BeholdersEye

I agree, knowing that Stan Lee was exploited illegally and doesn't endorse this release, it's appeal is sensationalistic an in some sense similar to the macabre interest in John Wayne Gacy artwork or Nazi Memorabilia like human skin lampshades. There's a certain type of person who doesn't mind owning such artifacts if not actually seeking them out. That's fine, to each their own, but as a comic collector, knowing the very medium of the comic book and it's characters, all gained popularity due in part to Stan Lee's involvement in the industry, it's somewhat insulting. My guess is the majority of interest in the book now is in the investment potential to resell and not to keep and archive, so more of a business interest than one of fandom.

If the Over/Under is $50k what side would you bet on? I know Rob Liefeld is into original comic art, so it wouldn't surprise me if he threw his bids into the auction to reacquire his artwork given the big deal he made for licensing his character creations and his personal wealth.

I did get my order fulfilled and in some cases, items pre-ordered were unable to be fulfilled, so a refund was issued. I'd say they handled it with honesty, but I was also very very very vigilant in communications asking for status updates, so might have been that proverbial squeaky wheel who otherwise might have been left unattended and possibly ignored with disastrous results. I'd say this, I'm not a fan of pre-ordering nor the company because of the delays and a need to babysit the order almost like I was begging for getting what I paid for. However, the communication when replied to (it often took a few notes, some falling to deaf ears), was polite, professional and assuring. The best way is to either post on their Facebook page or send a message via Facebook, it seems. If you post on their page, don't do a rude "WIZMO" (where's my order?) note, as you catch more flies with honey. If you feel you're not getting what you paid for, by all means file a chargeback via your credit card company and cancel the order, it's the only recourse many have who simply have buyer's remorse with a vendor/merchant and is a reasonable action.

My philosophies as a buyer and seller via auction bidding, listed prices, "or best offer" solicitations vary. First off, of course understanding the dynamics of the relationship between buyer and seller is adversarial in interests and goals by nature. The seller wants to charge the most they can garner and the buyer wants to ideally pay the least amount possible. However there's a middle ground where one side can waiver or appeasement is met. What I find as a pet peeve as a seller is the question of "What's the lowest you'd sell this for?" which a retort to the buyer could reasonably be "What's the highest you're willing to pay?" Negotiations are tough and takes etiquette and tact, in my opinion. Telling someone their prices are too high or making lowball offers with lots of wiggle room to go up isn't the best approach in my opinion. When I make offers, I typically make my best offer which I'm willing to walk away from any counter-offers, unless it's so close and is within my stretch and I really want the item. As a seller, if a person makes a fair offer near but below what I want, rather than counteroffer, I'd accept it. My usually communication to buyers who ask about offers is "make me an offer, I'll either say yes or no, guarantee I won't make a counteroffer nor accept an increased offer" as a just to be fair and not a hustler. It's not the way a seller could, should or would traditionally approach a sale, but I'm not a professional by occupation seller, and once in a while people will inquire via CAF or other sources, and I'd like to be a straight shooter more so than appearing to nudge up pricing no matter what their offer is. At the same time, I dislike dealing with bargain hunters on the cheap. I'm always respectful in communication and polite declines. Usually the line of "within my budget" or "what it's value to me" are nice personal touches to rationalize the offer as opposed to citing competing similar pieces sold or for sale. In auction bidding, I have a friend who only bids at the last minute and, even though the opening bid would be an awesome deal or the current bid is a good price, he's of the mind set to not contribute to bidding wars and escalate prices. He often forgets to follow up and bid, or auctions end at undesirable times he's busy or asleep. Inherently, he loses out on a lot of deals as well as thing he would have been willing to pay more for than the auction end price. I come from the mind set of an almost "set it and forget it" putting the most I'm willing to pay as my bid and letting destiny control my fate as winner or loser for many auctions. Key or really expensive pieces, I'd come in at the end if I can, but if I know I might forget or could be busy, I'll just throw out my best offer and know if I lost, it went beyond what I was willing to pay. I know what's no the best way to bid, but it's hard to be on edge for everything, so I'd rather pay a bit more for a piece within my price range than lose it trying to save a few bucks. As buying, I also include all fees, whether auction premiums, sales tax, shipping, etc as the "all in" total I'm bidding and willing to pay, so never balk at seeing $35 for shipping comic art within the USA, if the total price is what I'm comfortable with. I'm actually less comfortable seeing low or free shipping from independent sellers in fear of inferior packaging. With places like Heritage as a good example, you have to figure if you're in a taxable state, with their buyer premiums you're paying 25-35% more than your bid amount, so when you bid $3k, you are going to possibly pay $4k. For me when I see NFS, I take it as I would seeing a girl with a wedding ring on her finger, I assume it's not in good taste to approach and inquire. It would have to be an extraordinary situation like a page from a book I'm trying to complete to get me to communicate interest, and even then I'd do it as a polite "If you're ever interested in selling or trading..." opening line. Personally, I don't mind folks inquiring about NFS or making horrible offers or unprofessional comments, as I can easily just delete and not respond to them and they go away. If an inquire is polite and professional, they always deserve a response, even if it's a rationalized decline but thank you.

It seems like Stan was better off under Max's management. Even if he were taking more than his fair share of money, it seems like there was a bit more dignity in the way Stan was treated and how he's so quickly declined since the absence of Max. Many doctors, lawyers, agents, managers, etc. take big cuts from their clients/patients, so it seems Max was earning his keep, he should have, if he did what he's accused of, just been honest about his fees and there was enough money to go around without being sneaky or criminal.

This is a morbid and depressing scene. Everyone in the video looks like they're attending a funeral. Fans should feel really uncomfortable and awkward. I think any convention touting a Stan Lee appearance should be aware of how horrible the situation is and not book him. For the humanity of it all at minimum. I think Stan Lee should just do private signings at his leisure and comfort as well as his own pace if he needs the money or wants to leave fans with signed items to remember him by. The photo ops should really stop, he looks awful. Who wants a picture like that? It's almost as bad as taking a photo next to a corpse in a casket or morgue. If there's odds in a Celebrity Death Pool, the way Stan is pacing he's more than likely going to pass away in 2018, so hopefully everyone around him makes sure he beats the odds and takes care of himself aside from those movie cameos he used to love doing (and if he's no longer of sound mind to do them, don't tarnish his charismatic legacy with showcasing anything but the showman Stan Lee was/is)

Out of curiosity, since I have been seeing so many random “Retailer Exclusives” either made directly for the artists like J Scott Campbell, Mark Brooks, Art Adams, Fran Cho, etc or for these online retailers and local comic shops that seem to be more mom & pop sized than nationally recognized, or for comic convention events... What are the publisher’s requirements to fulfill requests for creating a variant? I am sure it is subject to approvals and fees on various levels. It seems that Marvel and Zenescope lead the way in frequency of so many exclusives. Is there a minimum print run? I get a sense it is in the 1,000+ range. Has there ever been an issue released where the person (company) who held all of the copies decided to destroy the majority and only keep 1, to create that “one of a kind” prestige? It seems like there’s the potential to exploit any number of ways to control distribution and pricing,but then again, here needs to be a demand in order to sell a supply, right?

It feels like the same type of collector who acquires Nazi or Serial Killer Memorabilia might be intrigued by these items. I heard the direct sales stopped and there could be legal action, thus limiting the number that exists that were already sold. However, knowing what they are and the backstory, I'd wonder if there was any true sustainable value and interest to them. The fact that they're stamped already eliminates the authentic autograph appeal. But, the whole "blood ink" component is intriguing, but at the end of the day, since these are opportunistic marketers, for all a buyer knows, it could be a 1 drop of blood per every gallon of ink ratio, and somewhere in a warehouse are vats of ink to be marketed as Stan Lee DNA Ink. As a collector and investor I'd walk away from these.

The 1st Appearance of The Wasp by Jack Kirby from Tales to Astonish #44, is on the auction block in May as well. It seems like a lot of the Marvel Movie Hype is bringing out original artwork of those characters to the marketplace.

If I had to guess, I'd say this would be Stan Lee's last public organized mass signing. I wouldn't be surprised if he cancelled at the last minute as well. He's 95 yrs old. The organizers charge $125 or so for a photo op or autograph, of that I speculate Stan pockets $50 as his share. He used to be a charismatic showman, engaging with fans. He's now relegated to having his head down, items placed in front of him and signing, never making eye contact. This is NOT the life for him nor something he would want to be remembered for and as. It's tarnishing his legacy as a personality. He probably doesn't need the money, since he's got less than 5-10 years to live and Ii'd imagine has the financial security to pay for health care and the cost of living. So, the question now would be "Why?" as the motivation to do mass signings. So, with all that being said, I think it's in his best interests to shut down mass signings. He'll probably still sign in public or via the mail, just not as a business, unless it's a private signing he'll host as a quick business favor or decision. So, gone might be the CGC Signature Series opportunities. There's plenty of signed material out there in the secondary market, 'tho it is a finite number and the demand is high, but it's still relatively affordable and readily accessible for fans to buy at any time right now.

A friend of mine posed the question... with so many options for great pieces and of course limited disposable income for purchasing, does having so many key/grail pieces offered bode well for a buyer's market to get deals, or a seller's market to garner higher final hammer prices?

I think seeing a Neal Adams collected edition of his Green Lantern / Green Arrow work at DC would be great, or his Marvel X-Men series run.

I enjoy seeing the pencils separate from the inks and having two different pieces to observe, showing the art process and the contributions of the inker embellishing the pencils as well as the raw pencils isolated.

My opinion on the $1,000 Jim Lee sketch is that it's far worst looking than what he used to do for fans for FREE who stood in line at conventions for him that were lucky enough to get a sketch. It's also not a fair representation of his artistic talent and is very mediocre, to the degree he should be ashamed to charge for such lackluster quality. I don't mind him charging $15k for a detailed nice piece, but as many artists have said to me in the past "I don't want to do quick sketches and have artwork with my name attached that isn't in line with the true quality of my capabilities floating out there" I think Jim Lee should stick to being a DC executive, just sell his published artwork and do the free personalized fan sketches on a limited basis or at his discretion. The whole thing that Albert Moy is representing is kinda tacky for a man of his (Jim Lee's) wealth and stature. He doesn't need the money.

I made the mistake of buying on speculation based on what others like VS buying for my own enjoyment, what I like. As a result, I have a lot of good art that I like, but also a lot of artwork that I bought thinking there would be market demand for the characters or artists (which, to date there is not an increased demand from when I purchased them) to resell or trade 'em. As a result, I think, trying to look at the enjoyable hobby as a business to be monetized ruined the enjoyment. Sure, there were some pieces that actually did go up very well, which I sold, but if I stuck to my original plan which is why I got into the hobby, of buying stuff I liked, I think my collection (and bank account) would be a lot better looking.

Jim Steranko