KingOfRulers

Yep, some years ago there were still a lot of pieces still with the original artists. I regret not buying the Hobgoblin piece that Julie did for the 1995 Spider-Man Fleer set when I had the chance. I owned and operated comic conventions starting in 2010. For that career, I spent hundreds of hours tracking down the contact info for artists to invite to the conventions. Fortunately, some of that produced some great pieces for my collection. I have the Ezra Tucker Archangel piece (as seen above) and the Bishop piece from the X-Men Fleer Ultra set. Those were the first card art pieces I purchased. That was in 2014. I think I paid Ezra about $150 or $200 each for them. And the Carnage piece I got straight from the great Dave DeVries (such a nice guy). I believe that was $900. Also got the Venom/Morbius piece from Spider-Man Fleer Ultra straight from Tom Kyfinn.

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Thank you so much for the kind words. Yes, Tristan Schane! I wanted that piece so badly. I was so excited when I managed to find it. We were talking about price; that Schane and Sienkiewicz pieces are the only card art pieces in the entire collection that cost $1,000 or more ($1,650 and $1,500) I'd say that the Lago Dr. Strange is my single favorite piece of the collection. It's cool to have a sealed box. That's a great relic to have from the period, and would display nice in any comic room. I believe that's the Jusko Spidey 2099 art, correct? How about your collection; do you have any original pieces from any of the Marvel card sets? I've got the other half of the collection being framed at this very moment. But I'm looking forward to having back later this month. I've only recently embarked on framing the collection. It has been a lot of fun picking out the frames and mats. Here are the other two pieces that I currently have hanging, both newly framed:

Fantastic! A great piece to have in your collection.

Really great piece!

Thank you! Here's a smattering of some of the pieces in my collection. 1993 MM is by far my favorite of them all. I know I'm in the minority there. I see the variety of artists as a major plus.

I was 7 years old in 1994. I started collecting at 5. The 1990 Impel set, 1992 and1993 Marvel Masterpieces, 1993 Skybox, 1994 X-Men Fleer Ultra, and 1995 Spider-Man Fleer Ultra were my main sets I was getting as a kid. Yes, I certainly know Bagley's overall reputation as being the Spidey artist of the period. I'd never seen one of these Bagley card sheets at auction before, so I had no idea that they were commanding $35k. I can only recall ever seeing one other card sheet on the auction block in 10 years of buying. It was a few years ago on Clink; it was the galactic sheet (Brood, Skrulls, Shi'ar, Kree etc) from the 1993 Skybox set.

I know, right? Whaddaya gonna do? People love their carbs.

Interesting that folks regard this piece so highly. In large part, it must depend upon the sets you were into and collecting. Even as a hardcore card art collector who grew up during that time, I had no idea about the love for this piece. For me, it doesn't mean much of anything. I have no real desire to own it, beyond the fact that it is a "nifty" piece from my era. I'd be in for $1,500 on it, I suppose. If I was collecting the set at the time, I'd probably value it more highly today. I think I had a few random cards from this set, with the top left of this piece being among them. But outside of the few random cards I had from the set, it wasn't a set that I actively collected or was into. And Bagley as an artist, doesn't mean much to me either. I don't hate his work, but I'm not a fan either. No desire to seek out any Bagley art whether card art or otherwise for my collection.

You're right in that my purchases are mostly quite dated. However, certainly within the last 10 years I've acquired most of my collection. And most of it for under $1,000 each. My most recent addition was this Marc Sasso Spider-Man piece which I paid $800 for in June 2020, which was peak pandemic price hikes. It's a good example. It's one of those typical pieces illustrated by a not-well-known artist. However, it is Spider-Man and referencing a beloved Spider-Man storyline, so perhaps overall this might be considered an "above average" Marvel card art piece. To me, in 2020, $800 was okay to pay. Following recent prices, specifically that Drax by Lou Harrison, this could be a $5k piece.

I figure that I probably won't be adding any more card art to my collection. If a not-great (pretty bad, actually) Lou Harrison piece is indeed a market indicator of where Marvel card art has gone, it's simply not worth it to me. I'd spend $500 on it. Even $1,000, because $500-$1,000 can't buy much these days in the art world, so why not? But at the $4,000 level, you're approaching being able to get some nice, traditional, published pages.

I missed that piece entirely somehow Some card art collector I am. $35k+ is pretty nutty, in my opinion. I'd had no interest at that price level.

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As a kid in the 1990's, I grew up during the 90's comic boom. The Marvel Masterpieces, Fleer Ultra, and Skybox card sets went hand-in-hand with that greater comic boom of the time. Having loved the various card sets when I was a kid, as an adult I got into collecting the original artworks to the cards. I've built up a nice collection over the last 10-15 years. For most of those years, until recently, the original art pieces to Marvel card art seemed like a hidden niche within the comic OA world. I was able to participate within that niche at a very low cost...but I'm officially declaring that it is no longer possible! I was watching two card art pieces whose auctions both ended last night. One on Heritage and one on ComicLink. The below results illustrate how Marvel card art has skyrocketed. In general, it wasn't long ago that your typical card art piece (such as Drax, below) could've been had for $200-$500. $1,000 for a card art piece was expensive. There were some exceptions, such as the Jusko 1992 pieces as those rarely come to market, as well as pieces from specific legendary artists such as Jim Lee, Steranko, Romita Sr., and Julie Bell. But in general, your run of the mill card art from most artists could be had for under $1,000, very easily. Even pieces from some greats such as the Hildebrandts and Sienkiewicz could be had for under $1k, not long ago. Drax from Marvel Masterpieces 1993 by Lou Harrison went for $3,840. Well over $4k, with tax and HA's shipping. In my opinion, it's pretty bad in terms of art quality. I still wanted to own it because I'm a sucker for nasty card art that I'm nostalgic for. I would've gone to $1,000. Art Adams 5.5" x 6.5" went for $8,100. Absolutely stunning. I know Art Adams is beloved, but it's a fairly small piece and to command that price boggles my mind. I probably would've gone $1,750 or so on it.

Thank you! I'm glad this record exists, even if on a third-party website.

I can't see what their auction results were. This is a first. In the past, I was always able to see the sold for price on CC's auctions. Why would they go through the effort of doing away with that feature? Are they scared to show the results?

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Giant-Size X-Men #1 CGC 9.0 (White)

Hulk #181 CGC 9.4 (White)

First wins whether by post or PM. Payment: Check, money order, wire transfer, or cash are accepted. Shipping: Shipping cost is $20 anywhere in the USA via USPS Priority Mail. Returns: No returns on CGC graded books. Returns allowed on raw books if notified within 7 days of item(s) delivery. References: I have been a member of the CGC boards since 2005, and active in the comic book community as a buyer and seller since 2003. My eBay username is AmericanComicsAndCollectibles. I am the co-founder of Tampa Bay Comic Convention, Indiana Comic Convention, and several other mid-size/regional conventions around the United States.

Congratulations! Great issue. Pressing and grading won't preserve the book. Without holding it in hand I can't be certain, but I think there's a good chance that it is too fragile to press. In my opinion, you're best option is to leave it as-is and put it in a bag and board.

FF #52 still available!

My worst experience was Frank Brunner, which sucked, because I really love his work. I 100% admit that I made a serious mistake, but Frank was a jerk nonetheless. We had Frank coming to town for Tampa Bay Comic Con in February 2011. This was the second convention I'd ever run, following the November 2010 Tampa Bay Comic Con debut. I was young and inexperienced. Frank was flying into town with his wife, and we were set to pick him up from the airport. Me being a middle-class 23 year old with no concept of silver spoon hospitality, was completely ignorant of what was expected by guests with regard to their accommodations for convention appearances. Frank was expecting some guy in a suit holding a "Welcome to Florida Mr. Brunner!" sign, waiting from him in baggage claim. I'd never experienced anything like that before, so it never even crossed my mind that such service is what was expected of me. Whenever I flew into a city, as soon as I landed, I'd power-up the cell phone, call my ride and say, "I'm here! Please come and get me." That's all I'd ever known. I was waiting for this call from Frank. Unbeknownst to me at the time, Frank didn't even own a cell phone. I'm sitting at the hotel which is less than 10 minutes away from the airport thinking to myself, "Where the heck is Frank? The plane landed. I wonder if he missed his flight." Eventually, I got a call from Frank. It was probably 45 minutes-1 hour after he landed. Not owning a cell phone, he called from a pay phone at the airport and was in a rage. Just yelling at the top of his lungs. He was trying to strangle me through the phone, I think. @MCMiles sped over to the airport to pick-up Frank. MCMiles was gracious enough to do the pick-up, so as to be the "good cop" barrier before Frank reached me. We didn't even know what Frank looked like. Google images had one picture of him (the one with him wearing sunglasses, which is now his wikipedia picture), and it wasn't a great picture to identify him with. Thankfully, Frank was found and picked up. MCMiles is a straight-edge guy; doesn't smoke or drink at all. As soon as Frank got in the vehicle, he proceeds to smoke like a chimney. What a jerk. What kind of person starts smoking away in a stranger's car? I called MCMiles while they were in route to see if he successfully picked up Frank, and I could tell by his tone and one-word responses to my questions that things weren't going well on the drive. I met Frank and did everything I could to apologize. I let him know that it was my mistake. I paid for his dinner. Outside of that, and continuing to apologize, I don't know what else I could've done for him. Apparently, it wasn't enough. Frank smoked in the hotel room all weekend, which was obviously a non-smoking room. I don't remember how much the cleaning fee was. Probably $200, or something like that. For us, at the time, it was a major blow. Our total convention budget was probably only $7,500. Frank smoking in his room because he was an angry a-hole was roughly 2.5% of our total operating budget . Frank's wife was the complete opposite of Frank. She was so nice. It was obvious that she was very embarrassed by Frank's behavior. I continued to talk to Frank throughout the convention weekend, trying to smooth things over. He eventually calmed down, and became a less hostile a-hole for the remainder of the convention. Essentially, he was insulting me throughout the weekend, but not yelling anymore. Which is fine. At the time, my most cherished piece of original artwork in my collection was his Dr. Strange/Clea/Ancient One oversized pin-up from Marvel Treasury Edition #6. I told him that I owned it, and he did a double-take. He was very impressed and surprised. I don't remember his exact words, but it was something along the lines of, "Maybe you aren't a complete insufficiently_thoughtful_person after all." That's the nicest remark I could get out of the great Frank Brunner all weekend. My final attempt at extending the olive branch was taking Frank and his wife to dinner at P.F. Changs on Sunday after the show ended. Another 2.5% of the show operating budget went into this dinner, but I was really trying my best to fix the situation. It seemed to get the job done. I feel like we ended on good terms. Frank's fury ate up 5% of our show budget, but that's the way it goes sometimes. Frank returned to Tampa Bay Comic Con several years later. We were a much larger, polished operation by then. I didn't even speak to Frank at all during his second appearance with us. We had a dedicated hospitality team at that point, and I'd already had my Frank Brunner experience.

Lots of positive comments about Jim Steranko. I agree with this. We featured him at our conventions several times. As the showrunner, he was a pretty "high maintenance" guy in terms of the things he was wanting from us.Nonetheless, he is a very friendly man. Very charismatic, high energy, and full of great experiences that he loves to share. Even being high maintenance, I loved having Steranko at our shows. Steranko's awesome!

Wonderful story! Thanks so much for sharing. What year do you think that was? I would love to have met Eisner as well. I'm not into the Spirit, but really love his graphic novels.