Koa Posted February 20, 2014 Share Posted February 20, 2014 (edited) There have to be more than 2 or 3 guys driving these crazy prices right? From Heritage's magazine, it looks like the Wolverine splash from Hulk 180 is coming to auction. Should be interesting to see how high it goes. How do you get on the magazine list? I get stuff for guitar auctions (not sure why) but nothing original art related Edited February 20, 2014 by KingKoa Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coach Posted February 20, 2014 Share Posted February 20, 2014 How do you get on the magazine list? I get stuff for guitar auctions (not sure why) but nothing original art related I don't know about anyone else, but I didn't do anything specific to get the magazine (Intelligent Collector) other than to bid and win some auctions (more bidding than winning lately, since Heritage opened an office in CA the addition of sales tax seems to price me out of many lots). They include a postcard to send in to renew the subscription but I never send it in (I prefer not to send a postcard where they want personal information and my signature for anyone to see) but the magazine keeps coming. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
otherworldsj33 Posted February 21, 2014 Share Posted February 21, 2014 "...only the diehards of the hobby have the capacity for rationalization and self-delusion required to bid this material deep into record territory." Ha-ha. Gene, one of the funniest descriptions about OA collectors I have read in a while. That it will break a record for a panel page, is probably a given. The question is how high will this page go? Its a no brainer to soar past the 150K barrier. Will it hit 300K? 350K? As far as any panel pages that still exist that would be valued higher, well, they are on Jefferson Drive in Washington, DC. That being the case, maybe a panel page from Spider-man 1 would go for 200K or more? On a somewhat related note, I went to a San Diego con around 2001, and Irwin Donenfeld was on a panel speaking about his dad, growing up with the comics, etc. At one point, he was talking about how his dad would ask for his opinion, being a boy of similar age as the target, or supposed target, audience, and he would ask his son to look at the comics before they came out. And his dad would do this before the comics were printed. He very casually said he vividly remembered reading Action comics #1, cover included, in its original art form, and told his dad he thought it was a good story. He was about 12 at the time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
otherworldsj33 Posted February 21, 2014 Share Posted February 21, 2014 I wonder if the owner came up the Hero Initiative idea, or if Borock told him about it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mephisto Posted February 21, 2014 Share Posted February 21, 2014 I personally think right now a page from Strange Tales 180 would clobber this Wolverine page. Gamora is super hot now with the movie. Plus good Starlin art tends to bring more than good Trimpe art. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
batman_fan Posted February 21, 2014 Share Posted February 21, 2014 I am probably way out there by myself on this one, but I don't like it. Yeah, it is the 1st appearance of a mega key "hero", but the artwork just doesn't do it for me. I am sure it will go for some serious money, but probably not in my top 1000 pages. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mephisto Posted February 21, 2014 Share Posted February 21, 2014 It's just WAY too historically important to me. The art is still better than 90% of the art put out by Marvel in the past 10 to 15 years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suspense39 Posted February 21, 2014 Share Posted February 21, 2014 (edited) I am probably way out there by myself on this one, but I don't like it. Yeah, it is the 1st appearance of a mega key "hero", but the artwork just doesn't do it for me. I am sure it will go for some serious money, but probably not in my top 1000 pages. I'm with you. I'd rather have the guardanier superman cover or rousos Robinson batman splash on ha right now, which after reading this post you couldprobably have both for less than this. Edited February 21, 2014 by suspense39 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stinkininkin Posted February 21, 2014 Share Posted February 21, 2014 I am probably way out there by myself on this one, but I don't like it. Yeah, it is the 1st appearance of a mega key "hero", but the artwork just doesn't do it for me. I am sure it will go for some serious money, but probably not in my top 1000 pages. I would tend to agree with you and I'm guessing there are quite a few others who would as well. While I like Herb Trimpe as much as the next guy I suppose, if this was a depiction of the first appearance of Wart Hog Man, it would not be getting this kind of attention or commanding such a potential windfall. OA showing historic moments in comics is less appealing to me than the best pure art married to the perfect story. I would be a buyer for this page from a purely historic standpoint for maybe a few grand, but for six figures, there are thousands of pieces I would rather have. Different strokes I guess, and I certainly will not be surprised if this one goes a little nuts. Scott Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suspense39 Posted February 21, 2014 Share Posted February 21, 2014 I am probably way out there by myself on this one, but I don't like it. Yeah, it is the 1st appearance of a mega key "hero", but the artwork just doesn't do it for me. I am sure it will go for some serious money, but probably not in my top 1000 pages. I would tend to agree with you and I'm guessing there are quite a few others who would as well. While I like Herb Trimpe as much as the next guy I suppose, if this was a depiction of the first appearance of Wart Hog Man, it would not be getting this kind of attention or commanding such a potential windfall. OA showing historic moments in comics is less appealing to me than the best pure art married to the perfect story. I would be a buyer for this page from a purely historic standpoint for maybe a few grand, but for six figures, there are thousands of pieces I would rather have. Different strokes I guess, and I certainly will not be surprised if this one goes a little nuts. Scott I like how you put that "art married to the perfect story". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sfcityduck Posted February 21, 2014 Share Posted February 21, 2014 My guess is Heritage puts out such long advance notice for pieces like this because they want prospective purchasers to have time to consign pieces to Heritage to raise money. As far as how desirable this piece is, from the standpoint of a Wolverine collector, I'd obviously rank it below the cover Hulk 181, GS X-Men 1 (which is owned by David Mandel and looks fantastic close up), and some other covers -- but that's not a fair comparison. As far as interior pages go, I'd personally rather have the famous "Now its my turn" page from X-Men 132 and perhaps the sequence where Wolverine kills the guard in X-Men 116. Byrne's art is far superior and those are iconic moments for the character. But, this is really cool and I do think the sky is the limit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
comix4fun Posted February 21, 2014 Share Posted February 21, 2014 I personally think right now a page from Strange Tales 180 would clobber this Wolverine page. Gamora is super hot now with the movie. Plus good Starlin art tends to bring more than good Trimpe art. And Gawmora-er is Wicked Hawt!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mephisto Posted February 21, 2014 Share Posted February 21, 2014 My guess is Heritage puts out such long advance notice for pieces like this because they want prospective purchasers to have time to consign pieces to Heritage to raise money. As far as how desirable this piece is, from the standpoint of a Wolverine collector, I'd obviously rank it below the cover Hulk 181, GS X-Men 1 (which is owned by David Mandel and looks fantastic close up), and some other covers -- but that's not a fair comparison. As far as interior pages go, I'd personally rather have the famous "Now its my turn" page from X-Men 132 and perhaps the sequence where Wolverine kills the guard in X-Men 116. Byrne's art is far superior and those are iconic moments for the character. But, this is really cool and I do think the sky is the limit. Sorry but I no longer find the cover to Hulk 181 is no relevant in regards to the original art. That piece WAS destroyed in the previous mentioned fire. Personally I find the half page splash from X-Men 132 to be most iconic image of Wolverie even over Miller's cover to Wolverine 1. Other historic panel page I think are pretty sweet in terms of Woverine include the Donnelly's GSX page which features the first in story page with Wolverine and their Hulk 182 splash. I've also always admired the Wolverine vs. Sabretooth first meeting page from X-Men 212 that has been passed around a few times in more recent years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bronty Posted February 21, 2014 Share Posted February 21, 2014 No I believe if you read thru the past posts the cover was sold years before the fire Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
delekkerste Posted February 21, 2014 Share Posted February 21, 2014 "...only the diehards of the hobby have the capacity for rationalization and self-delusion required to bid this material deep into record territory." Ha-ha. Gene, one of the funniest descriptions about OA collectors I have read in a while. Funny, but undoubtedly true. Even if Hugh Jackman somehow wanted the Hulk #180 cover, I'm sure he'd be clobbered in the bidding by the usual suspects. It really takes a special kind of clinical psychosis to rationalize paying hundreds of thousands of dollars for a Herb Trimpe drawing of a character who looks like he just stepped out of the musical "Cats", one that outsiders to this hobby simply will never understand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
delekkerste Posted February 21, 2014 Share Posted February 21, 2014 I would tend to agree with you and I'm guessing there are quite a few others who would as well. While I like Herb Trimpe as much as the next guy I suppose, if this was a depiction of the first appearance of Wart Hog Man, it would not be getting this kind of attention or commanding such a potential windfall. OA showing historic moments in comics is less appealing to me than the best pure art married to the perfect story. I would be a buyer for this page from a purely historic standpoint for maybe a few grand, but for six figures, there are thousands of pieces I would rather have. Different strokes I guess, and I certainly will not be surprised if this one goes a little nuts. When it comes to comic art, I'm a comic fan first and an art critic a distant second. Even if it isn't the prettiest piece, even if it isn't a bigger artist than Herb Trimpe, it just doesn't matter to me, as it's so memorable and historic. I can't think of many other interior pages that I'd rather have than this one. I had drinks with another collector this evening and we played the "Would you rather?" game, comparing the Hulk #180 cover to the Kirby TOS #94 cover (let's call it a $175K+ cover), the ASM #121 cover (sold last year for $286.8K) and the McSpidey #1 cover (sold for $358.5K in 2012). As much as I love the gorgeous Kirby cover, I'd rather have the more important Hulk #180 page. ASM #121 cover vs. the Hulk #180 page would be a very tough choice - I could go either way on this one depending on the day. And I'd probably take the McSpidey #1 cover over the Hulk #180 page. So, I guess that would probably peg the value at around $250-$300K based on my chosen set of trophy OA comps. But, who knows...as you said, I wouldn't be surprised if this one went a bit mental. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bronty Posted February 21, 2014 Share Posted February 21, 2014 hundreds of thousands of dollars for a Herb Trimpe drawing of a character who looks like he just stepped out of the musical "Cats", Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bronty Posted February 21, 2014 Share Posted February 21, 2014 I would tend to agree with you and I'm guessing there are quite a few others who would as well. While I like Herb Trimpe as much as the next guy I suppose, if this was a depiction of the first appearance of Wart Hog Man, it would not be getting this kind of attention or commanding such a potential windfall. OA showing historic moments in comics is less appealing to me than the best pure art married to the perfect story. I would be a buyer for this page from a purely historic standpoint for maybe a few grand, but for six figures, there are thousands of pieces I would rather have. Different strokes I guess, and I certainly will not be surprised if this one goes a little nuts. When it comes to comic art, I'm a comic fan first and an art critic a distant second. Even if it isn't the prettiest piece, even if it isn't a bigger artist than Herb Trimpe, it just doesn't matter to me, as it's so memorable and historic. I can't think of many other interior pages that I'd rather have than this one. I had drinks with another collector this evening and we played the "Would you rather?" game, comparing the Hulk #180 cover to the Kirby TOS #94 cover (let's call it a $175K+ cover), the ASM #121 cover (sold last year for $286.8K) and the McSpidey #1 cover (sold for $358.5K in 2012). As much as I love the gorgeous Kirby cover, I'd rather have the more important Hulk #180 page. ASM #121 cover vs. the Hulk #180 page would be a very tough choice - I could go either way on this one depending on the day. And I'd probably take the McSpidey #1 cover over the Hulk #180 page. So, I guess that would probably peg the value at around $250-$300K based on my chosen set of trophy OA comps. But, who knows...as you said, I wouldn't be surprised if this one went a bit mental. interesting way of looking at the question of valuation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glendgold Posted February 21, 2014 Share Posted February 21, 2014 I was wracking (racking?) my brain for comparable bronze age pieces that would attract this much interest. Has the ASM 129 cover ever shown up? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bronty Posted February 21, 2014 Share Posted February 21, 2014 There's been some talk of it in the past and I think I remember other boardies confirming it existed. Id take that over this panel page personally Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
