Skizz

I dunno about this. If I see something listed at double or more than what I consider to be reasonable or FMV, it’s extremely unlikely I’d bother making an offer. As a general rule, I’d never want to offer less than 70% of the asking price. By asking double or more, I’ll just assume that the seller has an unrealistic expectation and it’s unlikely we’ll reach an agreement, so making an offer will just end up being a waste of mental effort and time. As far as I’m concerned, those items might as well be one of those Coollines “make offer” situations.

@Turtle I use an online framing/matte service in the UK where I specify the size of matte and the aperture. So it comes pre-cut.

This feels like a real moral dilemma. I’d say do it, it’s no good having the art hidden away in the book. But at the same time it feel sacrilegious to cut the art out. Sorry if I’m only adding to the indecision.

@Varanis Great interview. It was awesome seeing such an unique and one of a kind OA collection and having the artist right there talking about it at the same time. Thanks for sharing.

I do something similar to the@Great Escape method. But I can’t get the large Mylar bags here in the UK. So, I have to use just regular transparent plastic sheet to protect the art. The only thing I do slightly different is that I cut the outer border to the size of off-the-shelf photo frames. This way I can easily switch the art in the frame for my rotating home exhibition.

I have three out of some two dozen pages framed on my wall at any given time. The art tends to rotate. It’s amazing that you have art that is valuable enough to have to be kept in a safety deposit box. But somehow this makes me sad. Very tastefully done. Having my collection up on CAF fulfils this purpose for me. I can just load that up on my iPad and look at my whole collection (when I’m too lazy to pull out a portfolio).

Others have already mentioned that what you’re thinking is not unusual from a completionist perspective. But if I can add another thought to that. There is the idea of looking at your collection as a whole. Just because every piece in the collection is individually amazing, doesn’t necessarily mean the collection as a whole is interesting (or even great). If you think of the collection like roller coaster or a cinema, there ought to be high and lows. An ugly piece in of itself can actually become beautiful as part of a larger collection. Or at least it can give that collection more depth and meaning. So I guess the question for you to ask may be ‘does this piece make my overall collection better as a whole?’. Hope that helps.

@Carlo M As others have said, you cannot quite compare one cover to another, irrespective of whether one is inked and the other isn’t. That said, here’s my two pence for what it matters. Firstly, you would have to determine what the FMV of the pencilled art would have been IF it had been inked. Sounds like you’ve determined it to be the same as the inked cover you have. My general understanding is that 60% of the value of comic art would reside in the pencils and 40% in the inks. To that end, I’d say the FMV on the pencilled version should be 40% less than the pencilled and inked cover you already have. Having said the above, of course, other factors like which cover has better eye appeal, is one from a more key issue, the degree of finishing on the pencilled piece may have a impact on the final price at auction. Overall I’d say you should expect to pay at least 60% and up to 100% of the FMV on your pencilled/inked version. Now if you threw up the link of the art you’re looking at, I’m sure we can all be more precise. Surely no one would try to take this from under you at the auction.

My very first DPS. From Alan Moore’s 90s work Spawn: Blood Feud by Tony Daniel (penciller) and Kevin Conrad (inker). Higher res image in link: https://www.comicartfans.com/gallerypiece.asp?piece=1636249

Love the story and write up, particularly the one with the Cutter and Skywise piece. Thanks for sharing and also for the tip Alex.

Strictly speaking, original comic art was neither meant to be framed on a wall, nor put in portfolios. It was meant to be used to produce a comic book. Anything beyond that ... is just gravy. I do agree that original comic art framed on a wall does look amazing. Having said that, there are any number of reasons why a collector may choose to leave his art in portfolios, rather than have it framed. There are concerns about light damage. The very fact that original comic art was not necessarily meant to be framed is illustrated by the fact that many artists used materials that would not stand the test of time and fade over time. Wall space is an issue. There are some collectors who have hundreds (even thousands) of pieces original comic art in their collection and there’s only so much wall space. To add to the above point, there is also the theory that art needs space to breathe. To that extent, some collectors prefer to have only one piece of art on a wall, surrounded by ample blank white space. It’s arguable that this approach makes the one piece of framed art more special than having multiple pieces cluttered together (although I’ve recently had a virtual tour of a collector friend’s house that takes the latter approach very tastefully) There is also the opinion that not seeing the art for a while allows you to come back to it with a fresh eyes on the next viewing. So putting the art away in a portfolio may in fact enhance your appreciation of the art. Finally, and this one is quite important for me, there are collectors who like to get up close and personal with the art, feel the texture of the page, see the ridges and grooves that the ink makes from an angle, observe in detail the tiny hills that the white-out cluster into ... hell, maybe even try to smell the ink. To those people, having the glass separating the art from the viewers eye is not conducive for this kind of appreciation. I subscribe to all the above in varying degrees. AND I also LOVE having comic art framed on my wall. In order to balance the two, I only have a few pieces of art framed in my somewhat small apartment at any given time. But there is a rotating exhibition and each piece gets four to six weeks on the wall before it’s swapped out for another. Anyways, here’s some framed (and in portfolio) art I have.

I believe this page was either $250 or $300 at the time of the drop.

@comix4fun Thanks and my apologies for confusing you with the other Chris who was also on the Felix Comic Art podcast. I should take the opportunity to say that I’ve enjoyed the write-ups on your gallery pages as well.

The online con has been great, especially for someone like me who’s in the UK. We don’t seem to get many comic art dealers at our cons. So it’s been good to see some of the inventory that’s not on the websites or art that not accessible unless you’re physically at these US based cons.

Thanks for the kind words @grapeape. I am on CAF: https://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryDetail.asp?GCat=121983 But to give credit where it’s due, I was inspired by the dissertations and thoughtful write-ups done by another CAFer Chris K on his gallery pages. I believe he is on these boards as @comix4fun

This is great. That’s for sharing.

https://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryPiece.asp?Piece=1636249 I feel like I’ve been spoilt after buying my first splash page. I’ve gone ahead and bought my first DPS now! The page is from Spawn: Blood Feud. This was Alan Moore returning to mainstream superhero comics in the 90s and writing in the style of comics that had become popular in that decade. The art is in that gaudy, 90s spectacle-over-substance style we all now love to hate and hate to love. It only seemed appropriate that, if I was going to get something from Moore’s Spawn issues, it be this glorious DPS with the quintessential image of the antagonist John Sansker. The real question is - is it a double page spread or double page splash?

Money laundering !

Couldn’t say. I only learned about it when it was pointed out of this thread. It’s still on his CAF gallery marked NFS, so presumably he still has it. Maybe @comix4fun has better information.

I can’t speak for the artist of East of West. But as someone who draws comics (albeit on a much much smaller, indie and local level), I can say that when you’re trying to get a book done, the last thing on your mind is selling the OA; the digital process has so many little advantages that add up to making the process of getting the book out SO MUCH more convenient and efficient. Even more so when you’re sending drafts and small but meaningful amendments between artist, writer, editor (also add In colorist/lettered) and especially when working to deadline. And getting the book out on time and in its best iteration really is, and should be, the primary objective. That said, a lot of artist ARE doing exactly what you’re suggesting. But I can’t really complain if an artist uses whatever tools they must to get a great comic book out - one that I love enough want the OA from - even if it means that that process leads to no OA actually existing. At that point, if there is a choice between the Fiona Styles / Saga situation or Nick Dragotta / East of West situation, at least the latter gives AN option of having something traditionally drawn (that closely resembles the published version)

I’m not sure about the covers. But I believe the interior panel pages were done digitally for publication. However, post publication you could buy a page from the book. The artist Nick Dragotta would then do a recreation of this page on the stipulation that he would never re-create this page again. So this would be the sole existing traditionally drawn version of the page.

The actual first print comic, slabbed or otherwise, or the signed prints, these are all cool collectibles to have. They may even be valuable and indeed increase in value over time. But I would say that neither of these are anywhere close to resembling or approaching “original art”. Unfortunately for something like Saga, there simply IS NO ‘original art’. Which is why I thought the approach adopted for East of West was so ingenious and had the best of both worlds - it allowed the artist to work in a convenient way to get the book out digitally and also gave the collectors a way to own something that was traditional art on paper. I wish more artists who work digitally would do something like that. That said, I do understand why many artists don’t. They’ve already drawn the page once for publication. It’s too boring to do it again. And if that artist (like Staples) doesn’t need the art sales, they have even less incentive to do so. *sigh*

The artists can call it what they like, you know what it is. It’s not the final version that was used to create the published comic. It’s part production piece and part recreation. You should probably ask yourself a few questions to decide if you should buy the hand drawn piece. First, are you comfortable with the asking price, irrespective of the label of cover or recreation. Second, is the traditionally drawn page as nice or nicer or at least nice enough for you be okay with it in comparison to the published digital version. And third, is there another way to get a traditional drawn of paper version of this cover or art. If you feel the answer if is yes to the first two and no to the last of these questions, I’d say go ahead and buy the page; you likely enjoy and cherish it. Just my

Not a problem as long as they are practising proper social distancing when buying their Kellogg’s Fruity Snacks.

They don’t spend it now. They wait for the world to go back to normal and human activity to resume. Until then they ...