Interview with MIKE BURKEY--the art dealer's perspective on OCAL

[glenbru]

I had the opportunity to talk with art dealer/collector, MIKE BURKEY regarding comic art collecting and the state of the hobby recently. Come check it out and see some wonderful scans from the ROMITAMAN'S personal collection...

 

www.originalcomicartlocator.blogspot.com

 

Thanks!

Glen

[jbud73]

Hey Glen great Interview (thumbs u a lot of dealers in the OA and comics hobby come off like PT Barnum (everything is always going to increase in value, buy it all from me, the sky is the limit) but Mike's love of the hobby genuinely comes through in this exchange.

[wurstisart]

Great reading!

You have to give credit where credit is due!

Mike always loved the original art aspect, and was one of the early guys actively collecting, and of course also selling!

Great story!

[Pete Marino]

Great read, thanks for sharing.

[sniderwj]

Great job Glen..always look forward to reading your articles

[LastRaven]

Definitely enjoyed the blog! Nice article.

[Baron]

Cool interview. Hope you get more from other dealer's perspectives.

[*paull*]

Thanks, Glen and Mike!

[Romain]

+1

[Catwoman_Fan]

Great interview!

 

I can't believe he sold his Romita ASM covers... oh man

[Ferran Delgado]

Well, I'd hardly call that an interview, it's more a vehicle for Mike's self promotion courtesy from a customer who doesn't want to make uncomfortable questions.

 

But anyway, it was an interesting reading, as usual in Glenn's blog.

[glenbru]

No one's running for office here, Ferran.

 

I'm not sure how many people would agree to an interview that included a heavy grilling.

 

That being said, Mike was willing to tackle some tough questions about why he was selling pieces that were from his collection and his take on the recent Kirby controversy.

 

It's a fine line between what people would like to know and what is comfortable for the one that you're interviewing.

 

Thanks for reading! My take away here is that you at least found it interesting.

Glen

[Nexus]

Wow, now this is an interview I never expected to see on your blog.

 

As it appears to no longer be a sore subject, I'll throw in two questions:

 

To Glen: How did you come up with "The Contract" idea to obtain the complete ASM story from Mike?

 

To Mike: Are you the most forgiving man in the world? Or is it simply impossible to offend you?

 

Congrats to Mike for being so enlightened and congrats to Glen for having big brass ones...then and now.

[glenbru]

Actually a third party suggested the contact. I can't take credit for it.

 

Mike and I buried the hatchet long ago on this. Were both fine thank you.

 

Frankly, NEXUS, I think the brass balls are staring you back in the mirror. Have another look.

 

I'd call you by your name, but I don't know it and your not publicizing it.

[comix4fun]

Actually a third party suggested the contact. I can't take credit for it.

 

Mike and I buried the hatchet long ago on this. Were both fine thank you.

 

Frankly, NEXUS, I think the brass balls are staring you back in the mirror. Have another look.

 

I'd call you by your name, but I don't know it and your not publicizing it.

 

Do you have sigs turned off?

 

There's a link to his CAF right at the bottom of his post. His CAF has his full name.

 

That's sort of like publicizing it.

 

 

[glenbru]

Thanks! Didn't check the signature.

 

I guess Felix and I aren't as close as I thought we were.

[Ferran Delgado]

I'm not sure how many people would agree to an interview that included a heavy grilling.

Hi Glenn,

Who coud resist to do free selfpromotion knowing that no annoying question would be thrown? I didn't perceive the interview as "heavy"...

 

That being said, Mike was willing to tackle some tough questions about why he was selling pieces that were from his collection and his take on the recent Kirby controversy.

I disagree about what you consider "tough questions". From my point of view, he used the part about selling pieces from his collection as a clear promotion, telling collectors to shot offers about them, in the case that this was not already clear by visiting his site. Where's the hard part on this?

 

About the Kirby controversy, in my eyes he used your question to give his version about the item and show himself as a victim. It'd be "though" if you replied his arguments and discuss the subject deeply, but you didn't.

 

It's a fine line between what people would like to know and what is comfortable for the one that you're interviewing.

My main problem were the expectations of this interview conducted by someone like you, who know what's cooking behind the scenes. I'd expect you to give some light about items not publicly known, but there was no surprises, and it was quite predictable.

 

I should have expected that. Since you intend to make profit of your privileged info, it's clear that you just will reveal the indispensable to keep the attention of collectors, but you'll keep the key aspects for your new business. It's your right to protect your interests, of course.

 

Thanks for reading! My take away here is that you at least found it interesting.

Glen

It was about time that a major league collector like you shared some of his knowledge in a blog, in spite of it is in very small doses. As you well know, I have a blog of my own, but I'm just a newby compared to you. Your blog is a very interesting read, even if it's only a fraction of what you could tell… ;-)

[glenbru]

Ferran, I'm not ABC news. People are not dying to be interviewed by me. The kind of questions you would like me to ask require that the guest has more to gain by the publicity than the taint of the difficult questions. I don't think that my little blog can offer that. When I become the Charlie Rose of the comic art scene I'll ask more difficult questions.

 

I care about the blog. I'm happy that you like it, but I have other things in my life as well that require my attention. I can't spend all my time thinking about this.. I do my best with the time I do have to make it worthwhile and informative. Many collectors have told me that they're really happy that I'm doing what I'm attempting here.

 

I'm not really sure where your venom for me is coming from, since you've made it plain that you like my blog. I'm sorry you don't think I've been forthcoming enough. Maybe in time I'll get to answer more questions you'd like answered with my so called privileged information. I'm happy to learn that you are such an authority on what I know.

 

[CollectingFool]

How did you come up with "The Contract" idea to obtain the complete ASM story from Mike?

 

Wow, now that's going back. I guess the fight went public before the Yahoo groups days when comicart-l was still on a private server otherwise all the details would be in the archives. It would be wild to read all that early stuff again. What was it, Wednesdays when everyone posted for sale stuff?

 

 

[Ferran Delgado]

I'm not really sure where your venom for me is coming from, since you've made it plain that you like my blog.

There's no venom, just criticism.