gumbydarnit

Somehow I stumbled onto ComicartL a yahoo message board run by Gary Land. It had good conversations and you could land art on occasion from various FS postings. I landed two nice pages from a collection that Gary and another collector partnered up to buy. They kept the key A level pages and sold off some nice B level ones (if memory serves me correctly it was from a LCS called Comic Town - I could be wrong). Those were from fun times. Also, a cool back in the day memory- with eBay being my primary source of art, you could actually see the eBay handle of who was competing against you. The primary outbidder against me was an eBay handle that I eventually found out to be Gary Land. The most painful one was a Paul Smith/Terry Austin Marvel Fanfare page featuring Wolverine and Colossus vs Sauron. It was a stunner… when all the auction snippers fired their last shot Gary was the high bidder left standing. I wondered would another 20 or 50 bucks have tipped the scales? He no longer has the page so please don’t bug him, trust me I bugged him enough ; ) Yes I was a eBay sniper back in the day, we were the talk of many “honest bidders” who wanted your high bids cast way before the auction ended so they would have sufficient time to respond with their follow up bid. hey that was 3 back in the day memories in one post, not bad. 1. eBay nemesis known via eBay handle 2. ComicartL For Sale postings 3. eBay last second sniper bidding controversy

I just got an email the other day about a dealers website update. This got me thinking, when I started collecting I would get excited when there was an update, better yet, I would constantly check and ever so often, I would catch an update before it was announced and pick up an unearthed gem. Now many of the dealers announcements just get scrolled by, I doubt there would be anything new of interest and if there were a piece I know it would be double the price the dealer just bought it for (prob from an recent auction). Not their fault, they are trying to run a profitable business. What about you, what has changed with the hobby or the way you collect since you discovered this hobby?

It’s always funny when Felix interjects his trade scenario game into the podcast. Dave is always a good sport. Maybe Felix needs to spend OAX running a trade proposal booth.

As Dave is running though the store his buddies (I’m looking at you Ryan Condal) are gassing him up “Go Dave Go!!!” Just like when you were kids, if your bud had the best toys, it was almost as good as you having them! “Dave is it cool if I come over to play with your new X-Wing?”

Well if you want to learn ALL about the remaining stormtrooper costumes Gino Sabatino speaks on it verrry throughly on Dave’s podcast. The Star Wars talk begins around the 1:06:00. It was very fascinating. https://youtu.be/f2iPZ99NssY?si=9vpd_oA2VMUl804X

I’ve always thought so as well, is it a case where Cap isn’t edgy or dark enough to get collectors excited, kinda like Superman? All that to say, I do love the one the started it all Mr Edgy himself - Wolverine!

There was a mother of all movie props auction that Heritage held recently and Dave talked about it on his podcast over multiple episodes. When the big day finally came Dave walked out the winner of the X-Wing and a Stormtrooper costume: opps Bronty answered it as I was typing.

01:01:54 is the point of Felix Lu podcast where Dave Mandel starts talking about each piece he has in this HA auction ( link ) The proceeds of the auction will be used to pay down Dave’s X-Wing HA purchase. For our hobby, I’m glad he won the X-Wing it shakes out some very key pieces that are incredibly cool to see, and for the deep pocketed folks fun to win! Byrne X-Men pg, Miller Daredevil pg, Ditko Spider-Man pg … WOW!

Nice shoe collection you got there Vodou, got any Air Jordans?

I got bored and bid up many items to tens of dollars, so I can say I was active in the Jan auction. Don't mess with me I'm a such a big player... a true minnow of the hobby!

I'm glad that Dave Mandel is so willing to talk, he is always entertaining and speaks loudly concerning a lot of the nitwittery that goes on in comic art collecting. He and Felix are two of the most entertaining guys in the hobby. The Stuff Dreams Are Made Of podcast is a must listen for me (youtube link), I cant wait for new episodes to be posted. Movie props... another hobby I cant afford to participate in, but thanks to Dave and Ryan I get a bit of vicarusily thrill, I so wanted Dave to land the X-Wing! Felix, you can talk Dark Knight Returns like no one else, love it!

Maybe I need to rethink my stance… you might be right, a good chuckle every time you see that clown painting might be worth it.

I agree. One of the benefits of being a collector, is that you get to choose who’s legacy is worthy of your adding to your collection - your own personal comic art hall of fame. Given what I heard of Bob Kane, I’m completely happy not to have him represented in mine.

I just read the Bob Kane clown story.... that is hilarious!

What about Zeck... how many folks are blew through their cash before the Secret Wars 8 page... it could have hit 4 mil ; )

Maybe a fair way would to apply an randomizer for the alphabet. (ie. j n f a b i x p y k c a.... ) and list the names in that order, in this example all the "J" names would lead the auction. Then at the next auction a new randomizer would be applied to alphabetical order.

Here’s an example from the last Comiclink to illustrate the point: J Scott Campbell - tech stock Jack Kirby - blue chip —— J Scott Campbell’s Leia Illustration went for $14,250 and here are the 3 Kirby pages you could have walked away with for $13700 Kirby Externals $6000 Kirby Machine Man $5400 Kirby DC Super Powers $2300

What do you guys think about the Cockrum/Austin X-Men cover gaveling at 250k…. low, high or about right?

My brother said market dynamics have now changed, the piece you want is now 10x.

DC - not Dynamic Competition for original art results.

Hmmm, I haven’t thought of that, I guess there could be other things to do with money.

In the days when I was active, I would take a lot of time figuring out my absolute top price would be, factoring in all the fees, taxes and shipping. When it passed that figure, I would stop because trying to figure that out in the heat of an auction is next to impossible. Make your plan and stick to it, if you want to stretch for the piece, do that preauction, with lots of consideration and thought applied. Often I would find the final all in price would be 20% more than my top. Sometimes I would land one, most of the time I wouldn’t, and I never had regrets because I KNEW my cap before the bids were flying.

I think Felix Lu or one his guest, said roughly “If I bought a piece and it’s value dropped to half what I paid, would I still be happy to own it?” I may be butchering the statement, but that is something like what was said. I think you should ask yourself that when you feel you are really stretching for a piece. (The Felix Poadcast is a must listen BTW) Also don’t get too tied up believing because it a superstar artist you should pay it. Jim Lee’s Superman pages are worth a fraction of what his Batman pages are worth. Right artist - wrong title applies to most pieces. Do your research maybe it’ll show that the stretch is worth it, but also try to get it an apples to apples comp and not a X-Men to Power Pack comp ; )

opps