Greg Capullo Original Art? 2 2

[comix4fun]

I can answer a few of those questions:

 

 

- Batman #1 has received numerous, much higher offers above my 25K, all rejected as 50K is firm.

 

 

If you don't mind me asking:

 

Did the people who made these offers tell you that or did the information come from or through Greg?

[Mr. Machismo]

I can answer a few of those questions:

 

 

- Batman #1 has received numerous, much higher offers above my 25K, all rejected as 50K is firm.

 

 

If you don't mind me asking:

 

Did the people who made these offers tell you that or did the information come from or through Greg?

 

A rep who would know told me that. Greg is very difficult to get in touch with, so I wouldn't expect to hear much from him outside of cons.

[rotembk]

He may end up one of those "he who dies with the most toys, wins!" stack of unsold art as the marketplace may be unwilling to pay what he wants, but at least he's maintaining rate integrity and for those who end up taking that leap of faith and paying the asking price, hopefully there's never a future fire sale where he drops prices and market values adjust downward.

 

The crazier the prices the more likely that whoever buys now at the asking price will be eventually burned, but as you said best of luck to anyone who decides to jump into the water.

[Mr. Machismo]

He may end up one of those "he who dies with the most toys, wins!" stack of unsold art as the marketplace may be unwilling to pay what he wants, but at least he's maintaining rate integrity and for those who end up taking that leap of faith and paying the asking price, hopefully there's never a future fire sale where he drops prices and market values adjust downward.

 

The crazier the prices the more likely that whoever buys now at the asking price will be eventually burned, but as you said best of luck to anyone who decides to jump into the water.

 

At ~30K for 50 issues worth of covers, I can't imagine it being optimal to just sit on everything. Heck, I'd pay 15K for a few covers, which is Jim Lee pricing. I can't help but believe he's just going to sit on these for decades. From an investment standpoint, it would be far more lucrative for him to sell some and invest those earnings. He's taking a huge gamble on the long-term hype and market for his run, which he is seemingly dismissing at it's peak.

[JasonDaTwit]

I think Capullo learned from Todd McFarlane's mistake. McFarlane sold some of his pages early on in his career. Imagine if he just held onto them? McFarlane pages are going for crazy money right now and will only continue to go up. This coupled with the fact Capullo's art is part of a highly memorable Batman run (rivaling Jim Lee/Jeph Loeb and Neal Adams/Denny O'Neil) leads me to believe he's doing the right thing.

 

Walt Simonson doesn't sell his pages either and it's extremely rare if he does. He sees that as money for his grandkids.

[Mr. Machismo]

I mean, it could definitely go either way. And if I were rich, I would buy the 50K cover. So there's probably other nuts out there like me. It'll be interesting to watch, nevertheless.

[comix4fun]

I think Capullo learned from Todd McFarlane's mistake. McFarlane sold some of his pages early on in his career. Imagine if he just held onto them? McFarlane pages are going for crazy money right now and will only continue to go up. This coupled with the fact Capullo's art is part of a highly memorable Batman run (rivaling Jim Lee/Jeph Loeb and Neal Adams/Denny O'Neil) leads me to believe he's doing the right thing.

Walt Simonson doesn't sell his pages either and it's extremely rare if he does. He sees that as money for his grandkids.

 

As to the first bold section...

 

 

 

As for Simonson, at last check there was word that Walt Simonson would be donating all of his artwork to his alma mater.

 

If McFarlane had just held onto his artwork there would have been no organic birth and growth of his market to what we see it as today. If pieces are not traded, and do not generate a market of their own based on actual sales, asking prices are simply esoteric demands and not tangible facts relied upon by a collectors as a real "market".

[Mr. Machismo]

If pieces are not traded, and do not generate a market of their own based on actual sales, asking prices are simply esoteric demands and not tangible facts relied upon by a collectors as a real "market".

 

Ah, very insightful!

[eewwnuk]

if I win the powerball tonite I'm buying the capullo cover!

[comix4fun]

if I win the powerball tonite I'm buying the capullo cover!

 

 

 

[rotembk]

I'm not sure if we're talking across one another, but what I was trying to say was that if you're the only one buying from Capullo and you buy the one cover for $50k then there's a higher likelihood that at some point Capullo realizes that if he wants green paper more than watercolor paper he needs to start lowering his asking prices (especially if he sold the crown jewel first), and then the first buyer gets the short end of the stick.

 

Sure, Capullo may be stubborn and crazy enough to decide that anything that doesn't sell for his asking prices will be buried with him, and then anyone that buys at any price will come out ahead, but how likely is that?

 

As for Simonson, please correct me if I'm wrong but he's not selling period as opposed to willing to sell for ridiculous amounts of money (especially because I assume people already tried that), so unlike Capullo it's really a matter of principle rather than marketing strategy.

 

Of course, if the Capullo cover is your holy grail and you have the means and no intention to ever part with it, then all the above is irrelevant.

[stinkininkin]

 

If McFarlane had just held onto his artwork there would have been no organic birth and growth of his market to what we see it as today. If pieces are not traded, and do not generate a market of their own based on actual sales, asking prices are simply esoteric demands and not tangible facts relied upon by a collectors as a real "market".

 

This.

 

And referencing the Jim Lee market again, if we had not "seeded" some of our Hush art early on (for what seemed like aggressive prices at the time but relatively cheap now), we would not have cultivated a market price point progression. Valuations are not usually very meaningful when created in a vacuum.

 

Scott

[vodou]

 

If McFarlane had just held onto his artwork there would have been no organic birth and growth of his market to what we see it as today. If pieces are not traded, and do not generate a market of their own based on actual sales, asking prices are simply esoteric demands and not tangible facts relied upon by a collectors as a real "market".

 

This.

 

And referencing the Jim Lee market again, if we had not "seeded" some of our Hush art early on (for what seemed like aggressive prices at the time but relatively cheap now), we would not have cultivated a market price point progression. Valuations are not usually very meaningful when created in a vacuum.

 

Scott

The key is to curate your own work, holding the best back -for posterity -for IDW (not that anybody knew fifteen, twenty and more years ago) -for exhibition -for creating "context" for the (lower) prices you ask for 'lesser' pieces -for cashing out (ultimately).

 

In the fine art world the role of figuring this out is often the dealer's, leaving the artist to create and grow, create and grow, etc. Unfortunately the self-employed DIY nature of comics (and illustration) work means the artist has to wear both hats, or pull a good friend or significant other in to help.

 

If you have a sense you'll be making comics for a good long time (which used to be the case, not so much these days), then go in with open eyes and protect yourself and your market. Nobody else will. And railing for implementation of droit de suite won't do much for you as it will likely not be retroactive anyway.

 

Capullo has it sort of right and sort of wrong. Yes hang onto Batman #1 (and the others too, if you want) but let 'some' pages go, let 'other' covers go...move the market up slowly (at primary) the same way a good dealer would (or gosh Greg GET a good dealer?!!) and reap the correct rewards (where demand meets supply, for a price) over time. $50k w/o context is just a number. And the kind that very few have to begin with. And even fewer (none) will spend in a vacuum.

[Thawk]

 

If McFarlane had just held onto his artwork there would have been no organic birth and growth of his market to what we see it as today. If pieces are not traded, and do not generate a market of their own based on actual sales, asking prices are simply esoteric demands and not tangible facts relied upon by a collectors as a real "market".

 

This.

 

And referencing the Jim Lee market again, if we had not "seeded" some of our Hush art early on (for what seemed like aggressive prices at the time but relatively cheap now), we would not have cultivated a market price point progression. Valuations are not usually very meaningful when created in a vacuum.

 

Scott

 

Much to the dismay of guys like me who would absolutely love to get a page from Hush - maybe someday

[Lucky Baru]

 

If McFarlane had just held onto his artwork there would have been no organic birth and growth of his market to what we see it as today. If pieces are not traded, and do not generate a market of their own based on actual sales, asking prices are simply esoteric demands and not tangible facts relied upon by a collectors as a real "market".

 

This.

 

And referencing the Jim Lee market again, if we had not "seeded" some of our Hush art early on (for what seemed like aggressive prices at the time but relatively cheap now), we would not have cultivated a market price point progression. Valuations are not usually very meaningful when created in a vacuum.

 

Scott

The key is to curate your own work, holding the best back -for posterity -for IDW (not that anybody knew fifteen, twenty and more years ago) -for exhibition -for creating "context" for the (lower) prices you ask for 'lesser' pieces -for cashing out (ultimately).

 

In the fine art world the role of figuring this out is often the dealer's, leaving the artist to create and grow, create and grow, etc. Unfortunately the self-employed DIY nature of comics (and illustration) work means the artist has to wear both hats, or pull a good friend or significant other in to help.

 

If you have a sense you'll be making comics for a good long time (which used to be the case, not so much these days), then go in with open eyes and protect yourself and your market. Nobody else will. And railing for implementation of droit de suite won't do much for you as it will likely not be retroactive anyway.

 

Capullo has it sort of right and sort of wrong. Yes hang onto Batman #1 (and the others too, if you want) but let 'some' pages go, let 'other' covers go...move the market up slowly (at primary) the same way a good dealer would (or gosh Greg GET a good dealer?!!) and reap the correct rewards (where demand meets supply, for a price) over time. $50k w/o context is just a number. And the kind that very few have to begin with. And even fewer (none) will spend in a vacuum.

 

It doesn’t sound like it is important to him to have fans own his work nor to sell it. He generates it, and he owns it. He more than likely doesn’t need the money so what’s the point of selling it? He can take it out back like Sam Kieth does and light it on fire if he wants to.

[vodou]

Sure, he doesn't care. Or he postures that way. Who knows? None of us are in his head.

[sierackij]

 

If McFarlane had just held onto his artwork there would have been no organic birth and growth of his market to what we see it as today. If pieces are not traded, and do not generate a market of their own based on actual sales, asking prices are simply esoteric demands and not tangible facts relied upon by a collectors as a real "market".

 

This.

 

And referencing the Jim Lee market again, if we had not "seeded" some of our Hush art early on (for what seemed like aggressive prices at the time but relatively cheap now), we would not have cultivated a market price point progression. Valuations are not usually very meaningful when created in a vacuum.

 

Scott

The key is to curate your own work, holding the best back -for posterity -for IDW (not that anybody knew fifteen, twenty and more years ago) -for exhibition -for creating "context" for the (lower) prices you ask for 'lesser' pieces -for cashing out (ultimately).

 

In the fine art world the role of figuring this out is often the dealer's, leaving the artist to create and grow, create and grow, etc. Unfortunately the self-employed DIY nature of comics (and illustration) work means the artist has to wear both hats, or pull a good friend or significant other in to help.

 

If you have a sense you'll be making comics for a good long time (which used to be the case, not so much these days), then go in with open eyes and protect yourself and your market. Nobody else will. And railing for implementation of droit de suite won't do much for you as it will likely not be retroactive anyway.

 

Capullo has it sort of right and sort of wrong. Yes hang onto Batman #1 (and the others too, if you want) but let 'some' pages go, let 'other' covers go...move the market up slowly (at primary) the same way a good dealer would (or gosh Greg GET a good dealer?!!) and reap the correct rewards (where demand meets supply, for a price) over time. $50k w/o context is just a number. And the kind that very few have to begin with. And even fewer (none) will spend in a vacuum.

 

It doesn’t sound like it is important to him to have fans own his work nor to sell it. He generates it, and he owns it. He more than likely doesn’t need the money so what’s the point of selling it? He can take it out back like Sam Kieth does and light it on fire if he wants to.

He claims that his site will offer original art. I guess this is something he's been saying for quite some time without result, but who knows? Maybe we'll see some pages posted for sale in 2016.

[Mr. Machismo]

Hopefully. For now...it's just t-shirts.

[Lucky Baru]

Sure, he doesn't care. Or he postures that way. Who knows? None of us are in his head.

 

I think you took my statement the wrong way. To me it sounds like Greg is like BWS, Miller, and McFarlane. I'm not saying he is as well off as all of them but it seems that they don't need the money. Thus, they aren't driven to put pages out there for the OA market place.

[AKA Rick]

 

Much to the dismay of guys like me who would absolutely love to get a page from Hush - maybe someday

 

I feel that the Loeb/Lee/Williams/Sinclair "HUSH" is going to be looked upon as one of the most classic storylines of Batman and comics in general, where the prices will keep on going up since it seems rare to find pieces available in the market for sale and most are in private collections of fans who love 'em.

 

In that, I'd personally rather have a Hush panel page over any Capullo cover any day because the artwork means more to me than being just an aesthetic pin-up of sort. It's one of the finest examples of great storytelling.

 

I only wish I'd gotten into buying artwork when Albert Moy had pages available years ago.

Edited January 9, 2016 by AKA Rick