Benedict Judas Hel

On 9/21/2022 at 11:49 AM, Dr. Balls said:

Villain-centric. I like that. Do you feel that your $2500 ceiling will creep up as time goes by, or is that part of the hunt to find pages under that maximum price?

The price point limit is mostly because of my self-restricted disposable income.  It is the maximum amount I feel comfortable spending on this hobby.  If a seller is okay with timed payments I could exceed that $2500 limit but anything above $600, I would need a monthly payment plan.

My collecting criteria for comic book art is as follows:

1) Marvel Comics

2) 70’s-early 90’s era

3) Villain-centric

4) Large Panels

5) Up to $2500 in price

I may stray a bit from these requirements but for the most part, these are fairly rigid.

On 9/11/2022 at 6:26 PM, Subby1938 said:

Oh my I remember this image and those books I loved them so much . I believe I still have my “ Out of the Pit “ monster manual . Fantastic piece . Brings me back. 

Yup, before the mass proliferation of cell phones, personal computers, video games or the internet, these books were a major source of entertainment allowing my imagination to soar and the detailed illustrations from the books were a major reason.  For only $1.95 (or $2.25), I could sit back and go an adventure for a couple of hours.  And not just once because you could go exploring and take different paths within the same gamebook.  It spawned great memories that prompted to collect every book in the original series (except one) and every new one released thus far.

I am not sure what the rules concerning artwork with partial nudity are on this site but I decided to play it safe and censored the latest commission I got in.  I love the 80’s Fighting Fantasy gamebooks (particularly the original 21 books) but being in the original art collecting hobby for 2-3 years makes me slowly realize that I will probably never own the original illustrations I want the most as they will most likely be out of my meager means.  Therefore, I recently decided to get homages of my favorite ones done starting with the mirror demon by Iain McCaig which appeared in the 1984 book, Deathtrap Dungeon.  This is the rendition done by Mike Hoffman:

The original illustration:

On 8/26/2022 at 11:55 AM, Nate Hartz said:

What do you guys think of cover recreations?

They are personally not for me because if I ever commissioned one, I would know it’s not the original.  I much rather prefer cover homages because I have the sense and awe of the original plus the benefit of owning an original:

I don’t have a “collecting goal” per se as I am a very small fish in a very large sea.  I can’t say “I’m going to own an Art Adams X-Men page” or a “I’m going to own a Ditko Spider-Man page” because I don’t have the funds necessary for such a purchase and most likely never will.  I just have more of a generality: I’d like to purchase awesome splashy villain art…maybe an original Garage Pail Kid card art painting and a Fighting Fantasy gamebook interior illustration.  Oh, and maybe certain Cracked Magazine Interiors or covers.

Have I realized it yet?  To an extent, but I could always use more (except for the GPK, Fighting Fantasy and Cracked Magazine art of which I have none at the moment)…

On 8/4/2022 at 9:55 AM, grapeape said:

Do you have a pic? Or the link?

Yes, pictures would be nice.

On 7/18/2022 at 9:43 PM, MR SigS said:

False alarm  I was given the wrong tracking #. All is good 

Cool!  Glad things are looking bright!

On 7/17/2022 at 9:30 PM, MR SigS said:

I guess I posted too soon and will never do it again. Turns out the page was sent to Destrehan, LA, and I live in Oregon. 

Yup, that’s a lesson I learned from my early Ebay buying days: “Never post about an item until it is in your hands”.

On 7/11/2022 at 1:35 PM, kbmcvay said:

Are there things that are super popular you just aren't interested in? Take value out of the equation completely assume everything is worthless. Just think about it from a pure enjoyment you'd get from the art perspective.

Here are a few of mine.

4. Anything drawn by Rob Liefeld

Is Rob Liefeld art popular?  I thought people were buying his art ironically?

On 7/12/2022 at 7:57 AM, Mighty Hal said:

Tradd Moore art.

I personally don’t understand the popularity myself either but I don’t assail anyone for how they choose to spend their money…legally.

On 6/6/2022 at 9:48 AM, J.Sid said:

I'm kinda shocked that four people (so far) did not list the #1 in their picks.

My personal reasoning was since #1 and #13 are the same and since I prefer the black costume over the traditional look, I chose it instead of #1.

I prefer showing the entire board when I frame.  When I had my first original art piece framed, unfortunately, I opted for hiding some of the board because it cut unevenly at top (as these pieces often are) but have since changed that with the subsequent pieces I have had framed.

I didn’t buy anything this year as nothing really moved me in my usual price range ($250-$1000) towards a purchase but the event did place me in contact with a seller I’ve bought from before on a piece that he had on his CAF gallery that fit my collecting specifications excellently and I was very interested in.  It was over my comfort zone in price but he was willing to take off 10% and accepted timed payments so I took the plunge.

And I do agree that I like the feature of sellers being able to contact potential buyers via saved artworks so possible transactions are made more likely.

I got in this 12” x 16” Vega commission by Ron Randall today:

On 3/16/2022 at 12:49 PM, Twanj said:

Pretty sure I paid shipping on top. An extra $35 or so a few years ago.

Thanks.  Well, it’s been a few days and nothing from ComicConnect so I just printed their invoice and included it with my check that I mailed to them.  I’ll wait and see if there are any issues.  They say 3-4 weeks for shipping so I hope to get the art by then.

On 3/15/2022 at 10:35 PM, tth2 said:

The BP is part of the price.  Don't think of them as separate things, just look at the total price as your actual cost.  I've never cared about what the hammer price at Heritage is, because I just figure out what the total price that I'm willing to pay is, divide by 1.2 and that's the number I bid.  

Thanks for the breakdown!  I appreciate it.

This being my first interaction with ComicConnect, I elected to pay via check (since they wanted to charge 3% extra for PayPal or credit card payments) and when I received the invoice, there was no charge for shipping or taxes…just the actual amount for my winning bid.  Is this normal for ComicConnect auctions?

On 3/15/2022 at 11:36 AM, Rick2you2 said:

Only 20%? Bargain.

Well, that’s on top of the 15% buyer’s premium soooo 35% total?

I purchased my first auction win (besides Ebay) in this series and I felt I overpaid by 20% for the particular piece.  But I justified it by saying I only purchase a piece maybe 2-3 times a year and my collecting field is so specific and narrow that I could afford this specific indulgence.  So hopefully the art transfer will be smooth and without incident.