Rick2you2

You left off the reference.

By Howard Chaykin from City of Tomorrow. This is, without a doubt, the goriest page I own. What caught my eye was the "head shot"--whew. About 2 years ago, as I recall, it was $250.

No, but at the end of the year, there are votes on best purchases, and there is a "bargain" category which was $300 (or $500, I forget, as it has moved). You may want to round it to $500, but it's your choice. You'll find it easier if you go up to $500.

I think placing an early, high bid could result in overall higher pricing because it could let people who really want a piece reassess their finances and increase their max. Your (b) works best if the item is not a top of the line piece.

Oh, I did that a long time ago. I wear the badge of “good and cheap” with pride.

All wine is just flavored alcohol. “Quality”, for matters like this, shouldn’t be defined by what others like, but what you like—“it speaks to you”. At least OA lasts indefinitely (with maintenance). Wine is intended as a 1 shot experience. If it works with a meal, good enough.

Nonsense. There is some very good, inexpensive work. Splitting inks from pencils works to your advantage, getting you in the game at half the price. Hobbies are supposed to be fun; spending gobs of money on this stuff just isn’t fun to me.

Something to be said for a simple bottle of California Simi, or maybe a Riesling, like a cheap Fritz the Cat. Every time I think of Dillin, I remember my first show where a box of it could be had for $ 5-10 a page. Dillin PS pages are found in JLA; he never wrote a PS book (but Grell did, a fine artist whose work on the book is on my missing list). Help yourself to my share, please.

Pretty much. I don’t buy grand cru wines, either. Not worth the money.

We have different standards. Try finding any Phantom Stranger art, and see what I mean. Except for Adams and some Aparo covers, most of it is below 2k, plus or minus. I have blown over 2k on occasion, but it is rare. Also, I think we have different points of view. You’re a professional and look at things with a “fine eye”. I’m just a hobbyist who likes looking at different styles. What I like may not be up to your level of technical expertise. I probably give more credit to story content, too (hope I’m not being presumptuous). To me, all of these pieces are just toys for grownups and membership into a club. That’s the best part.

On this point, we disagree.

You may be overthinking the subject. When looking at something, do you like it, and if so, how much do you like it? Then, is the piece’s price anything close to what you will spend? I think you should assume you will never sell it, so you don’t get trapped into the appreciation/investment game which takes time to learn if you are so minded. So, you really like a piece, and it won’t break the bank, then what? Alex Johnson has a page indicating how to search for comparables. For me, I just look at Heritage prices in the last two years, and then CAF and eBay pricing for comparables. Look for artist comparables/book, first, then artist comp’s alone, second, within the last year. Increase the time line to 2 years if you must. That should get you to within 10-20% of generally recognized value, in most cases. Then, wing it. Each piece is unique, and each seller’s position on the piece is unique, so there won’t really be a right answer. Regarding your comment about dealer inventory, sometimes they get bargains due to their positions in the business which you won’t get. Anthony, for example, can go to artists and buy whatever c r * p they have at a 30% discount (or more) because he buys so much of it. In other cases, you’ve nailed a complaint expressed on another thread—artificial price setting. Just don’t blow too much on a single piece, and it won’t matter.

I wrote something cogent and brilliant before as a response, but then, the website ran into technical difficulties and my comment never made it up. Hope you'll settle for this retread. First, I won't be chasing the first piece; I already bought it. Prices on the second piece were moving up, and I decided not to wait. Right now the second piece is priced a little over 20% higher than the one I now own. At this rate, I expect the second piece to go for about 1/3 higher to 40% higher. That's too much, in my opinion. Second, we take different approaches on what we love (and I do respect yours). For me, both the panel layout and design of the first page is the key. More conventional artists would have just done a six panel with a small spash on top, but Davis lined up not just irregular shapes but overlaps and pop-outs consistent with the dynamism of the story on that page. The close-up of PS in 3.A. is a particular winner, along with the detailing in the first panel. The background characters are weak, which I am going to blame on the inker instead of the penciller here, even though his foreground inking is very good. Black Canary also looks unusually buxom in 2.C., compared to her appearance in 3.B. I guess she now has gained growth power in a fight. The othe page is more traditional, but that's also in keeping with the relative quiet of the storyline. Smaller characters are better drawn and inked, and the main characters are more popular. I'm not so enamored with the panel you love; historically, PS doesn't do fade-outs--he just vanishes. But, I can respect your appreciation for it. What I love about the second page is the dialog--it is one of the few times we hear the Stranger explaining why his views on doing good are not consistent with other heroes--while being just as heroic. He saves/protects individuals. Other heroes' motivations are usually to stop bad acts, and those approaches sometimes diverge, as here. IMO, it also makes WW look a bit narrow-minded. So, the next question for me to decide is whether to go for both. Maybe, maybe not.

I don’t think you are fairly evaluating “all the second rate stuff”. While good pages do sell pretty quickly, some of that other stuff, published at least, can be very good but not by a popular artist, or a piece that simply exceeds the typical quality of a mediocre artist. As for Kirby, he had his bad days, too, including those in the 1970’s. I almost never buy anything over 2k, unless it is really special, but to me, it is a sunk cost which is never to be recovered by a sale in any event. I search hard for my little treasures and don’t plan on letting them go. Regarding the auction sites, absolutely be careful. I’ve been torched before when I used the word “shill”, but that’s not the only way to keep prices artificially high. Dealers dealing with dealers, dueling or otherwise, is definitely kicking up prices. But “where the market seems to be” is why shilling and bid-rigging work. They set where the market “seems to be”. I cannot justify the pricing for Richard Dillin, so he’s not in my little pile of stuff, even though pricing these days is where the market seems to be. So, as long as you keep buying your area of interest, you’re just feeding the furnace. And that is what I expect a lot of people will continue to do.

There will be very few, if any, ramifications from this. Everyone wants to believe that what they bought was the product of legitimate supply and demand valuation instead of market manipulation. Dealers can hold steady as they have priced their profit into presumed sales based on purchases at a certain price. And, they seem to have sufficient resources not to cut their prices. How else does one explain the huge pile of unsold art which sits for years? So, when the noise dies down, people get back on the merry- go-round, like junkies in need of a fix. The solution? Cap your purchase price for specific pieces, come hell or high water, and shift your gaze elsewhere. You’ll need it if you are buying a new car in the short run.

Comiclink's bidding terms and conditions apply the law of the State of Maine. You are correct. Comiclink's bidding terms and conditions apply the law of the State of Maine. You are correct.

I like the layout of the first one better. The storyline is still moving to a climax, so the jumbled use of odd shaped panels works well, particularly with the overcrowded scene. In my view, it is harder to pull off. In the second one, the climax has past, and the panels reflect a more conventional layout in keeping with the eventual end. Also, well done, but easier to do. The second one does better with the secondary characters’ images (GL looks bow legged in his first panel), and the dialog I like better.

I’m curious as to your reasoning about the second one. Greater prominence of Superman and WW? So far, you’re on the money.

If you could choose between the following 2 pieces, and they were priced the same, which would you favor? And, if they were not priced the same, how much more would you pay as compared to the other? Each one has strengths and weaknesses, but I don't want to tip my hand as they are both pretty similar.

It could also be a temporary dip due to timing at the end of summer. I may bid on something outside my more usual range that I like.

I know I have been waiting more and more for the final live bidding; no reason to give someone else a target to shoot at. Perhaps that’s the growing mindset.

Good question. From my perspective, yes, they are a first appearance, but for valuation purposes, I don’t value house ads (or trading cards) as highly as story pages since they are not as likely to trigger nostalgia. So, I don’t know if I would value it as highly as a first story page appearance. On the other hand, I may feel very differently if it were a major character, like Swamp Thing, or even lesser character like Phantom Stranger. That’s aside from the artist, of course, which is a big factor. E.g, house ad by Neil Adams, first story appearance, Bill Draut.

Not all of them. An Aparo Phantom Stranger page on Comic Connect went for $2,415 plus 15%. It was a moody panel page with nice atmosphere, but no action. I figured it would go for a bit less than $2k, including BP, so that was high.

Personally, I only consider something “published”, for valuation purposes, if published as a comic book page or cover (or ad) even if technically published because it is part of a printed work. That type of printing represents the publisher’s determination that the art should be treated as intended for mass distribution, that is, a stamp of approval, even if an unpublished version is technically better. I have the cover of a fanzine that was “published”, but I don’t equate that to the cover of a published comic. With that said, I can see how listing it as published with an asterisk makes sense since it was technically published in a book.