delekkerste

I watched it the other night. Honestly, it works a lot better as a graphic novel (I read the first 4 or 5 volumes). All the critics are stroking Fincher in their reviews, but, to my eyes, on camera, it was basically just another hitman revenge flick whereas the character and story are a lot more distinctive on paper. Felt like it was a movie I've seen countless times already - I didn't hate it, but, I didn't think it broke any new ground. 3.5 out of 5 for me as I like Fassbender and the source material.

I quite enjoyed the recent TWD: Dead City (Maggie + Negan in NYC) and Daryl Dixon (in France) spin-off series. The change of scenery did more to freshen things up than anything they were able to do in the regular series the last 4-5 seasons before it ended.

Luckily, we don't have to wonder; the Conan #5 cover sold for $70K in the last ComicLink sale (vs. $66K at Heritage 5 years ago) and the #11 cover sold for $102K in the last Heritage sale (vs. $90K at Heritage 4 years ago; it probably would have fetched $75-90K 5 years before that). BWS Conan pages just sit on dealer sites these days going nowhere, even at prices which have barely budged over the past 4-5 years. I've even seen dealers over the past year or two actually mark down their asking prices on interiors and splashes to try and generate some interest. The best you can say is that the BWS Conan market is in a state of secular stagnation at the moment. Yes, of course there are certain pages and issues where the art would go nuts if it became available, but, that has always been the case. If, theoretically, Red Nails was broken up now, of course it would fetch eye-popping numbers, but, I know people who were willing to pay 2023 prices (or close to them) back in 2013 (and even made overtures to Thibodeaux) so the actual real price escalation would be far less than people think.

That seems light to me, as was the JRJR Uncanny X-Men #177 cover at $84K. Highly confident both would have fetched considerably more 18-24 months ago.

Only $56,400 for the Barry Smith Conan #10 cover. But at least between a BWS no-action, no-Wolverine X-Men page fetching more than Conan pages at last week's Comic Art Live sale and this, just the latest in a lengthening string of disappointing BWS Conan cover results, maybe @tth2 will finally shut his pie hole now about not noticing that Barry Smith Conan is a long-term secular decline.

2022: 98 buys, 2 sales (final tally) 2023: 96 buys, 1 sale (year-to-date) My plan to eschew smaller, fun pieces to focus on larger pieces did not work out at all this year. But, that's fine - it's been way more fun this way. I actually picked up 2 B.C. strips and one Wizard of Id myself this year.

No, it's all Megg & Mogg and related characters from the series (like Werewolf Jones). I would say that while you wouldn't want to buy, say, a Serpieri piece that didn't have nudity, there is a wide majority of funny and/or pathos-inducing pages by Hanselmann that don't actually show the most extreme gross-out humor that he is capable of and so I don't think it is in any way settling for less to get a page that doesn't include squirting, penetration, etc.

Here's a timely Halloween scene from last year's "Werewolf Jones & Sons Autumnal Grievance Spectacular" (Fantagraphics, 2022) by Simon Hanselmann, my most recent pick up of the Australian-born creator's art (I've been a fan for years now). Megg, Mogg, Owl & Werewolf Jones' sons (Jaxon & Diesel) have a disturbing encounter with a shotgun-toting neighbor before witnessing an even more distressing scene in the form of a pants-less and possibly dead Werewolf Jones lying in the middle of the road behind police tape! A great Hanselmann page without any oozing orifices, veiny genitalia, lewd sexual acts and/or other depictions that would make it unsuitable for display (always a risk with Hanselmann pages!!)

You're not wrong.

I thought it was because of the insatiable demand for Garfield art among Heritage clients?

That's actually just what dealers tell you so that you'll pay their prices.

Speaking of Jae Lee, I saw that Albert had some Jae Lee pages priced at TWO figures (as in <$100).

The Cabal is like Scientology...there are at least 8 different levels within it.

I heard he only buys published DKR pages.

Yeah, that makes a lot more sense - photograph with airbrushed accents. Still very cool, though! The mask depicted on the album cover sold for $50K in the same auction!

Yeah, the Nagel is stunning...I'm not sure there's *any* piece of comic or illustration art out there that I would love to have more than that one. That painting, the Erol Otus D&D Basic Set (1980) art, X-Men #94 cover...those are probably top 3 on my Ultimate Comic/Illustration Art Want List. The Ultimate Sin is a cool album cover...do you remember the video for Shot in the Dark (which riffs off the album cover)? That video was perpetually #2 behind Motley Crue's "Home Sweet Home" on the Dial MTV call-in countdown for months! The Iron Maiden album covers are great...the futuristic Somewhere in Time one is my favorite of the lot.

The Duran Duran documentary that came out during the pandemic showed keyboardist Nick Rhodes with Patrick Nagel's original art for the Rio album cover (not sure if he's the owner or not). That and Roger Dean's cover for the 1st Asia album are probably the two pieces that I would want above all others and would make my inner '80s child very happy.

Here's my sole piece of album cover artwork - Elvis Costello's National Ransom (2010).by Tony Millionaire.

Some fellow art & music lovers discussed this one when it was up for sale. The description is a bit misleading - it's Kelly's original concept for the album, but, it wasn't painted until shortly before his death.

Wish I would have known about that sale! The original cover art to Quiet Riot's Metal Health sold in 2021 for $44.8K (I didn't hear about it until after the auction ended).

A couple of Boardies saw it for sale at Art Basel Miami that year, which is where it sold.

I watched the Ronnie James Dio documentary a few months ago and it showed Wendy Dio (Ronnie's widow) with the original Holy Diver album cover painting.

What in the AF