Tintin cover breaks a mil?

[tth2]

But weren`t you saying recently that the OA for Action 1 (if it existed) wouldn`t break $1 million?

 

I think we were talking about the cover

Yeah, sorry, I meant the cover. Interior OA is meaningless to me.

[buyatari]

 

Sorry, Steve - I guess you're just going to have to accept that Frazetta is no longer top dog around these parts.

 

 

Yeah but ask yourself....what was Tin Tin doing in America anyway? He was looking for Frazetta art !

[Bronty]

hahah

[chromium]

Damn, 1 million bucks for that...

 

Almost 1 mil and a quarter actually...

[spider9698]

I think I'll ask Frazetta to do a TinTin commission for me.

S

 

[Mister Trent]

I am the first to admit I dont know the Tintin market at all but is this an extreme example of supply/demand?

Have there been other Tintin covers on the market recently?

 

From what little I've heard about or read, TINTIN art is highly sought after and commands huge sums of money.

 

As a UK collector, with an interest in our own home-grown stuff, I tend to find that many American collectors tend to be dismissive of artists outside of the US (unless they've had work appear in American books, e.g. Bolland).

 

 

[Mister Trent]

Hergé

(Georges Remi)

(22/05/1907 - 3/3/1983, Belgium)

 

Hergé - a pseudonym of Georges Remi's initials (G.R.) in reverse (R.G.) - is the creator of the highly popular comic character, Tintin. This famous Belgian artist is often considered to be the most influential European comic artist ever. His "clear line" style was copied by many artists. At a young age, Georges Remi, like so many other Catholic boys, joined the boy scouts - an experience which greatly influenced his personality. In fact, the character Tintin was often compared with the stereotype of a boy scout.

 

Hergé started his artistic career in a scouting magazine, Le Boy-Scout Belge, with the character Totor, a predecessor of Tintin. Very soon after this debut, the priest Abbé Wallez, the editor-in-chief of right-wing newspaper Le Vingtième Siècle, asked Hergé to work for the youth supplement of the paper, Le Petit Vingtième. On the 10th of January, 1929, the first episode of 'Tintin au Pays des Soviets' was printed in this conservative paper. Soon this pioneering European adventure series was a major hit, with a huge crowd welcoming a real life Tintin actor when he "returned to Brussels" after his adventures in the east.

 

Although Hergé created other characters, like Quick et Flupke and Jo, Zette et Jocko, his name will always be tied to Tintin. In the second World War Le Vingtième Siècle disappeared, and Hergé continued 'Tintin' in Le Soir, a magazine under German supervision. Though it was not completely clear whether Hergé was actually "wrong" during the war, it is certain that he was a "persona non grata" for a long time in Belgium. Another aspect of the political incorrectness of Hergé are his first Tintin stories, which contain a fair share of nasty racist stereotypes. Soon after the war, Hergé, in collaboration with Raymond Leblanc, started Tintin magazine, which grew to immense popularity.

 

In 1950 Hergé started his own studio because, although he was a workaholic, he could not get the work done on his own anymore. Especially the work on the Tintin reprints - which were being redrawn and colored - was too much of a burden by then. Important members of the studio Hergé were Bob de Moor, Jacques Martin, Roger Leloup and Edgar P. Jacobs. They learned their craft at the studio, and later they all started successful comic series of their own.

 

In time, Hergé started to suffer ever more serious bouts of depression, and gradually the time between new Tintin books increased. While the books 'Tintin au Tibet' (1959) and 'Le Bijoux de la Castafiore' (1962) are regarded as his best works, the last completed book, 'Tintin et les Picaros' (1974), is generally held to be Hergé's worst effort. One of the reasons a lot of fans were disappointed was that Tintin wore jeans in this story instead of his usual tan pants.

 

Hergé's death in 1983 made headlines all over the world. His work-in-progress 'Tintin et l'Alph-art' was published posthumously, unfinished and in sketched-out form. Those willing to delve deeper into the life and works of one of the most popular artists of the twentieth century, are highly recommended to check out Benoît Peeters 'Le Monde d'Hergé', an excellent effort to put Hergé and his work in context. Recently, the trio of Stanislas, Fromental and Bocquet added an excellent Hergé comic biography to the must-have list for all Tintin fans.

 

 

[SignatureSelect]

I am the first to admit I dont know the Tintin market at all but is this an extreme example of supply/demand?

Have there been other Tintin covers on the market recently?

 

From what little I've heard about or read, TINTIN art is highly sought after and commands huge sums of money.

 

As a UK collector, with an interest in our own home-grown stuff, I tend to find that many American collectors tend to be dismissive of artists outside of the US (unless they've had work appear in American books, e.g. Bolland).

 

 

I actually love foreign art. I think foreign artist. The ones published in the united stated and those published throughout the world are ultra talented. In many cases more talented than our american artist. There is atleast one exception to that rule though Frank Frazetta.

[GermanFan]

Since I was a kid I found Tim & Struppi stories (TinTin) very boring. Ligne Claire, thats how the style is called. Boring. Never thought it would command that kind of money.

[Mister Trent]

Since I was a kid I found Tim & Struppi stories (TinTin) very boring. Ligne Claire, thats how the style is called. Boring. Never thought it would command that kind of money.

 

Not everyone likes Superheroes and Super-bad-guys knocking the c-r-a-p out of each other, decade after decade . . . some might find that pretty boring?

 

Some people like the gentle humour of Disney (Carl Barks, for example) and Peantuts (Scultz) . . .

 

Tintin has been reprinted over here in the UK and the animated serials shown on TV.

 

Herge's original artworks look gorgeous (have a search on CAF, there are some on display), and I can appreciate why they're held in such high esteem.

[Frederic9494]

Since I was a kid I found Tim & Struppi stories (TinTin) very boring. Ligne Claire, thats how the style is called. Boring. Never thought it would command that kind of money.

 

Not everyone likes Superheroes and Super-bad-guys knocking the c-r-a-p out of each other, decade after decade . . . some might find that pretty boring?

 

Some people like the gentle humour of Disney (Carl Barks, for example) and Peantuts (Scultz) . . .

 

Tintin has been reprinted over here in the UK and the animated serials shown on TV.

 

Herge's original artworks look gorgeous (have a search on CAF, there are some on display), and I can appreciate why they're held in such high esteem.

 

Indeed!

 

When I saw that such piece of art by Hergé was listed...there was no doubt in my mind that this one would reach the one million threshold : For many, Hergé is sitting at the top of the European comic book pantheon, and his heirs have not sold a lot of solid pieces of original art from him.

 

So, there is indeed a question of supply & demand (although not many covers from that era exists today)

 

As an aside, one interesting story from Numa Sadoul's "Entretiens avec Hergé" is when Numa wandering at the Studio Hergé found the long lost original art of the first Tintin ("Tintin au pays des Soviets")...buried in an old locker under a pile of junk. Wonder what these pages are worth today

 

Finally, for anyone that thinks that Tintin is boring ...pick up some of the two parters (Seven cristall balls & Prisoners of the Sun being my favorite) : Great art, well crafted stories with humor, action and a great cast of characters! Want do you want more ?

 

The first volumes in the series are too naive for my taste (Soviets, Tintin in Congo, Tintin in America & The Broken Ear) but starting from Cigars of the Pharoah it's mostly great reading stuff!

 

Frederic

 

 

[chromium]

When I saw that such piece of art by Hergé was listed...there was no doubt in my mind that this one would reach the one million threshold : For many, Hergé is sitting at the top of the European comic book pantheon, and his heirs have not sold a lot of solid pieces of original art from him.

 

So, there is indeed a question of supply & demand (although not many covers from that era exists today)

 

 

I believe only 5 or 6 colour covers exist..all of the early albums.

 

[Satya-migration]

Pardon the Krazy talk, but if you put it in perspective, it's not hard to imagine why this cover would command so high a price.

 

Just as an example:

1) If John Romita Sr drew only 23 Spider-man comics in his lifetime, including covers and interiors,

 

2) if ALL of the art were locked up by the artist's estate.

 

3) these were the only Spider-man comics to be published by Marvel

 

4) Romita Sr's Spider-man was the kind of comicbook that parents would recommend to their kids and grandchildren for decades, thereby making those 23 comics a part of generations of readers and fans, spanning all ages.

 

With all these in mind, wouldn't it be natural that prices would skyrocket beyond belief if a single cover came out into the market?

 

There are only this number( 23) of Tintin covers, after all, and add to it the fact that they are Essential Comics, known and loved for 70+ years, and with translations in over fifty languages ( thank you, Wikipedia!), one can hardly be bemused at the kind of hysteria an original Tintin cover would elicit from collectors.

 

You cannot extend this logic to other highly influential American creators - Kirby, Charles Schultz ( whose work I think is slowly approaching that level, because of the scarcity in the market introduced by the mass-buyout), and even Frank Frazetta because their volume of work is huge compared to Herge's. It cannot even be extended to historic items like the cover of Superman #1, well, yes, that's a historic cover, but there are other options for the discerning Superman collector - a landmark Curt Swan cover, or a Murphy Anderson splash, or even a Byrne cover. In case of Tintin, these 23 covers are ALL that there is, this might very well be the only chance a collector has, in his lifetime, to pick up an original Tintin cover, drawn by the only artist associated with the character. I know I would go all the way if I had the money. :-)

 

And the baseline is - the words 'Tintin' and 'Herge' elicit much more response in the non-comic-book reading masses ( outside the US, that is) than 'Romita' or 'Schultz' would - even though Spider-man and Peanuts are equally well-known and loved characters as the boy reporter.

[delekkerste]

You're absolutely correct - when it comes down to it, it's about supply and demand. There's not a lot of Herge material on the market, period, and the number of pieces of the caliber like the one that just sold in existence, let alone on the market, can almost be counted on one hand to satisfy an entire continent and several generations of Tintin collectors.

 

I've had a good chuckle reading some of the weekend's ComicArt-L posts; it seems as though there are more than a few optimistic collectors of U.S. comic book artwork who are hoping for a huge revaluation of the U.S. market in light of this one European auction. In light of your points about the Tintin cover, that is unlikely to happen - the U.S. market is larger and much more fragmented. There is much more supply of OA, not only of different books, artists and characters, but even within a single character's pantheon as you mentioned. Current market prices reflect current supply and demand - look how far collectors are already stretching in the current market; if prices were suddenly to revalue 50-100%+ higher, would the market be able to absorb it? I'd probably be throwing in the towel if that happened, and I'm sure I wouldn't be the only one.

 

I'm also glad that you did not make the leap of reason that some ComicArt listers did of linking Herge's and other European comic book artwork with "fine art". Obviously, at that kind of price, the comparison is easier to make, but you've laid out a compelling argument for why this was just a case of supply, demand and a lot of pent-up nostalgia, which I also believe to be the case. So many collectors crave the "legitimacy" that fine art gets vs. comic art; me, I don't see why we just can't accept and enjoy comic book artwork for what it is - great in it's own right.

[spider9698]

Great post!

S

[chromium]

I've had a good chuckle reading some of the weekend's ComicArt-L posts; it seems as though there are more than a few optimistic collectors of U.S. comic book artwork who are hoping for a huge revaluation of the U.S. market in light of this one European auction. In light of your points about the Tintin cover, that is unlikely to happen - the U.S. market is larger and much more fragmented. There is much more supply of OA, not only of different books, artists and characters, but even within a single character's pantheon as you mentioned. Current market prices reflect current supply and demand - look how far collectors are already stretching in the current market; if prices were suddenly to revalue 50-100%+ higher, would the market be able to absorb it? I'd probably be throwing in the towel if that happened, and I'm sure I wouldn't be the only one.

 

I was also frowning at the part where some collectors were predicting that European Comic art will become so expensive that a lot of current European collectors will abandon it and start pumping Euro's into US comic art.

 

Believe me this will never happen...only a tiny fraction of comic book fans/collectors/art fans in Europe have the slightest interest in US comic art

[Frederic9494]

Believe me this will never happen...only a tiny fraction of comic book fans/collectors/art fans in Europe have the slightest interest in US comic art

 

Too true. That's why U.S. collectors should browse on some European art dealers website for some nice U.S. comic art. Price are quite reasonable in comparison with their European counterpart.

 

Another piece of comic book art that went thrue the roof is this Corto Maltese watercolor by famed Italian comic book artist Hugo Pratt (used for the cover of Le Etiopiche) :

 

 

 

Price : 300,830 € ! Half a million $ !

 

And Pratt was much more prolific than Hergé, having done many adventure/war series (and he did many Corto Maltese watercolors...)

 

Too much craziness on the other side of the Atlantic ocean...

 

PS. For other prices realized in this auction, here's a link :

 

http://www.artcurial.com/fr/asp/searchresults.asp?pg=1&ps=25

[CHAMELEOONCOMICS-migration]

Anyone who thinks the USA OA market is hermetically sealed off from the rest of the world is nuts. Deli is always wrong & should be embarrassed at his denial of the greater inter-relation & interconnectedness of markets in the global economy. That is, the trend is against Delicatessen.

 

Moreover, Spider-man, Superman, Batman, etc....are global icons. Who the hell is that little Italian fa##ot with the earing above?

 

As I always say,..the proof will be in the puddin'

 

CC

[Frederic9494]

Who the hell is that little Italian fa##ot with the earing above?

CC

 

Jeeez, anybody has the patience to answer this one ? ...

 

The ethnocentrism of some U.S. comic book readers is quite impressive

[CHAMELEOONCOMICS-migration]

Who the hell is that little Italian fa##ot with the earing above?

CC

 

Jeeez, anybody has the patience to answer this one ? ...

 

The ethnocentrism of some U.S. comic book readers is quite impressive

 

The little prince?