heartened

On 12/18/2023 at 10:17 AM, delekkerste said:

I have no particular OA collecting goals for next year, just to spend (a lot) less and be more discerning. Less buying for the sake of buying after a very active 2022 (101 pieces bought/2 sold) and 2023 (104 pieces bought/1 sold). 

jesus, you're buying over 100 pieces a year?? Are these partly complete stories or all unique pieces?  I only bought like 8 pieces but they added up 

On 4/11/2023 at 5:07 PM, MisterX1964 said:

Thanks for sharing this piece of sad news. I spoke to Conrad once back in 2005, and purchased some art from him. He was really helpful and a pleasure to deal with. I know that at the time he owned the splash page from Swamp Thing #5, so I guess he was a big Wrightson 

I owned this splash.  I traded it to Conrad.

On 1/23/2023 at 8:20 PM, WolverineX said:

Good thought but if that was true,  the prices would have collapsed a long time ago...

Maybe it's 2000 copies (scarcity) and the historical significance contribute to the books increasing prices on the market rather than its lead character.  

Yeah agreed, but these things have long tails of collectability based on previous followers and hype.  I'm more saying 10 years from now.  Characters need to be sustained and maintain visibility and popularity.  Look at the spread between Marvel keys and DC keys over time.  It's growing.  I do agree the scarcity is an issue, but lots of books back in the day were listed as "rare" and "scarce" in overstreet but even they fell away once people forgot the characters or the reason they were read to begin with.  Maybe it won't fall, but it won't grow as much as more popular, sustained characters.  Time will tell I suppose.

Is cerebus going to hold up?  The run ended, and the character is important historically but will be forgotten IMO.  Usagi Yojimbo and TMNT on the other hand continue to hold strong.  Thoughts?  Even Grendel has more legs over time than Cerebus, and Mignola's Hellboy issues are probably going to be increasingly important.  I realize Cerebus is perhaps the hardest of all of these to find in high grade.  But I'm just curious what people think on this topic.  

On 1/18/2023 at 11:35 AM, tth2 said:

Anyone selling the cover OA to the original Death of Captain Marvel Graphic Novel on Comiclink would need to have their head seriously examined.

Right LOL.  The reprint, sure, but the original 1982 GN, that's a HA or private sale piece only.  

On 1/18/2023 at 9:08 AM, gumbydarnit said:

Should get a lil interest - Link to CAF image 

That's the second printing/reprint.  Not the classic DOCM cover.

On 1/16/2023 at 8:14 PM, Bronty said:

I suppose there's only a few explanations for the quick flip:

a) funds are badly needed / really couldn't afford it in the first place; or

b) art was disappointing in person

There's also that many collectors are ADHD.  That's the most likely explanation for many people.  There's always a new shiny object to chase.

On 1/16/2023 at 1:58 PM, jjonahjameson11 said:

I have a feeling this is just the beginning for non-Infinity (you chose the mini series) love for Jim Starlin. 
 

im already seeing some big prices for his artwork from the early 2000’s - 2015 so get ‘em while you can!

All the Starlin cosmic work in the 1970s is still tremendously undervalued IMO.  Captain Marvel run with Thanos saga, Death of Captain Marvel, Iron Man 55 appearance and origin, and the Strange Tales 178-182 Adam Warlock.  They've always been coveted, but have remained somewhat niche, especially the Warlock stuff.  The Thanos spike hit IG more than the 70s stuff, but the latter will catch up I think.   And Adam Warlock will be in GotG 3 it seems.  Starlin deserves a ton of credit for stringing together some amazing stories and characters.

On 1/15/2023 at 9:43 AM, PhilipB2k17 said:

I think Kirby has broken through to all collectors now. Ditko Spidey and Dr. Strange, for sure. But, I think the Adams market is eventually going to soften, as his "style" has basically taken over modern comic art. Virtually everyone who draws modern comics (with some notable exceptions) are in the Adams/Jim Lee style of technical proficiency and layouts. Adams just doesn't stand out like he used to. That said, there are still a reservoir of collectors who recognize his impact and want a nice piece by him. But over time that will soften, I think.

Ironically, I think guys like Sal Buscema might start getting more love from collectors, simply because he embodied Marvel's house style in the 70's and 80's, and worked on virtually every book in the stable. Especially the word balloon examples. 

This is probably true.  Steranko stands out as more surreal and only duplicated recently to some extent by Tradd Moore.  And I do agree that the house style is fun and more classic, and so Buscema gets some love.  But, the three main marvel style artists IMO with that style have always been Romita, J. Buscema and M Severin.  They did classic Marvel the best and it's no wonder they have so many of the best/classic covers.

On 1/14/2023 at 10:51 PM, comiconxion said:

First, anyone in interested in early Turtles art should find a copy of Kevin Eastman's Artobiography that was published in 2002.  Kevin did a great job of preserving images of the early original Turtles art and printed them in that book.

1) Is the color on the Turtles #8 cover faded? - In the book, Kevin shows a pic of the original painting (see below).  It clearly shows that the brick walls were colored purple similar to the printed comic book.  That purple has faded as well as some of the other darker tones.  Still looks like a great painting, but different than than the printed book.

2) Are the first 4 covers "larger" than the later issues? - It's natural to assume this since they were printed larger, but in fact, the originals that I've seen for #1 & 3 (also drawn by Kevin) were the same size as the printed comic books.  The covers that followed including Raphael, #1 (4th Printing), and #5 were the same size as those (although #1 (4th) and #5 were printed modern comic book size vs. Golden Age size).  Based on the dimensions provided by Heritage, this #8 cover was only slightly larger with a 17" x 13" image.  That's the same size as the original art to Laird's Donatello cover which was published around the same time.  The largest published cover images from around this time that I know of (outside of some one-off pieces they did for conventions and specialty projects) were covers to the the First Comics reprints of the original series that were done in 1987 by Kevin.  Those four paintings measure 18" x 13", but are front cover images only vs. wraparound covers.  

It certainly went for more than the color version of the #5 which sold for #28k at Hake's in 2021.   But, I agree, in general, I think you won't see another "strong" early Turtles cover sell for less than 6 figures in years to come in another does come to market.

You're always a fountain of truth, my friend!

When I got really busy with work and life, I took down most of it and then only left a few pieces up as a place holder on the site.  Haven't posted in years.  Mostly because I'm too busy these days, not for any other reason.  Posting more means I'll have to respond to people or check back every so often, and currently I only check in once or twice a year.  Still active and watch/buy at the auctions, but just less (or non) active in the hobby part (except with my personal friends in the hobby - I'm still active with them ).

On 1/13/2023 at 3:23 PM, delekkerste said:

Well, as someone noted to me today, the #1 is the #1, and there's only so much people will pay for any of the others. 

I didn't really notice the fading, tbh. It presented well enough to me. 

Personally, 1 through 4 were very memorable and were part of the early run that was hard to find and almost made them famous, so those are the key historic covers and issues IMO.  They were also, if I recall, the ones that were oversized somewhat compared to the rest.  I think for those reasons they "should" command the highest prices.  But of course this is all subjective, and I too remember the 5 and 8 quite fondly.  I think this 8 cover was a very good deal, and someone is a very happy fan!

On 1/13/2023 at 1:41 PM, Bronty said:

Turtles 8 cover for 78k… thoughts?    I might have expected higher but in fairness it’s not the first cover one would choose and it was noticeably  faded

First cover to be available.  Probably no one knew where to bid.  I think it's a pretty strong price, but I wouldn't have been surprised at 100.  In a few years, this will seem VERY cheap and a missed opportunity for some.

On 1/13/2023 at 10:40 AM, tth2 said:

It's one of the most iconic covers from the Cockrum run.

In reality, there aren't many great first run cockrum covers that are deep-seated in our memory.  This was one of them.  I believe it's more the cache of the large images of the sentinels that was so cool on this one, despite the smaller figures.  Wolverine is there as an after thought since he wasn't a very important or developed character back then, but it's nice to have him on this one regardless!

On 1/13/2023 at 11:38 AM, buttock said:

That would be awesome if we could just put a floor on our art and let it be gospel.  I was more commenting on what I thought realistic prices would be.  What would Albert or Burkey price them at?  

Agree they went cheap relatively, but the 100K was probably accurate at the time, when that double spread went for 1.2 million.  It's hard to know where the Frankenstein plates will go in the future since they are tangential to comic art and the fan base is more limited.  I suspect they will still gradually rise but not at the rate of mainstream comic art.  If someone wanted a published plate this was a good time to grab one.  That all being said, neither were very memorable scenes in the book.

On 10/3/2022 at 5:38 PM, Bill C said:

Crisis 7- not sure that it would fetch the price, but when trying to come up with iconic DC covers from the era, that was one of the first that popped in my head.

would love to see crisis 7 and 8 hit those levels (since I own the 8 LOL), but DC has always been half of what comparable Marvel covers fetch, even though in my view I value these two issues very high for story, art, nostalgia and importance in DCU.  Secret Wars sucked by comparison yet those covers are heating up.  DK, KJ being the exceptions.  Mankuta still owns the 7 BTW.

Just saw your DM and replied.  

Looking forward to seeing hte DKR 3 cover scan, although probably the worst of the 4 covers.  Also, curious how first app Kingpin fares to first app/origin of black costume/eventual Venom.  And, where do you all think the X-Men 106 lands c/w the 107?  Some yellowing on the cover, but nice nonetheless and a cooler image than the 107 IMO.  I'm also really digging the Sandman 8 splash.  Classic.

On 1/25/2022 at 8:06 PM, Michaeld said:

I really like this page because it stands by itself. The last panel just pops. Grendel

That was a fun series.  Still partial to the original Hunter Rose run in DBTD, but I definitely read all these two.  Interesting art by the Pander Bros.

On 1/23/2022 at 1:07 PM, malvin said:

Prices for prime pieces these days are crazy and unpredictable. 

I would recommend you auction TLH pages rather than setting a price yourself. 

The prices in this thread don't reflect the recent craziness 

Malvin 

Malvin 

This.  Prices since this thread have gone up on A level pieces 2-3 fold.

Yeah, this is literally price-less to me.  As in I wouldn't want it at any price LOL.  Thankfully, different strokes for diff folks, knock yourselves out!

On 1/20/2022 at 8:06 PM, MisterX said:

Do you guys think FOMO is playing a part in rising prices?

Of course it is.  People have been used to a relatively steep but stable OA pricing curve, but for the key pieces they are jumping rapidly.  Pieces that were 150 jumped straight to 3-500K, and those that were the 500K pieces of last year seem to be jumping over 7 figures.  That's some serious FOMO incentive as the jump goes from barely attainable to unattainable, which is the most important jump gap for FOMO.  Get it now or settle for less tomorrow.  

yeah, we will have to update.  But our neat orderly way of thinking of things just went out the window LOL.  It is certainly harder to predict when values are increasingly about content/story in addition to artist, title and general era/storyline.  But agree we should take a crack and gain consensus.

On 10/6/2021 at 11:00 AM, comiconxion said:

There’s always been a rumor that there was a 2nd printing of Primer #2 that was not labeled as such (similar to Shuriken #1).  Anyone know how to identify the difference between a 1st and 2nd printing Primer #2?  I’m not sure CGC recognizes the difference. 

Never heard of a second printing, which is why it's a rumor LOL.  We can certainly ask Matt if that ever happened but I think we would have known back in the day.  What year did you hear that occurred?