PhilipB2k17

It's a bargain - relative to what it would go for Today. 1. It's a Marvel silver-age hero 1st appearance complete story. 2. Ant-Man has considerably more cache now than back in 2002. 3. I think the "Ant-Man" splash alone is at least $100,000+. The Journey into Mystery #83 1st Thor panel page sold for $65,725 in 2012 https://comics.ha.com/itm/original-comic-art/jack-kirby-and-joe-sinnott-journey-into-mystery-83-first-appearance-of-thor-and-his-enchanted-hammer-mjol/a/7023-93146.s?ic4=GalleryView-ShortDescription-071515

http://scholar.harvard.edu/files/maskin/files/uniqueness_of_equilibrium_in_sealed_high-bid_auctions.pdf?m=1411066351

In order to figure out whether prime material is in a "black hole" collection, you have to know whether a lot of prime material still exists.

The entirety of Tales to Astonish #27 - which includes the 1st App of Ant-Man - sold for a mere $65,000 back in 2002. Safe to say that person bought it at a relative bargain price https://comics.ha.com/itm/original-comic-art/jack-kirby-don-heck-bob-forgione-steve-ditko-original-art-for-tales-to-astonish-27-complete-book-marvel-1961-it-i/a/803-5990.s?ic4=GalleryView-Thumbnail-071515 Anyone want to take a stab at what it would sell for at Auction if it came up today? Minimum $250k? More? Less?

Barks also wrote the vast majority of those Duck stories. If Romita were also WRITING those iconic Spider-Man stories (rather than Stan Lee, etc) then his acclaim would be more than justified.

In fairness, that's true for most artists. Nobody's paying Ditko Spider-Man prices for Question pages, as great as those may be. Likewise, You can get Dave Gibbons Green Lantern pages for a few hundred bucks. Try paying that for a Watchman page.

I am not so sure that if Heck is the one drawing all those iconic stories that he doesn't get a lot of the love Romtia Sr. is getting. Pretty sure he would get a pretty big chunk of it. The vast majority of Romita's cache is that he was the Spider-Man artist during that run. He was not the plotter or writer that Ditko was, though. He's the Roger Moore of Spider-Man artists. Reliable; did a great job with the character; perfectly suited to the times. He had a nice long run on some memorable storylines. Some people, who grew up on him, even like him better than the original guy (or anyone else). But, objectively, he's not anywhere as good as the original guy, who set the standard. That would make McFarlane, I guess, the Daniel Craig of Spider-Man artists.

True, but Erik is very high profile and as an artist he kind of gives his artistic impramator on Trimpe. I'm a situational Trimpe fan. I would love to have a Trimpe Godzilla page. But, I'm pretty "meh" on the rest of his ouvre.

Well, this will be a short thread.

It really doesn't matter to me, one way or another. I'm not buying any of that stuff.

Look, I respect Romita and his accomplishments. I am not here to denigrate him at all. I just think his art values are going through a bubble.

There’s a moderate amount of heat for Sal Buscema Hulk, and now McFarlane and Keown Hulk. McFarlane just because you can’t buy a reasonably priced Spider-Man, and nobody wants Spawn. Erik Larsen is a big Trimpe Hulk fan. So he’s also kind of pushed that market higher.

Kirby all the way. Adding: I believe Todd Mcfarlane himself would question your preference.

I don't mean to be confrontational, or anything. I'm sure the person who owns that ASM #100 cover loves it, and has no regrets. I'm just stating my opinion as someone who has zero nostalgia for that art, and looks at it objectively. Obviously, I could be proven wrong. But, this is my humble opinion.

Because that Capullo cover recently sold for $50K, and I suspect that person could sell it right now for more than that. When that age group matures, it's going to be one of the grails of the hobby - for them.

He's a dependable, technically skilled, professional artist. Great human being. Like a Dan DeCarlo on Archie, or Curt Swan on Superman. He happened to have a long run on an important comic at a time when a lot of iconic stories were told.

It checks a ton of boxes that may not hold up over time. 1. Spider-Man? Probably holds up. 2. Main Spidey Title? Holds up 3. Issue #100? OK. probably holds up. 4. Artistic value? Nope. 5. Romita Sr? Not gonna be getting peak prices in 10-15 years as that group of collectors ages out of the hobby.

Yeah, I'd be pretty nervous about McFarlane art, even McSpidey stuff, staying up that high in the long run. If you love it, though, you love it. I do think Liefeld prime Marvel stuff might be a bit undervalued.

Bitcoin investors are now finding this out.

1) I have no nostalgia at all for the Capullo Batman #1 cover. My Nostalgia sweet spot is the late 70's to mid-80's. I just think the people who do have nostalgia for that cover are not even in their earning prime yet, and that is an iconic cover for that generation of collectors. 2) The ASM #100 cover looks far better in color than in black and white. The reason why it's a striking cover (to the extent that it is) is because it has Spidey on top of a black background. 3) It's not that artistic. Its just Spider-Man on top of the headshots of his rogues gallery. 4) You think this is one of the top 4 Romita covers of all time? Really? Better than 40? Better than 67? Better than 75? Better than 68? Better than 70?

Kirby heirs? Or Kirby/Ayers?

Personally, I think the fear that if you don't buy something now, it will be X times as expensive to buy it tomorrow, is more than half of what's driving the current market. As soon as prices stabilize, then pieces will sit forever, and dealers will start discounting to move inventory.

Was there ever a time when Ditko Spider-Man art was not among the most desirable pieces to own in the hobby? No. Those pages will hold their value. I'm not so sure about Romita. There are some A+ Romita pages that will hold value. But, run of the mill Romita spider-man pages, will not, IMHO.

If you pay for OA with Bitcoin, you can't lose!

I don't think the ASM #100 cover is an A+ page. I think it is a page that is overly inflated because of a certain age of collector has a lot of nostalgia for it. I'm not sure that translates outside of that demographic. In the longer term, I'd rather have the Capullo Batman #1 cover. I agree with you on SS# 4, though.