Weird Science 16 cover sells for $200K Good Lord, Choke Gasp!

[Solar]

Didn't Frazetta's "Spider Man" painting sell for $200K+ a couple years ago? Maybe not exactly comic art, but close.

[spider9698]

I'm pretty surprised that cover is the highest priced public sale for OA. The image never really did anything for me.

 

I think for the diehard EC fans, this cover ranks up there with the best of them, probably top five. I can think of two others that folks would probably covet more, the WSF 29 and the Weird Fantasy 21.

 

 

[spider9698]

The rumor was that it did sell for around 200K at WonderCon a few years back. Trying to get the details of the deal is near impossible. Again, dont know if it was all-cash versus cash/trade.

 

[comix4fun]

Anyone have a link to the OA?

Ummmm.....there's a link in the second post of the thread.

 

and here's how it looked on the newsstand...

[spider9698]

For those interested in an image....

 

[comix4fun]

For those interested in an image....

 

 

How could that be $200k...I mean...it doesn't even have Mary Jane on the cover?

 

 

 

 

 

 

C

 

[spider9698]

It was pencilled by Ditko???

[comix4fun]

It was pencilled by Ditko???

 

Laid out by Wood,

 

Inked by Kirby....

 

Colored by Technicolor...

 

and steamed by Martinex...

 

C

[docdave]

Let's not forget the Frazetta FAMOUS FUNNIES #211 cover that sold for 200K last year. It was purchased by a pediatric oncologist friom Pittsburgh.

 

The cream is rising to the top. If a Herge can sell for 1.2 million, then 200K is not an outrageous number by any means, is it?

[Nexus]

A measly $200K? Chump change. Check this out:

 

http://www.bonhams.com/cgi-bin/public.sh/pubweb/publicSite.r?sContinent=USA&screen=lotdetailsNoFlash&iSaleItemNo=3900084&iSaleNo=16143&iSaleSectionNo=1#

 

[comix4fun]

A measly $200K? Chump change. Check this out:

 

http://www.bonhams.com/cgi-bin/public.sh/pubweb/publicSite.r?sContinent=USA&screen=lotdetailsNoFlash&iSaleItemNo=3900084&iSaleNo=16143&iSaleSectionNo=1#

 

 

 

It doesn't even have white pages....wait? what?

 

C

 

 

[delekkerste]

I'm pretty surprised that cover is the highest priced public sale for OA. The image never really did anything for me.

 

I'm surprised as well - while it's a fine cover, I wouldn't call it "iconic". The published cover never really stuck in my mind or made an impression on me. Unfortunately, I doubt that many younger collectors even know who Wally Wood is, and a good percentage of them probably don't even know what EC was. Both will likely slowly fade into memory over the coming decades.

 

But, all that counts for the present is that there is a small, but fanatical group of EC fans/collectors who I would wager are mostly collectors in their 40s to 60s who have substantial wealth/incomes and have substantial nostalgia for the material. So, I don't see the market going down anytime soon, though I would expect that other material - the most historic/iconic comic book images from the most popular artists drawing the most popular characters - will eventually surpass pieces like this in price.

 

I enjoy reading those old EC stories, so don't mistake me for an EC hater. I suspect that the Warren Publishing art (i.e., Vampirella) that I collect will eventually suffer the same fate in the coming decades. I know or know of most/all of the major collectors of this material and I'm pretty sure that I'm the only one still in their 30s, with many/most of these guys in their late 40s or 50s by now.

 

Heck, even the master, Frank Frazetta - while the market for his art is stronger than ever, is he more popular/known today than when millions of Conan paperbacks were being sold in the 1960s? One of the Illustration House guys said in an interview in the extras of the "Painting With Fire" DVD that Frazetta will probably be largely forgotten in 150 years. While that may seem inconceivable, even heretical, to us living in the present, just think about all the great characters, artists, authors, genres, etc. that were popular in the first half of the 20th century compared to their popularity today. While I remain bullish on Frazetta, will Wally Wood be any more remembered in 30 years than the great comic and illustration artists from earlier in the 20th century are today?

 

I hate to sound like KrazyKat (I'm feeling charitable toward the guy today for that lovely, if unintentional, shill tribute earlier), but I think, over time, that the top prices paid for comic book art will not be by the great artists like Wally Wood who have worked in our genre, but rather by those great comic book artists who worked on iconic/historic characters, storylines, titles, early/key runs, etc. Just my opinion...

[docdave]

That BONHAMS sale just boggles the mind.

 

God bless the rich!

 

 

 

The end of civilization is near.

[Nexus]

Let's not forget the Frazetta FAMOUS FUNNIES #211 cover that sold for 200K last year. It was purchased by a pediatric oncologist friom Pittsburgh.

 

The cream is rising to the top. If a Herge can sell for 1.2 million, then 200K is not an outrageous number by any means, is it?

 

Is the oncologist a member of this board? We need help getting rid of a tumor.

 

Poor Matt, wants so badly to participate...

 

 

[Solar]

A measly $200K? Chump change. Check this out:

 

http://www.bonhams.com/cgi-bin/public.sh...aleSectionNo=1#

 

 

Ha - yeah, Ramos is tapping a whole other market entirely, but it does show that comic iconography is closer to the mainstream art market than most people think.

 

On the other hand, comic art will always fall under the illustration moniker, which tends to bother the whole "art for art's sake" crowd. Damn art snobs

[spider9698]

Let's not forget the Frazetta FAMOUS FUNNIES #211 cover that sold for 200K last year. It was purchased by a pediatric oncologist friom Pittsburgh.

 

The cream is rising to the top. If a Herge can sell for 1.2 million, then 200K is not an outrageous number by any means, is it?

 

 

Actually Pat is a pediatric critical care doc and dont believe he is a member of the boards.

 

[*paull*]

That's the Frazetta that sold for 200K?

[spider9698]

yup

[delekkerste]

Actually Pat is a pediatric critical care doc and dont believe he is a member of the boards.

 

Hmmm, maybe my mom was right and I should have gone to med school after all.

[Solar]

I hate to sound like KrazyKat (I'm feeling charitable toward the guy today for that lovely, if unintentional, shill tribute earlier), but I think, over time, that the top prices paid for comic book art will not be by the great artists like Wally Wood who have worked in our genre, but rather by those great comic book artists who worked on iconic/historic characters, storylines, titles, early/key runs, etc. Just my opinion...

 

I'm not sure I agree with this.

 

EC sci-fi represents a period and style of fiction that, while appearing dated on the surface, has influenced literature and film for the last 50 years. Superhero fiction's influence on pop culture is more obvious at the moment, but the thematic influence of these 50s genre books is subtlely present all over the place.

 

In 200 years, when "Spider-Man No More," "This Man, This Monster" and Weird Science 16 are equally forgotten, I think a collector of 20th century illustration art will prefer images that sum up a given period's iconography and illustration style, over images based around specific characters and stories that are no longer part of the public conciousness.

 

IMHO, this is a prime example of 50s American sci-fi art and its investment potential is on par with many of the more popular 60s superhero pieces that would certainly sell for multiples of its value.