Watchmen Original Art -- more or less desirable now?

[heartened]

$7-$8k seems to be the range good (main character) pages have settled at. The pre-film hype asking prices were WAY higher than this

 

7-8K is for a good page, but as far as I'm concerned there are two ranges higher than this: great page and grail page. Those types of pages sell for five figures and approach/exceed 20K at the high end (even now, after the movie).

 

There were only a handful of great/grail pages that changed hands over the past year. Surprisingly little, in fact. Their absence allowed the "lower" pages to seem rarer than they are, and hence pushed some prices up. I agree they've settled where they should be, but make no mistake, the great/grail pages are not coming back down in price.

 

Hari

 

[heartened]

Just curious--everybody always asks whether a film will boost the value of original art (I personally think it give a short term boost, but that's it). But if a film doesn't do well, then what?

 

Unlike comic books, the art typically gets a bump and then stays there, continuing to rise again at the normal rate. That's been my experience, at least.

 

[comix4fun]

Just curious--everybody always asks whether a film will boost the value of original art (I personally think it give a short term boost, but that's it). But if a film doesn't do well, then what?

 

Unlike comic books, the art typically gets a bump and then stays there, continuing to rise again at the normal rate. That's been my experience, at least.

 

 

Depends on the comic/character.

 

Batman and Robin stinks as a movie...Batman art and comics unaffected.

 

Tank Girl tanks (no pun intended).....tumble weeds could be seen crossing the sites selling Tank Girl artwork.

 

 

If the source material is strong enough, or the character iconic and established enough then nothing having to do with a film with have much of an effect at all in the long run.

 

C

[Eric Seffinga]

Yeah, check those Tank Girl page prices now!

Not the best analogy IMO.

 

-e.

[pinupcartoonguy]

Some stink, however, never goes away--think "Howard the Duck."

[Jesusjon]

Two more pages on the 'Bay. Should be interesting to see what these non pirate, kinda dialogue only pages go for...

[comix4fun]

Yeah, check those Tank Girl page prices now!

Not the best analogy IMO.

 

-e.

 

 

I mentioned Tank Girl because before the film came out people were actually speculating on the comics and the art causing a run up in prices...now you need a Leonard Maltin book and a road map to find them.

 

So the analogy seemed pretty dead on from a Movie making certain pages increase and then fall off the face of the earth kind of way.

 

C

[Eric Seffinga]

Not my experience at the time, but then I was around TG BEFORE the hype too, so it looked different from the inside I suppose.

 

Of course the reason you can't find them now is the people who have them ain't selling. Not the really good stuff. Sort of like, oh I dunno, Miller Dark Knight, Watchmen, V, Sandman, etc and so on.

 

Just sayin.

 

-e.

[heartened]

Just curious--everybody always asks whether a film will boost the value of original art (I personally think it give a short term boost, but that's it). But if a film doesn't do well, then what?

 

Unlike comic books, the art typically gets a bump and then stays there, continuing to rise again at the normal rate. That's been my experience, at least.

 

 

Depends on the comic/character.

 

Batman and Robin stinks as a movie...Batman art and comics unaffected.

 

Tank Girl tanks (no pun intended).....tumble weeds could be seen crossing the sites selling Tank Girl artwork.

 

 

If the source material is strong enough, or the character iconic and established enough then nothing having to do with a film with have much of an effect at all in the long run.

 

C

 

Batman and Robin was a sequel. Prices certainly escalated after the first Batman movie, though. Somewhat unrealistic to expect prices to jump up with each and every sequel. So, not sure I'd use that as an example. Plus, I think those well-known characters only spike prices after their first main movie. Sequels may bump up the villain prices, though, if done well.

 

[Eric Seffinga]

I would agree with the Howard the Duck analogy wholeheartedly. There are the hardcore followers to be sure, but the whole movie hype thing has one major component to it, and that is it opens another avenue to bringing in new fans that find their way to the art eventually.

 

Something I've noticed over the years, and and acknowledge is complete anecdotal observation:

Book X comes out and strikes a chord for some people. Adults that are hip to things from the outset each buy up a few pages when they first are offered.

 

Meanwhile kids read Book X on summer vacation, on boring trips with their parents, etc.

Those kids grow up, start making money and find out you can buy ART from the book. They buy up pages of Book X, from the kids and adults that were there at the outset, typically with prices rising steadily.

 

Meanwhile with every year, more and more people discover Book X. Friends pass it to friends, etc. It has anniversaries, it gets put in book stores rather than the subculture comic shops. It finds a larger mainstream audience, but still hasn't broken through to the audience at large since it is "just for kids". Yet, with every passing year, new people find out about comic book art via eBay, newspaper articles, etc.

 

At this point the guys at the beginning than paid a few bucks are selling pages of Book X for thousands. Some supplementing income, some towards retirement, and some just getting while they figure the getting is good. The swelling ranks of Book X fans continues to grow, and the venue to see the art, know it is available and for what prices it can be had further adds desire/demand for a piece.

 

A film of Book X comes out and it blows chunks. It's absolutely worthless.

Before the film gets released, interest builds. Some of it real and some of it artificially generated publicity by the film company. Either way, it is as they say, no such thing as bad publicity. If the movie causes even 2000 people to show up at the comic shop, Borders, Amazon, etc. to look at the comics, it's that many more potential art freaks.

 

The point of all this? The growth of a fanbase. Howard the Duck was as of a movie as they come. I saw it when I was a kid and I had no clue what the books were about. Once I saw the books later on I "got" it and I was able to appreciate the book vs. the trash that was the movie. The point being, I probably NEVER would have picked up Howard the Duck in a comic shop had it not been for that POS movie. The title would have turned me off at the outset. Prices on art continue to rise when you have a limited commodity that has a fan base that continues to grow year to year.

 

On the flipside, you can have a book that starts out and grows relatively steadily and then slowly disappears. An example (and the roads of comicbookdom are littered with thousands) would be Poison Elves. My apologies to Drew's fans, but you have a book that rose along side of books like Linsner's Cry for Dawn/Dawn series. They along with countless other small press books, were all the rage. Dawn or Poison Elves, Strangers in Paradise, Bone, so on and so on, all on the cover of Wizard or Buyers Guide month after month. Prices for the books, and then eventually for the art began to rise, and the artists prices were right up there with some of the more traditionally successful artists.

 

Sadly in Drew's case, he passed, and there would be no more Poison Elves books. His hardcore fans continued to buy up books and art for a while, but as the few who inevitably decided they had "outgrown" P.E. or just moved on to different tastes sold that work off, there were fewer and fewer new kids discovering the work. Without Drew to push for the distribution of his creation, it's become more and more of a cult item. Linsner has hung in there longer, but the prices of his pieces have definitely shrunk comparatively to those he was surrounded by a decade ago. I'd argue a P.E. movie or a Dawn movie would do nothing but bring in new fans, if for nothing more than another period in time.

 

A Bone movie, even a bad one couldn't do anything but make the books more popular with parents and kids (think about it, there are people who actually liked Catwoman). As for Watchmen, it's a cornerstone. It'll do just fine. They aren't making any more pages (unless you count the Absolute color guides) so it's a finite resource with what is currently at least a growing fanbase.

 

Dang, I need to go stretch now.

-e.

 

 

 

[dem1138]

Seth Fisher is another good example of this. It is quite clear that his drawing style influenced a new generation of artists. Unfortunately, he passed, and only a handful of fans are aware of and appreciate his work. Had he lived (and continued in comic books, which he was considering getting out of) there is no telling how popular he would be today.

[john h.-migration]

A Bone movie, even a bad one couldn't do anything but make the books more popular with parents and kids (think about it, there are people who actually liked Catwoman).

 

O.k., a few things.

 

I am biased, but I'll comment on Jeff Smith & Terry Moore.

 

The Bone fanbase is doing fine and will outlast most comic titles (EVEN Marvel

 

and DC !!!). Reasoning being that the book is distributed by SCHOLASTIC

 

BOOKS. Yes, the organization that brings booklists to schools.

 

So Bone is being read by the 'next' generation. How many Marvel / DC books

 

are being read by 'that' group? Very few.

 

Unfortunately Jeff has donated virtually all of his Bone art to the Ohio State

 

University Cartoon Library & Museum. So even if there's a demand for the art,

 

there isn't any to be found (not counting Bone drawings for other titles).

 

Now to Terry Moore and Strangers in Paradise. Terry has an amazing TPB

 

following. Most of his fans haven't discovered original art. But they are from

 

the demographic that they will overspend for it. Terry has been selling art

 

consistantly for the past 10 years. So most of it is in collector's hands.

 

I haven't seen a dip in SiP pages. Actually since Terry charges more for

 

current pages, I've seen a rise in prices.

 

 

IMHO,

 

John H.

[Jesusjon]

Make it 3 at once...

 

Figure with 9 days to go I'm not bursting anyone's hopes of this going unnoticed. Should be interesting to see how a decent page does with a 0 feedback seller...

[Dumur]

I'll be surprised if that one gets through the nine days

[Claudio]

Make it 3 at once...

 

Figure with 9 days to go I'm not bursting anyone's hopes of this going unnoticed. Should be interesting to see how a decent page does with a 0 feedback seller...

Now THAT is a nice page......

[Nexus]

Verrry nice page. This should do the best out of all the recent pages given that it's an all-Rorschach page. The middle three panels might have some stats, though. Can't really tell from the small pic...but it would fit the pattern of how Gibbons created the art.

 

 

[heartened]

If there are no stats, then this is a solid over 15K page and pushing 20K. I already have my Rorschach example, so I'm out, but will be watching attentively! Congrats in advance to the lucky winner, whoever it ends up being. This page has got to look great in person! That scan is just not doing it justice at all!

 

Hari

 

[Nexus]

Just heard back from the seller. Indeed, the middle three panels are either full-stat or partial stat. That means there are those who will shun it, but to me, stats do not take away from what is a great page. Not only an excellent Rorschach example, but also the title page to a killer chapter.

 

Whether the stats will affect bidding remains to be seen, but so far, the early action has been impressive! Not surprisingly, the seller has gotten offers to end the auction. Hopefully, he'll let it go all the way and it will pay off for him...and we'll have another data point as well.

[comix4fun]

Just heard back from the seller. Indeed, the middle three panels are either full-stat or partial stat. That means there are those who will shun it, but to me, stats do not take away from what is a great page. Not only an excellent Rorschach example, but also the title page to a killer chapter.

 

Whether the stats will affect bidding remains to be seen, but so far, the early action has been impressive! Not surprisingly, the seller has gotten offers to end the auction. Hopefully, he'll let it go all the way and it will pay off for him...and we'll have another data point as well.

 

 

Well the stats aren't denoted in the auction desc. so I don't know if it will have any impact at all except to those that email with him.

 

C

[Nexus]

As I write this, with about 1 hour to go in the auction, the "space" page is at $2247:

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=330323625027

 

At the same time, the far superior "smiley" page is at $2200:

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=330323625004

 

I gotta think the "smiley" face page is at least 2X the FMV of the space page. No costumes, but distinctly WM...one look and you *know* it's WM, much like the cover to #1. And, as others have pointed out, since WM is all about the story, this page has some of the most powerful dialogue in the whole book. A huge turning point, story-wise. Will be interesting to see where they finish.

 

Meanwhile, the Rorschach page has crossed $14K with 4 days still to go.

 

I'd say the WM market is alive and well.