What artist did you collect has had their artwork decrease in price?

[AKA Rick]

Beyond "Artist" by name I think one genre when rendered by less than known names that once commanded higher values through commissions as well as published pieces is the "Pin-Up" be it good girl or bad girl, the market seemed to get flooded by artwork, some mediocre attempts, other legitimately great images, but by unpublished or lesser household named artists.

 

Sure, pin-up artwork by Campbell, Hughes, Brooks, Root, Cho, Lee, and others still command top dollars (even compared to renderings of male characters, especially with commissions more so than with published pieces).

 

However, looking at the stuff for Zenescope, Dynamite and everyone else, it's come to a point where a lot of artists can certainly draw a pretty face and sexy body. And there's more artists tomorrow who will do so equally if not better.

 

So, for pin-up art, it seems to be based on artist name more so than character and rendering today, whereas in past years the sizzle of the sexiness moved pieces based purely on the aesthetics.

 

I feel many (including myself) who bought a lot of that artwork that lacked substance would be hard pressed to sell a lot of the pieces and there were a lot better ways to invest that money with 20/20 hindsight on other material 5-10 years ago with regret today.

 

[vodou]

I'd buy Groo covers for $500 all day, should they get down there. Probably not though

They'll never get to 500 per

Never say never, but you're probably right. I scored several covers way back at over a grand each. They're still hanging in there but no "growth" to speak of either. So an inflation loss.

 

For $500 per I'd take them down just cuz I like them. Though I'm sure I'd reach my limit after ten or so!

[vodou]

The entire Pacific series is in a black hole collection. The broker stopped off at my house on his way to deliver it (the buyer bought it all in one shot from Sergio) and showed me...just amazing.

That's really cool Felix, thanks for sharing that story.

[Bronty]

I'd buy Groo covers for $500 all day, should they get down there. Probably not though

They'll never get to 500 per

Never say never, but you're probably right. I scored several covers way back at over a grand each. They're still hanging in there but no "growth" to speak of either. So an inflation loss.

 

For $500 per I'd take them down just cuz I like them. Though I'm sure I'd reach my limit after ten or so!

 

Yeah, that's my point. As those kinds of prices people would just buy them because they like them with zero expectation on "value" (how quaint). I'd be in that group too.

[micmack]

When Ed Benes came out his stuff was very hot, with pages, covers and pinups coming at a premium. He has since (in my opinion) over saturated the market with his work (and "Studio" with many clones of his style) and now you see a significant "correction" in prices. Before this correction I sold all my pages (with profit) but one pinup I took a significant loss on. It was the only OA I ever lost money on....ever.

[Lucky Baru]

When Ed Benes came out his stuff was very hot, with pages, covers and pinups coming at a premium. He has since (in my opinion) over saturated the market with his work (and "Studio" with many clones of his style) and now you see a significant "correction" in prices. Before this correction I sold all my pages (with profit) but one pinup I took a significant loss on. It was the only OA I ever lost money on....ever.

 

The artist in Ed's studio do pump out a ton of the pinups on eBay. There does seem to be a market for them. As you indicated they do not bring a premium.

 

Ed's older published pages/covers still do OK in the market. What's nice is that if you enjoy his work you can pick-up newer pages for $100.00 to $150.00.

[Lucky Baru]

Yeah, that's my point. As those kinds of prices people would just buy them because they like them with zero expectation on "value" (how quaint). I'd be in that group too.

 

I'm also in the zero expectation of value group. I don't care if my pages go up in value. It would be a nice bonus but I bought them because I liked the way the page was plotted, draw, it has some memory attached to the book it came out of, and/or some combination of all of the above.

 

I met Ed McGuinness at WonderCon in 1998. Ed was an unknown artist who was working on a book named Deadpool. As you might recall, in '98 nobody cared about Deadpool. It was all about The Punisher. Ed was walking around with a stack of his artwork attempting to sell it to OA vendors. They were not interested. I bought about 25 pages from him. I didn't buy them because I thought they would go up in value. I bought them because I really liked his work. His style was on the cusp of becoming popular with younger comic buyers. The only thing I wished I had done was purchased more of those pages.

[AKA Rick]

When Ed Benes came out his stuff was very hot, with pages, covers and pinups coming at a premium. He has since (in my opinion) over saturated the market with his work (and "Studio" with many clones of his style) and now you see a significant "correction" in prices. Before this correction I sold all my pages (with profit) but one pinup I took a significant loss on. It was the only OA I ever lost money on....ever.

 

Does anyone know whether or not the Deodato and/or Benes studios used ghost pencilers to render work credited to/by Mike Deodato and/or Ed Benes? I once heard that was a common practice amongst other studios such as Pat Lee's.

 

Ed Benes artwork has seen a market adjustment to the pricing/values.

 

His "Many Happy Returns" more anime/manga influenced style from Supergirl still retains good if not increasing value, as does some of his Birds of Prey work.

 

His more Jim Lee influenced work as he continued on the Birds of Prey title and into the Justice League of America onward has stabilized but is far below their heights.

 

Most of his commissioned work, those pin-ups he was cranking out years ago are still popular and can command good dollars, but far below the original sales price purchased directly through his art rep. So, you're spot on with your experience with the pin-up you sold and are not alone.

 

Hopefully Benes gets assigned to a good title and teamed with a great writer to have a career resurgence.

[Bambi 1973-migration]

For me this is fairly easy. I bought some piece by Glenn Fabry years ago at a pretty decent price. I'm very fond of them and think they're some of his best. Unfortunately with the amount of work he is cranking out now I see his stock falling almost on a weekly basis.

 

I think the original prices were driven up because of the single collector buying everything but there is also simply too much coming out now.

 

John

[micmack]

When Ed Benes came out his stuff was very hot, with pages, covers and pinups coming at a premium. He has since (in my opinion) over saturated the market with his work (and "Studio" with many clones of his style) and now you see a significant "correction" in prices. Before this correction I sold all my pages (with profit) but one pinup I took a significant loss on. It was the only OA I ever lost money on....ever.

 

Does anyone know whether or not the Deodato and/or Benes studios used ghost pencilers to render work credited to/by Mike Deodato and/or Ed Benes? I once heard that was a common practice amongst other studios such as Pat Lee's.

 

Ed Benes artwork has seen a market adjustment to the pricing/values.

 

His "Many Happy Returns" more anime/manga influenced style from Supergirl still retains good if not increasing value, as does some of his Birds of Prey work.

 

His more Jim Lee influenced work as he continued on the Birds of Prey title and into the Justice League of America onward has stabilized but is far below their heights.

 

Most of his commissioned work, those pin-ups he was cranking out years ago are still popular and can command good dollars, but far below the original sales price purchased directly through his art rep. So, you're spot on with your experience with the pin-up you sold and are not alone.

 

Hopefully Benes gets assigned to a good title and teamed with a great writer to have a career resurgence.

Don't get me wrong, I love his work. Although I understand the situation where you are able to work fast and you have fans throwing 4 figure prices for pinups, one has to make a living. But he should have looked at the long term picture and built up a sustainable level of work that the market could contain. It also didn't help having a large stable of clones that lessens the desirability of his work....

[Nexus]

I work at a library in a clerical position and there are plenty of kids reading comics, but they may not be titles familiar to the superhero or monthly comic reader:

 

Jeff Smith's Bone should be well known. It was picked up 10 years ago by Scholastic as their first graphic novel. I'm sure some other old guys remember getting their little book catalogs in classrooms although I don't know if they still do that.

 

Raina Telgemeier's Smile, Drama, and Sisters are all on the NY Times best seller list. She just won an Eisner Award. Looking at online photos, she gets crowds of kids, especially young girls, showing up for her presentations and signings.

 

Michael Maihack's Cleopatra in Space, Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales, Jimmy Gownley's Amelia Rules, Ben Hatke's Zita the Spacegirl, Jennifeer and Matthew Holm's Babymouse. I see lots of copies of Geronimo Stilton, Capt. Underpants, Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys graphic novels.

 

Teens are massively in love with manga such as Naruto, One Piece, Full Metal Alchemist, and others. I used to go to anime conventions in the 1990's when the crowds were full of mostly 20- and 30-something men. They are almost entirely teens and 20-somethings now with more girls than guys.

 

About comics, I love the remark made by Gene Luen Yang that comics were the most intimate form of communication next to a hand-written letter. While a prose novel may be affected by the printer's choice of font and all, a comic reader is seeing the lines and words of the cartoonist themselves.

 

Original art is like a manuscript. The price may go up or down, but it does have inherent value.

 

Best,

 

Steven

 

We may not see many kids at the LCS, they may be into the same titles as us, but that doesn't mean they aren't reading comics:

 

http://comics212.net/?p=8263

 

 

[suspense39]

I work at a library in a clerical position and there are plenty of kids reading comics, but they may not be titles familiar to the superhero or monthly comic reader:

 

Jeff Smith's Bone should be well known. It was picked up 10 years ago by Scholastic as their first graphic novel. I'm sure some other old guys remember getting their little book catalogs in classrooms although I don't know if they still do that.

 

Raina Telgemeier's Smile, Drama, and Sisters are all on the NY Times best seller list. She just won an Eisner Award. Looking at online photos, she gets crowds of kids, especially young girls, showing up for her presentations and signings.

 

Michael Maihack's Cleopatra in Space, Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales, Jimmy Gownley's Amelia Rules, Ben Hatke's Zita the Spacegirl, Jennifeer and Matthew Holm's Babymouse. I see lots of copies of Geronimo Stilton, Capt. Underpants, Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys graphic novels.

 

Teens are massively in love with manga such as Naruto, One Piece, Full Metal Alchemist, and others. I used to go to anime conventions in the 1990's when the crowds were full of mostly 20- and 30-something men. They are almost entirely teens and 20-somethings now with more girls than guys.

 

About comics, I love the remark made by Gene Luen Yang that comics were the most intimate form of communication next to a hand-written letter. While a prose novel may be affected by the printer's choice of font and all, a comic reader is seeing the lines and words of the cartoonist themselves.

 

Original art is like a manuscript. The price may go up or down, but it does have inherent value.

 

Best,

 

Steven

 

We may not see many kids at your LCS, they may be into the same titles as us, but that doesn't mean they aren't reading comics:

 

http://comics212.net/?p=8263

 

 

Thanks for posting that link, a nice, short and interesting read!

[Garf]

I work at a library in a clerical position and there are plenty of kids reading comics, but they may not be titles familiar to the superhero or monthly comic reader:

 

Jeff Smith's Bone should be well known. It was picked up 10 years ago by Scholastic as their first graphic novel. I'm sure some other old guys remember getting their little book catalogs in classrooms although I don't know if they still do that.

 

Raina Telgemeier's Smile, Drama, and Sisters are all on the NY Times best seller list. She just won an Eisner Award. Looking at online photos, she gets crowds of kids, especially young girls, showing up for her presentations and signings.

 

Michael Maihack's Cleopatra in Space, Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales, Jimmy Gownley's Amelia Rules, Ben Hatke's Zita the Spacegirl, Jennifeer and Matthew Holm's Babymouse. I see lots of copies of Geronimo Stilton, Capt. Underpants, Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys graphic novels.

 

Teens are massively in love with manga such as Naruto, One Piece, Full Metal Alchemist, and others. I used to go to anime conventions in the 1990's when the crowds were full of mostly 20- and 30-something men. They are almost entirely teens and 20-somethings now with more girls than guys.

 

About comics, I love the remark made by Gene Luen Yang that comics were the most intimate form of communication next to a hand-written letter. While a prose novel may be affected by the printer's choice of font and all, a comic reader is seeing the lines and words of the cartoonist themselves.

 

Original art is like a manuscript. The price may go up or down, but it does have inherent value.

 

Best,

 

Steven

 

We may not see many kids at your LCS, they may be into the same titles as us, but that doesn't mean they aren't reading comics:

 

http://comics212.net/?p=8263

 

 

Thanks for posting that link, a nice, short and interesting read!

 

Very interesting indeed... enjoyed reading that. Makes me wonder if anyone is ever going to call closing time on the Modern Age. /OT

[mister_not_so_nice]

I just want to know why the subject line of this thread is written in the past tense?

[Koa]

Re: Future of comics

I don't know what will happen long term, but kids love comics from what I've seen.

 

Graphic novels are big in my local library and new ones are added almost weekly. Some adults read them but I've seen more teens and pre-teens in the reading area. There are a number of comic subscriptions in the magazine area, too. On-line comics are growing in popularity, as well. The future might seem bleak but I mostly think it's changing. Comics will survive.

 

That doesn't mean new OA will still be produced thirty years from now. The last two artists I approached told me I could buy a print, but not an original. All of their original artwork exists in digital form only.

 

As far as the question posed in the original post, What artist do you collect that has had their artwork decrease in price?, I believe much of what I've purchased from today's artists will lose value when I go to sell it. For example, I love Aaron Lopresti's work but it's the rare Lopresti Red Sonja cover that will collect $900 from a buyer at auction. Still, Aaron sold me two of 'em at that price (each) a few years ago, and I was delighted to get them. I'm delighted to own them.

 

Buying directly from an artist, I expect to pay a premium. Comic book artists need to make a living, too, and they can't afford to leave money on the table. Their agents/dealers want every shiny penny, as well. This knowledge doesn't keep me from buying modern OA...it's my favorite thing to collect, and I love this hobby...but I don't pretend I'll ever get my money back.

 

For a long time I thought that comics readership was dying. Now I see through the teenagers in my family, their friends that it's not. What's dying is the willingness to pay for content. That's true of everything in the digital age though. As well and the fragmented nature of comic readership.

 

 

[Koa]

Kyle Baker- i think the guy is brilliant but there is little demand for his art.

 

Jason Pearson- I think jason does some of the best art in comics but he's never really caught on with fans.

 

Dale Keown- His hulk pages are much more reasonably priced these days.

[pinupcartoonguy]

Arthur Suydam: Many moons ago I paid $100 for a commission from him. It wasn't "exactly" what I was expecting so I put it on Ebay shortly thereafter with a starting price of $9.99. I think it ended at $12.99.

[Rune]

I just want to know why the subject line of this thread is written in the past tense?

 

Because original comic art prices never go down in the future! (As witnessed by the recent SDCC sticker shocks )

 

Someone actually made a song about this

 

(hint: it's a very weird and materialistic song. The singer is really connected to her comic book art, when she sings "you" or "baby" it refers to her comic book art - and "we" of course means her and the art )

 

 

(sorry, bad humor, again)

[Weird Paper]

Arthur Suydam: Many moons ago I paid $100 for a commission from him. It wasn't "exactly" what I was expecting so I put it on Ebay shortly thereafter with a starting price of $9.99. I think it ended at $12.99.

Mudwogs pages in the last Heritage went realllly high. You could have purchased an entire story three years ago for less than single pages went for in May.