FF #9 page on Ebay: Kirby art, Thing vs Subby!

[clemso]

There are over 100 issues of Kirby FF + 6 annuals. Wheres the supply?

 

Clem....

[Sharkey]

There are over 100 issues of Kirby FF + 6 annuals. Wheres the supply?

 

Clem....

 

Hi Clem, that's a good question that nobody knows 100% of the answer to. There's a number of questions to consider:

 

1. How much of that art survived the old Marvel warehouse?

There are stories of art being damaged by leaks, rain, employees who tore it up as rites of initiation, etc. So you have to figure there's some that's not around any more.

 

2. How much was stolen and resides in vault collections?

You have to figure there's whatever pages that were ferreted away by the employees of Marvel that may never see the light of day because the owners are afraid of what would happen when that FF1 splash page is revealed to be in their hands.

 

3. How much is overseas?

Two singificant pages of Kirby art that I own came from the UK. I have purchased Kirby art from a collector in France. There's a lot more outside the US, and much of it may end up handed down from generation to generation and not go back on the market for sale. I feel fortunate to have been able to get the pages I did.

 

4. How much is owned by hard-core collectors who don't ever want to resell their art?

 

5. The big wild card is how much is owned by people who bought it when it was dirt cheap and now that they see FF interior panel pages going for $15k, they decide it's time to cash out and put the pages up?

Surely we're seeing a little of that now. I'd love to see more. But the other side of that thought process is the collector who figures that if they're at $15k now, maybe they'll be at $20k in a couple years, so maybe I'll hang on to them a little longer. What nobody knows is if a major quantity were to hit the market, would there be a correction in pricing? We already saw that with the glut of the early 2000s. But the market clearly bounced back ok.

 

[*paull*]

No offense to you, Rhino, but I'm having a hard time believing this: "employees who tore it up as rites of initiation". I could see the art cut up and sent to letter writers, possibly, but I doubt that employees cared that much about the artwork to find glee in ripping it up.

[TheWatcher]

I read that in the Jack Kirby Collector and related the story. Can't remember the exact issue, but I do remember reading that. It was the guy running the warehouse that forced new employees to partake in this horrible initiation ritual.

 

 

 

Angelo

[clemso]

There are over 100 issues of Kirby FF + 6 annuals. Wheres the supply?

 

Clem....

 

Hi Clem, that's a good question that nobody knows 100% of the answer to. There's a number of questions to consider:

 

 

5. The big wild card is how much is owned by people who bought it when it was dirt cheap and now that they see FF interior panel pages going for $15k, they decide it's time to cash out and put the pages up?

Surely we're seeing a little of that now. I'd love to see more. But the other side of that thought process is the collector who figures that if they're at $15k now, maybe they'll be at $20k in a couple years, so maybe I'll hang on to them a little longer. What nobody knows is if a major quantity were to hit the market, would there be a correction in pricing? We already saw that with the glut of the early 2000s. But the market clearly bounced back ok.

 

 

 

I think answer 5 is the question that I am really looking at. I know most of the FF Kirby art pretty much exists with the exception of issues 1,2 & 4. But if the TOP FF interiors are going for $15K I would have thought there would be a hell of a lot more FF showing up or any Top Quality Kirby for that matter. Not everybody has the financial means to hold onto their art. Sometimes you need a little help to pay the bills and $15K would come in handy.

 

Clem...

 

 

 

 

 

 

[*paull*]

Maybe he disliked Gil Kane's work as much as I do

[Bronty]

Kane's faces are brutal and I never cared for his interiors but the man could draw one hell of a cover.

[Sharkey]

No offense to you, Rhino, but I'm having a hard time believing this: "employees who tore it up as rites of initiation". I could see the art cut up and sent to letter writers, possibly, but I doubt that employees cared that much about the artwork to find glee in ripping it up.

 

No offense taken.

 

The story has been recounted in multiple places (I'll have to see if I can find a copy of it) that certain employees would "force" new employees to tear a page of original artwork in half as part of an initiation. I agree it sounds ludicrous but it's either an urban Marvel myth that's been repeated so much it's assumed to be fact, or there were some complete jerk-off employees with sick senses of humor. I'd prefer that it be the former, but.... who knows.

 

It might have been in the Comics Journal article about the warehouse theft, I'd have to find a copy and look it up. But I'm definitely not making it up.

[TheWatcher]

Kane's faces are brutal and I never cared for his interiors but the man could draw one hell of a cover.

 

When I was younger, I didn't care for his art. It looked to "weird", for lack of a better word. But as I got older, I really began to appreciate it (especially the covers). I'm dying to get a nice Gil Kane cover one of these days.

 

 

Angelo