have been no challenges, it is probably a safe bet it is ok.  

On 1/5/2020 at 4:00 AM, Rick2you2 said:

Furthermore, I know there are a fair number of high 5 and 6 figure Ross pieces which don’t seem to sell. Does that mean he is less popular, or the pricing has outpaced perceived value? Would I still buy one at a more reasonable price? Yes. 

Serious question.  I could be interested in a high 5 and 6 figure Ross piece, because it has to be one of only a handful.  What pieces do you know that fit this criteria?  There are some pieces I have been looking for over the last 15 years and have never seen for sale.

On 1/5/2020 at 8:08 AM, Jay Olie Espy said:

I'm an Alex Ross fan. Admittedly, I prefer his mid-nineties stuff over his 2000s work, with few exceptions. I've said before I follow his market. I think the Alex Ross market is an odd beast. He's a cover artist 99% of the time with new Marvel covers starting at $20K. Not a lot of buyers at that price point; but his BEST NEW covers do sell at $25K+. Nonetheless, to me, those prices give the impression that no one wants to collect him. If he did more interiors (and if the interiors he does complete were more readily available...) I think he would garner more interest among collectors.

Otherwise, his early prelims sell well and quick. Give or take a year ago Comiclink sold a Kingdom Come T-shirt prelim for $1100 and a few months ago Burkey sold it for ~$2.5K quickly. CL also sold that Kingdom Come Chapter divider for about $3K (it's on auction again), which was a lot more than what the initial seller wanted it for. A B/B+ Marvels page sold on eBay last fall (to the Brothers) for $4250. Hans K. quickly sold a Superman prelim for $3K. So I do think the demand and popularity is there...for the reasonable stuff.

I will concede that Alex Ross is missing from many good collections on CAF. That might say something too. Oh, and the naysayers here on the board.

P.S. If anyone has a Marvels page they want to dump before his investment plummets, talk to me!

You have presented good data and I agree with you.

Although I think it is not just the early prelims that sell quick.  I think those that want Ross at a lower pricepoint want a good prelim of famous characters, and even recent ones that fit this criteria have sold.  If you look on the Comic Art Tracker, not much good polished Alex Ross Big Two stuff comes up for sale.  A lot of what shows up are false hits from Sal's CAF gallery that are still incorrectly listed as FS even though they have already sold or off the beaten track characters.  

That Catwoman from Comiclink went for an increased price than what I thought it would.  I thought it would have gone for about $15-17.  It went way past my estimate.  I think there clearly is a market at the $25-35 range for good representatives of his art even outside of Kingdom Come and Marvels.

At the LA Art Shows last year I went all around looking for Alex Ross art from the dealers and there were no pieces available.  Maybe I saw one, which I didn't like.  I asked around at many of the big dealers.  No one had anything.  While it may be true that many good collections on CAF don't have any Alex Ross showing, most of his art in private hands is not being shown and is not on the market, so they must be sitting hidden in collections.  For example, there is a guy on CAF who owns a lot of early Alex Ross stuff and I spoke to him and made him big offers and he says he will never sell.  If he did sell, I'm sure those would go for a high value.   I have heard from a reliable source that many in recent years are going to Asia and hanging on walls there and not coming up for sale.  When his good art like the Silver Surfer/FF page from Marvels or the Catwoman cover have come to auction, they went for solid increasing prices, just like the rest of the comic art market.

There are some Alex Ross pieces I have been waiting to surface for over 15 years and I haven't seen any of them.  There are newer pieces from the last year I liked and tried to acquire and were gone quickly even at a high price.   If anyone has nice Alex Ross pieces for sale please let me know.   

Also if we are to believe that theory that art or cultural touchstones will increase in price 30 years after they are released, we still have yet to see the beginning of "the Alex Ross" career in this window.


 

I had Bill S do a recreation.  He made it much larger and better than the original.  I've been since offered a lot of money but I'm not interested in selling.

7 minutes ago, vodou said:

I'm pretty sure it was blown away by the legal types. Josh sent me an e-mail regarding my participation in the thread 10/17/2017. I looked at all my activity Sept-Nov 2017 and see nothing related to the subject, which tells me *poof* it's gone. Private site here but the Ingsoc folks should be mildly alarmed that Winston isn't just changing old headlines now, he's making entire newspapers disappear

Part of why I am cautious of what I post here is that everything on this board is open to the public and easily found with google.

5 hours ago, vodou said:

 

Obviously the Grapeish One is poking the bear here, using examples that are well-known to all here of a more than two year 'vintage'

Josh Nathanson -ComicLink side of both stories

Court Gebeau -consignor with guarantee in hand for $100k (as a floor)

Mark McDermott -disappointed winner and returner of BWS complete Conan story (which story, issue #, I forget, not my "thing") based on "back scans" dispute.

 

The above is all public information. What's not publicly known (yet) is the actual terms/conditions of the guarantee (or for certain that there was one, but if it walks like a... and talks like a..., it is a...) for Frazetta's Egyptian Queen. We each have our speculations, some more educated than others, including name/motivations/quid pro quo value, etc. and that's it. For now

Thank you for writing this.  I've been on this board for awhile and I had no idea what this conversation meant or if it was in secret code or what.  Sometimes sarcasm or intended humor mask what the topic is really about, but I find this sort of thing not really great.

23 minutes ago, MYNAMEISLEGION said:

(Views/comments)/# of boobs 

I'm interested if there is a correlation and not as a joke.  

In MLB, those front offices like Tampa Bay, the Dodgers, and the A's look for market inefficiencies to exploit.  I've long suspected that there would be a correlation between women and comics and value but difficult to put a number on it and how much effect it does have.

Almost all of the art in my CAF is listed as NFS because I thought I would never sell anything.  But now that I have run out of room, and don't have a wonderful basement like Jeff S's in that Star article, I absolutely would sell a bunch of stuff for the right offer.  

The most interesting thing about the article I found was the suggestion that a common page rate for an artist on a big title is between $30-60 a page.  Is that correct?

What was Kirby making back then?  $5 a page?  

4 hours ago, Varanis said:

I started with an 11x17 and 13x19 Itoya, but was uncomfortable with how tight the pieces fit and how easily they slid out. It was also difficult to fit oddly sized pieces. Now I store everything in 12.5x18.5 Mylars and matching archival boards. It’s more expensive and doesn’t have the convenience of a portfolio, but it seems to be way better protection and is still very easy to look at the art. Definitely not the answer for everyone, but it’s been great for me. 
 

Here’s a link to the Mylars I got:

https://www.bagsunlimited.com/product/3142/polyester-mylar-sleeve-br12-12-x-18-12-nbspfont-colorred4-milfont-no-flapbr

I do something similar, and then put them in the archival boxes.  

I don't know how many comic art collectors there actually are.  I just know that there are enough comic art collectors to make buying what I want really expensive.  

I forgot to mention that I also post at CAF because I have this fear that in the future, perhaps after I die, then the art I have will be sold.  But then if has never been seen before, there could be questions about its authenticity.  

On 12/18/2019 at 7:14 AM, vodou said:

It doesn't on private property or temporarily rented property. That's property rights 101 (and a big part of why yelling "Fire!" in a crowded movie theater is a no-no, whether there's an actual fire or not!)

CAF is Bill's site -wholly owned, where paying for Premium Member gets you nothing other than additional features/access, you don't "own" (or even "rent" for 12 months) shares in the site, etc. Bill's site = Bill's private property. With this in mind, what Bill allows to occur on/in his private property is what Bill allows, where -in part allows = worth the effort/expense/risk of policing more vigilantly.

I agree with many above that I don't care for the amateurish art on CAF.   I had suggested to Bill that he add a feature like facebook, where you can hide posts from certain posters who you do not want to follow.  I think with the elimination of just a few of these posters, it would clear up the feed a lot and just see published comic art or comic art just by published artists.  

About 15 years ago I had suggested to Bill that he make all of the new art visible with thumbnails so you didn't have to click on every title to see posted art.  At the time he rejected this idea, but today we have that feature, which saves so much time.

I post most of what I have to CAF, especially if it has been seen by the public and been on ebay, CAF or auction.  I figure they are already on the internet somewhere searchable by google images, so no need to hide it.  It has helped me buy art, as I do have credibility that I think someone who doesn't post won't have.

Someone recently made an offer on one of my pieces, and I would be inclined to negotiate, but he had no art in his galleries so I didn't even finish the conversation.

I will also say that most of the great art I have bought in the last two years were art listed as NFS.  One of the great pieces of art that I wanted to buy was sold out of a CAF gallery that was listed as NFS.  I asked the original owner about this and he said someone made an incredible offer so I was sad.  So now even when it says NFS I inquire with a solid above market offer.  Sometimes people say yes and some say no.  

There was a terrific piece by a well known artist I wanted but I heard the owner talk about how this was a great piece he remembers from childhood and he keeps it on the wall in his house and he loves looking at it.  It was on CAF as NFS.   I write to the nice guy and made a good offer as the comps.  He said he didn't want to sell it for that price.  He doesn't need the money (but he didn't say that).  I didn't want to pay more, not that I couldn't but I didn't value it as much.  Maybe six months later the piece is on Heritage.  I forgot to bid but I don't know if I wanted it for what it went for.  

My thought on the original subject is that if it were true and widespread, wouldn't we see more of this art get leaked out somewhere?  Even that Frazetta art leaked out or is known about.  Most people still need to flip or sell their art sometime.  

Regarding Mike Choi's original post, people were commenting on it and how bad it was, but he never said if he did it or didn't do it.  He previously said that just to feed his family he has to sell painted more expensive commissions which is why he got into acrylic painting.  If his options are do the painting and feed your family or don't do the painting, I don't begrudge him from doing the painting.  And his versions of X-23 look like adults.  

I've heard that there is a five page Marshall Rodgers hard core porn story in existence.  I'm sure it is more common even though they haven't really popped up in CAF or other common places.

I bought from Cadence in May/June.  Communication with Paolo was really fast.  I bought art from two different artists.  The art for the first came and then I emailed that night that I only got the pieces from one of the artists.  By 8 am next morning he wrote back quickly saying the other artist was sending it to me directly and he had the tracking number that showed it was just delivered.

So in my experience really fast responses on my questions about a number of artworks, and fast responses for the delays.  I believe the other posters who had poor communication but my experience was the opposite.  

This is why I am usually more comfortable going through an auction house rather than buying from a collector.

Jack Kirby and Brian Bolland

Before I bought anything from him, he gave me a free t shirt at the SDCC about 10 years ago.  I though that was pretty cool of him.  I've since bought stuff from him.  

I saw this response from artist Mike Choi on Instagram about how this is supposedly a known secret.  With this in mind, I don't see a lot of porn commissions from established comic artists on CAF or floating around at conventions.  So I was wondering if this is a known thing or something that there is a lot of floating around in secret?  

Ten years ago Mike Choi's covers were only going for a few thousand at the most, so for him to be offered $50,000 for two illustrations would be crazy money.