Rick2you2

For a better page I would consider more.

I hope they don't swap styles.

That's my feeling. I wish it were better. That's the only issue of the Phantom Stranger in which Adams did the interior art. Interesting bit of trivia about that page, if you are interested. Did you notice the suspension bridge? It's modeled after the only large suspension bridge in the world which doesn't use steel as main support towers: the Brooklyn Bridge.

Would anyone care to give me their critique of this page? It's in the weekly auction and I have a better Neil Adams, already. The top two panels are okay, but the rest don't do much for me. The Phantom Stranger/Adams pages so rarely pop up, however, that I don't want to regret a decision later. I'm figuring it for a low $3K figure.

Really nice page, and an underappreciated artist.

Since we getting a little fancy here, I consider economic "rent" to be different than "return on investment." Return on investment is what you get back from a combination of the time, experience and skill, as well as labor and material, needed to accomplish a task. "Rent" is like "excess profit": the money a monopolist makes just because the monopolist is the only seller on the street. The transaction was pure "return on investment." The parties were sophisticated and were not being forced into a transaction they didn't want or understand. Value was added. On a different note, I don't particularly like the Kirby piece, so why it's worth what it went for remains the real mystery.

It is a pretty cool story, but I don't believe I could do that. The transaction sounds more like "business" than "hobby", and I try not to mix the two. As to whether what happened being "cutthroat", well yes, but so what? You engaged in a business transaction and you won. And, so did everyone else--you were dealing with sophisticated people who knew what they had and chose to make deals. It's not like you ripped off a little old lady who didn't know the value of the art.

I followed the link and found the MOCCA arts festival. https://www.societyillustrators.org/mocca-arts-festival Any idea what this is about (besides what I read on the website)? Is it worth the trip on 4/7or 4/8? That's the same weekend as the Atlantic City Comic con.

Let me give you a different example. Let's say you have a favorite T shirt you bought years ago. Does it matter to you if if was $10 or $40? This also raises one of the dangers of buying comic art. A lot of it is affordable and seems like "a good deal", so there is a temptation to buy it. But, it's no deal at all if you don't like it. There is one exception I will make: "trade bait." If you know you can buy something cheaply which is in hot demand, it may be worth buying and saving for people who will only trade for their artwork. I was able to secure some artwork that way when someone wouldn't sell what he had but would trade for it. He then identified a piece he wanted which was at auction, and I bought it to swap with him. I actually felt a little guilty because I got too good a deal, so I threw in something else for free.

That's my basic rule, but when I figured out who was the probable other bidder, ...sometimes, dumb trumps smart. In this case though, I think smart will definitely win.

On a related note, there is a piece listed on eBay which I am pretty sure they are bidding on (based on their past buying practices). It is listed at full market value, and is inferior to one I already have by the same artist. But, it's still pretty good. Would you bid and buy it just because of the presumed competition? Sounds dumb, as I type this out. But maybe, I'll go and be dumb.

If you mean the big Feb. auction, oh definitely. I'm curious whether there is so much hi-grade Adams stuff for sale it will depress prices. Yes, he is a top name, but he really has generated a lot of output.

Let me offer my approach: unless you plan on selling in the next 5 years or so, it's best to mostly ignore the subject of pricing. I buy stuff I like, and when I buy it, it stays bought. So, pricing doesn't really matter to me. It is not an investment. All that matters is if I can afford it, and if I like it well enough to spend what I can afford. I do look at prices to see what I might have to spend to get what I want, but that's about it. I've said this before, but I don't see a 20 year investment strategy for this stuff. It's a hobby that will grow old with these generations, like collecting porcelain dolls or toy trains. So, for those who buy and hoard, their day of judgment will come.

Here's my thread on the same subject, from January 4th:

Question to follow. There may be a bug in your eBay scraping.

I think this is past the point of "risque". Not that I mind, of course...

So, can you include a help button on Comic Art Tracker? I'm trying to figure out why I type in one artist, and the results include others, too.

Absolutely. Its the animal in the background which is smart enough not to be on its knees while on a hard rock in the hot daylight.

What's the lizard doing? Yawning?

I confess a lot of curiosity here, but what the heck could the plot be about? I'm thinking, she took a day to go to the beach, and before going swimming, she removed her katana, shoulder holster, and armor, all so she could get an even tan?

Nicely strange.

Serves her right for not eating her spinach.

I have generally found Coollines' pricing to be high, sometimes, extremely high. I have not, however, experienced bad personal dealings. If you are new to this, let me recommend you go check past sales at Heritage Auctions to see if the price seems okay to you. If you are willing to work at it, you can also find price comparison shopping through eBay's closed listings. Also, bear in mind that this is a small market. Pricing can be soft--in both directions. And, I think it is a good idea to buy based on what you love, not on what you think is a good deal.

Its influence deserves to grow, but don't forget an important point: scrapers only scrape words, not pictures. If you are searching for a specific subject instead of a specific artist, and the text box doesn't mention the character you want, CAT can't pick it up. One good example is a Phantom Stranger watercolor wash I found while generally searching by image and which was mistakenly listed as the "Phantom Strangler".

You are right, I didn't. That's not particularly bad, in my opinion. The ones which annoy me are where the item has been sold and it remains listed as though it has not been sold.