PhilipB2k17

The cover to SSOC #10 sold for $28,600 back in 2008. I’m guessing it goes higher than $39K now. https://comics.ha.com/itm/original-comic-art/covers/boris-vallejo-savage-sword-of-conan-10-cover-painting-original-art-marvel-1976-/a/829-41316.s

Good price

I have an Infantino Nova Page, so I’m disappointed because this kind of sets the market. Although I think mine might be a bit more desirable. But that’s a matter of taste.

Is the SSOC #1 Cover for sale somewhere? I’d argue that one of Boris’ Conan book covers would go that high. Maybe Freebooter? And I like SSOC #10 Cover a lot more than #4

Anyone have a scan of that Infantino Nova Page that sold for a dissappointing $500?

The speculators are now hitting the OA market hard. Pages tied to tv or film properties got premium pricing, whereas quality pages by quality artists with no other special features seemed to underperform.

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.

Not mine either, honestly.

Not at all. I expected a split along modern vs "classic" OA collectors, who may or may not be aged differentiated.

That makes a difference, obviously.

I wish Kyle K would chime in on this one. Is that Batman #1 cover inked over blue lines? If so, did he get the penciled version too? Who inked it? I don't know enough about that run. Was it Miki or Glapion? Or did Capullo ink it himself?

It's inked over blue line, however the pencils are being advertised with the piece, so you'd (presumably) get both. I'd want to see a damn good scan of the pencils before I laid out that kind of cash for that piece, however. I get why folks don't like inked over blue lines, generally. I make exceptions for when the penciller and the inker are the same person, and the artist is inking over his or her own blue lines. I figure that's legitimate OA by that artist.

Update: Here's Mark Evanier's e-mail(s) as reprinted from Fred Hembeck: "So Stan gave that Giant-Man assignment to another artist to pencil. This other artist pencilled it and then Stan didn't like the way he'd plotted the story. He demanded that much of it be redrawn, not because the art was bad but because he [Stan] wanted different actions in the panels. The other artist said he wouldn't do this without more pay. Stan said he couldn't pay him more. The other artist quit and never worked for Marvel again. So Stan turned to Ditko, who DIDN'T draw 10 or 12 pages over the weekend. He REdrew about a third of the story, leaving or altering panels by the other guy. Look at the story again. There are plenty of panels there that Ditko had nothing to do with. Ditko never laid out pages that way in his entire career. Roussos probably did ink the story in a few days...but that was almost the norm for Roussos. He was very fast. " HembecK: Luckily, I hadn't yet filed away my copy of Tales To Astonish #61, so I hastily grabbed it, opened it up, and tried my best to see it with new eyes, still trying to come to terms with this bit of blockbuster information I'd just been fed. All these years, I'd associated this story with the mystery of Rockwell, and now it turns out, there was even more intrigue surrounding "Now Walks the Android" than I was originally led to believe! It was like a real-life version of one of those "everything-you-know-is-wrong" big reveals on a cleverer-than-thou TV series, only it was happening to some pages credited for decades in my mind to Steve Ditko, my all-time favorite cartoonist! And now I learn it wasn't Ditko at all, at least not completely. So, I poured over those pages, and &#Array; with a metaphorical light bulb suddenly blinking on over my head &#Array; saw panels that featured faces that, now that you mention it, didn't look all that Ditkoesque, especially several featuring Hank Pym's gal pal, the Wasp. And Mark was right on the, um, mark about those layouts: they looked like nothing I'd ever seen from Ditko in any of the years prior or in all the decades since. In my mind, I'd always unconsciously chalked up this atypical approach to the nature of the rush Stan had burdened Sturdy Steve with, but really, does it make ANY sense to change your whole style because you're in a hurry? Nope. Take this page, for instance. The faces certainly evince the Ditko touch, but not that layout... [panel omitted. Not ours, BTW] Later quoting Evanier: Orlando told me that his problem was that, working Marvel method, he'd draw the story out based on whatever Stan gave him. Then after it was all pencilled, Stan would start rethinking the story or coming up with new twists and saying, "Oh, you have to redo this page so that it goes like this..." Ditko and Kirby didn't have this problem too often...although it was an occasional sore point with them when it did happen. But Orlando didn't develop the stories the way Stan wanted them developed, and it was a cause of friction. (I suspect part of the problem was also that Stan wasn't sure what to do with Daredevil in those early issues.) http://www.ign.com/articles/2005/05/04/the-fred-hembeck-show-episode-8?page=3

http://marvelsilverage.blogspot.com/2016/07/astonish-fall-of-giant-man.html FWIW. "The following issue, Tales to Astonish 61 (Nov 1964), saw Ditko step up to pencil the Giant-Man tale as well as the Hulk story. On the opening page of "Now Walks the Android", Stan explains that the new artist scheduled to take over Giant-Man from Ayers was unable to, so Steve Ditko stepped in to "quickly pencil Stan's -script while George Bell inked it seconds before deadline." What Stan doesn't tell you is that the story had actually been started by Joe Orlando, who had quit when Stan had asked him to make some changes Orlando didn't agree with. Stan then had lined up Rockwell - nephew of famed American illustrator Norman Rockwell - to take on the regular pencils on Giant-Man and even went so far as to introduce the new artist on the letters pages that hyped the issue. Rockwell had been an assistant to Milton Caniff on the hugely successful newspaper strip Steve Canyon, and had worked for Stan during the 1950s on several Atlas titles, so wouldn't have been unfamiliar with comic strips and deadlines. But for reasons that aren't clear, Rockwell backed out of the assignment at the last moment, and Stan had to turn to Marvel mainstay Steve Ditko. Even so, it's spectacularly honest of Stan to admit in print that it was a rush job born out of a production crisis, something that I venture no DC Comics editor would ever do. For a rush job, the result is pretty good. Ditko handles superhero action better than Ayers, so it was always going to be an improvement for me. Stan's -script brings back Egghead, not an especially effective villain, but Ditko's android is pretty creepy. Given the way the interior art for this issue was produced, and that Marvel covers were usually drawn after the interior art, it's interesting that Jack Kirby's cover art doesn't depict the face of the Android - probably because he didn't know what it looked like when he pencilled the cover art - he very likely had to draw it before Ditko turned in his eleventh hour art job." Mike Burkey is (or was) selling the title splash to this story for $45K (and attributes it to Ditko). http://www.romitaman.com/GalleryPiece.asp?Piece=20389&ArtistId=1033

Other way around. Apparently, Orlando penciled it and Stan called in Ditko to do extensive revisions because he didn't like the result. https://www.comics.org/issue/18761/#141160

Plus it's also silver age Marvel, superhero Ditko.

Which is why neither of them are going to sell at $8500. But, if you had to choose one or the other (and they were priced exactly the same) which would you choose?

That last panel is Ditko all the way.

One is a Steve Ditko Silver Age Giant Man/Wasp panel page from Tales to Astonish... The other is a Batman Page by Greg Capullo from the Court of Owls run. Admittedly, I like the Batman page a lot more than the TTOS page. But...they are currently both being offered for $8500. (Never mind where). Which would you rather have? I’m sure this will ignite quite a debate between moder OA and classic OA collectors. (EDIT: Removed "at that price" to spark a debate, because "neither" would otherwise be a perfectly legitimate answer. LOL!)

This issue came up a few months ago when someone put the second appearance of Deathlok page up for sale. It was the interior splash of Astonishing Tales #25. It turns out that the entire image of Deathlok was a production stat. A debate ensued as to the value of the piece, and the consensus was that because it was mostly a stat, it was only a fraction of the value it would otherwise have if it were hand drawn. But, if you are talking about a time-saving, or corrective stat panel that was placed there by the artist, on a regular panel page, then I am not going to knock off 10-30% of the art price. That's part of what makes it comic book art. Yes, at some point, a stat heavy page can cross the line from OA to reproduction, but the vast majority of time it doesn't.

It’s original comic book art. Paste ups, white out, etc are part of the production process for art of a certain era. It should NOT detract from the value, except in limited circumstances where, for example, the entire (or vast majority) of an image is a stat. (Then it would not be “original”) Divulge those things, sure. But if I am selling a page (haven’t yet) I would not be very happy with someone trying to bargain me down based on inherent characteristics of comic art that make it unique. If you want pristine art, you are in the wrong hobby, bub Is there a big water stain or tear on the art? Yes. Reduce the price. But if it has some white out applied by the artist, or a panel is a production stat? Hell no. Imagine if you were a collector of handwritten book manuscripts and someone tried to bargain down one you were selling because the author crossed out words, or added white out.

There are literally millions of OA pages out there. Vast majority of it is sitting, and sitting, and sitting, etc.

Let’s ask Scott Williams. This is his page, and it’s a phenomenal inking job by Sal B on his brother’s Silver Surfer pencils. http://www.comicartfans.com/gallerypiece.asp?piece=326353

“Behold the Underbidder!”

Well, then at least one of them is very happy. Edit: Yes. The winner of the piece is happy with it. As you’d expect.