Care to explain why?

[MutantKeys]

I know nothing about proofs, but this seems a little out there...

 

http://www.splashpageart.com/GalleryPiece.asp?Piece=16653&GSub=898&GCat=0&UCat=0&Style=Text

 

 

 

 

[Par2ch]

I can see why its bringing in that kind of money Danny.,

 

Watchmen OA is extreamly expenisive, so if one wants a piece of the OA for watchmen these color proofs might be the only way. This is a classic image of Rorashack (Sp?) finding the dead comedian.

 

Many colorists are going the OA way since there seems to be a market for it (Morry Hollowell does it for Civil War and Old Man Logan)

 

These are 1:1 just like any other OA except that they technically have not be touched by the artist other then by signature, in other words they are one of a kind print.

[*paull*]

These proofs were done for the Absolute Watchmen reprinting.

[Mac Man]

I've seen covers for ASM books by artists like McFarlane with BINs of $500+ ... so I guess this doesn't seem totally shocking. And as mentioned before, it's highly unlikely the pencilled art would be anywhere near this price range, so it does allow someone to own a piece of "the action" without having to pay the same price.

 

Now whether or not you think it's worth the coin, well, that's something different

[r1982rhoads]

An affordable alternative...stats, color guides, acetates...etc...sometimes the only real way to go...

[Weird Paper]

If this is an inkjet proof, it will probably be archival to about 50-75 years if not in direct hard light.

 

The thing people don't necessarily realize on the old overlay color proofs from the pre-digital printing days, is that those things were never intended to be archival. In total darkness, they may last a decade or three, but displayed in normal lighting, they will fade within years.

[r1982rhoads]

UV glass is not good enough protection?

[Weird Paper]

The material by nature is not archival. I'm pretty sure that means it will eventually erode based on its own chemistry. I used to make them, so I have some background with the materials.

[MyNameIsLegion]

what a complete rip-off. It's most likely an epson print, same damn inkjet technology as that $50 printer sitting on your desk. The only thing unique about this is the signature after the fact, this is a manufactured collectible, You could print one or a million of them right out of Quark. Might as well be selling the photoshop file, then you could print it out yourself. It would be a lot cheaper, and just as authentic, to by the Absolute edition, cut out a page, get it signed if you so desire, and frame it. But at a fraction of the cost. Anyone who buys this is a insufficiently_thoughtful_person.

 

 

edit: why the hell is m-o-r-o-n a spoon word?!?!?!

[Jesusjon]

To be fair, these were part of the production process for the Absolute Edition. From Splash Page:

 

"In 2004, John Higgins was commissioned to re-master the colors for the oversized Absolute Watchmen edition of the series. After the project had been completed, a color proof was printed and sent out to John for each interior page of the book and the colors were checked for accuracy."

 

This seems reasonable considering you would want to review what the page would look like printed out before okaying it for printing. It's not like Higgins is printing out a copy now that the film has come out. The date/time is right on there.

 

Not every OA collector is "into" pieces used in the production process that aren't original art, but these have their place. You may question the price, but Higgins has had these in his care and his rep is doing his job to get him a fair price. I imagine the Rorschach page above was priced at $750 because everyone knew it's one of the most sought after pages in the book. And looks like it was priced correctly.

[MyNameIsLegion]

This seems reasonable considering you would want to review what the page would look like printed out before okaying it for printing. It's not like Higgins is printing out a copy now that the film has come out. The date/time is right on there.

 

 

let me put it to you this way: anyone with intimate knowledge of publishing/printing/proofing, such as myself, or WP, are going to be terribly unimpressed by the very idea of such a "collectible". All your getting for your money is an autograph. And I could take a ripped file with a specific date and time and churn out prints til the end of time. There are probably several sets of proofs, in multiple hands from printing of the Absolute edition. There is no one, definitive original, If Higgins wants to cash-in on his involvement, that's fine, nothing wrong with that, but I think potential buyers need to be better educated with what they are really getting. If they were, no one would buy them, or they'd be $20 apiece. Anyone with a real woody over the art might as well just cut a page out of the book and frame it.

[mackenzie999]

let me put it to you this way: anyone with intimate knowledge of publishing/printing/proofing, such as myself, or WP, are going to be terribly unimpressed by the very idea of such a "collectible". All your getting for your money is an autograph.

 

I'm one of those people with this type of knowledge, and MNIL pretty much nails it.

 

It's probably a very nice color-accurate print like an Iris or something, which is a step up from a simple laser print but ultimately nothing more than potentially unlimited digital output with some autographs.

[Dick Pontoon]

On a related note, does anyone know how a SA or BA produced production stat will hold up to fading over time?

[Weird Paper]

On a related note, does anyone know how a SA or BA produced production stat will hold up to fading over time?

 

Most old stats will not be archival. To make them archival would have involved different hardware at the time of production (a warm water wash, I believe). They will fade or yellow over time, especially in light.

[Eric Seffinga]

Absolutely and the stat paper is photosensitive by it's very nature, so the more light exposure it gets, the more it will turn over time. That said, I've had stats that have remained clean and bright for the last several decades. The better it was originally washed on the way out, the better it will rebuff signs of aging.

 

Of course most comic art board and papers are non-archival as well, so the originals are destined to turn some too. Especially ones with higher acidic content.

 

-e.

[WOXL]

I take these as really cool production pieces turned into manufactured collectibles. I would love to own one but the prices are way more than I'm comfortable spending for what they are. From the seller's perspective, it seems like some of the more expensive pieces were priced just right as many have sold. I wonder if all the key pages end up selling while the lesser ones sit for a long time.

 

Does anyone know the current going rate for an average original Higgins color guide? It'd be interesting to compare those prices to these new proofs. Also, the original issue #8 cover color art is up for auction at Comiclink right now. It'll be interesting to see where this ends up, especially in light of the realized proof prices.

 

-Bob

[Stronguy]

This seems reasonable considering you would want to review what the page would look like printed out before okaying it for printing. It's not like Higgins is printing out a copy now that the film has come out. The date/time is right on there.

 

 

let me put it to you this way: anyone with intimate knowledge of publishing/printing/proofing, such as myself, or WP, are going to be terribly unimpressed by the very idea of such a "collectible". All your getting for your money is an autograph. And I could take a ripped file with a specific date and time and churn out prints til the end of time. There are probably several sets of proofs, in multiple hands from printing of the Absolute edition. There is no one, definitive original, If Higgins wants to cash-in on his involvement, that's fine, nothing wrong with that, but I think potential buyers need to be better educated with what they are really getting. If they were, no one would buy them, or they'd be $20 apiece. Anyone with a real woody over the art might as well just cut a page out of the book and frame it.

 

You're just a hater.

[Jesusjon]

I wouldn't pay $750 for one of these but I'll probably drop in the neighborhood of $300 for one if I can get one of my favorite pages. And I'm happy to support Higgins. How often does the colorist see any additional significant revenue from his artwork? Hopefully he gets a fair share of resids from the sale of every copy of the book, but who knows?

[john72tex]

I wouldn't pay $750 for one of these but I'll probably drop in the neighborhood of $300 for one if I can get one of my favorite pages. And I'm happy to support Higgins. How often does the colorist see any additional significant revenue from his artwork? Hopefully he gets a fair share of resids from the sale of every copy of the book, but who knows?

 

I have to agree. I know I'll never see myself dropping major $$ on an original Watchmen page, so I just ordered this one:

 

[WOXL]

I wouldn't pay $750 for one of these but I'll probably drop in the neighborhood of $300 for one if I can get one of my favorite pages. And I'm happy to support Higgins. How often does the colorist see any additional significant revenue from his artwork? Hopefully he gets a fair share of resids from the sale of every copy of the book, but who knows?

 

That's a great point. Color art doesn't usually go for much and with everything done on computer these days there really isn't much of it for a colorist to sell. The original line art will always be king but it is nice to see some healthy prices for the colorist's work. Higgins did some great work and hopefully he's getting a significant portion of these sales prices.

 

-Bob