BeholdersEye

To me dialogue is part of a masterpiece much as in music, the vocal lyrics, the written lyrics, the musical composition and the musician's instrumentation all sync up to create something wonderful, but individually aren't always as beautiful. That's in part why the art of today, original art, seems incomplete without the word balloons and thought bubbles with narrative text boxes. Also, today's are is more about sizzle than substance at times, with cover artwork that is irrelevant to the actual comic issue, mainly just looking like a pin-up. I think the dialogue is what hits the hot nostalgia button and tugs on the emotion for many of the art pieces that then go into bidding wars, outperforming FMV estimates. Dialouge itself can be so poetic and artistic, and overshadow the pencils and inks.

I think you're right in that the "1st Appearance" aspect trumps all other aspects, and the fact it's Rob Liefeld, who is loved by many and panned by a few, should enable it to continue a long lasting investment quality appeal. Liefeld is a remarkable creator and historically for his contributions, a Hall of Fame caliber legend. Whereas with characters like Gambit, illustrated by Mike Collins who lacks the fan base and body of work, yet any page from Uncanny X-Men #266 is treasured because it's a 1st appearance. I didn't grow up reading Deadpool, so despite it being nearly 30 years old, I'm wacky in thinking Deadpool is a "new" character where my tried and true are Spider-Man, Daredevil, Thor, Iron Man, etc from the Stan Lee created Marvel Silver Age. But, everytime I go to stores like Kohls, Hot Topic, Spencer Gifts, etc I do see "Deadpool" licensed merchandise selling to the non-comic hobby masses, so apparently "Deadpool" is recognizable by non-comic readers/collectors and popular. I think, as I'm one of those collectors (and have seen prices jump up, outpricing me from many pieces) who are fascinated by 1st Appearance original art pieces (not so much concerned with 1st panel appearance or covers, but just any interior from the issue featuring the character is fine) from a historical perspective more so than yet another aesthetic pin up or cover by top artists, which are more pretty pictures with no storytelling substance. I think we'll be seeing a steady rise in value of 1st Appearance original art, and wonder how sought after the Deadpool "New Mutants #98" page is. I see Heritage has another page from this issue, but it doesn't feature Deadpool, so wonder if a page from that issue without Deadpool can command good crazy money just because it's simply 1 of 22 pages from that historic issue.

I would go for the Sienkiewicz Moon Knight mainly because original art is primarily artist driven (the majority of reputable auction houses list artwork by artist name and offers them alphabetically sequentially as opposed to by book title), and he's a way bigger name then Leiloha. Both characters are marginal tier 2 heroes, with a bit more upside to Moon Knight, as there's always the forever speculation the character is long overdue to crossover to bigger and better things, despite not really having a great rogue's gallery of villians nor any remarkable story arcs to date, you can tell by the popularity and price of Werewolf by Knight #32, as opposed and compared to Spider Woman's Marvel Spotlight #32 and her similar lackluster history of mediocrity. The composition of the Moon Knight cover is powerful and elegant. The Spider-Woman cover is nice, but not remarkably unique from any other cover in that era.

Please name the buyer, so we can all ban and block him from transactions, sounds like a nutjob

On a good day in an auction environment, I'd say 8k to 12k, on an off day, maybe $6k to 8k. If you needed cash within an hour, you'd easily get $3k - 5k from a dealer or collector as a straight buy

I wonder if this piece ever becomes illegal to own if it's deemed to be liked to stolen property and unauthorized use.

I'm always a bit confused by collectors/investors being fixated with a number. Those who are familiar with the sports card grading industry know that PSA and BGS are the gold standard companies with reputable evaluations, where there were card grading companies (GAI : Global Authenticators International; SCD : Sports Collectors Digest; and others) who were so liberal with their grading standards, almost every card that looked decent received a perfect 10 pristine grade. Ooh, wow! But call a spade a spade, as a card "is what it is" and I would think in the case of comics and this example here it's not 0 for 5 in going from Company X to CGC, but in truth it's validating to the integrity and standards of CGC where Company X may be too loose and liberal with their grading assigments. I'd rather have companies like CGC exist with stricter grading than random companies pop up and give the submitters what they dream of, which are delusional unwarranted higher grades. Whether it's for a personal collection or resale, buyers and collectors need to back-up the grading service who is most strict, so when the grades are compared, there's validity to the scale. That's my opinion 'tho, as not enamored by grading numbers, and am one of those collectors who believe in the subjective nature of grading, so would usually abstain from buying modern 9.8's if there's a 9.6 for a fraction of the cost that looks good (Yes, you should look at the front and back of the comic, not just the label) in comparison.

I'd put a valuation of this at $100-200, based upon the fact that a strong majority of collectors refrain from COA's they're too easy to invalidate and are at times worth less than the paper they're printed on. I get it this is from Stan Lee's Authorized Dealer, even having the sealed hologram, but most investors would opt for the CGC Signature Series. If you put something like this up on eBay for auction, I'd speculate it goes for the lower side of $150. Then, although this is a homage cover, it's a book that has very little to do with Stan Lee, and it's a fairly common book with nothing outstanding about it. I'd say the Marvel Masterworks reprints of works by Stan Lee which he actually originally wrote are better ways to go, as they're directly relevant to Stan Lee. Most of the collecting world can't afford any of the 1st Appearance Key's, so getting a reprint that is symbolic of what Stan created does have mass appeal, affordable (right now) and fairly desirable as an investment as well as aeshetically as a collectible.

I thought that CGC would bounce back (reject) any magazines or publications that were too thick to fit into their encapsulation system. It seems ridiculous to grade an item, charge a fee, and not be able to do the very thing a customer wants, which is an archival quality tamper proof slab. I heard that CGC simply sends your ungradable/unslabable publications back with your order, not charging the grading fee since there's no evaluation nor encapsulation, and it's as simple as that.

Groot #4 and Groot #5 - the 1st appearance of Baby Groot They're often found in dollar bins, for cover price or under $15 in higher grades by sellers who market it as the 1st app knowing it's appeal.

That is in part why it's nice there's "black hole collectors" who can bring things fresh to market (even if not for sale) to reinvigorate speculation of what else is out there.

Here are my BLACK blank sketch covers I had commissions done on, but might have regrettably in hindsight maybe should have left and kept a pure blank one for my master collection, but the blanks were hard and expensive to find, and I wanted to have commissions on them of Black idols (to me, Darth Vader is James Earl Jones, the voice, not David Prowse the guy in the costume, who defined Darth Vader)

According to my CGC labeling these are what I have that they’re referred to as, and I have 12 different variations. Black #1 variant I = black color cover with logo - ssalefish Comics variant 250 print run Convention edition - black virgin cover no logo crash numbered to 99 on cover in white text Red convention edition = red cover with black logo crashed numbered to 99 in black text variant cover K = Tim smith cover art variant cover B = Ashley wood cover are (Harriet Tubman tribute) Fried Pie Edition - Tim smith III cover Fried Pie virgin edition - Tim Smith III cover no logo variant vover F = cape & cowl comics exclusive Tim smith III cover art variant cover E = Forbidden Planet Exclusivd Tim smith III cover art variant cover H = Comics Heating Up (CHU) exclusive Standard Edition = Khary Randolph cover art (Trayvon Martin “hands up” Tribute) Sketch Edition = blank cover for sketches with logo. I see some are referred to by an alphabet letter and others named by their licensed distributor (Fried Pie) and others by that letter (CHU, Cape & Cowl, Firbidden Planet) I know, some were exclusive limited releases at conventions (I think at least 2 shows, Baltimore and New York). i think the Books A Million is what islabeled as Fried Pie for mine. So, when the book debuted and was speculatively hot, I chased every version I could find on eBay and that’s what I came up with. I am pretty sure I have most, but also believe, not all, and am missing some that either are really rare or were printed later after I stopped searching, since the comic died down in popularity through the 6 issue series and I think there are only one issue with a variant cover in the #2-6 issues, which is issue #3 “the N word” version. Anyone have info for me to fill in the wholes in my quest to get all versions of #1 I know for sure I am missing the 2nd Printing version. I don’t know which the Hoknes variant is or if I have it under another name or what it looks like I don’t think I have the one described as a Black title on dark grey cover.

eBay is riddled with tire kicking scammers and eBay sides with the buyers, even when the seller is innocent and right and the buyer is committing fraud. eBay's customer service is horrible. So, with high end merchandise your'e opening yourself up to paying someone to take your book, in other words the person who buys it can take your book, report that you'd sent an empty box or with 2 lbs of magazines in it, and file a complaint to get their money back and 95% of the time they'll win and you're also out the costs of shipping the item (and in cases of returns, you have to pay for the return shipping as well, and a buyer can easily say your item came damaged by simply taking a hammer to the CGC case, cracking it and saying it came that way, then can send you a box of junk, keep the comic and scam you out of your book) With Heritage and ComicLink, the only 2 sites I'd say are organized, you send them the book, they list it, they collect the money, the assume all risk and customer service, and then they send you your money less their est. 10% commission fee for consignments. It's cheaper than eBay where you have to pay for listings, selling fees and pay pal fees, then have to do the labor of listing and shipping. I think that both Comic Link and Heritage are great and a book of your caliber can easily go to either site and realize fair market value sales prices without any reserve (no minimum bid barrier).

I read that Black Mask's "BLACK" series is surging with interest related to licensing it as a movie which has been optioned. That was a well printed book with many many many variants of the #1 issue in varied print runs, so it's all over the place in terms of which of the #1 variants is considered "the best" or maybe it's such a wild goose chase, everyone wants to be a completist and get 'em all.

The aspect of grading and encapsulation / slabbing that I do like is that, assuming the grading companies have equal expertise and professional integrity to eliminate or minimize any bias or variances so it's more objective than subjective, is that a solid reputable (and I think that's why companies like PGX are unrecognized as was GAI in the trading card grading industry for throwing out high grades to appease submitters with an "everything's a perfect 10" loose grading) company (CGC, and in cards it's PSA and BGS) to give guidance (we all know it's neither law nor rules in the world of grading), but most importantly to detect restoration as well as any other abnormalities. I do like the archival cases both aesthetically and functionally. With trading cards, grading is perfect since you see the front and back. With comics, it's debatable since once it's entombed you get to see the comic but not read it. However, there's so many TPB, collected editions, reprints, etc. that grading is typically reserved for investment books more so than random issues in a collection, so it's not that big of a deal breaker to most. For selling online, CGC is recognized as a legitimate authority by the hobby, so unless the case cracks, the "it is what it is" and "what you see is what you get" makes for an easy transaction with less scammers or complainers buying trying to return, refund or get one over a seller. The only issue is the fact that it costs about $30 to grade a book and $15 to ship a book so there's an overhead cost of nearly $50 vs a raw book.

I hope Liefeld gets it if he's interested in it to the degree it goes back home to the artist. I saw this other internet article about the page too: http://comicbook.com/marvel/2018/04/21/deadpool-first-appearance-art-up-for-auction-/ So, I hope Liefeld puts a definitive nail in the coffin to seal the deal and acquire it at a good price for him. A friend of mine tapped out at $7k, so I think there's a large population of collectors who want it, would love to have it, but are out-priced at this point. But, when you look at historical precedent of what Marvel super-hero panel pages have sold for, it's not unreasonable to anticipate higher bidding on the Deadpool piece possibly. That's why my original inquiry of the "over/under at $50k" was trying to figure the FMV of the piece based on the opinion of collectors here, who seem to have a good finger on the pulse of the hobby.

I saw the word is out on the availability of this page bring up for auction https://io9.gizmodo.com/original-art-from-deadpools-first-appearance-is-up-for-1825444679 So, it’ll be interesting to see if this goes underneath the radar a bit among OA collectors or does let’s say a Ryan Reynolds or someone like an investor with a gamblers mentality vies for it.

This is a great page. I've always liked dialogue in comic art, it seems poetic as opposed to splash pages. As I collect, I'm leaning away from covers and pin-up styled artwork that's pure sizzle and going more for the substance that fills my belly, which is more based on dialogue and history, with history, I like great storytelling arcs and of course "First Appearance" (and even 2nd appearances are good enough for my budget) issue pages (doesn't have to be the 1st panel app) which I enjoy.

The convention is this weekend, so it would be great to see photos of the show layout and a review from attendees.

With the 1st appearance of Deadpool already past $25k on the Heritage Auctions, I also see the 1st appearance of The Wasp by Jack Kirby at under $7,500 and the 1st appearance of Jessica Jones under $50 Then, the 1st appearance of The X-Men at $30k, which is always surprising to see how comparatively low pages from X-Men #1 went for years ago and still seem comparatively low today. Is "First Appearance" original art value tied less to the 1st panel page and more geared towards aesthetic rendering as well as the artist involved?

I have to agree that Spencer Beck has always been forthright and direct, at times even conversationally friendly via emails and apologetic when inquired items are unavailable. It might be more "user error" when it comes to negative dealings, possibly in the manner of communication. He's taken a lot of criticism, many public posts, so to balance that out, I'd add to Bill's testimonial that Spencer is an honorable man. Yeah, his website isn't the best right now, but it's not the worst either, and it's more to his detriment than anything else, in lacking a good eCommerce shopping cart and having scans for all inventory and removal of sold inventory, but if you know what you're looking for (artist, title and page) you can often find hidden gem deals without images for others to window shop with too.

I know what you mean about emotion, I once lost a series of auctions I wanted to win but simply got outpriced, not even runner up styled, so I ended up bidding on stuff I was marginally interested in an hitting bids for "fun" and winning stuff I'd not planned for 'cuz I didn't want to go home empty handed so to speak.

I'd speculate the answer is "No" because there is a chance it's not authentic since there's no witness and I'd think CGC wants to just follow their rules of having to be visible witness to the actual signing. I know with the trading card companies, who vouch for autographs as authentic, what ended up happening is a bunch of athletes had their friends and relative sign their items to submit to the card companies as if they were real, mainly due to the fatigue of signing hundreds or thousands of cards to be placed in packs, and word got out I think it was Dak Prescott as well as Dez Bryant who both had unauthentic signatures, which created a mess for the card company's integrity.

That's always an interesting strategy, as I've had friends who vie for high ticket items tell me, they contribute to bidding items up naturally early in an auction rather than use the abstain to snipe tactic because they feel, if they are willing to pay market value or big dollars, they want to get rid of the tire kickers and fringe buyers where if the price of the piece is high enough leading into the auctions close, ideally a high price scares off bidders to look at other pieces to buy and hopefully reducing the number of contenders towards the end. I'm not sure if that truly does discourage bidding. I know for me, when I have Heritage call me for live bidding, if a piece hits a certain level, I tap out and tell 'em "I'm Out" and if there's pieces that are priced beyond what I'm willing to pay, I'll let them know not to call me, and I scour the auction for other things to bid on instead, so, to a degree having a higher price leading to the close might discourage impulse bidding.