RBerman

I would be too!!

I finally bit the bullet to get a Viisan 3240 13x19" scanner, and I must confess that I should have done it before. Compare the photo on my iPhone: With the scanner: Not sure why it's rotated; that's the next thing to fix, I guess. But the point is made.

Yes, the two guys from Singapore were a positive force at the con. I was carrying a 13x19 Itoya everywhere as well, but I don't think I ever left it anywhere. It got progressively convex as the weekend went on. I showed it to lots of the artists, who seemed to genuinely enjoy seeing the company that their contribution was keeping. They didn't seem to just be humoring a customer. Gary Frank told me later that my Itoya was one of the highlights of his weekend; it included six pages from him that I brought.

Could be! I was carrying a yellow backpack that I sometimes didn't pick back up when I moved on to the next table.

Bill Cox made a video montage of most of the photos and videos I took at Lake Como, and played it on his YouTube channel last night. Here it is, beginning at 1:38:16.

Lichtenstein was clearly putting the same image to a different purpose than the original image. The same could be said of Duchamp's urinal, or that recent guy who taped a banana to the wall and sold it for big bucks.

Certainly our assessments do change over time. If your original purchase was presented as, "I really want this particular page to complete the set, not just to resell in the near future," and if you had the impression that the piece held special significance for the previous owner, you might have offered him right of first refusal before sending it to auction.

Case in point -- and to answer my own question -- Squirrel Girl. She debuted in 1991, so barely past my "thirty years" criterion now, but it was the re-imaging by Slott and especially North/Henderson made her someone I want to see more of, at least in their hands.

He was not. But Hollow Press brought some of his work, and I chose one to bring home.

Correct. To be specific, it is a head shot of Terry's character Katchoo from "Strangers in Paradise."

It’s not for everyone, to be sure. Some people have more focused interests for collecting, or window shopping, or networking. It was fun to hang out at a bar with Esad Ribic and Matteo Scalera. To thumb through a hundred choices from the 1960s output of Hugo Pratt, and choose one. To buy a Druuna page directly from Serpieri. To watch Manara paint right in front of me, and get his photo with the X-Women page I brought. To learn who Corrado Roi and John Blanche were, and have my choice from numerous examples of their unusual styles. To hear Alex Maleev and Simone Bianchi and Simon Bisley and Terry Moore explain art choices on pieces I acquired or already owned. To get the artists’ reactions to my Itoya and see which pieces resonated with which of them. (David Mack loved BWS. Brian Stelfreeze was partial to Grey Morrow.) To learn the artists by face, voice, and personality. (Almost all were very congenial.) That is what I got out of the investment. None of this is going to happen on Heritage Auction. Some collectors will want this experience, and others won’t.

Meaning that coming once, despite the high baked-in costs of travel and room, makes sense to meet 100 artists I have never seen before. But next year is unlikely to have 100 different artists I have never seen before. Hence the diminishing returns.

Exactly. There are plenty of new characters and new stories. But their creator do not take them to Marvel and DC, who expect to own the work. The viability of the indie market is a result of distribution shifting from newsstands to local comics stores. Name all the important characters (totally new, not Miles Morales new) that debuted in a Marvel or DC comic in the last 30 years. Not Harley Quinn; she started in the Batman cartoon.

I had this same conversation with Art Adams two days ago. He was delighted to hear how well his old art was selling, even though it does not directly benefit him. The indirect benefit was obvious.

I enjoyed the weekend and got two dozen pieces, from a $25 Remarque to a few that were quite a bit more. My main goal was to learn about Euro art and take advantage of its availability. I ended up with interesting pieces from Poland, France, Italy and UK as well as some Americans that had not crossed my path before. Prices were all over the map. If someone was higher than I wanted to go, there was someone next door happy to show their work. One artist sought me out on Sunday after lowering prices. Hanging with the artists at the reception on Thursday night was fun, and the short lines were a plus. Except Ottley, Cho, and Eastman, who always had a crowd. I do not know whether I will return next year just due to diminishing returns and expense of travel and accommodations, but going once was definitely worth it.

It's 2023, and there's still lots of good looking art out there in the Morlock tunnels! A few recent pieces, starting with Ibraim Roberson for X-Necrosha: Tony Harris gives us a hostage showdown in "Ex Machina": Geoff Isherwood for the 1980s Epic Comics space pirates saga "Swords of the Swashbucklers": The Escorza brothers and Kevin Eastman for TMNT: The Last Ronin In the "awesome pencils" department, a couple of Fernando Pasarin pages from Batgirl: And one from Jose Luis Soares Pinto for new series The Djinni: That's enough for now!

I will be there all weekend. We should plan a meal, exchange contact info, etc.

Your generation was lucky to have identifiable characters in their video games. I am a few years older, and the Atari 2600 graphics did not inspire us so much. But I am still waiting for the River Raid and Yar’s Revenge movies…

Yes, this one here. Niederberger has not logged into CAF since March 2022.

This looks like a legit (and well heeled) collector. https://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryDetail.asp?GCat=175395

I got a dozen small pieces for prices I was happy with. Watch the Molock thread for details.

I got a Hildebrandt Bros painting of Guri from Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire. Details about her character here: https://www.comicartfans.com/gallerypiece.asp?piece=1908989#Comments

Ouch, that's terrible! When I contacted him to discuss this piece (which I got from another collector), he was friendly and mentioned that he was taking commissions. I asked for details, which he never sent, so I did not pursue the matter further.

A while back, I acquired all 22 interior pages of District X #6 by Perkins and Hennessy. It's a cop story involving Bishop and his human partner, hunting a mutant they wrongly think has harmed the human cop's daughter. This week I was able to get the final four pages of the previous issue (#5, by Yardin and Sicat), which show that the girl was actually shot accidentally by her younger brother, because dad left his service revolver at home. Here's the whole collection. It plays pretty well as a silent movie, which shows good storytelling by all involved.

I bailed on some to save funds for Lake Como. But I was pleasantly surprised to get good examples from four artists I didn't have yet, from two pieces by the Hildebrandts and Trimpe/BWS.