Nexus

Far from the most impressive piece in his impossible collection...but for him, his most important one. Find out why! Our chat with the reclusive super-collector known as the The Vacuum drops TODAY! Episode 3 of our exclusive SECRET STORIES OF COMIC ART podcast!

SECRET STORIES is our fundraiser for the cancer charity Paltown.org. Thanks to our generous listeners, we have raised over $25K for this important patient/caregiver advocacy group. To donate, and to get access to the show, write me! Thx! www.felixcomicart.com

48 minutes ago, sfilosa said:

Would really like a lot of different opinions on this so while I realize that Felix Comic Art has art drops that sell out (or almost sell out) immediately, which would be a good sign the art is reasonably priced, is some of that "speculation" (e.g. everyone buying hoping this is another Tradd Moore). Obviously, great marketing, which is his job.

Thanks for the mention. I just want to note that things were selling out on the site long before Tradd became so hot. We opened up the site in 2014; our first drop was for Bryan Lee O'Malley and 100 pieces sold out in 48 hours. That also includes Tradd's work, before SSB. Three years ago, for example, I put up his UNPUBLISHED issue of SUICIDE SQUAD...and yes, it still sold out, despite being unpublished:

http://www.felixcomicart.com/ArtistGalleryTitleDetails.asp?ArtistId=587&Mag=SUICIDE+SQUAD

We're around 90% sell through overall. Scroll down the last three months of newly added art, for a snapshot:

http://www.felixcomicart.com/newitems.asp

Note that Tradd's work only shows up once. Everything else has still sold very well. To whatever degree there's speculation going on, I'll just say that commissions also sell out, and NO ONE speculates on commissions. We'll take long lists, too, upwards of 60 requests. Also, most of what we sell is not Big Two. My observation is that fans appreciate the high level of craft from our artists, and our art is still priced low enough (in the vast majority of cases) that it's relatively affordable. Fans can still collect for the sheer pleasure of it, without having to get too caught up in values.

I regularly host chats with collectors on the site:

http://www.felixcomicart.com/chats.asp

The conversations there are VERY different from the ones that happen here. Almost no talk of vintage art (perhaps not a surprise), but also very little (if any) talk of values. It's really just about the art. The fans are excited by the art and also by the artists. I believe a lot of OA collectors here collected slabs, first. So much of their collecting ethos is informed by that. Whereas there don't appear to be too many of our customers who care about slabs at all. Some do, but I think the majority don't. They read books, discover artists on social media, and then buy the art as a result of that. The idea of speculating/flipping slabs isn't part of their DNA, so then it doesn't factor into their OA collecting.

Another four cents from me, sorry!

My two cents...

I don't know if there are bots being used, but I do know that there will always be those who will try to gain an edge. That's just the nature of competition. All I can say is that there isn't a single buyer who gets what they want at every drop. I'm not sure there's anyone who's even successful half the time these days. No one's found a fool-proof way yet to "win" every time. The flip side is that no one "loses" every single time, either. It's win-some, lose-some, across the board, for those who try their luck at drops consistently (I'm not counting those who have been to the site once and are 1-1 or 0-1).

I don't impose limits. But those who have been at this for a while know that their best chances are to order one piece at a time. Those who stock their carts with multiple pieces, usually lose out because so many other buyers have ordered those same pieces individually already. What generally happens is that anyone who is able to get multiple pieces, is able to do so because the initial frenzy has subsided. Those who order indiscriminately and try to pick/choose after the dust has settled, I will cancel their entire order. If someone orders multiple pieces, and is successful in getting all of them, then they are responsible for paying for all of them. It doesn't happen often, but when it does, the piece(s) then go to the next person who requested it.

Lastly...we don't get a lot of flippers buying from us. Whether it's because they know I don't like it, or there's no opportunity, we very rarely see it. In terms of complete issues, I wouldn't sell one to someone I believe is only buying it to break it up. I know some are looking ahead to Tradd's next project. If that were to happen, barring some extraordinary circumstance, I just wouldn't sell another complete issue to them, again.

Maybe that was four cents...

3 hours ago, DeadpoolJr. said:

It's true, about Felix being great at his job. I don't have an interest in this series since I never read it but can't be denied how successful his site is always having things listed a sold. He seems to be tone of the few people in the comic art sphere whose been able to really utilize social media and break the barrier from the art collector world to the more average fan who might just want one page. His group of artists also seem the best at connecting to the younger generation since many of them are in the same demographic or at least have the same interest in media which draws people in along with their unique and modern art styles. I can't imagine a lot of older artists doing commission or fan work off of  anime properties like Akira for example.

Thanks! I never had much use for social media personally, but for business...if I'm in, I might as well max it out. I've noticed a lot of other dealers, reps, and even collectors have been following suit there. And in other ways, too. I believe it makes for a better hobby for artists and collectors. A lot more content being created, at the very least.

As well, younger, newer collectors have largely been underserved, IMO. As much as anything else, it's a matter of self-preservation to bring in new blood. That is, and will always be, where I direct a large percentage of my efforts.

18 hours ago, grapeape said:

I have found the solution. Felix it’s time.

Tradd we need you buddy.

SSB 6 or a 200 page four part SSB miniseries or annual
World class event.

Art for art sake

speculation be damned 

If not I’ll continue to enjoy the pages displayed for public admiration.

Tradd's next big project is not SSB...but it's such a perfect followup that I don't think anyone will mind! His art is obviously labor-intensive, so between that and the pandemic shuffling scheduling, may be a while before it's announced. But I have no doubt fans will approve! In the meantime, there are a couple of smaller, but very high-profile, gigs that I'll be able to share soon. I'll make sure to also do that here!

For the Tradd fans, some special art you may not have seen before: A couple of SSB commissions from this year. Both commissioners are Tradd/SSB superfans and went all out by going with our Wall Power option (18"X24"). Truly spectacular in person.

Tradd's style evolves from one project to the next. He's constantly experimenting and trying new things. To this point, his style has had very distinct stages, with sometimes dramatic changes every few years. So this may be the only time a SSB commission will look like SSB proper; no guarantee it will have the same look/feel even just a year from now. Tradd mentioned this to me specifically, that he was glad he go to do this while he was still in this SSB headspace.

Too bad Marvel doesn't appear to have any sort of relevant poster program anymore. Either one of these (or both!) would be perfect for it.

If anyone checked out the chat on my site yesterday, there was a lot of Tradd/SSB talk there, too:

http://www.felixcomicart.com/chatdetail.asp?cId=21

Several buyers who were able to get pages showed up. And perhaps of most interest, so did the collector who originally owned this issue.

He sold it back to me when something popped up that required a sacrifice. The complete issue could accomplish his fundraising goal in one fell swoop; can't beat that for efficiency. Emotionally, it was also easier to accept than having to find a dozen (or whatever) other pieces to "trade". Especially since he got to keep his favorite SSB DPS. (That was the deal, I bought back all the art except for the DPS he kept.)

Still, I pleaded with him not to do it. To find other ways to fundraise. Because he'd regret it. A complete SSB issue isn't something that's going to happen again. A complete Tradd anything is unlikely to happen again; Tradd made an exception selling all of the SSB art. He usually keeps personally meaningful pages from all his works. I would consider it a mistake to let this go. I also warned him that if I got it back, the art would get broken up. I would be telling other collectors who had missed out on the previous drop that they'd be getting another chance. And I wouldn't go back on that. I gave him several chances to reconsider.

In the end, he still decided to go through with it. Does he regret it? Listen to our upcoming podcast to find out! (Shameless plug)

And just so everyone knows, Tradd benefits from the appreciation in his art from this sale. I treated it like his art again, minus the acquisition cost. So besides the 16 lucky collectors who won yesterday, so did Tradd.

Great to see so many Tradd fans here. He deserves it.

Surprise everyone, we’re back. I bet none of you were expecting another episode so soon.

Podcast fans, we've got good news and bad news. Good news is...new episode is up! Bad news...it's got nothing to do with comic art. But it's about something important to me.

The Felix Comic Art Podcast (Episode 39): My Family

This one's about my family. And what we've been through the last few years. It will, at the very least, answer any questions you may have had about why we went off our regular schedule.

But mostly, I hope it might help someone out there who finds themselves in a similar siuation. Or if anyone is dealing with cancer now, feel free to reach out to me. You are not alone!

The organization Paltown was extremely critical to me during our family journey. And it's so crucial for other patients and caregivers now. If you're a fan of the show and appreciate what we do, then please consider making a donation that will assist so many:

https://paltown.org/donate/

Please dedicate the donation to my wife ("In Memory of Dianna Lu") and notify me via e-mail (felixcomicart@gmail.com).

We have a lot planned for the show, and it starts with this fundraiser for Paltown. Thanks everyone, talk soon.

Felix

19 hours ago, ESeffinga said:

In this one instance that 0 feedback bidder could very well be from a very well-heeled collector that happens to be “slumming” on eBay.

There are a lot of his regular collectors who had to scramble and join eBay just to bid on this auction. The problem for them is that apparently eBay places limits on how often/much a new user can bid. So the crazy thing is that this might have gone even higher.

Anyway, I doubt it was a comic art collector who won this.

19 hours ago, ESeffinga said:

Think of the Choe like Jim Lee getting Andy Warhol to do a Batman.

Or getting Andy Warhol to donate a Batman. This was actually something Choe yanked out of his archives. I think he said he did it in 2012. For the purposes of this event, pretty much the perfect piece, even beyond the subject.