How much OA do you have?

[Mister Trent]

The question made me think of how much OA I've had pass through my hands . . . and I'd estimate over 900 pieces.

 

As my collecting interests have changed over the years, I've either sold many of those pieces or traded-up.

 

At one point, I sold a number of originals to buy my house outright and fund a marriage and honeymoon (though this had no real effect on my favourite examples which I retained in my collection).

 

Nowadays, my main interests are cover examples or self-contained strips.

 

Currently, I'm at about 200-plus . . . with more than 50% being covers.

[OldGuy]

7 pages.

[Pirate]

I don't know, most are on my caf gallery, so count em Danny

[micmack]

I have approx. 100 pages, give or take a few. I have a pretty good focus so it has made it easier to decide on certain pieces.

[Pirate]

I have a good focus too for the most part, I will go outside the box if a page strikes me and is cheap, but kitson is kitson.

[SolitaireOne]

Maybe 17-18 for me, not including a few sketches. (thumbs u

Featuring: 1 cover (Aquaman #8 c.1995), 9 done by Jeff Johnson and 2 a B.A. (H-Fly #17 final pg. and Ka-Zar #2 centerfold splash)!

 

 

 

 

* Wish I had more, but am running out of wall space...

[KirbyJack]

Just 10 pages for me. Someday I'll post them, but right now I don't have the required gadgets. My first was a Hulk page by Sal Buscema (E. Chan inks), #220, p. 3. It cost me two dollars back in the late 80's and I still have it on the wall of my comic room. That cheapie page got me interested, so I looked around a bit and found p. 14 from Thor #212 by John Buscema (D. Perlin inks) for like $5.

 

OA was tough to find, but I started to get the bug.

 

I got my first Fantastic Four page, #297, p. 22. An interesting collaboration of my beloved Buscema Bros. Then, thru the Comics Buyer's Guide ads, my first splash; 50 bucks for Daredevil #253, JRJR and no less than Al Williamson! Now we're talkin'!

 

I was on a little roll. I entered a drawing at my LCS and won page 11 of Batman #636 (Mahnke inked by Nguyen). I traded a friend an F.F. #19 for his Defenders #32 final page, (S. Buscema). A Val Mayerek Ka-Zar page came and went.

 

The only trouble was, now I had a Grail. I wanted a Kirby Fantastic Four page. It had to have everyone on it. How hard could that be? My budget was and is very tight, and SA Kirby was blowing up around that time. I found Captain Victory #9, p. 11 for under $100. Good. I scored p. 11 of Eternals #11, about the same money. Awesome, but not what I needed.

 

Then, in the CBG ads, I bought FF #78, p. 13. Kirby/Sinnott, under $300. Snag was, it just featured Sue and Crystal. Still needed the boys.

 

Now, to paraphrase Ol' Tater, I told you that story so I could tell you this one.

 

While searching the CBG ads, I saw a "for sale" offering most of the original artwork to Fantastic Four #98. The seller was delaying the sale so the people who got their CBG late would have a shot. He also limited the number of pages one could buy, IIRC. Three hundred a page, your choice. The call-in sale was to start the following morning.

 

So I spent that night going thru my copy of FF 98 ranking each page. Ever go thru a comic asking yourself "Which would I choose?" Well, I got to do it. It was maybe the best geek-night of my life. I could only afford one page, so I had to pick a winner. The next day resulted in a lot of busy signals and my Grail. Page 10 was the best one left. It had all the guys in costume and Ben and Johnny use their powers.

 

As I'm writing this, it occurrs to me that the seller might actually visit these boards, so I just want to thank him. By limiting the sale the way you did, you put a small piece of history into the hands of someone who truly appreciates it. I like to think that that was your intent.

 

 

 

 

 

[Mighty Hal]

Thanks for sharing, KirbyJack. Loved the story and your explanation.

 

[thehumantorch]

Yes great story and lovely deal.

[Claudio]

32 pages right now but that includes some I am trying to sell. I also have 5 on the way and 3 others I am looking to bid on. Damn comic art collecting. . . It's murder on the savings acct.

[Bronty]

I have maybe 30 paintings. Something like that. Little or no 'regular' B&w OA.

[KLNole]

I am right at 100 now, with a lot of those being Krenkel and other illustration pieces. Not a lot of original comic art and about 15 other pieces in my for trade gallery as a testament to impulse buying or "gee, that just doesn't work for me anymore".

[buyatari]

I have over 200 paintings and over 400 total pieces.

[Brian Peck]

I lost count many years ago, but still not enough for me.

[thirdgreenham]

I think I have somewhere around 100 to 120 pages. Never thought about thinning those out. That may be a good suggestion.... I kind of go impulse buying in spurts. I am in the middle of one of those spurts again.

 

Andy

 

 

~~~I just counted and I have 140 pages~~~

[paperheart]

40-50 pages: 22 are from 100 bullets #35

[Mac Man]

I've got 10 total pieces: 1 published, 7 commissions/sketches, 1 signed portrait, & 1 signed print. Not exciting stuff to most and perhaps even a few not really considered OA by the majority... but I like 'em all

 

I'll probably look to add another piece to the collection for Christmas, but I still have too many key comics to pick off before turning back to OA again (plus, I need to get the three most recent Spidey commissions and the Trimpe Wolverine framed before anything new rolls in).

[Dick Pontoon]

Just a paltry 1 for me, with another en route.

[SuperBird]

Just 3 for me, with 2 of them being a spread...

[thehumantorch]

I'm a noob and was wondering where you guys buy all this original artwork? I've found the largest amount on E-Bay but am a little leary about it. I'm going to be going to Chicago Comicon and was hoping there would be some there?

 

 

I've bought 4 pieces off Ebay without a problem. Typically original art dealers know what they are doing while any insufficiently_thoughtful_person can find some beat up comics to sell.