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Savage Tales #1 is an example where the reprint actually looks better than the original US version because it blows up the artwork a bit so you can see the detail of the original painting. You can see the original painting on display at the Marvel: Universe of Super-Heroes exhibit, coming to Chicago next!

I couldn't help myself - I got the last one!

Question for the group - how valuable/desirable at the TMNT Ultimate Collection Slipcased collections that IDW published a few years back? I think only 25 were made of the 1st collection (volumes 1-3) and a similar amount of the 2nd collection (volumes 4-6)? Do Turtles collectors care?

Bob - I'm glad that Zeck Punisher #1 recreation I commissioned years ago is making you happy. Great to hear it's on the wall and being appreciated.

Both ST #101 and #114 are semi-key Kirby stories so per previous conversations they don't really reflect the prices on Kirby HT from ST.

I believe T&I was Seattle based. I used to see a lot more copies of Albedo on the West Coast when I travelled, but I remember finding a copy of #1 (2nd print) in a comic shop in Columbus, OH for $35 back in the 80's or early 90's. So, they made it all over the place.

Remembering back to 1986/87, we had dealers in the DC area charging $200 for Albedo #2 back then. At the time, there wasn't a lot of recognition of the different printings of #0 and #1 (except for the "Yellow" #0 which was selling for $800 if you could find one). At the time, I think #0's were selling between $35-50 for 3rd and 2nd printings. 1st printings you didn't see very often, but imagine they were going for $125-150. #1's were going for $60-100 from what I remember. So, even back then, people were valuing the #2 a bit more, but occasionally you'd find them in boxes for cheaper as the price guides weren't keeping up with the market. #3's were plentiful as the print run on those jumped to 10,000 with that issue (from 2,000 on issues #2). American Comics (the mail order company) had bought out the inventory of those. At one point, I remember they were blowing them out for $.20/copy because they had so many. Crazy to see the prices on them today.

Unfortunately, there are a lot of Bob Kane fakes out there. It may be helpful to provide as much provenance as you can about the piece.

That is neat! I expected that type of stuff is in there. Screenbid doesn't do a good job of highlighting those types of things that may make the items more interesting to fans. I bought one of the magazines featuring Superian on the front cover. On the back is a full page ad for Brown Tingle Cola that isn't seen on screen. Also, pretty neat!

Early Trimpe/Perlin G.I. Joe pages (1-8) and Springer Transformers (1-4) have now breached the $3-5k range for A level pages. Ona separate note, I think there should be a separate part of the thread dedicated to the "exception" key issues. People are noting certain issues that go for more like ASM #252. I think that can be said of many artists' run above. A pages from ASM #129, X-Men GS #1, X-Men #94, TOD #10, WWBN #32, X-Men #1... all command a premium because they are key issues. So, perhaps they shouldn't be counted or noted differently.

If you slab it as a cover only, I believe CGC just labels it "CVR" without a grade. At least that's what they've done with some of the Golden Age ashcan covers that surfaced which weren't attached to books.

Again, there are some major differences between the 1st and 2nd printings including the size of the books (this alone makes it obvious). Kevin had no intention of trying to fool anyone and it's very unlikely that he made additional copies prior to this that he sold as 1st printings. Kevin has always been very good about helping people identify legit first prints and wouldn't want to contribute to any confusion in the marketplace. Yes, I believe mine was the first set of the 2nd printings that he gave away - he may have colored in the dots after I got my set. So mine may be a unique set. I have COAs from Kevin with mine and somewhere in my files I have a pic from the day Kevin came over to my house and I got the set. Again, he wasn't selling these... he just gave a me a set, being that Kevin is a generous person and thought I'd want a set. If anyone believes they have a legit 2nd printing set and need some additional confirmation, I'm happy to help as I did when I when I identified the first set of counterfeit 1st prints many years ago. But, if you have a set, most likely you would have gotten them from Kevin directly.

I believe Kevin made them because he was letting go of the master proofs and wanted to have some copies for the future - so you can consider them personal use. I assume these were created in 2012 or a little before. As far as the first printings.... my understanding in talking to Kevin about them years ago is that they ran them off the master proofs in sets of five down at the local copy place. That is why there may be some variability even among 1st printings of the books.

I can vouch for the fact that I've sold "nicer" Zeck pages from Secret Wars for over $5k. The pages from #8 and ones with Black Spidey on them command a bit of a premium. It's also true that there aren't too many "A" level loose pages that are loose - many of the loose pages have stats on them or might be from some of the ghost inkers like Art Nichols. Only Zeck pages from issues #6, 7, 8, 9, 11 & 12 are out there in the wild. Some of the better individual pages are from the ones that aren't broken up (#1, 2, 3 & 10) so the market hasn't really been tested on them. Because there are few "great" pages, that's why there's a premium attached to them. It's rare to see a Zeck Cap panel page reach the $5k range, but they are starting to approach that. "A" level Zeck Punisher Limited Series pages are even rarer in the wild as #1 & #2 are still complete. An "A" level page from Punisher #3 hasn't surfaced yet and there's really only one "A" level page from #4 that's changed hands in recent years. That was in the $20-30k range so that those should probably be bumped up. You might be able to get an "A" level page from Return to Big Nothing for $5-10k. Also, other Marvel #1 pages (in addition to X-Men #1) are selling for over $100k. A nice Everett Daredevil #1 page sold over $125k a couple years ago and I'd imagine nice Avengers #1 pages are in that range although I haven't seen one sell recently. But, asking prices on them have been north of that. BWS Weapon X pages have been on the rise as of late... seems that they may now be in that $60k+ range.

At the beginning of this new year, I thought I'd post some books that most Turtles completists may not even know about... Gobbledygook #1 & 2 2nd printings! Yes, there was a 2nd printing of the 1984 Gobbledygooks printed by Kevin Eastman himself from the original proofs used to create the original printings. He made 10 sets of these and gave me one set back in 2012 when I originally purchased the proofs from him. I unfortunately had to sell the master proofs through Heritage a few years back, but kept this set of the 2nd printings. They may be the only set in public hands at this point. They aren't labelled as 2nd printings, but there are some notable differences (which I won't get into here to discourage any potential counterfeiting). So, for you Turtles completists... here's something new that you can search for in 2021 that's as rare as the Turtlemania Golds!

At first, I thought that was Arnold Schwarzenegger in disguise.

John - I was one that woke up to a couple of sales this morning so I'm approaching 50% of the items I listed from day 1. Thanks to those that contributed to that. I think I calculated that ~12% of the items in previous CAF sale sold. I actually thought that was pretty good. If you go to a live convention, what % of the original art in the room actually sells? I'd doubt it's higher than 10% as many of the bigger dealers ship home the art they bring. I'd think the sell through % is because of the focus on presenting "fresh" art and because it's coming from both collectors and dealers.

I sold 9 out of 24 pieces today which I thought a good %. I appreciate all the people checking out the booth and hearing from a lot of friends out there. I think part of the secret is pricing - you have to price below what dealers would be asking. It helps to challenge yourself and ask "would I buy this piece if I saw it at this price?" As I'd like to sell more items before the end of the show... I just lowered the prices on almost all of the remaining items from today. Take a look here: https://www.comicartfans.com/comicartlive/Booth.asp?bid=57. And, I'll have 24 more new "lower priced" items tomorrow.

That Fugitoid cover is a really nice detailed piece!

I'll be back for this event under "Chuck Costas' Cherry Blossom Explosion". While last time I was selling some pieces on behalf of Gerhard and Mike Vosburg, this time I'll be doing it solo and pulling 48 pieces out of my collection (a little fall cleaning). For the most part, I'll be selling pieces in the "affordable range" between ($50-$5k) and I'll be pricing the pieces under what I'd expect dealers to be selling them for. Look for some vintage G.I. Joe, Transformers, Punisher, Cerebus, Tick, Stig's Inferno, and Fish Police. I'll also have some cool pieces by Gibbons, Bolland, Trimpe, Romita Sr., John Buscema, and Zeck (of course). On the less expensive side, I'll have some animation drawings and cels - Simpsons, He-Man, and Crest vs. Cavity Creeps! Check out what I have Saturday and Sunday (I'll be swapping everything out from one day to the next)! And, I'm always open to talking if you don't like the price or need some time for time payments.

It was similar to the Monster Manual, Deities & Demigods, and Field Folio books that TSR was publishing at the time. Maybe that's why I liked it at the time.

Yep - That was pretty much how Zeck and Beatty spent the money from those covers. But, $50 was for the better covers! Some were only $40! When Jim Warden took over as his art rep, the price went up to $75 for most covers. That was around 1987-88.

I agree with Mike's comments that it's likely the art was mounted on a new board. If you look at the position of the Punisher's boot, it's too close to the bottom margin of the board. Even with the printed comic, there was more space below it. To compare, you can see how the B&W art was presented in the Marvel Essentials book. That's the amount of space I'd expect to see with the original. Also, when I compare it to the Essentials book image, I notice more if the buildings can be seen in the Essentials book vs. the original art. That seems odd. My guess is that the stats are replacement as well - a very good job, but there are some slight differences when you look close. For comparison, I've also included a pic of Kane's original prelim for this cover (currently on display at the Marvel: Universe of Super Heroes exhibit in Michigan) - you can see that he had already worked out the final positioning of the Punisher before he penciled the final version, so theoretically this should all be on one board. It's possible Romita simply inked the Punisher figure on vellum or another piece of paper and that's what's been pasted down on the board on which the final Spidey image was drawn. Remember, the Punisher figure was used for ads and advertising so it could have made sense to draw it separately. If the art board was "newly created" then it's possible the restorer added the aging effect to blend the piece and make it look more vintage. I have seen that done before (unfortunately). Hopefully, all this will be disclosed when the high-res pics of the piece are released and the description is written up. Since Kane and Romita's signatures are both on the piece, any work to this likely piece was done prior to 2000 when Kane passed away. If there were restorer notes, that would be helpful as I know the key restorers from the 1980's/90's used to provide those back in the early days of comic book restoration. A great piece... wish it would get added to my Punisher collection, but unfortunately, not if it goes near the talked about price.

Yes, I remember at this time that there were dealers asking $60-$200 for Albedo #2. At the time, 3rd printings of Albedo #0 were selling for $25-$35 soon after they were released at SDCC. I think many dealers knew that Albedo #2 would be hot when the B&W market took off, but years later, I still found a copy for $5 in a long box, so not everyone knew.

Whatever your feelings on Dave, don't forget his partner till the end of the series, Gerhard. Anyone that's met Gerhard I think would agree 1) he's super talented and 2) he's one of the nicest creators out there to interact with. Humble and generous.