Superhero

On 6/15/2023 at 4:18 PM, Panelfan1 said:

I don't think it discourages many. It just tells them to raise the valuation.

While I can't prove it empirically, it feels like lately, more and more bidders are waiting for the end to put in their bids in the live auction. Especially for pieces people expect to go high.  Would love to know what others have noticed with respect to bidding trends?  

I may put in a tracking bid but I generally don’t bid at all until the end. 

There are some really good deals so far in this auction. 

On 4/30/2023 at 7:30 PM, jjonahjameson11 said:

I’d say it’s an amalgamation of Beatles yellow submarine animated artwork with Gulacy and P. Craig Russell, and if i squint really hard, I can also see a bit of Steranko

Beatles Yellow Submarine for the win!  I kept thinking this looks familiar and that was it.  GREAT art and I am admirer of Tradd's. I am always happy to see sucess.  Felix is a very smart operator and did a great job for his artist.  If the market didn't like it then it wouldn't have sold.  Who cares whether the value will be more or less unless you only bought to flip it at some point and then, you are kinda missing the point of the great art.  The fact that the art is fun and and great to look at will never change.  

I think it was a huge mistake to put so many pieces focused on a few characters (Dr. Fate and Spectre) in the same auction.  Too many great pieces particular to my collecting to get very many of them.  I was the underbidder on a few that I otherwise would have gone higher on. 

On 6/6/2022 at 3:02 PM, comix4fun said:

Same. I have 2 1st prints, 4 2nd prints (both printings are the 144 page Cthulu/Menibonean versions) and 1 3rd print (which is my OO copy) ....and to complete my madness I bought a $9.99 print on demand spiral bound copy to read and that came with a free PDF version just in case I wanted to see it on my computer screen or e-reader too. 

 

I have every book digitally now and hypertext linked.  It is so easy to look up things.  I love the old books but I also like modern technology.  Funny enough, I doctor friend contacted me last week to maybe try to get a game together.  I haven't played in about 20 years so I am looking forward to oiling my rusty skills.

On 6/6/2022 at 6:18 AM, comix4fun said:

Yeah, that book is my weakness. I still have that same copy I got in 1980 but since then I've collected another 1/2 dozen copies of various printings and in various conditions. It's a sickness, really. 

 

Me too.  I have a few copies since I wore out my original version with the Melnibonean and Cthulhu Mythos I had to buy another that was as pristine as I could find. 

On 1/14/2022 at 3:40 PM, cloud cloddie said:

I was pretty surprised by the hammer on this. Great piece, and I love Nowlan, but dang. 

Agreed.  I was going to bid on it because its amazing but that price is miles beyond what I thought it would go for.  That is the sad thing to me.  I now have no real concept of fair market value anymore.

So the question for me is does this crazy auction cause a stampede of people to sell their art causing a decline in the market due to supply or does it cause people to hold onto their art and create demand that vastly exceeds demand driving prices much higher?  Or something different, pigs fly, Hell freezes over, dogs and cats living together....just what does this mean?

Well done summary.  Seems like they are just testing the waters to offload inventory that is subpar.  It's the same collector(s) each time buying pieces and at least one recently appeared on a rival show....coincidence or are these the only collectors that are actually buying?   

On 6/18/2021 at 4:46 AM, Verbow said:

$90k after juice and seven Fair Warnings.   Wow 

Congrats to the buyer on this. Just curious if this piece is historically significant or if there is a reason other than more than one person really wanted it why it went so high.  No doubt its a cool piece but $90K seems a lot. 

Everyone knew this was coming.  First time I will miss in 20 years.  Sad. 

Neal Adams

Todd McFarlane

George Perez

Brian Bolland

Art Adams

Steranko

Alex Ross

All of the above influenced other artists and made a huge impact on the art of comics and how they were perceived.  I also think each advanced the medium significantly. 

On 9/8/2019 at 8:23 AM, comix4fun said:

He has, he sold one a few years ago, but I believe the also hand lettered and inked the title/logo/trade dress so there was no mistaking it for the real thing. 

I stared at the 251 recreation on Neal's site for several years knowing the original cover was well beyond me so I eventually picked it up.  link below.  It is a great piece.  I confirmed with him that it was all him.  The title/logo/trade dress are stats on a separate overlay.  I talked to Neal about it for a while.  At that time, he didn't know if the original cover still existed or who might have it.   Interesting thing is I know he did it in the late 90's early 2000s but he dated the certificate of authenticity when I purchased it instead of when he actually drew it. 

https://www.comicartfans.com/gallerypiece.asp?piece=807921

Brian Bolland

Really great cover!  Very well done!!!

Really nice!  Congratulations.

I think it is impossible to properly value pages from a book like KJ or Watchman or Dark Knight by comparing them to the rest of the OA market.  Those books and a few others are in a class by themselves.  You can look at what Bolland art goes for and it will be significantly lower than even one of the worst pages from KJ.  In my opinion, pg. 1 is one of the weakest pages but they are all special and amazing.  I just don't see how it is possible to grade comic art and establish a market in the same way you do comics or baseball cards.     

I think "grail" is completely appropriate and not overused.  I searched for pieces for years that seemed just out of reach and then, I was finally able to obtain them.  I looked for the Killing Joke page for almost 20 years and the same for the Secrets of the Batcave piece.  Are they grails to everyone, no.  But to me, they were the realization of a dream and something I didn't think I could obtain but finally did.  If that isn't a grail, what is?   I say embrace the grail.  Pursue it.  Carpe Diem!!!

Maybe I am in the minority but I believe restoring art is completely fine and actually makes it better unless the original image is altered.  Cleaning and removing stains, adding back lost mastheads, word balloons and other type elements (on on overlay) is fine with me.  I think the pieces present better and more closely match the original and in many cases preserve the art.  It is art.  It is meant to be displayed and enjoyed.  As long as the original composition is kept, I don't see the problem. 

23 hours ago, delekkerste said:

Sick page, Jared! 

Great meeting you on Saturday. 

Thank you!!  It was all my pleasure.  It was a lot of fun. 

Ill be there.

On 5/25/2017 at 3:17 PM, chrisco37 said:

Yeah, love it!   Always thought that's the 3rd Harley book?  In any case, it's great.  Definitely agree on 5 figures.  25k certainly seems in the realm of possibility.  Hold onto that puppy.

Thank you everyone for the kind words and correcting me on the number of appearances.