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

Started by spider9698,

106 posts in this topic

spider9698

spider9698

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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. hm:P

 

 

Let me know when you want to trade jobs (and, more importantly, cars!!)

 

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glenbru

glenbru

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What was the point of making this particular sale public?

 

If this was a private transaction between two collectors who benefits from announcing this sale? The net result is that there is a perceived increase in value in the EC market, right?

 

I guess I'm glad I got my EC example when I did.

 

 

 

 

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Mister Trent

Mister Trent

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What was the point of making this particular sale public?

 

If this was a private transaction between two collectors who benefits from announcing this sale? The net result is that there is a perceived increase in value in the EC market, right?

 

I guess I'm glad I got my EC example when I did.

 

 

 

 

The WS # 16 cover came from Jim Halperin's stash. He still sits on other Wally Wood EC Science-Fiction covers.

 

Who benefits from making this sale public, you ask . . ?

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glenbru

glenbru

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I actually meant for my question to be somewhat rhetorical.

 

It just seems that there is some smoke and mirrors going on here. If it was in Jim's collection and he sold it privately than why not state that in the press release. The release makes it seem like Heritage will broker BIG deals for private collectors. As if part of their business is privately shopping prime material to their top clients and brokering TOP deals for them.

 

This was not the case here, but the release makes it sound like it was. And then of course there is the added incentive of pushing up the EC market.

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Mister Trent

Mister Trent

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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.

 

Will EC be remembered in decades to come?

 

Who knows.

 

It might be worth remembering that, from the late 1970s onwards, the EC comic-books have been made available in various reprint editions on a regular basis.

 

Currently, titles are being reprinted in full color (durable) hardback volumes - and are constantly reaching out to new generations of fans.

 

TALES FROM THE CRYPT has been a successful TV series - again, reaching out to new audiences.

 

The WEIRD SCIENCE # 16 cover is certainly iconic to me (it's a superlative image) . . . it's been used as a tee-shirt design and is considered to be the creative spark for the MARS ATTACKS bubble-gum cards (later to spawn a movie and comic-book series).

 

Personally, I think of strip-illustrators such as Herriman or Winsor McCay - whose work (decades later) is still widely known and enjoyed . . . and the originals continue to fetch healthy prices.

 

As for the Jim Warren mags . . . EERIE and CREEPY (E + C = EC, geddit?), they were inspired by EC.

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Artemaria

Artemaria

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For those interested in an image....

 

10_spiderman.jpg

 

If I had the 200K, I'd take the Frazetta over the Wood. 100 times out of 100. I don't mean to repeat the thoughts of another poster, but the Wood does nothing for me. . . . although it is understandably an iconic and seminal image in the field of comics.

 

- A

 

(Sorry to disagree with you Bill . . . )

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NightGallery1

NightGallery1

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For those interested in an image....

 

10_spiderman.jpg

 

If I had the 200K, I'd take the Frazetta over the Wood. 100 times out of 100. I don't mean to repeat the thoughts of another poster, but the Wood does nothing for me. . . . although it is understandably an iconic and seminal image in the field of comics.

 

- A

 

(Sorry to disagree with you Bill . . . )

 

Don't get me wrong Art.. If I had to choose between the Frazetta EC cover (which I think is possibly the best comic cover ever) and the Weird Science 16, I'd go with the former. The difference is, I know I can't afford any of Frazetta's best (whether that be comic covers or paintings), but over the last couple of years I've managed to delude myself into thinking that I actually had a shot with this Wood cover. Ha!!!

 

- Bill

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delekkerste

delekkerste

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Will EC be remembered in decades to come?

 

Who knows.

 

It might be worth remembering that, from the late 1970s onwards, the EC comic-books have been made available in various reprint editions on a regular basis.

 

Currently, titles are being reprinted in full color (durable) hardback volumes - and are constantly reaching out to new generations of fans.

 

TALES FROM THE CRYPT has been a successful TV series - again, reaching out to new audiences.

 

The WEIRD SCIENCE # 16 cover is certainly iconic to me (it's a superlative image) . . . it's been used as a tee-shirt design and is considered to be the creative spark for the MARS ATTACKS bubble-gum cards (later to spawn a movie and comic-book series).

 

Personally, I think of strip-illustrators such as Herriman or Winsor McCay - whose work (decades later) is still widely known and enjoyed . . . and the originals continue to fetch healthy prices.

 

As for the Jim Warren mags . . . EERIE and CREEPY (E + C = EC, geddit?), they were inspired by EC.

 

I read the old EC stories through the Gladstone reprints of the 1980s. I'm not sure how many people are still picking up the reprint editions today, but it's surely not a large number. Tales from the Crypt was shown on cable I believe here in the U.S. in the early to mid 1990s (i.e., pre-high speed Internet ancient history when people watched shows like that for a glimpse of skin). It never really reached a wide audience and I don't think is very popular or memorable today (for the record, I enjoyed the few episodes I saw). The Mars Attack movie was only memorable for being awful and the cards from the early 1960s are surely forgotten by the youth of today. EC did inspire Warren, but, again, we are talking about magazines whose hey-day was more than 30 years ago.

 

I know Herriman and McCay are greatly respected by aficionados, but what is their name recognition today vs. 60-70 years ago? I doubt 1 in 100 Americans could tell you who Krazy Kat is or what he looks like - I'd bet serious money that none of my friends outside the hobby could do it. Put yourself in the shoes of a teenager or 20-something today - what are the odds that you had exposure to Felix the Cat (except possibly through a mentioned pop culture reference), let alone Krazy Kat? You know, when I was a kid, sometimes I would get teased by other kids calling me "Eugene the Jeep" (from "Popeye") - I bet the vast majority of people under 25 wouldn't even get that reference today.

 

Of course the Herriman stuff is still valuable today; I know several collectors (all of whom are in their late 40s or older) of the material who would expound for hours about how Krazy Kat was a historic and a seminal work in the history of comics. However, fast forward 30 years and, barring a big-screen revival or something, Krazy Kat is going to fade almost entirely from memory except to a select few. I'm not trying to be argumentative, just realistic about the lifespan of pop culture. I think people are unaware of how much of it falls by the wayside over time, because, well, so much of it has fallen wayside and is now forgotten. hm

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spider9698

spider9698

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Just to fill in some background info. I had tried for years to get the WS 16 cover from the previous owner. Bags of cash didn't work. Stacks of primo artwork didn't work. Nothing, Zero. The cover was going nowhere. I think it was a simple matter of "STOOPID MONEY" prying a primo piece for a big-time collector.

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Mister Trent

Mister Trent

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Tales from the Crypt was shown on cable I believe here in the U.S. in the early to mid 1990s (i.e., pre-high speed Internet ancient history when people watched shows like that for a glimpse of skin). It never really reached a wide audience and I don't think is very popular or memorable today (for the record, I enjoyed the few episodes I saw).

 

The TALES FROM THE CRYPT TV series lasted something like 7 seasons. I'd find it hard to believe that the show would have lasted that long if it had been anything less than successful.

 

Certainly, the series was syndicated over here in the UK on one of the major network channels (where viewing figures are counted in the millions).

 

As for the skin glimpses . . . from what I remember, they were few and far between.

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