gumbydarnit

I agree with Rick2you2 well UNLESS the punishment bids are happening on a piece I'm selling, then it's less frowned upon. Pieces I'm interested in - NO PUNISHMENT BIDS Pieces I'm selling - PUNISH THOSE BUYERS - but not on my behalf - shilling is ALWAYS BAD!

Wolverine and Colossus charging at the viewer. I can’t image how Jack would have drew the new X-Men but I know it would be great.

And then there are professional inkers that ink copies of other artist's con sketches and don't note that it's an inked copy on the actual sketch, so after it changes hands a few times it will be sold as a sketch by artist X inked by inker Y.

What shook me was a con sketch that I thought was a fake was for sale on ebay. A fan went to the artist's site and asked him if it was real, I was certain he would dog it as a bad forgery, but instead he gave it his blessing, looked legit to him! Then there was the time a sketch I had for years in my collection was posted FS on ebay. I sent the seller a detailed scan of a section, showing the underdrawing and washy brush stokes on the sketch. He claimed he must have been scammed and took the auction down.

As wacky as this hobby can be... there's probably a collector who specializes in collecting fake sketches.

It's getting to where I have a hard time trusting sketches from just about any artist. They are getting to be as hard as sports autographs to trust their authenticity. It's a shame because I love old con sketches, but I have stepped away from them altogether.

Hey man careful... if you talked all the hoarders into thinking reasonably the hobby would collapse when they sold all of their collection they don't REALLY need AND quit buying 5 copies of newest hot issue. I would be a bit of a more of a hoarder if my wife wasn't SO anti hoarding. Any garage sale buyers in the house?!? My eye twitches when I drive by a garage sale and don't stop.

Those shelves were wishing you collect something lighter. They should be happy, at least you don't collect dumbbells!

Very good news and a nice site!

I would think that the 137 page would be VERY hard for Chris to part with, such an important page in Scott and Jean’s relationship setting up the most important moment X-Men history. Wow, I would think that would never leave the Claremont family. As hard as that would be to part with, I suspect he’ll enjoy cashing the Heritage check, it’ll be huge!

Two of the 3 Byrne/Austin X-Men pages have posted scans. I have to say the pages are impressive without a lot of marker fade that you see in a some of Austin inks during the Dark Phoenix arc... these will be fun to watch!

Wolverine and Batman.

When did Batman turn into Iron Fist?!?

If not Scottie.... which artists are the best investment opportunity ROI if you were to buy today and sell 5 years from now? Inquiring minds want to know.... I'm guessing Mike Burkey says John Romita ; )

If you see a stellar piece on ebay rest assured the seller is getting constantly hit with offers to sell it off site. These folks don't want to compete with other eager bidders. More often than not these pieces are yanked "Item no longer available". It stinks, but it is the game that's played. Knowing that is happening, if you are interested, you have to come up with your own counter measures, but I always would rather the piece to be auctioned off fair and square... highest bidder wins.

It’s been a fun year watching the hobby, hopefully it’ll go onward and upward next year, but honestly I wouldn’t mind a backward and downward year. Thanks to everyone for providing a nice diversion from the real world, keep the posts coming, I like hearing all the different viewpoints, funny comments and auction results commentaries ... what record will be broken this year?!? Happy New Year!

That’s a wonderful collection... it does need the Cockrum X-Men edition to round it out. I’m a bit saddened that there’s no John Byrne, but it makes sense based on the other ones you bought. The one that seems a bit out of place with all of the classic artists is the Jim Lee. I would ask why the doubles, but I’m a comic collector so I don’t have to ask.. sometimes books just multiply.

Judging from your photo IDW must send you Christmas cards for being such a good customer... wow that is a ton o books.

I keep mine in the boxes except for the first one, because I hadn’t heard of that being a good way to store the to help them to keep from bowing, until I heard it on a Felix podcast. monkey see monkey do.

One would think the answer is that instead of getting 1 out of 3 covers to sell at conventions, he got all of the covers he inked to resell at conventions ...mo money mo money!!! Of course, the Cabal would NEVER want it to get out which ones don’t have the original pencils underneath ; )

Looks like the answer is yes. The winner of the Byrne Black Costume Spidey cover has posted it on CAF. He was rewarded with a ton of comments: https://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryPiece.asp?Piece=1596932 Congrats, Robert W!

I'm Eddie Murphy, but I don't want anyone to know ; ) I'm appearing on this week's Saturday Night Live... TUNE IN!

Not me, my if the piece moves me it gets a comment, that said I do tend to pay a little more attention to my buds, and throw a comment on a piece that I know they really enjoy but may not be in my wheel house. Now if there's the rare occasion where a collector is a questionable character, he gets the cold shoulder no matter how cool the piece.

THE benefit of CAF is posting your art and letting the community know your interest and collection's focus and build a reputation. For example - Brian Peck is the John Buscema man and also a Jean Grey fan, if I find a page from Bizarre Adventures where JB drew a Phoenix story, I would contact him to see what he would be willing to trade for it. Brian been around for years, active on boards so I have a good feeling things would go smoothly if we could arrive on a deal. Collectors that put themselves out there DO reap the benefits of being known as the guy who is a legit player and loves "artist X on ____ comic" He's the one to contact to raise money when you are chasing a page and need to raise money. So that is the good edge of a double edge sword. Those who take their stuff down, their collection focus and reputation slowly gets forgotten about, and who knows what they miss out on, when people are trying to find a home for their pages they are wishing to sell. Brian, no I don't have a page from that Bizarre Adventures issue... but if I did, you would know about it!

OK for one guy, CAF is still the place to see all the cool pieces ...Bill Cox -site administrator!!! I bet you he has seen some earth shattering pieces while going though the site's image files on the server.