The prices some people are asking for O/A are Ridiculous!

[Mighty Hal]

And the auction ended with...zero bids.

[malvin]

This is the second time the auction was listed. Last time it was started at 500.

[Sal]

yeah, Zeck absolutely did not "create" the black costume. there are at least two or three levels before him, and the idea itself came from a fan

[comiconxion]

Actually, Mike DID create the black costume design. The idea for the costume may not have come from Zeck directly, but the designs did! I've personally talked to Zeck about this a few times. The confusion comes because his designs were not published anywhere. They were done before the Secret Wars series started and they looked more alien in concept. The style guides that appear in Marvel Age (and are more remembered) were done by Leonardi. Leonardi's designs were based on Zeck's. Frenz later used those designs for ASM #252.

 

What other info do you have and where did it come from?

 

[Dumur]

Hey there folks... Well, I'm the "ridiculous" guy who has spurned this topic on this message board. A friend of mine alerted me to this discussion, thinking I might find it funny, or get mad or... whatever... Actually, I kind of like this message board. I normally don't read or join or respond to these things, but this one seems to have intelligent people discussing intelligent things... intelligently. Not an over amount of bashing going on. That is nice. Now about the piece...

 

I suppose I am one of the insufficiently_thoughtful_persons who end up making prices drive up on OA through certain purchases. Perhaps this is one of them. I have to say, I only put the piece up at a starting bid of LESS than I paid and a But it Now for what I paid for it. I didn't think I would make any money, and was quite sure I would lose money, but what can I say... I'm the insufficiently_thoughtful_person I guess who paid too much for it to begin with. I am not always that "uninformed", but I have to say this piece was a bit impulsive for me.

 

I purchased it at the height of the Spider-Man 3, Black Costume hype and I truly did really like the piece when I saw it. It has, what I thought was a reasonable Buy it Now and so I pounced. Maybe that was stupid, but I really did just like the piece and the fact that it was done by Mike Zeck at least justified (at least to me and perhaps wrongly) the $500 price tag. What can i say? Part of me is actually happy it didn;t sell, because I really do like it and it will look great as an "office piece" someday (whenever I actually get that "nice" office worthy of my OA collection). But I needed the money and through a bunch of stuff up there. Anyone who knows me or my auctions, knows I usually put up my pieces at a penny and see what happens, sometimes I make more than I paid, sometimes I make less. On these pieces I wasn;t confident I would even make my money back and so I put in opening bids. It didn't sell, but I think I am okay with that. The Black costume craze was huge to me as a child and this is such an iconic image of that. It's like if Frank Miller had drawn a Black Bat symbol from DKR on 11X17 paper and it was signed by him and published in a 10th Anniversary DKR book or something... I think I would easily pay $500 for that. I guess that is the beauty of this hobby. What one collector would pay for one thing, another wouldn't pay half.

 

Like with JesusJon... I was actually offered his Killing Joke prelim FIRST at $900. I immediately said yes. It was a prelim, but from a great book AND a great page. Tony said yeas and I thought the deal was closed. Tony wrote back that someone else was also interested and was going to pay $1500, but if I was willing to match it, it would be mine. I said "no." No hard feelings on anyone's part. That's just the way it works. JesusJon was willing to pay almost double what I was for a prelim... because that prelim is important to him. So, maybe I'm a chump, but that is okay. I'm a happy chump and have experineced both ends. I sold a Van Sciver cover (Huntress/Power Girl) that I paid $800 for, for $2500, while I have refused a $10 000 offer on a McKean cover I paid $3500 for, and a $3000 offer on the Josh Middleton Serenity cover I paid $500 for. Ares, I bet you would pay well over "market Value" for that Ion #1 cover you are looking for... Just like I would pay WAY over "market value" for the coverr to the first Spider-Ham book.

 

Anyway, just wanted to introduce myself. Seems like an interesting board. maybe I'll drop by more often..

[Bronty]

well if you paid that for it I understand your asking that much for it. That piece is not for me, to say the least, but I understand where you're coming from.

[Sharkey]

Hey Dumur,

 

Glad you came on and said your piece....WELCOME TO THE BOARDS. You sum up exactly what should be said about art: everybody has different tastes. One man's trash is another man's Trimpe.

 

That Zeck piece is very interesting artistically but is not the typical "comic art" piece. There's no overly muscled manly men knocking the tar out of eachother, no bubbly super-bimbos bursting out of their bustiers, and no zombies ripping the entrails out of some hapless human hoagie.

 

You bought it on impulse, and you should hang onto it and frame it like you say -- as a great office piece, maybe even set off by the trade it's part of. It will display really well, and be a great conversation piece!

 

(thumbs u

 

 

 

[Nexus]

Hey there folks...

 

Welcome!

 

Like with JesusJon... I was actually offered his Killing Joke prelim FIRST at $900. I immediately said yes. It was a prelim, but from a great book AND a great page. Tony said yeas and I thought the deal was closed. Tony wrote back that someone else was also interested and was going to pay $1500, but if I was willing to match it, it would be mine. I said "no."

 

So let me get this straight...someone contacts you out of the blue offering to sell you something for X amount. You agree. He then offers the same piece to someone else and attempts to extort almost 2X out of you? Frankly, you did the right thing. A deal, apparently, is not a deal with this... joker. Save your money. As a bonus, you'll also be able to look yourself in the mirror.

 

Look forward to more posts and hope you come across more ethical sellers in the future. (thumbs u

[KingOfRulers]

Welcome to the boards Dumur. Glad you stopped by.

 

I dind't even get to see the piece in question, since the page won't work for me for some reason. But from the sounds of it, $500 seems like a reasonable price for a Zeck page these days. His stuff goes for big money constantly. $500 doesn't even really sound that bad considering how insane Jim Lee, Frank Miller and Michael Golden goes for.

[Thomas]

Welcome to the boards Dumur. Glad you stopped by.

 

I dind't even get to see the piece in question, since the page won't work for me for some reason. But from the sounds of it, $500 seems like a reasonable price for a Zeck page these days. His stuff goes for big money constantly. $500 doesn't even really sound that bad considering how insane Jim Lee, Frank Miller and Michael Golden goes for.

 

It's not exactly a page of art and is more a production item from my view.

[Bronty]

This is one case where you really have to see the piece to make a judgement, one way or the other.

[Bronty]

Welcome to the boards Dumur. Glad you stopped by.

 

 

It's not exactly a page of art and is more a production item from my view.

 

Yeah, that's kind of what I meant when I said it was 'debatably' even OA

[invisibleghosts]

Welcome to the boards Dumur.

 

 

I'm glad you made your way here.

[Lambo]

Like with JesusJon... I was actually offered his Killing Joke prelim FIRST at $900. I immediately said yes. It was a prelim, but from a great book AND a great page. Tony said yeas and I thought the deal was closed. Tony wrote back that someone else was also interested and was going to pay $1500, but if I was willing to match it, it would be mine. I said "no." No hard feelings on anyone's part. That's just the way it works. JesusJon was willing to pay almost double what I was for a prelim... because that prelim is important to him. So, maybe I'm a chump, but that is okay.

 

Hi Dumur:

After reading your post, I had to de-lurk myself and say I agree with Nexus and that you are understanding to a fault to have "no hard feelings." Legally, an offer was made by the seller and an acceptance was made by you. That's a done deal, legally binding and that my friend is actually "the way it works." Are you leaving anything out? There must be some other issue because if not, then what the seller did in this case was extremely unethical.

 

Lambo

[Dumur]

Oh, no, no, no... guys, it's cool. Honestly. The seller put out the option to a couple of us on CAF. I was told I responded first, but I may not have been contacted first. JesusJon just contacted me about some options presented, but I never knew about them... But it is all cool. I don't consider it unethical... at all. Really. It's not like I paid the money and he refunded it because he got a better offer. I just agreed to the price of $900, but the terms were by no means closed yet or anything. The seller offered me some other pieces even, I just didn't want them. (a) they were going to cost a bit more and (b) to be honest I didn't think they were as nice. But the seller seems like a good guy and I hope maybe I can wrestle away one of the other prelims from him. He honestly seems like a good guy who couldn't resist getting a lot more than he expected from a piece he had. It's all good.

 

And as for the Zeck piece being "production art"... I don't know. Maybe. It is still hand drawn and inked. It is a bit more of an "abstract piece", but I find myself attracted to that sort of thing. It was obviously done with the help of some "instruments" with the line work, but I like the amount of ink on it. Nice and rich. Maybe he painted it with a roller. I don't know. I'm the dumb guy who bought the hairless Guinea Pig when he was nine, from the pet store because nobody else wanted it... even though it cost more than the fuzzy ones. I was told he was "exotic". He died a couple days later.

 

So, if you have that Miller Batman symbol for $500 that you paid $100 for, you know where to come...

[Ares]

Since I started this thread Let me chime in...

I wasnt calling anyone a Spoon seller..

 

Its just that I thought the price asked was a little high compared to other Zeck Peices.. If you Love the piece more power to you!

[Dumur]

Hey Ares,

First of all... I love this "SPOON" stuff. It's hilarious. I don't even remember what word I used, but I don't think it really needed to be "SPOONED" I think it was the "J" word. Funny. Anyway, I wasn't saying you were calling ME a SPOON. I was saying I was a SPOON (I really can't get over this SPOON stuff) for maybe paying too much for a piece and therefore contributing to the outrageous OA prices we have all seen lately... and I agree with you... there are some OUTRAGEOUS prices that I am shocked by... I guess I never thought the $400 was that outrageous for my two "pieces". I guess I get more shocked by the hike in Sinkewicz pieces when he switched reps etc. But I see your point. Ares, did you ever ask Kalman what happened to the ION #1 cover? I think you own EVERY other ION cover so you are more informed than most, but did Kalman ever sell it?

[Ares]

Hey Ares,

First of all... I love this "SPOON" stuff. It's hilarious. I don't even remember what word I used, but I don't think it really needed to be "SPOONED" I think it was the "J" word. Funny. Anyway, I wasn't saying you were calling ME a SPOON. I was saying I was a SPOON (I really can't get over this SPOON stuff) for maybe paying too much for a piece and therefore contributing to the outrageous OA prices we have all seen lately... and I agree with you... there are some OUTRAGEOUS prices that I am shocked by... I guess I never thought the $400 was that outrageous for my two "pieces". I guess I get more shocked by the hike in Sinkewicz pieces when he switched reps etc. But I see your point. Ares, did you ever ask Kalman what happened to the ION #1 cover? I think you own EVERY other ION cover so you are more informed than most, but did Kalman ever sell it?

 

Kalman never did ION #1

Ivan Reis did it and it went for $2k off Spencer Becks wensite

[Dumur]

Ahhhhh. Again, You are far more informed than I. Good luck with that. I know how much it sucks to miss ONE cover to complete a series. I am missing one cover to do the same, and I know who owns it, but he just won't budge.

[Ares]

Ahhhhh. Again, You are far more informed than I. Good luck with that. I know how much it sucks to miss ONE cover to complete a series. I am missing one cover to do the same, and I know who owns it, but he just won't budge.

Which Series?