BuraddoRun

Regarding the 1:20 foils, I'm pretty sure they're all just Death Metal regular foil covers. I have gotten a few, and I've seen Youtube openings that pulled them as well. That said, there are good books to be found. I saw someone pull (on Youtube) a Joker # 1 1:25 Federici variant. And that front-facing Nightwing 78 might continue to climb, depending on how hot Melinda Zucco gets.

I haven't seen a comprehensive list, unfortunately, and I don't think League of Comic Geeks is fully updated with them. At least they weren't when I checked about a week ago. I think, like what was suggested above, we could work together and do it here. I've been buying and researching (somewhat) them this year, so I have a good number from the last few releases. As for differences, they ALL pretty much have no UPCs, grey backs, and different colored titles. And then the more obvious ones have exclusive covers with different art altogether. I don't know if there's any special info in the indicia except for the print date, though I'm not sure if they coincide with the normal print runs or not. Back to a community list, we could try and list all pertinent info for each book: cover art info, noted differences from regular prints (colors, backs, no UPC, etc.), indicia info, and, if we know it, wave number/release dates. I suspect that last one will be difficult, but we can use our personal purchase info, YouTube video dates, etc. to come up with estimates.

I understand the sentiment of wanting expensive art available to you as a fan VS investment. But ultimately, it's up to the artist. And some artists do exactly what you're asking. I believe the TMNT Last Ronin artist sold some pages through Facebook or something to fans at below FMV specifically because he wanted FANS to be able to own that art. And guess what? Some of those "fans" immediately flipped for profit. But beyond that, never discount the personal nature of this hobby. If there is a specific artist you want something from, and their posted prices are too high, reach out to the artist directly. I recently contacted an artist about a specific page that I hadn't seen anywhere that I was interested in. It's about 20 years old. And guess what? He actually still had it! And he sold it to me for about $100 shipped. Probably below FMV, even though it's not some high demand page. Regardless, that was his price and he didn't gouge me even knowing I wanted that specific page. On the contrary, he thanked me for inquiring and dug the page out of wherever it had been sitting for 20ish years. I think he genuinely appreciated that I was a fan. Just reach out to whatever artist directly and ask. Tell the truth, that you're a fan, you can't afford asking price, and you'd love to try to work something out that fits your budget. You never know, but it doesn't hurt to try. Similarly, on the secondary market, you might find a seller who will sell to YOU affordably. When I started collecting, I was searching for an artist's work on a specific comic, and couldn't find any. Demand wasn't high or anything, it's just that the artwork had already made it to other collections, and no one was selling. I contacted the artist's agent and the art was all gone. Finally, I searched CAF and began contacting collectors who had art posted, not for sale, but just in their gallery. I found an international collector who was willing to sell to me. But even with the added expense of international shipping, I believe he gave me a very fair and affordable deal, again, probably below FMV. He even had a nice title splash page he was willing to sell me that he offered below FMV, that I declined in favor of getting more pages. And he held the pages I did want while I saved up for a month or 2 to buy. In short, don't give up. What you think is unattainable may actually be attainable with some ingenuity and persistence, neither of which would compromise your integrity. And if something is truly unobtainable, it's OK. There's always more out there, and we can't always have everything we want.

Show off your superheroes saving the day in atypical ways. Here's a DPS I recently got from Silk Issue 2. She was tasked with keeping the peace between 2 rival gangs who were meeting at a public bath. So yeah, she facilitated their getting together to discuss their survival (they were being killed off by a bigger baddie) as opposed to, you know, stopping their illegal activities.

I have found that even though my pockets aren't deep, I've been able to find what I consider very good pieces of artwork, from some talented and popular artists, at prices I can afford. Sure, a lot of things are priced out for me, but I've gotten a nice Stegman page from Felix, a Jim Lee from Albert, a Ron Lim from Anthony, a Scalera from Jason (he's the guy at Essential Sequential, right?), a Daniel and a McKone (soon) from Tatiana, etc. These are all artists that, sure, I'd love to get some high end pieces from, but just the fact that there are affordable pieces available among the higher stuff makes the hobby accessible to me. There's LOTS of good art out there, and there are ways to get pieces from your favorite artists. Plus, most dealers allow for timed payments, which also helps with accessibility. I don't have a Timm yet, but I almost pulled the trigger on a Watcher cover sketch he did a few months back. That was affordable. Kind of kicking myself for not, but it's OK. There will be other Timm pieces available.

Family of 3:

I don't love the page, art-wise, but I think this hobby, for most, is not JUST about the quality of art. It's a mix of admiring the art, the subject matter, and its place in our lives. Many of us simply can't separate the nostalgia, because we see more than just the art when we look at a piece. I don't have any personal connection to this page. Iron Man was never one of my favorite characters. I have only ever owned a few Iron Man books. And this specific book came out some years before I did, and I've never owned it. And the actual artwork...I don't hate it, but I don't love it. If I had 32K to spend on art, with no plans to flip, I'd go for another piece (or pieces). All that said, I DO still appreciate looking at this art, and lots of things posted here that I may not care for on a more personal level. The craft itself is a part of history and something big and personal in my life: comic books. So it means something on that level, regardless.

To add to the painting VS pencils part of the topic, Greg Hildebrandt does the same. He'll pencil out the piece on paper but paint over a canvas. I bought a true pencil prelim of a cover from him on Ebay not long ago, but he was also selling the finished pencil piece. The final, published painting, however, was not done over the original pencils. I believe it mentioned in the auction that the pencil image was transferred to the canvas (copied somehow, I guess?), which he then painted over.

That's a really nice piece, too! Lots of great characters. I haven't played any of them, but Scribblenauts is basically a video game where the player solves puzzles by writing words that manifest as objects. Then you use the objects to solve the puzzles. It sounds fairly open-ended, as the word database is in the thousands, apparently. I looked up info on the DC game and it says it has about 2000 DC characters available to help solve puzzles. It sounds pretty fun, actually. I love it! This kind of thing really enhances your collection beyond just grabbing art of a favorite character. Of course it helps that the art is nice, too. I'm sure you'll share it with us when you're finished, but I'm interested in reading that article.

Well, I don't have a Moon Knight, but I do have another dark, hooded hero.

I was just joking about the weight, poking fun at your typo ("Puter" instead of Outer"). Pewter would definitely be heavy! But I do still think it's an amazing sculpt, even if it is only lightweight, hollow latex. Thanks for sharing more insight in the process and I'll keep looking forward to your future creations!

Regarding that Batman "statue," I'm pretty sure it's just an NFT. It's listed as free shipping and a transfer after patient into VEVE or whatever. Plus it's not even one of a kind. There are 7500 of them. But guys, I found a good one. Check out this listing: https://www.ebay.com/itm/133703241309?hash=item1f21558e5d:g:NK8AAOSw3qBgW0fD "Mitch McConnell says Americans are now sitting on "historic piles of cash." Here I am selling two things: First, you get my historic pile of cash: it's $100 in the form of 35 $1 bills and 13 $5 bills. It's an historic pile of cash, not an NFT. Second, and far more importantly, you get the electronic "paper trail" from eBay that you bought it. Being the purchaser gives you massive bragging rights."

I'm glad things seem to have been worked out between OP and MCS. I worked at one of the retail Lone Star Comics shops a little under 20 years ago, and while my interaction with Buddy and Judy were few, they were always pleasant and it was a great place to work. I learned a lot from my time there about the business as well, and will always be thankful to them and the managers at my store for it. That remained my LCS until they closed, and while I still prefer to buy comics in a brick and mortar store, and thus moved on to the "competition" for that, MCS is my go-to for most online comic orders. I definitely prefer them to any other online comic store.

I agree. I really like that piece. Congrats @ Pontoon!

Here are a couple of new-ish interesting videos on the topic. Apparently Rob Liefield was considering introducing a new superhero team via NFT, but put those plans on hold when he realized he didn't know enough about them yet. And NFTs are coming to Magic the Gathering. Now you can own one-of-a-kind links to digital cards instead of the actual card to play with or art to display! Or something like that.

I think it's always more meaningful when you're able to contact an artist directly to either purchase or get information about art. I've had a fair amount of success with both, which kind of surprised me honestly. My most recent contact was concerning one of the manga pieces I recently won in an auction. I actually won 2 different pieces done by the same artist, and despite the language barrier, and the fact that neither piece had information listed from what books they came from, I was able to quickly figure 1 of them out through Googling. The 2nd piece was a bigger mystery, though. Finally, tonight, I Googled the artist's name in Japanese and found his Twitter account. He had an email listed there, but stated it was for "business inquiries only." Despite that, I sent him a short email in both English and Japanese. I typed it in English, ran it through Google Translate, and copy/pasted the translation in Japanese. I included both English and Japanese versions in my email. And I asked him to forgive me for emailing for non-business purposes. I attached a pic of the art and asked where it came from. He replied in about 15 minutes with a very nice email. So now I know this is from Samurai Leaguers, which you wouldn't know from my page, but is a baseball-themed manga with fantastical stuff like samurai, ninja, and wrestlers! If you're OK with sharing, what are some of your most memorable artist interaction successes? That is to say, when you've reached out concerning specific artwork.

Having a gun when you don't need a gun.

I imagine that thing must weigh a TON if it's made of pewter! I hope you don't plan on wearing it! Seriously though, that's another amazing sculpture!

It's a pretty great one, though! But then, I'm biased.

Ha! That was a fun read! Great full story to own!

This might be goofy, but I figure it's a fun way for us to show off art and impress and/or make each other jealous (like we don't do that enough already). The game is simple. Post art that relates to the previous poster's avatar. You may have to be creative, depending on what the avatar is, of course. Then, after 1 person posts, someone else posts art related to the latest poster's avatar, and so on. Mine is easy since it's an image of a mainstream comic character.

I've been on a Red Sonja kick lately, comic book-wise, and just recently ordered her 1st appearance (Conan 23), her first cover appearance and main story (Conan 24), her origin (Kull and the Barbarians 3), her first story in a chainmail bikini (Savage Sword of Conan 1), and a handful of other books that I wanted to own and read. As far as art goes, right now I only have 1 piece with her, a prelim for a cover to a commemorative issue done recently by Greg Hildebrandt. I'll attach it and the published comic image to this post. But I'd like to see other members' Sonja art, if you'll share. Regarding my prelim, I got it on ebay from the source last summer. Greg's gallery was selling prelims and the final pencil art for the cover on ebay that he normally would've taken to conventions. But since COVID cancelled the conventions, they were available at auction instead. I just picked one that I liked and was affordable. He ended up switching her stance to favor the other side, and of course there are other characters and details on the final cover. It's an homage to the Star Wars movie poster painting he and his brother did many years prior (I'll include it, too). The comic itself is a reprint of Marvel's Red Sonja # 1.

Serves him right. Sorry you didn't get the piece. Ha! I love seeing intentional "extras" that artists occasionally add, knowing those parts won't be published.

These kind of weird stories always add to the fun of collecting. Good luck with your search!

Nice pieces! I found a typo on your CAF you might wanna fix, but maybe it fits if you got these as a purchase. You have Strong Guy labeled as Strong Buy.