Kudos to Gene!

[Darthdiesel]

Holy SILENT ISSUE!

 

 

YoooooOOOOOO GENE! Knowing is half the Battle!

[Jagull]

Holy SILENT ISSUE!

 

 

YoooooOOOOOO GENE! Knowing is half the Battle!

COBRAAAAA!!!!!

[chrisco37]

Congrats Gene!

 

What an awesome addition to your collection! No wonder you've been selling off some pieces lately!

 

I've had the chance to buy complete issues of 100 Bullets before, but the price is high. I can't even imagine what the price must have been for this classic issue! Good to know it's in the hands of a true fan and art appreciator.

 

Did you also get the cover to the issue as well, or just the interior?

 

Oh (I don't really need to ask, I don't think), I hope you don't plan on breaking this issue up, do you???

 

Congrats again!

 

Chris

[Rickdogg]

Creaming.

[Foolkiller]

Gene:

 

good god that's an awesome find and buy. What a spectacular piece that I'm sure is one of the finest in your collection...

 

Congrats.

[dam60]

Kudos dude!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

 

Now when can I see it in person!

 

DAM

[BronzeBruce13]

..Way to go Gene! Sometimes you just gotta' go for it and buy something that makes you happy regardless of the $ figure!

 

Is this purchase primarily for your enjoyment, investment or a combo? Just curious, as it is a huge sum to invest in a collectible even if it is one of a kind (maybe its not defined as a collectible?). I remember you posting about Original Art in general as having a good deal of "upside" in your opinion. You also pointed out there has already been staggering increases in value in the last 10-15 years or so. Considering this, does original art still have that much room to grow in your view? As little as I know about the Original Art Market, buying the art at staggering prices now "seems" to mirror the buying HG CGC Keys (rather than raw 20 years prior) scenarios/cautions you've expressed with comics.

 

Is this dynamic not a major factor/concern with Original Art because of its uniqueness, and even though there seems to already have been a major growth period? No need to re-explain your views on the comics again, but I'd like to understand what differences there are (beyond the obvious) that leads to your speculation that the Original Art Market will grow further?

 

I too have considered grabbing some pieces although not at the level you just did. I'd love to get the last panel of 180 (but realize that is out of my league) or any page from 181, but I understand one collector owns all of those. I'm sure i would have interest in plenty of pieces if they were available or i could find them. I'd love to have a Miller DD page, a Byrne with Wolverine, Bissette/Totleben Swampthing to name a few?

 

Want to be my Original Art pimp daddy? Find me something

 

[drbanner]

Gene's views on the subject of the appreciation potential of original art vs. high-grade keys, and the potential appreciation on comic art in general.

 

Thing is, if you want a specific piece/page of art...you have to pull the trigger when it comes up for sale (like Gene did here), or it's gone and may never come available for sale again. I recently bought that Future Imperfect page for a hefty sum after never really buying any original art at all...and to win it on ebay, I obviously had to lay down a bid above what the seasoned art/Perez collectors thought the piece was worth. It's looking shweet in my office now though!!

[BronzeBruce13]

Thanks Mike... answers some of my questions.

 

[Mushroom]

I heard that the G.I. Joe original art market was going to crash in the next 12 months.

 

Congrats Gene....Really sweet purchase.

[chrisco37]

I'm a relative "newbie" when it comes to artwork, Bruce, but I'll try and answer some of your questions from the limited experience I have buying comic art.

 

As Gene (and Banner) said recently, with art, the game moves alot faster. And by that, we mean, if you see something you really like, get it. B/c the chances of it coming around again anytime soon is highly unlikely.

 

I am a (as you may or may not know) a huge fan of the series 100 Bullets and the artist, Eduardo Risso. When I first got in touch w/ Risso's dealer, he had a descent amount of pages from the series still available. I wanted, specifically, pages that featured a character named Agent Graves. The agent had quite a few available, and I was lucky enough to buy (over a two month period) two pieces that had both Graves and "the briefcase" (it's an integral part of the story) on them. This was early this year (I think March-April). Now, while there are more pages (more issues have come out) available, it is impossible to find any w/ Agent Graves and the briefcase on them. Likewise for a "Risso-sig" page (he sometimes will draw his sig into a background). Had I not bought those pieces when I did, chances are, I wouldn't have the opportunity for a long time (if ever) to acquire them.

 

Now, lets say I was looking for a 9.4 Hulk #181 ( ) and one popped up on eBay, but it was mis-wrapped to where there was a 1/8" white spine. The white spine is one of biggest pet peeves, and I'm not going to plop down a significant amount of money for something I know I can find a nicer copy of if I wait long enough. With art, you don't have that option.

 

The liquidity of art is, IMO, entirely variable. And the original art buying community is much smaller than the comic community. And pickier. I'll eventually be able to sell that duplicate Spectacular Spider-Man #114 (Puma Appearance! ) for $1-2 because there are people out there that need to fill that hole in their collection. On the other hand, it would be alot harder for me to sell one of the Fantastic Four (new series) pages for what I paid for one, unless I found someone who was either a die hard Doctor Doom fan (reason I bought the pieces) or a fan of Salvadore LaRoccha (yeah, go ahead and laugh). DAM just bought a piece in Baltimore from JLA, was it? No super-hero's on it. Just a page with a drawing of Columbia University campus and the dorm that he stayed at while he was a student there. Why? Becuase it had some meaning for him, as an alum. If DAM hadn't come along, that piece probably would have sat in that dealers stock for quite awhile (Not b/c it's a crappy piece, it just didn't have action/superhero).

 

Gene, however, is in a really unique situation right now. He has the complete artwork for one of the (if not THE) classic GI Joe issues. And, the book has importance as it was the first "silent book". If Gene were to decide to break up the book, he would have a huge amount of potential buyers. Artwork collectors and comic collectors (Joe and "comic history" buffs) would all be vying for the shot at getting a piece. Gene, if he decides to, could control the market on this book. One of the more sought after mainstream books of the 80's. By slowly making pages available one by one, he could generate huge sales by pitting buyers against one another. There are only 22 pages available. I think that Gene bought the pages as a fan, for the sheer joy of owning a real piece of comic history. But, if he was speculating, I think he made a really solid choice.

 

Sorry for the ramble....

 

Chris

[dam60]

DAM just bought a piece in Baltimore from JLA, was it? No super-hero's on it. Just a page with a drawing of Columbia University campus and the dorm that he stayed at while he was a student there. Why? Becuase it had some meaning for him, as an alum. If DAM hadn't come along, that piece probably would have sat in that dealers stock for quite awhile (Not b/c it's a crappy piece, it just didn't have action/superhero).

 

Yeah Chris! it was the first page of Ultimate Daredevil and Elektra #1! It's a really great sentimental piece. It has a panel at top of a building (a dorm named "Carman Hall" where I lived as a freshman and as an RA as a senior) and then there is a picture of Elektra and her roommate unpacking - the best part was the drawing of the building and the room are absolutely dead on!! It's the closest thing I will ever get to having my college experience immortalized in comics!

 

I was also at Columbia when they filmed the first Spider-Man movie. The part in the beginning when he is walking up to the lab is all on campus. This one is a bit before my time but the opening scene of Ghostbusters was filmed all at Columbia too)

 

BTW - I appreciate the "not a crappy piece" statment, but it's an incredibly crappy piece if you didn't go to Columbia!

 

BTW2 - I agree fully with your statments about Sentiment and also striking while the iron is hot. I wrote this to a forum member the other day but it seems worthy of sharing with a larger audience given the topic at hand:

 

Man, I was just thinking about all the original comic art that I screwed up on, it's so depressing. I have three major screw ups that come back to haunt me.

 

1 - Last night was one:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2196015903&category=14010&rd=1

the BIN was $225!!

 

2 - over the summer I had a snipe of $751.51 for the Azrael 96 cover and Jim Warden who is the dealer behind "Distinctive Original Art" won it. What a loss . . . (can be viewed at http://www.mikezeck.com on his "art for sale" / "ebay" section)

 

3 - in March I was bidding on some Aparo knightfall pages from Batman 497 - the breaking of the bat. Another outsniping. Well, lucky me, the high bidder bought half the damn book! Here's a page of his from the gallery (this wasn't the auction).

http://www.comicart-l.org/comicart/cal-display.asp?LowryMemberID=1779&LowryGalleryID=11658

 

Man, what a kick [!@#%^&^] batman art collection I almost had!!!

 

DAM

 

DAM

 

 

[Bonds25]

Damn Gene, can I be your friend???

[COI]

OMFG!

 

A true grail for the 80's kid...........I think I'm going to go into the corner and sob like a little [!@#%^&^] now.

 

But seriously, congrats Gene. I'm a huge GI Joe guy, and that's truly a great collector's achievement.

[COI]

I'm not going to answer for him obviously, but putting myself in Gene's shoes, I would think this was a purchase for himself. I would imagine GI Joe(Cartoon, toys and comic) was a part of his childhood, as was mine, and getting the original pages to THE cornerstone issue introducing one of the most important and popular characters in the Joe universe must be a huge thrill for him. I can't think of a single bigger GI Joe related grail. I didn't know the originals were all together. I was always hoping to run into a page or 2 at some point, and I would have been THRILLED if that happened. Gene's a lucky man.

[delekkerste]

Thanks for all the kudos, guys! To answer some of your queries, I thought it would be useful to compile the following list:

 

TOP TEN REASONS WHY I BOUGHT THE ORIGINAL ARTWORK TO G.I. JOE #21

 

10. "G.I. Joe #21? I thought I was buying the artwork to G.I. Joe #22! Hey, man, why aren't there any words in this comic?"

 

9. Got tired of Blazing Bob asking me, "So, when are you ever going to buy something?" every time I see him at a convention.

 

8. Ninjas! Ninjas! Ninjas!

 

7. Geppi topped my $249,000 offer for the G.I. Joe prototype doll so I bought this instead.

6. Wanted to see Soltrick’s and Dungeon’s heads exploding when they heard the news.

5. Got hit on the head and momentarily thought the market *wasn’t* going to crash.

 

4. "Your Honor, my client pleads Not Guilty by reason of insanity!"

3. Because knowing is half the battle! YO JOE!!!

 

2. Wanted to buy something that I could talk about as much as Kevin76 does about his ASM #14 CGC 9.4.

 

1. Because the prospect of owning the original artwork to one of the coolest comic stories of all-time was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that I couldn't pass up. And that's, as Stone Cold used to say, the bottom line!

[COI]

Well, I don't know about soltrick or Dungeon, but my head exploded, as did my nuts.

 

 

[greggy]

Thanks for all the kudos, guys! To answer some of your queries, I thought it would be useful to compile the following list:

 

TOP TEN REASONS WHY I BOUGHT THE ORIGINAL ARTWORK TO G.I. JOE #21

 

10. "G.I. Joe #21? I thought I was buying the artwork to G.I. Joe #22! Hey, man, why aren't there any words in this comic?"

 

9. Got tired of Blazing Bob asking me, "So, when are you ever going to buy something?" every time I see him at a convention.

 

8. Ninjas! Ninjas! Ninjas!

 

7. Geppi topped my $249,000 offer for the G.I. Joe prototype doll so I bought this instead.

6. Wanted to see Soltrick’s and Dungeon’s heads exploding when they heard the news.

5. Got hit on the head and momentarily thought the market *wasn’t* going to crash.

 

4. "Your Honor, my client pleads Not Guilty by reason of insanity!"

3. Because knowing is half the battle! YO JOE!!!

 

2. Wanted to buy something that I could talk about as much as Kevin76 does about his ASM #14 CGC 9.4.

 

1. Because the prospect of owning the original artwork to one of the coolest comic stories of all-time was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that I couldn't pass up. And that's, as Stone Cold used to say, the bottom line!

You gonna attempt to find the cover?

[ArAich]

Atta boy Gene. ...is the "top ten list" going to be on Letterman tonight???...

[BronzeBruce13]

Well done Gene

...sounds very similar to the reasoning us obsessive HG CGC freaks use when asked why we sometimes pay "crazy prices" for something we had to have... I've been there as you know.

 

For some reason I never collected/read any of the GI Joe books even though I had the action figures as a younger kid. Bulletman was my favorite. I had just about stopped collecting when the first several issues came out and I assumed the title must be [!@#%^&^] without giving it a shot.

 

I've run into so many people that have affection for the series. Was it really any good/still a good read?... or was it simply being the right age when you enjoyed it?