15 minutes ago, romitaman said:

That is arguably the most ill informed or misinformed comment i've ever read on these boards........comment i've ever heard on these boards..... Most People don't know this.... But there were 2 artists Stan Lee was considering to replace Steve Ditko On ASM when it was clear Ditko was leaving the title....... It was john Romita...or Ayers!!!!....... I'll bet my entire art collection against your 5 dollar bill that ASM #100 cover would not sell for half what it hit at auction had it been drawn by Ayers!

I was waiting for you to chime in with good common sense! Romita is not a slug artist easily interchangeable with other artists on Spidey. There was a magic in what he brought to ASM. He elevated the way we look at Peter Parker and Spider-Man. Opinions are opinions yet it seems silly to insist upon a certain artistic mediocrity concerning Jazzy Johnny. Hall of Fame, MVP whatever. John is above this I believe but he is an all star always!!!

15 hours ago, delekkerste said:

Wow!  This is even better than the Dr. J. Evans Pritchard method for evaluating poetry!  

 

Ha ha!! I just watched this movie again last night. Totally applies. 

10 hours ago, SECollector said:

I received the page today and despite everything, I love it. Looks nicer than that crappy photo and especially since I bought it for the same price as a 10 minutes taxi ride costs in Stockholm, I couldn't be happier. Yes, its not an investment, its not an important moment in the ASM run, but there are still worse pages lol.

Thanks everybody once again for all the opinions, as a total newbie I knew that I would hear all the sides of the story in here. This community is really awesome.

Looks great!! Welcome to the wonderful world of OA collecting!

On 1/29/2018 at 6:56 PM, G.A.tor said:

This  one ranks top 3 for me 

K I R B Y Prime!!!!! Bombshell effect on my nerves y senses. Cheers!

On 3/9/2018 at 7:33 AM, PhilipB2k17 said:

That's about as close as there is to a grail-esque page for me. A classic, Kirby/Sinnott Surfer on his board splash from FF. Only way it would be better is if it were a cosmic background, but that's a very minor quibble. What a great thing to own.

So many great pages in this book. Your page is a Galactic dandy with all that Surf action! Add a dash of Lee, Kirby and Sinnott and sizzle up a gourmet drool fest to entertain the collecting mob.

On 3/19/2018 at 11:37 AM, Bronty said:

Here's a question.    Who the @#$! cares if its a 'top five' or 'top ten' or 'top 3 by this guy' or 'top 8 by that guy' cover?    No disrespect.    He's not a stellar artist.   Nice solid, dependable, sure.   

It all boils down to what's on the cover more than how well its drawn.    

"No disrespect....but".  I love that put down, Those gifted to create like Humble Jazzy john Create beautifully. Than..we have you. Dismissive critic. ASM 100 Cover was always the ASM cover most of us pegged as a giant. Iconic imagery burned to the brain by a "more than stellar artist " I assure you. Get hold of Romita back issues and do your homework. You simply don't get a free pass to drag down a great comic artist to mere pedestrian bullpen run of the mill guy.

On 3/18/2018 at 6:48 PM, RICKYBOBBY said:

Hi all,

Was really excited about this new acquisition. Not it hand just yet but I couldn't wait to post it!

Cover to the Jack Kirby Collector #41. Large art measuring 13 x 21- the largest image Kirby created of Black Panther. This piece hung at the Kirbys home for many years. Now it will hang in mine

 

Thanks for looking!

http://www.comicartfans.com/gallerypiece.asp?piece=1459599

The sixties were a tumultuous time. Jack Kirby had the courage to create and promote a Black character that all Marvel fans could admire and root for.He was a leader, a royal I would've fought for as a kid. He was a leader and extremely intelligent. And he looks ultra damn cool. A force of nature. These pencils are brilliant. I studied so many non inked Kirby art works. The JKC was instrumental in that pleasure. There is nothing like owning a piece like this one above. The Black Panther exploded in popularity because he is a character long overdue for recognition. Congrats to the mats on this one. Never sell this one man.

18 hours ago, malvin said:

Hi All!

I am so stoked to have won this!

CAF Link

I wont say more because words truly doesn't do it any justice!

Thanks for looking

Malvin

Mike is a true professional. He puts so much detail into the work. It was a winning bid you had to make. Congratulations!!

1 minute ago, Michaeld said:

I picked up these two recently. The first is a Rude Nexus piece that I've been eyeballing for the past couple of years. Steve (The Dude) Rude recently had a half off sale on his website to I jumped. The second piece is a cover for a Sock Monkey book by Tony Millionaire.

Rude  Millionaire 

The Rude Nexus page is a barn burner. That's a really great page. I'm just learning about Sock Monkey but it looks like a winner.Glad your happy and appreciative that you shared! 

1 hour ago, williamhlawson said:

We love you being here (more fun than comics already right?)....but...Not legendary??? To hell with that.  This is the most legendary page ever!!!!  To you and that is ALL that really matters, but ALOT of the art guys are VERY into valuations.  You will always get lower #'s from collectors, higher #'s from dealers;  In valuation of pieces.  In sales prices.   Sometimes even in service A dealer gets 'retail' by accepting the overhead and waiting for the right buyer (which most have cultivated a horde of, so I believe their view is skewed high).   I know my values skew on the low end usually (I'm getting older and cheaper), and you still rocked it.  Learn to trust your eyes and your gut, because at the end of the day, it's worth what you will pay and not a cent more (until someone else buys it for more than that).  Just ENJOY it, it's truly great.

Really good to see SECollector get a CGC fist bump for his 1st OA. This is the side of collectors that can preserve and promote goodwill to the newly initiated. I'm so pumped up for SECollector and glad to see most everybody encouraging him.

4 hours ago, romitaman said:

he got a great deal on that page and that's the bottom line here ..50 bucks for a 250 page is great.... and i'm happy for this new collector.

SECollector getting his first page is what it's all about. Of course I always defer to Mike when it comes to $250  FMV on a Bagley Spidey page. My quesstimate of $200 (a couple hundred bucks) was in the ball park. Mike knowing the pages so well ads value as yes Hottie Felicia Hardy shares that top panel with micro Spidey. For $50 investment you get to hold your first OA piece in your hands and admire the work the artist(s) put on a page. Cheers SECollector!!!!

3 hours ago, Overthetopinc said:

There is a lot more to worry about then his money people. I have read some things saying that he is being set up and he is being controlled by these thugs and they are calling the shots. From forcing him to cut off ties with his only daughter and his manager of 50 years that has been like a son to him. He almost died the other week because they were hesitant to take a 95 year old man with pneumonia to the hospital. The day after his wife dies these thugs fired all their lawyers. They have been trying to get these nurses to lie about him with sexual misconduct claims. This goes way past the money issue and I am worried about elderly abuse. 

Ditto.

4 hours ago, SECollector said:

Thanks for that, since I usually really don't like the "how much is this worth" type of questions and I was hesitant about posting this. But yes it is interesting to see how opinions can vary. 

Thanks everyone for your input. I truly get it that this is not by any means any really significant piece, but I thought that it was a cool thing to find in a local sales site here in Sweden. I ended up grabbing it at a price that I really felt comfortable with (approx. $50). It will be cool to have my first OA page to put aside with my ASM run, and I really hope to slowly add more by more artists that have worked for the run. Maybe one with Spidey larger than Ant-Man, lol.

Congratulations SECollector! Your first OA page and inexpensive. It can be addictive just ask everyone on here. Spend your money wisely and love what you buy!!!

18 minutes ago, SECollector said:

And this is the actual page. Would you pay like 50-60 dollars for this? Any opinions appreciated!

$50-$60 I would pay for sure. That one Spidey panel alone worth it. Bagley helped create Carnage and was very popular during his 90's run. I think if you can get that would be great.

19 minutes ago, SECollector said:

Thank you very much! 

3 hours ago, PhilipB2k17 said:

Just saw this story. A local man bought a Golden Age Flash panel page in the 1970's for $7(!) at a comics shop. A Local appraiser concluded it was a $3000 to $4000 page. The art is by Carmine Infantino.

Can anyone identify what comic this is from, and do any of you disagree with that appraisal? (The Appraiser is not an OA specialist). To me, it seems a bit high. But I'm not a GA Flash collector.

https://www.detroitnews.com/story/life/home-garden/2018/03/08/flash-comic-antiques/32749065/

Not sure of the FMV but in terms of pure history and coolness... Four stars.

21 minutes ago, SECollector said:

Hey guys! I know pretty much nothing about OA and I have never purchased anything. I collect comics but the interest is there.

However, I have found in a local site here a listing about a page by Bagley from ASM 370. Nothing amazing, mainly random people in the panels and in one of them a tiny little Spidey coming from the sky. But I would really like to grab it and start slowly a small collection of ASM OA pages. 

My question is, what would you guys consider a fair market price for such a page, i.e. a random page of ASM by Bagley? 

Thanks! 

Maybe a couple of hundred bucks? I think it's cool you want to get started in OA. Have fun, buy what you like and you will be happy!

29 minutes ago, romitaman said:

interesting topics above.......and honestly i love sharing all my stories with anyone who asks when talking about the hobby.......and my spider-man collecting....it's super fun and I'm quite blessed to get into the hobby when i did...... I gave so so many stories about the hobby it's pretty awesome to share all the great deals that were had well before the days of the internet and all.

People seem to think i had a lot lot of money to buy art right from the beginning...I didn't,

I couldn't even afford to go to college as i had no money and my parents had no money so i joined the army and got out of the army in October 1989 and bought my very first piece of art the day i got out of the army.   a battle page from ASM 46 from a CBG ad that Scott Dunbier had for 110 bucks. 2 months later i called up Scott and asked if he still had the other 2 pages in his ad..he said he did and I bought those 2 also.

Fast forward 24 years later and I eventually completed the entire 20 page ASM 46 book...LOL

Honestly...I would never have the collection i have now without meeting  Mitch Itkowitz!

I met Mitch in late 1989 out of a CBG AD not long after he became John Romita's art rep...I missed out on the killer top tier twice up battle ASM  pages and covers which Mitch sold well before i met him......But i was one of the first guys to buy complete books when Mitch started selling complete art books that weren't split up. 

The 4 real Keys in the early 90s to getting great art was............

#1)  be avidly reading the CBG EVERY WEEK.

#2) go to as many comic conventions as possible to meet collectors and network yourself.

#3) Be prepared to have a HUGE PHONE BILL...as before the internet i always had 300-500 dollar monthly phone bills by making so so so many phone calls trying to do art deals.

#4) Have a decent job to afford to spend money on art....I thankfully got a good job in a hospital in 1991 working with cancer patients (mostly kids) and I worked there for 23 years until i retired in 2013 to do art full time when the hospital had cut backs and forced me out sadly.

Anyways...I do have to say...like Marvelcomicart guy states above..... I was pleasantly surprised how no one....and i mean NO ONE for about the first 8 or so years I was in the hobby were interested in ASM INTERIORS....guys always wanted the covers...but no one collected interiors so it was nice not having to fight others for the art early on.

I still have a few of my early invoices with Graphic Collectibles (Mitch Itkowitz)

My favorite one is from March 1990...... Mitch said he had the very last  23 LARGE ART ASM pages from john...they didn't have much Spiderman on them but  i wanted them very very badly.  (all pages were from ASM 40-48)  He sold me 17 pages for 40 bucks each 5 pages for 75 bucks each..and the 2/3 interior splash page from ASM 47 were Kraven busts through the wall of the COFFEE BEAN with MJ and Gwen dancing, as kraven kidnaps Harry Osborn was 125.

now whats even funnier than this is the fact that on this very same invoice i paid 200 dollars each for the 2 john ROMITA ASM annual 21 wedding covers.......AND i bought 2 nice Ron Frenz ASM battle pages from ASM 260 by Ron Frenz for 150 dollars each!!!

Ron Frenz ASM pages were ALMOST 4 TIMES HIGHER than the price for each of 17 large art John Romita ASM pages!

but again...those were the days!!!

People have always asked me why I collected Romita ASM over Ditko ASM and I told them all...

"I WAS CHEAP.!!" And I was just thinking basic economics.

Decent Ditko ASM pages were selling for 1000 dollars each in 1990 and everyone wanted a page.....Romita ASM pages were selling for 40-100 bucks each and NO ONE WANTED THEM......
and believe it or not...even in 1990, McFarlane Spiderman pages were selling for 5-10 times ROMITA ASM interiors

So I said to myself...I love "SPIDERMAN" So I'll collect ALL Romita Art...and since McFarlane was so highly priced.......and Andru, Kane, Pollard, Romita Jr, and Frenz art was still all very reasonable... I decided to collect any and all ASM art from #39-297...and I will ONLY do deals for Ditko and McFarlane ASM art, "AND" ALL non ASM art, to figure a way to turn that art into more ASM 39-297 interior art....

another funny story is in 1992....I had a sportscard / comicbook store from 1991-1998 with my older brother (he did the  sportscards and i did the comics)

I speculated and bought 700 copies of Javier Salteres GHOST RIDER #1 in 1990 when they first came out, (for half cover price being a store owner) ....the book shot up to like 15 bucks after a year or so...... and i met a guy who had a comicbook store  who was avid into comic art and collecting art for a decade before me.......... He had about 50 John Romita ASM pages...about 7 large and the rest small........ and since he had his store in NYC I worked out the deal and traded him all 700 copies of ghost rider #1 for all of his Romita ASM pages! 

We are still good friends .....Even to this day he laughs when we bring up that story and he said the Romita art was considered back then.... EVERYONE I would do deals with for Romita art in the 90s  would always ask me why i love this art so much???? they would almost all tell me...."ROMITA JUST DRAWS "THE MARVEL WAY.....NO STYLE"   I just told them all  OK.. and I moved on to the next deal to be had....

and It's been an amazing ride collecting art I must say.....

It's funny to me and my brother to imagine a time when people didn't consider John a great artist. To me Ditko was the best if you forced me to choose between them. For my brother it was Jazzy Johnny all the way. You were way ahead of us as we didn't really get started collecting original art until 96-97. We mostly gave up on Romita pages on ebay as you always outbid us ha ha. I think John is one of the nicest men I've ever met. He's a terrific artist and a better person. It's always fascinating to hear stories like yours highlighting your method of madness. It all worked out as you did a great job amassing the most impressive collection of Romita art not to mention the rest of your collection. Thanks for sharing and if you see John tell him, " thanks for doing it the Marvel Way." Best-mike in sunny southern california

2 hours ago, MarvelComicsArt said:

Both John Romita SR and his son John Romita JR are the nicest individuals i have ever met at any convention .

Salt of the earth people. I have so much respect for the both of them.

TALENTED AND VERY HUMBLE!

Great sketch and a fantastic story! congrats

Thank you! Yes JR Jr is also a swell guy. I met him yeas later. John Romita Sr. is indeed the warmest fellow one could have the joy to meet. He is beyond patient with the fans. In fact as I say he is overly generous with his time. I literally had to pull myself away from our great discussion out of respect for all the other fans waiting. Other people cut from similar clothe were Jim Mooney and Gene Colan. Marie Severin, Mchael Golden and I could go on. Also met Big John Buscema the year before he passed away.We talked about the Silver Surfer and Dan Adkins. He admired an original art page he had drawn but hadn't seen for almost 40 years. Grea hobby!!!

1 hour ago, Aman619 said:

Is anyone in a position to have an educated opinion that Stan is actually nearly broke?  All the reports just state that a total of around a million or two was stolen, and there are already steps being taken to recover what they can.  

In any event, Stan has earned millions, been buying houses in his Hollywood Hills neighborhood, and ought to still have plenty to live on and pass onto his daughter.

im a Stan guy, but I’d find it hypocritical to worry too much about “poor Stan down to his last millions...” when we all know of many comics artists and writers who are in truly dire financial straights.

Stan’s a bit isolated and hasn’t been paying attention, trusting the wrong guys too much as always...  just needs competent professional help to find the thefts, stop the bleeding and set up protections going forward.

I think we can worry about Stan and other less fortunate artists and writers at the same time. I think the kind of help we are suggesting is not a fund raiser. More keeping a shining light on the cockroaches that creep in the dark. Many older people get taken advantage of. I'm a Stan guy too. So I don't want to see it happen. I agree that better management and protection are needed. 

1 hour ago, vodou said:

Bumped into this image while searching for something else. I don't remember seeing it before. Anybody know anything about it or who has it?

Robert Pistella (CAF) might know.

1996 SDCC My brother and I meet John Romita SR. for the first time. He makes this really cool Spidey drawing for me.We are all from New York. We talk about New York. He tells us about the good old days at Marvel. He continually pauses from my drawing/sketch to reminisce. As much as I'm enjoying it all I feel a tinge of guilt as a line of people are waiting for autographs behind us. This was the first ever piece of original art for me. John Romita is one of the nicest people I ever met. Thank you John.

32 minutes ago, Overthetopinc said:

Hello Guys,

This upsets me to no end. Stan Lee is in dire straits and there is nothing anyone seems to be able to do about it. I applaud Neal Adams, J.Scott Cambell, Peter David for trying to bring this to peoples attention. I was just thinking out loud, is there nothing that can be done? 

thanks,

Matthew

I reached out to Clifford Meth with this question. He did a great job helping Gene Colan and family during some rough times. When he reaches out to me maybe we can all come up with something.

On 3/9/2018 at 8:13 PM, Sideshow Bob said:

My first Kirby! 

http://www.comicartfans.com/gallerypiece.asp?piece=1457563

 

 

 

Kirby and Royer! Jack's mighty signature on the gunmen's thumb!  Congratulations. Also The Black Racer was a cool character from Kirby's first run through DC.

On 3/9/2018 at 4:05 AM, Rick2you2 said:

You are looking at it from a different angle, but from that angle it depends on the circumstances. If someone sold me something "as a friend", he has a right to be mightily pissed off if it were flipped. If not for the friendship, he may have kept it. But if it is a semi-commercial deal, with 2 people regularly buying and selling to each other, then not at all. 

 

 

Good point.

3 minutes ago, grapeape said:

I got this more than 23 years ago ether at the ny art expo or a comic book store it's one of a kind   Reply

Your previous message Hey this is really cool.What's the history behind this art? Super neat

Spiderman Origenal Art   Current Bid: $160.50 Auction ends Oct 22, 2017 19:44 PDT Bids: 16 ITEM[itemId].watchCount watchers Place bid