dichotomy

I know! And it looks better, IMAO.

Fantastic piece by AH!

Ditto. Absolutely fantastic stuff.

Agree - the beginning of the series was great.

Amen!

Does anyone else feel the Dark Knight page is going too expensive?

Lots of covers. Batman 75 today.

Bill S. Sam Keith. This is impossible.

Quitely. Tradd Moore. Tim Sale. Dell’Otto. Humberto Ramos.

And put the Watchmen up against the Dark Knight page?

Would that I could. I was in New York a day before he did his anonymous give away (and how could you know anyway?). Otherwise it’s seeming very difficult.

Totally agree on the panels. I’m MR thrifty. Uber pool, walking, Trader Joe’s - I never craved anything too fancy until OCA - now all my saving has a focus!

I got my favorite DPS from FF#5 Ben Grimm's Wedding, but I also picked up this panel, which is full of activity and life. Enjoy!

Absolutely stellar! You're a lucky guy. It's hard to give gifts to collectors. I'm blown away by the effort!

Oh man, she was really charmed by Sal. Apparently she picked a piece but somehow it was misplaced or sold to someone else, so he sent the below by way of apology. And not to get Sal in trouble, but my wife can also be very polite and charming! I’d love to see the Bill S piece! My wife’s 40th is coming up and I really wanted to get her a Bill S commission of Leonard Cohen (her favorite) but I just couldn’t make it happen.

We seem to have followed a very similar trajectory, except I started collecting after our kids were born. I put together a war-chest after losing everything I bid on in my first HA. Luckily, before OA, I had fairly modest tastes, and this war-chest probably represents a nice car for someone else or a down payment on a cabin somewhere. But I’m getting to the end of it, and can definitely see some trading in the future to continue building. I am enjoying the art of newer artists and the price point is better, as others have mentioned. Or I can save all those daycare payments... Thanks for sharing your experience!

If Mssrs Hound and Hunter would kindly stay away from my meat...

Thanks - this is somewhat in line with what I was expecting - and good to know there can be positive outcomes to our enthusiastic collecting of comics. I wouldn’t mind a comic creator in the family. Here’s a pic of me and my daughter at her first con. The photo op was too good to pass up, and she played her part brilliantly...

Already happening. After 4 years in the hobby I’m definitely in a consolidate and prioritize phase. That being said, I have a con coming up and I love commission hunting up and down artists’ alley. Otherwise covers and splashes are the focus.

Ahem - I’ll just interject here to say that my original post had nothing to do with wives, only kids! 😀 FYI - my wife is great. She got me my first Alex Ross pieces for my 40th birthday and really threw open the door to my collecting. She is not active, but can appreciate some of the pieces, particularly the commissions with kids, and I got her a Mindy Lee Catwoman that she really likes. She tolerates my display of some pieces, and I’ve given her carte blanche to tell me if it gets to be “too much”. While wives may generally not get our ‘collecting bug’ in the same way, their tempering influence might be a good thing sometimes

Can you please send my wife a link to your financial planner?

This is something that struck me today, and in my mind, ties together two popular topics - what is the future of the hobby re: values, and who/where are the next wave of collectors? I've got two kids, going into KG and 3rd grade. I'm in my 40s, and currently have FOUR college contemporaries who are pregnant! My point being a late start for people who are also starting to mature into their careers and build their disposable income. Last month I cut my last daycare check and of course celebrated by immediately spending twice the amount saved on art (and definitely planning a diversion of funds to OCA in the future!). BUT, how do we rationalize bigger purchases, say 5 figures, when we have children who haven't even started college yet? I'm fortunate - I've done some planning, but it still impacts big purchases and draws an interesting line in between buying what I love and what I must have no matter the cost, and buying what I love but, to a degree, banking on it at least holding it's value for 10-15 years. And then, when we order parents are finally free of our support duties, those of us already collecting will know what to do, but will non-collectors who might be potential collectors be willing to enter the market when they are older? And what material will they be looking for? Food for thought - I'd love to hear yours. I have to go pick up the boy from camp, which is the best invention in the history of inventions. Happy collecting!

I agree the cost - I'm just staggered at the amount if you look at sketch covers and 'simpler' commissions/sketches. I always wondered if he was churning out a bunch for an agent or if they are all simply flips. Definitely a great guy - one of my most favorite commissions is also from him and it is spectacular, even if it took a little longer than originally anticipated. And a really nice guy.

Ah thanks, that makes sense now with what I've seen and observed. So it's fair to say he was quite approachable and reasonable, but in response to the flippers the cost and opportunity became far more rare?