Which artist is just too damn pricey?

[funkyj00ky]

I have seen some threads on this subject over time but it just seems that we are always surprised by the asking prices of some artists. I am a collector of Sam Keith art - which as we know is very hard to come by and whenever it surfaces i see myself trying to decide between an early Jack kirby thor, x-men or avengers page and then Sam keith. Sam has what seems a cult following since he has split critical assessments of his work. I love his art because it screams fun! He has a unique dramatic, yet cartoonish look on his characters. But then i see the prices and it just seems unreal that his normal pages garner the prices that deceased legends get. I mean the comics he has worked on themselves can always be bought for a dollar or less on ebay (excluding the last 5 issues of maxx and his first few prototypes). It seems unreal. Seeing this honestly makes me just walk away from looking for his art ever again because i do not feel it is worth buying when i could have a very decent SA marvel piece by arguably the best ever.

 

Then again, i should probably end this post with something more positive. This week i had seen art for sale that i think is a real bargain. Wanted original art is incredibly affordable with a mean price of $140 on fanfare-se's website. JG jones' work on this recent book is very cool, seeing a playful mockery on hollywood actors/actresses as well as dc comic villains.

[Pirate]

anyone repped by Albert Moy

 

 

[spider9698]

ouch!

[comicartfan]

Only if it wasn't true !

[Pirate]

yea too bad as he reps some good ones

[Mister Trent]

 

I refuse to become involved in this thread.

 

PM me for my real thoughts.

 

P.S. Who's Sam Keith?

[Sharkey]

Who's too expensive? Unfortunately everybody I like to collect: Kirby, Ditko, Romita Sr, Romita Jr (I prefer his earlier Marvel work on Iron Man, DD, Punisher, and his newer work especially the Thor series), Biz, yada yada yada.

 

But, c'est la vie. You want really great stuff, usually you have to pay for it. That goes for anything. Viking Stove, supercar, masters of comic art. It's all the same. You pay for quality.

 

Sam Keith is a great artist, and although I don't have anything by him, I've always liked his style and have considered picking up a piece now and then. A lot of other people like his work too, and low supply vs high demand = high prices. Doesn't matter if his comics carry any value, there may be a million copies of Maxx 1, but there's only 20 pages of the OA. You want it, you gotta pay. Them's the breaks.

 

Good discussion point though! (thumbs u

 

 

[Pirate]

He's asking who's overpriced. You will pay premium for good stuff no matter what. But when you have to pay $700 for batman's eyeball from Jim Lee, I think an artist can sell stuff for a premium as it's their right, but to price the average collector out isn't a good model imo.

[Sharkey]

Pirate

 

I don't disagree, but again, a lot of it is supply and demand. If the artist is popular, his art is going to be pricey. How do you quantify overpriced? I don't know if you can. I realize I used examples of masters who are no longer producing, but I also had some people who are still producing. And if you like older examples of their art in styles they no longer draw in, and so do other people, then there's going to be competition to buy, and that will drive prices up.

 

Artists who are currently producing are not exempt from this. Walking Dead art is a good example. The series is huge, and the art is selling for prices that reflect it. Yet a new issue comes out every month. And there's more than 20 or 30 people who would like a page from that issue, not to mention hundreds who would like art from earlier issues. This is typical of hot series and hot artists, and that means either the artist, or their rep dealer, or the dealer or fan who has pages that many people want will ask higher and higher prices for that art.

 

Jim Lee is a popular artist. Are his asking prices too high? I don't know, but if you don't like the price, go look for another piece for sale. If you can't find any, then the price isn't too high.

 

Art ain't comic books. There aren't hundreds of thousands of copies of OA from a popular series. Therein lies the problem with collecting OA.

 

There is no "average collector" of OA. If you want OA and you like popular artists and popular series, you have to be willing to pay the piper (or the dealer) to get it.

 

 

[Shemp]

Which artist is just too damn pricey?

 

 

ALL OF THEM!

[GotSuperPowers?]

 

Sam Keith is a great artist, and although I don't have anything by him, I've always liked his style and have considered picking up a piece now and then. A lot of other people like his work too, and low supply vs high demand = high prices. Doesn't matter if his comics carry any value, there may be a million copies of Maxx 1, but there's only 20 pages of the OA. You want it, you gotta pay. Them's the breaks.

 

Good discussion point though! (thumbs u

 

 

Actually, there isn't any art from the Maxx on the market, Sam hasn't sold any.

 

And in case anyone really cares, it's Sam Kieth, i before e.

 

Simon (a proud owner of 4 Kieth originals and would love to get more!)

[Pirate]

Well i guess if you have unlimited funds, no OA is pricey.

[malvin]

Albert Moy has top flight artists. The prices are steep, but they sell. As someone else said, you can't begrudge an artists for maximizing what their art sales income. What is Jim Lee supposed to do, sell his art for 1/2 of what it will go for on ebay just to please his "fans"? Those fans will just sell on ebay if prices are that out of line.

 

Now, there are actually many artists (and reps) where the prices are out of whack with reality. I don't have to name them, you can tell if all their art just sits there for YEARS and YEARS.

 

Malvin

[KirbyJack]

I don't know the market well enough to contribute anything of real interest here. All I know is I wish I could snag a Mignola Hellboy page.

[Sharkey]

Albert Moy has top flight artists. The prices are steep, but they sell. As someone else said, you can't begrudge an artists for maximizing what their art sales income. What is Jim Lee supposed to do, sell his art for 1/2 of what it will go for on ebay just to please his "fans"? Those fans will just sell on ebay if prices are that out of line.

 

Now, there are actually many artists (and reps) where the prices are out of whack with reality. I don't have to name them, you can tell if all their art just sits there for YEARS and YEARS.

 

Malvin

 

Well said, Malvin. I agree totally.

 

I bought a couple of pages of art directly from an artist I won't name way back when and the prices were dirt cheap. Eventually he saw what his contemporaries' art was selling for, and saw people reselling his art at prices higher than what he was asking, and I think at that point he decided he was no longer going to sell his art for a number of reasons, including:

(A) he felt it was worth more to him than the going "market price" and so he'd rather keep it than raise the prices and have people try to talk him down on the price. I can understand that. If you're an artist, and you take great pride in your work, having some fan tell you it's only worth X but you think it's worth Z would be a little insulting.

(B) why sell it to somebody who is going to turn around and try to flip it for more money?

© the art may have sentimental value to the artist and not all of them consider it a commodity to be traded and sold

 

I also agree that there are artists (and/ore dealers and reps) who are asking prices that just aren't in line with what people are willing to pay. In those cases, the market is saying that their art IS overpriced.

 

 

[justin]

I do believe an artist should charge whatever he wants. That said, of modern artists, I'd say that Leinil Yu is a bit pricey. So many of his double pages are in the thousands of dollars and I don't see many selling. I'm pretty sure I over paid for my Ult Wolverine vs Hulk page and that if it went to eBay I would get maybe half of what I paid back. But I love it so I'm not disappointed. I just wish I could afford more of his work.

[Jesusjon]

I also agree that there are artists (and/ore dealers and reps) who are asking prices that just aren't in line with what people are willing to pay. In those cases, the market is saying that their art IS overpriced.

 

And it's totally fair for the market to say that an artist is overpriced. However, that tactic may be a perfectly legitimate business model for that artist. Sell one or two pieces every so often for very high prices rather than selling a lot at lower prices.

 

It's pretty rare when you think about it to see a major artist jump ship to another dealer. And when you do, is it so their art can be priced more affordably? I can't think of one instance of that happening.

 

We may not like it, but every artist should be most concerned with best monetizing their art, if they are selling it at all. We tend to blame the dealers for doing their jobs for the artists they rep, and I'm just as guilty of that as anyone, but at the end of the day it's just our own frustration with not being able to afford more/any of this stuff.

[Pirate]

Albert Moy has top flight artists. The prices are steep, but they sell. As someone else said, you can't begrudge an artists for maximizing what their art sales income. What is Jim Lee supposed to do, sell his art for 1/2 of what it will go for on ebay just to please his "fans"? Those fans will just sell on ebay if prices are that out of line.

 

Now, there are actually many artists (and reps) where the prices are out of whack with reality. I don't have to name them, you can tell if all their art just sits there for YEARS and YEARS.

 

Malvin

 

Read my other post where I said an artist has the right to sell for whatever they want. Sorry if I touched a nerve. The poster asked for an opinion and I gave mine.

[malvin]

Albert Moy has top flight artists. The prices are steep, but they sell. As someone else said, you can't begrudge an artists for maximizing what their art sales income. What is Jim Lee supposed to do, sell his art for 1/2 of what it will go for on ebay just to please his "fans"? Those fans will just sell on ebay if prices are that out of line.

 

Now, there are actually many artists (and reps) where the prices are out of whack with reality. I don't have to name them, you can tell if all their art just sits there for YEARS and YEARS.

 

Malvin

 

Read my other post where I said an artist has the right to sell for whatever they want. Sorry if I touched a nerve. The poster asked for an opinion and I gave mine.

 

Sorry, I did not mean to imply that you touched a nerve. I just wanted to distinguish pricey because it's what higher than what the market will bear, or pricey because everyone wants it and the resulting market price is high.

 

Malvin

[r1982rhoads]

When reading your post, Gary Gianni art came to mind. When/If pages hit the market, they are pricey to the point I don't know what is realistic...and, since he has most of his output still, it adds to the confusion, similar in a way to Keith art...