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Might as well have wrapped it in brown paper, wrote "Do Not Bend" in sharpie on there and slapped some stamps on it... I mean really.

Arrrrrgh, a Batman • Starman • Hellboy Mignola cover too. That sucks royally. I feel for ya man. Really really. I don't think I could ever bring myself to buy a piece that required the shipper be released of all shipping responsibility in writing. I've had too many pieces arrive like yours did, though never from a purportedly reputable auction house or gallery. The kicker is WTF was the foam supposed to do?!? Protect it against being heavy? I bet shipping on it cost a pretty penny. Even with the lousy packing job, no doubt a heavier better made package wouldn't have cost much more to ship than this turd did. What a kick in the balls.

Bahahaha.

Chris loses nerd-points on that one.

I personally stopped buying anything with markers years ago, but man... that #2 cover is so sweet.

I bet there's all kinds of feedback on this episode. Listened to it yesterday afternoon. Fascinating. Not even so much about the art as about the whole nature of the tale. I can see the Felix Podcast Ad in comics now: Betrayal... drugs... strippers... comic art! Hoping you'll be sharing some of the feedback you get from the field on this one!

I've had art hanging on the walls of my basement for going on 17 years now with no issues. If you don't have moisture issues with your basement, and it is or would be a comfortable living space, and you keep the pieces in the flat file well up off the floor, I'd say you'll be OK. Keeping stuff bagged or sleeved is probably a good idea too if it's just going to sit there. Some flat files sit on the floor. I'd put some kind of legs under it, if it doesn't have any already. Keep it a good 3-4" off the ground in case of any potential flooding from a burst pipe or water heater, etc. Or, put it in the living room/family room as a coffee table? Seen some really great setups like that.

Hrm

It's a beautifully drawn page. Lots to like!

I'm normally a DC guy. Always was as a kid. I made it through Civil War and SS. I thought CW was a fairly wooden patchwork of a story, but whatever.... it's popcorn fare. I thought SS was a series of visual frames stitched together by rubbish and nonsensical "storytelling". I certainly don't think Civil War was great. Maybe not even good. But as a DC fan that loves the characters, I thought they made a dung heap of SS. I cringed every time Leto was on the screen. I expressed early on in the thread that I was keeping an open mind and would definitely watch the movie when it hit cable. But there was no way I was risking extra money on a movie ticket. I was very concerned but hoped if I set my expectations really low, it might pleasantly surprise me and be fun. Especially with the way people went on and on about Harley's portrayal. Unfortunately my already low expectations couldn't keep up with how stupid SS was. I mean, I sat through "Frankenfish" on SciFi one late night long ago. And that move was also terrible. But at least it KNEW it was terrible and had genuine fun with that. What kills me about SS, it that they had great characters, a good/decent cast, and god knows they had the budget. But nah. I'd be fine if I had to sit through CW again. You couldn't pay me enough to sit through SS again. Seriously and without hyperbole. If I'd been smart, I'd have bailed when Straw-man did. I kept thinking, this is just the setup, there's going to be more that brings this all together. Oh well. After BvS and this... makes it really hard to work up the courage to sit through WW. And that at least had a good looking trailer. Feeling like a battered partner. Only so much I'm going to take before I just split.

Not an art thing, but I once posted on a very high end guitar forum about a guitar I was selling, and happened to mention I was open to possible trades or trades + cash. First offer I got was for 1/2 cash, plus a bicycle and a used birdcage. WTF? Still don't know if that guy was just messing with me or not. Seemed like a very Craigslist thing to say. I politely declined his offer and ever talked to him again. My experience with the handful of trade deals I've been involved in, is that they almost never work out for me. Only a couple have ever come to anything tangible. The rest were lots of talking, lots of emails, and people backtracking and hedging. I'm just not into it, and don't think of the pieces in my collection in that way. Probably because I never have a whole cache of material I'm not in love with for some reason or other. Often too hard for me to work up that same desire for other people's pieces. As Michael says, the majority of folks want a one stop shop of trading off their misc. pieces for one nice piece. And to add to that, are generally totally ignorant of what kind of work I am (I think) obviously into. It's one thing if someone sends a folder of work they are willing to trade, and at least portions of it are artists I like, or books or characters I am a fan of. Even if I don't actually like any of the work in their for trade folder, I can appreciate how they'd think I'd be conceivably interested in a trade. But more often than not I am invited to look at trade folders by people that have collecting tastes about as diametrically opposed to what I collect as it's possible to get. I get why some folks are into them for sure. It's a personal choice as to what works and what doesn't with your collection.

Cool piece. Love PCR. make sure you ask the restorer about other effects. I wouldn't be surprised if you lost the Annual stamp up top along with the stains and grime, for instance.

Man, I wish I had the exact sections of the site I read, but it was many years ago, and I stumbled on it looking for a Wrightson image. pretty certain it was on the DarkTower.org site, and must have been in the section for showing off collections. Coincidentally though, when trying to refind a link for you guys, I noticed that site has a few threads dedicated to comics, since King wrote some comics and comic adaptations. And there is the whole Creepshow and Dark Tower comic series. Plus King himself is a well known comic lover himself. So there is an intersection that might be an anomaly compared to other fiction authors. closest thing to what I read all those years ago was something like this. Not the same thread as what I read, but you can see these folks who are primarily King book collectors, but also into the artists featured in those books. some I get the impression are King collectors, and any associations thereof. http://www.thedarktower.org/palaver/showthread.php?219-The-Masters-Originals-Collectible-Book-Art Granted the pieces I see here are from King's books or related directly. The other stuff I mentioned showing off their collections was where I saw Wrightson, Whelan, and Hale art not tied to a King property but collected by a few of these folks. Seemed their professional association with SK was good enough.

I sure don't doubt that. So here's a question. Do book covers have the same kinds of skewed values as their comic book brethren when it comes to position in some kind of numeric hierarchy. So, for instance, is the first one likely to bring the highest $$ because it's the first (and the most well known title), or is there more at play here? Do book collectors buy OA often? Like another subculture? I visited a Stephen King discussion board once because it had some paintings I found in an image search, and I was interested to find 3 or 4 of those guys collected some OA from artists that King used for his books, but not from the actual books. Simply a name-by-association kind of thing. They seemed more interested in having every permutation of a published book on display more than art on the walls, but still some fairly impressive examples of art as well. Not sure how often that happens.

Fir enough, and you are correct, that the big influx of blueline coloring tended to start mid-80s for the reasons you mention. It definitely looks blueline as the production method. So then the question becomes, when? Just because the drawing was created in the late 70s, doesn't mean the trans and color job was. Was this colored for a reprint volume/magazine at that time period? Maybe. Could be a case of someone had a line transparency made from the unused OA, and then colored for their own benefit? Seems unlikely though. Hard to say, unless someone recognizes it from being printed in color in something.

My comments here were only ever towards my looking at the pieces seen through today's eyes. Specifically mine. I get what they were for, and the time period is evident. I can easily see some folks buying them more as artifacts of a time, (like folks that collect advertising or movie props), rather than for their artistic/aesthetic merits. But isn't that a lot of what the other Nostalgia thread's about on a few levels anyway? Seeing past the art to the heart wants what it wants. I mean that's why so much comic art is appealing beyond it's aesthetic shortcomings, right? What it represents creatively, and as a totem that elicits certain feelings. Being here, I think we all get that angle pretty well. Though, and again, I do think some of these covers are far better than others for what they are.

^ That one is actually kind of fun. I appreciate it more than the others for sure. The stylized trees are especially great!

^ What he said! ^ Shouldn't confuse color guides with blueline colors. See this all the time.

Hate to say those wouldn't ever be for me. Even if I had nostalgia for them, that's the kind of work where even super heavy heartfelt nostalgia couldn't make me buy something so.... The first one's not so bad, but they seem to progressively go downhill from there. But that's just IMO. Where was Boris and his baby oil when they needed him?

This pretty much sums up my feelings as well. Regarding collected volume covers vs individual issue covers, I personally evaluate and value them case by case.

THIS is hilarious (sorry). Did you keep the presentation? Oh man, I totally would have. The worst (and most typical) "bad" behavior I encounter when someone wants to know if I'm interested in selling something NFS. If I even open the door a little about possibly being OK with a sale, they immediately insist I put a price on the piece. While it may seem like no big deal on the surface, it irks me to no end. I'm not the one that approached someone about buying their art that was marked NFS. If someone's looking to buy something of mine, I do hope they have an idea of what they are prepared to pay for it. If I was looking to sell, I'd price it and put it in a FS gallery. Look, nobody wants to be the one getting bilked in an art deal, but as a would-be buyer trying to pry a piece loose, I make damn sure I'm at least UP there, making it worthwhile, if not total shock and awe levels. And as someone who's seen some shock and awe prices thrown my way on my pieces that I've turned down, I can say that happens too. Depends on how bad I want something, or how deeply entrenched my love of a piece in my own collection is.

Vess did the figure on the rock and the rock itself. He was touring with originals from Stardust at the time. Sarah and I saw the Trilogy folks in Chicago (the year Wizard took over I think), SDCC and one other stop that year. I'm not really big on jam images myself, but that one's kind of a cool piece.

Everybody is going to have a somewhat different reaction based on who they are and their attitude, plus the particular piece in question, and how they approach their collection. Yes, many people will say, "I'm not actively selling, but if the price is right..." and that is a loaded statement. On the whole I'm with Mr. Machismo, that it's up to the shopper to throw out a number that's not going to be offensive. So if you are asking the group here is it's OK to offer someone current FMV for a not for sale piece in someone's gallery on CAF, I think the majority view is going to be that it's not a good idea. You can do anything you like, but don't expect to have a great reputation doing that. You are going about it the smart way, understanding this hobby is pretty closed loop. You invariably will rub shoulders with many of the same folks, and especially where similar collecting interests are shared. Most folks that contact me about NFS pieces usually just say "would you be open to selling this piece". Not an offer right off the bat, but just the opening communication. I've been collecting art for over 25 years now, and if I'm trying to pry a piece loose, I'd never come out of the gate with anything less than a 50-75% bump in FMV for anything under $5K,. Under $1K, I'm at least 2x FMV. I once bought a $200 piece for $800 because I really wanted it. As my collection focused and narrowed, I sold it off for 2xs that. Those margins don't work out for everything, but I've bought pieces well over market value that I'm sure I'll be lucky to get 75% of the value back. But it's not always about the $. I've turned down offers of 5 and 6xs market value on pieces that are cheap but important to me. Many collectors have relationships with the art they collect that run deeper than the dollar value someone assigns to it. So even the crazy offer isn't going to do it. As an art owner, my usual go to reply, is if it's a piece I have zero interest in selling, I let the would-be buyer know that up front. But I also let them know I keep every offer I've ever been given on a piece. When I have sold things, usually before I start thinking about selling publicly, I just reach out to the folks that have left me those offers. Most of those emails get ignored, but I've sold several pieces like that over the years, and usually at very fair prices. And for friends, even well under market, just to hook them up. I'm all about paying it forward where I can. People have done me some great favors over the years in my collecting, and I like to give back when it feels right.

Bahahahaha!. Touché!

That might be the most extreme leap in the whole thread... ...maybe if that primordial fish thingy hadn't have crawled from the ooze, I wouldn't be into comics. Hmmmmm....