delekkerste

The pros: 1. Increased visibility, ubiquity and respect/appreciation for comic book IP over the past 15-20 years 2. Easy money, currency debasement, soaring incomes/net worths/asset prices over much of the past 30 years and especially over the past 15 years 3. Extensive efforts by Heritage and others to cultivate and grow the collector base. Lots of new collectors have entered the hobby The cons: 1. High prices/higher barriers to entry 2. While there are a lot of new collectors, many of them are Gen Xers who already make up the largest cohort of collectors and who aren't getting any younger 3. Younger demographics are getting farther away from the conditions that spawned all the Boomer/Gen X/Millennial collectors and are less interested in/connected to the source material and comic book collecting experience of the 1960s-90s Personally, I am not overly concerned about the short-to-medium term outlook for the hobby/market. Clearly the buyer base has expanded dramatically and, unlike many other collectibles verticals, I know that a ton of art is in very strong hands who would rather sit on it than fire sale it in the event that we do get a big macro-level downturn at some point. Also, I'm very cognizant of the soaring debt out there and think that further long-term currency debasement is all but a metaphysical certainty, which should benefit high-quality asset prices. That said, I do believe that, in the long-term, demography is destiny. Sure, the buying pool has expanded dramatically over the past decade, but, it's also clear that many of these buyers are in the same Gen X cohort where the biggest % of the total $ value of OA presently resides (and, sadly, we're not getting any younger). I talk to my fellow Gen X and late Boomer collector friends and all of us will readily admit: none of us could assemble the collections we have today if we were starting out at these levels. Long-term, at some point almost all of this stock of art will get re-sold and there is just no way IMO that it can all get absorbed at ever-increasing prices unless both the buyer pool and the pool of available capital increases dramatically to clear the market. And/or unless prices come down. Again, not too concerned about the foreseeable future, but, my guess is that prices level off at some point down the line and the market just gets kind of boring at a high level for a long time. And then, when the demographic wave of collection liquidations kick in, we could very easily see some weakness. I'm not going to put a timeframe on that, but, I find it difficult to believe that this dynamic won't eventually kick in, even if it is still (possibly) far off in the future at the present time.

One thing to keep in mind is that these lenders typically lend up to 50% max of the appraised value (and quite often less). Another thing to keep in mind is that the Zeck Secret Wars #8 page won't appraise for the $3.3 million it sold for.

It might be your champagne and caviar tastes.

I'm not sure exactly what's going on but I have definitely witnessed a huge increase in FOMO for this type of material recently among people I know (including myself) who are into this material.

I think people were surprised by the greater-than-usual number of lots that fell through the cracks (as well as the large number of as-expected results when we've become accustomed to expecting better-than-expected). To be sure, though, there was no shortage of strong results and even some exceptional ones. The question is whether this was a mildly disappointing one-off or the first crack in the OA market's facade. IIRC, we had a bit of a comedown at one point last year/early this year in some parts of the market but things bounced back strongly after a couple of auction cycles and the last auction cycle (June) was back to blowing away expectations. In any case, it will probably take a deeper and more sustained string of disappointments to really start worrying people.

@Brian Peck Those 2 Prohias Spy vs. Spy pieces in the current HA auction both went for less than recent comps (and one was even an uncommon Spy vs. Spy vs. Spy gag). I actually stepped away for an early dinner during this point of the bidding, otherwise I might have thrown in a bid or two more on one or both of these. Just goes to show that the removal of even one bidder on niche material like this can have an outsized impact on the final price.

There have been gargantuan offers and sales made recently on V and Watchmen art that have all occurred away from the auction block.

I don't know, but some of the Moore cognoscenti were speculating that this could be a 6-figure piece before the auction. I don't know that one would call $66K cheap, but, I didn't speak to anyone who was blown away by this result.

I don't know if it's quite a "classic cover" but it's a very well-known and memorable cover from that era. I know many will say that it's way cringey and I've even heard "undisplayable", viewing it as racist and culture appropriating in 2024, but, FFS, it was 1970 people, and it was a then-honest attempt at bridging the racial divide at the time (even if it hasn't aged well since then). I'm not surprised at all personally by the final price; I thought it would go around $150K.

Could also be indicative of broader market conditions, though.

$13.2K for the Jack Kirby 2001: A Space Odyssey #2 cover.

I don't know if I'd go this far - I suspect that most of the world pictures Wolverine like they know him from the movies vs. the comics and cartoons and this is close enough to that version (between the hair & claws) to make him recognizable IMO. I have a pet theory that says that the movie version of Wolverine has helped bolster the desirability of Wolverine pages with him wearing one of his maskless costumes/outfits as the mask is no longer an essential part of his get-up for a lot of people.

I'm in a couple of chat groups following the auction...there have been more than a few lots that have come in below expectations. The Adams Av #93 splash, the Kane Conan #70 cover w/Belit, the BWS Weapon X page, the Miller DKR page, etc. To be sure, some pieces have exceeded expectations and a lot have met expectations, but, it does seem like more of a mixed bag than usual...so far. Of course, we've seen other auctions where the Platinum lots underwhelmed and then the main session was en fuego so it's far too early to draw definitive conclusions this early.

Bo Hampton

95% less than the New Mutants #98 cover = Bargain!!

I picked up the Sal B./McLeod New Mutants #4 page, as it extended the 2-page sequence that I already owned from that issue to a 3-page sequence. I also have two other pages from that issue so I'm hoping to possibly create an even longer sequence over time or maybe a second 3+ page sequence.

I'm gobsmacked. I would have taken the over on all of the guesses that people were presenting here.

The only meaningful comparison for everyone but the consignor is final sale price to final sale price. We don't compare final sale price to hammer price, or final sale price to final sale price plus tax, shipping, etc. because it can vary between buyers and sellers. If I buy I piece for $9K and have to pay tax & shipping on it, my personal cost basis may be $10K while a dealer with a resale certificate might have a cost basis very close to $9K including shipping (but no tax). If a piece sells on Heritage for $9K vs. sells at a convention for cash money for $9K, the value is $9K in both instances, not $7.5K for the HA sale vs. $9K for the convention sale. The Tradd piece sold for $8K last year and now has just re-sold for $9K. True, the seller will have likely taken a small loss, but, the piece has not only held its value, it's actually appreciated in the marketplace. If someone has a comparable page, they could very well get $9K for it now without going through Heritage (or at least get their money out). If someone wants to buy such a page, chances are they will have to pay a premium over last year's price. I know several collectors who have paid what some here would say are absurd prices for Tradd SSB art. All of them are close friends of mine in the hobby and all of them are in their 50s (3 of them have been collecting OA longer than I have). The sales are 100% real - as always, when in doubt, defer to Hanlon's Razor: Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity (or, in this case, OA collectors with big egos and big wallets. ) That said, just because the top-tier SSB art has fetched these kinds of prices doesn't mean that everyone is buying the Tradd Dr. Strange art with similar expectations. My guess is that most people are buying it because they fear they'll have to pay up more in the future to get something good by Tradd and are happy if the art holds its value or appreciates a little from what they probably knew were strong prices when they bought it (that's definitely the case for one buyer I know). Seeing this good-but-not-great piece going from $8K to $9K in a little over a year, in a Wednesday auction in mid-August (I'm seeing a LOT of stuff, especially in the other stuff I collect like sealed vinyl and trading cards, fall through the cracks this month at auction), I think validates the original pricing of the art. More than validates, in fact, as a majority of new comic art probably would resell for less, apples-to-apples, within 16 months of its initial sale.

I read in the New England Journal of Medicine that the incidence of adult onset original comicartophilia without prior infection to myocomicbookitis before age 25 is extremely rare, affecting less than 0.1% of collectors.

OK, so now we know where these two Frazettas went. And I have just one question for Cliff: When are you posting the $3.3M Mike Zeck Secret Wars #8 page??? You know it makes sense...

That is not what I said. I said that virtually no one gets rich and then decides to collect comic OA without some kind of pre-existing love or connection to comics. It's not like fine art where those who become mega rich inevitably get sucked into it by virtue of their new professional and social circles. We know that there are plenty of celebs and successful business people who collect comics and comic art. But almost all of them had a pre-existing love for the medium. I'm sure there may be a tiny number of exceptions, but, they are the ones that prove the rule.

I saw a photo or video of him with a Captain America figure in his office a while back. Not surprisingly, he seems to be a big Cap fan. Also has the Byrne Iron Fist #15 cover among other things:

Looks like we've fast forwarded from July 2007 to September 2008. On a semi-tangent, I see that hedge fund billionaire Cliff Asness, known to be a big superhero fan, has outed himself as a major comic art collector on one of the Facebook OA groups.

It's a nice giclee on heavy stock. 18x24" and I think limited to 100 copies IIRC. Otus pre-signed all of them in pencil and added a personalization if you wanted (I did). Great value for $85. Not sure the original even exists anymore...might have been one that TSR binned back in the day as no one seems to have seen it that i know of (if someone can confirm either way, do tell). I think it would probably fetch $300-500K but I'd be less surprised if it went for more than if it went for less. Otus was nice to talk to. Doesn't get really excited but smiled as I gushed about how much I loved this image. I was there with @comix4fun (Chris C) who has had some correspondence with him in the past and they had a longer chat. Chris was wearing a Joy Division shirt and Otus is apparently a fan - learn something new every day!