PhilipB2k17

I like all of them, but none made my final cut.

And before the marker ink fades?

Yeah. Except the page I was targeting went super cheap, because apparently my session had timed out (Thanks Heritage!) so when I was trying to bid on it, it made me log back in. By that time, the auction had moved on. It's possible the person who bought it and I would have bid it up another 20% or so, but who knows? That person made out like a bandit.

The international comic art & animation auction also has some great pieces.

Yeah. But does this establish a much higher market price for Cirocco Alien Legion inked (not painted) pages?

Ware apparently actually drew in the New Yorker logo on this page, as opposed to it being added later digitally or through paste up. So that adds to the value.

Holy spoon. That Cirocco/Austin "Alien Legion" #1 page sold for what now? $3840?!?

Thing vs Hulk pages are a genre all to themselves. And if you come across an A+ example, you pounce.

Note how the modern artists are -- generally speaking -- not the ones consigning these pages to auction houses.

Erm... how are you supposed to vote for these on CAF? Like them? How do you keep track of pre-existing likes vs Likes from the contest? Does it matter?

Erm...how are you supposed to vote for these on CAF? Like them? How do you keep track of pre-existing likes vs Likes from the contest? Does it matter?

No Snoopy

I think Kirby has broken through to all collectors now. Ditko Spidey and Dr. Strange, for sure. But, I think the Adams market is eventually going to soften, as his "style" has basically taken over modern comic art. Virtually everyone who draws modern comics (with some notable exceptions) are in the Adams/Jim Lee style of technical proficiency and layouts. Adams just doesn't stand out like he used to. That said, there are still a reservoir of collectors who recognize his impact and want a nice piece by him. But over time that will soften, I think. Ironically, I think guys like Sal Buscema might start getting more love from collectors, simply because he embodied Marvel's house style in the 70's and 80's, and worked on virtually every book in the stable. Especially the word balloon examples.

This is my point. The market is saturated with this art, and the number of collectors of it has significantly diminished over the past 30-40 years. So, the premium, best example piece will sell high, but the rest is going to keep on dropping. Unless these pieces break out into the fine art realm, which is unlikely. I can see the Winsor McCay, Alex Raymond or Hal Foster strips getting there possibly, however do=ue to their intrinsic quality. But again, this is my point. The "winners" will be based on mostly on aesthetics, and not necessarily on characters or story, or even popular culture.

Just my opinion, of course. But Ware is one of those "comic" artists who have broken out into the fine art realm. And his New Yorker Covers are particularly desirable, if not yet on the plane of his Jimmy Corrigan work. I just think that eventually, if people want a really god Ware example, they will start looking at his non Jimmy Work and bid those prices up considerably.

That Chris Ware New Yorker Cover is going to be worth half a million dollars in 10 years.

Many Comic strip artists were world renowned in the first half of the 20th century. Strips like MR. Tracy and Li’l Abner were massive pop culture icons. Ask anyone under 30 if they ever heard of L’il Abner or any of that cast of characters. Or Pogo. Or Joe Palooka. Think how cheap you can get a Terry & the Pirates or Pogo strip today.

Isn’t the better comparison comic strip art? We’ve seen a wholesale collapse in relative comic strip art values after taking account gif inflation, with the exception of some particular strips. And the trend has been away from nostalgia and story content buying to pure aesthetics. PPL nowadays collect Prince Valiant because the art is amazing. Same for Raymond Flash Gordon strips or Winsor McCay strips. Will that eventually play out for Comic Art?

By definition, the vast majority of new comic art is overpriced at dealer or rep sites. How do I know this? Because most of it just sits there for months, or years in some cases.

Not to be a pedant, but when you say "low ball" offers, are they really "low ball," or just FMV offers that are below your artificially high asking prices intended to deter offers?

Some comic artists are now reluctant to publish new stuff online because it because it gets mined by certain software programs to train AI art bots. This is an actual thing now.

I probably have about 50-60% of my collection posted on CAF. Mostly because I'm too lazy to do the work necessary to post all of them. I also do want to keep a few pages close to the vest, for various reasons. I don't get a lot of offers for my stuff, but when I do it's easy enough to just politely decline if I am not willing to sell. I think the "fresh to market" price premium is a myth. What isn't a myth is that if you happen to have bought a page from an auction house in the past few years, or an art rep, the amount you paid is probably in a searchable database so that does affect the price. Certain "fresh to market pieces" may increase eyeballs to a particular auction, or it could be a piece a group of collectors have been searching for, for a while. But, I can't believe a run of the mill page with no special characteristics would garner a premium just because it was in a black hole collection for 20 years.

I always point out that are hundreds of thousands of pages of unsold art just sitting on dealer & art rep sights, and much the same on eBay. Random silver age talking head pages from run of the mill books aren’t going to sell very often.

God help us when fractional NFT ownership takes off. 🤮

Unfortunately, they had to be completely silent about that.