What's the best deal you ever made on a page of OA?

[Terry Doyle]

Thanks. I actually had a wad of cash on me as I was planning to buy some stuff at the exhibition I was visiting (the purpose of my trip). Once I discovered all the Silver Age art at Comics Showcase my funds got quickly diverted!

Amazing story, amazing what you can find just by coincidence. Was that the only time you went their, or did you go back afterwards?

 

I did make some return visits, though London's a few hundred miles away from where I live!

 

I do remember them having some V For Vendatta pages, but it was outside of my collecting sphere. Possibly Watchmen stuff, but I can't remember . . .

[Captain Canuck]

In our present day, are there still deals/steals to be had on major/key pages from the big artists past and present (Jim Lee, Kirby, Adams, Sinnott, Campbell, ...) or are those days slowly disappearing? All I tend too see is pages in the thousands that will never appreciate or go up at the rates that have been mentioned.

[Eric Seffinga]

I am loving these tales!

[Silver Surfer]

What artist's that are relatively affordable now will see a big jump in prices in the next 10 years?

[Terry Doyle]

What artist's that are relatively affordable now will see a big jump in prices in the next 10 years?

 

Personally, I never collected art with any view to it appreciating in value. The enjoyment, for me, was collecting stuff that pushed my buttons.

[Eric Seffinga]

^ THE only worthwhile way to approach comic art, IMO.

[Silver Surfer]

What artist's that are relatively affordable now will see a big jump in prices in the next 10 years?

 

Personally, I never collected art with any view to it appreciating in value. The enjoyment, for me, was collecting stuff that pushed my buttons.

 

Same here but its been really amazing to see various books [AF#15, Hulk #1, etc] just explode in value in a short period of time so I was just wondering what OA will catch fire. I'm sure nothing I collect will increase in value as that is just the way it goes.

[Captain Canuck]

What artist's that are relatively affordable now will see a big jump in prices in the next 10 years?

 

Personally, I never collected art with any view to it appreciating in value. The enjoyment, for me, was collecting stuff that pushed my buttons.

 

I don't personally collect art hoping that it appreciates in value, but it would be nice to know that I have made a decent deal once in awhile. Who do we consider the up and coming artists that will be the future of the industry in 10 years? With the glut of artists I don't think the Kirby's, Adams, Shusters, Lees of the industry currently exist.

[Terry Doyle]

What artist's that are relatively affordable now will see a big jump in prices in the next 10 years?

 

Personally, I never collected art with any view to it appreciating in value. The enjoyment, for me, was collecting stuff that pushed my buttons.

 

I don't personally collect art hoping that it appreciates in value, but it would be nice to know that I have made a decent deal once in awhile. Who do we consider the up and coming artists that will be the future of the industry in 10 years? With the glut of artists I don't think the Kirby's, Adams, Shusters, Lees of the industry currently exist.

 

Not something I can offer an opinion on as I effectively stopped collecting comic-books a long time ago (and most of what I see, from the current crop of strip-illustrators, doesn't really excite me). Probably best answered by those who collect moderns . . .

[JLA22fan-migration]

Yes, they did have about 30 Watchmen panel pages from the earlier issues. I didn't see any V. If I recall correctly the art was in the basement of Neal Street, inside poster frames. I bought 4 killer pages at 120 each; discounted to 400 pounds (say 600 dollars) - I eventually traded them with Dave Mandel some years later for a total of 1600 dollars.

[DeadpoolJr.]

What artist's that are relatively affordable now will see a big jump in prices in the next 10 years?

 

Personally, I never collected art with any view to it appreciating in value. The enjoyment, for me, was collecting stuff that pushed my buttons.

 

Same here but its been really amazing to see various books [AF#15, Hulk #1, etc] just explode in value in a short period of time so I was just wondering what OA will catch fire. I'm sure nothing I collect will increase in value as that is just the way it goes.

80's-90's titles, people that read comics in that period are now in the collecting age, and nostalgia for things from that age will make the amount of buyers in that pool grow along with prices. Moon Knight for example has gone up with more people wanting it. DeadPool of course is another one especially from the earlier series or work by Liefield

 

We have artist with work from that period that already have strong prices for their art McFarlane, Lee, Liefield etc. But should increase to others artist as well simply because of the titles they worked on during that period.

 

It also won't be a monopoly with just the art from the big 2 driving prices anymore. Of course there was a few titles that didn't come from them, and had high prices, but that wasn't common. Now with the many starting to read from other publishers, like Image that have their work not only being read by comic readers, but by the average person as well expanding the market. This has already happened with The Walking Dead, but I think it could also increase with other titles as well since a lot of modern OA are easier to locate, and have a cheaper entry point.

[vodou]

The rules of supply and demand still apply. The reason the old stuff went up, stays up, keeps going up is because those classic guys wrote the language, they wrote the rules. And their peaks came and went, and then they died. The output, especially the best of the best, is very limited in supply and the demand is pretty much everybody that buys comic art. Even if they can't afford it, now, they would if it went down by 70% (all other things being equal), which means it won't. Too many slightly wealthier folks above each other, one on top of the other, with the same idea. And if there's ever a psychological or demographic shift completely away from comicish stuff, where comic art is reviled and hated (hard to imagine, I know, but I can name other art/collectibles categories that have been out of favor for decades...once roiling hot seas of froth and wealth-making!), you won't be able to give it away. That's the worst case scenario. Even the best (periods) of the best (artists) of the best (vintage) will be so much firewood. That too is opportunity as nearly all the risk has been removed, the supply is abundant while the demand is essentially nil.

 

To find the same explosive potential today, in today's artists, you'd almost have to go find another watering hole altogether. Yeah. Leave comic art. As far as explosive returns goes. Find a market still forming or malformed (collapsed bubble?) and have the eye to separate out the best from the rest before the history books have it all laid out for easy consumption. Or when it's reviled and hated, completely ignored. That's not good news to those that can only see COMIC art, not comic ART. Because what I'm describing mostly applies to leaving comics behind and looking to ART. Art sector rotation. (Or do it in collectibles if that's more your thing.) And there's no guarantees in that other game anyway, plenty of gamble but less if you have a good eye and trust it enough to take (financial) leaps.

 

All of that, more sour grapes from vodou? No. What do I have to be sour about? I bought early and often and have been sitting back since. Rather I'm giving you the path of least resistance as I see it. Surely there will be some few superstars that emerge from yesterday and today that most can now afford but will not in ten or thirty years time. But the big easy gains, across the board, those always accrue to the early adopters, those that leap wallet in hand and wide open, years before the price guides and big auctions are everywhere. They got in cheap because only they and a handful of others were there to begin with. Almost no competition pushing prices up. Once everybody is in, and desperately clamoring...why that's sell time not buy time. Wall St. has been doing this for over a century, creating bubbles and then collapsing them, still nobody learns? The time to go left (re: capturing big easy gains) is when everybody else is going right. Or better yet when "everybody" thinks the whole thing is stupid, and nobody is stupider than YOU (for buying, for studying, for even "caring" about it). Later when they all call you smart, a real pioneer, sell them everything you've got and borrow short too if you can!

 

This is why I stopped buying comic art heavily* ten years ago and switched over to "other" art. Heavily. To start I had more than enough comic art, more than I "need" (by anybody's rational measure) as a collector. And second, I simply was no longer getting my money's worth, real leverage on value, imo. The crowd, the competition, had gotten a little too big. There were other more fertile, less populated territories to explore. And while I haven't sold the majority of my comic art collection, actually less than 10%, and all that save a handful of later pieces was at the same time around 2004/05, I do keep an eye on that too..waiting for the beautiful, sexy, dotcom (or China??) vertical spike before the collapse. Maybe it already happened with $600k McSpidey and we're all living in a slow decline with deadcat bounces? It's possible. I do not know. For now, for me, it is not the right time to sell en masse. If for no other reason than I do not need the money (in bulk) and do not have a better place to put that much to work in a short period of time. I'd rather feed the line out very slowly...if at all.

 

I am happy to tell close friends, in person not anonymously over the net, exactly how I achieve 300-500% returns in a year or less. Regularly and ongoing. Enough to make a full-time living of it. And trust me it's not in comic art. But it's very much in art. There is a lot of opportunity out there, but I believe it's not in comic art, at least not the big easy gains one can make a living at, as I describe. No none of them get it either and they don't follow because they don't have the same sense of it all as I do, and the same calm leaping with wallet wide open. But it is what it is and the numbers have (mostly) silenced my critics!

 

All 100% in my opinion except the math. That's real fact. I file and pay honest and complete taxes on it every year. That's what silenced the critics.

 

*Heavily as in over 60% of my post-tax income, working a full-time job and a second part-time one and both quite lucrative.

[vodou]

...discounted to 400 pounds (say 600 dollars)...

If this was the early/mid 80s the conversion was more like 1:2, so 800 dollars.

[Terry Doyle]

Yes, they did have about 30 Watchmen panel pages from the earlier issues. I didn't see any V. If I recall correctly the art was in the basement of Neal Street, inside poster frames. I bought 4 killer pages at 120 each; discounted to 400 pounds (say 600 dollars) - I eventually traded them with Dave Mandel some years later for a total of 1600 dollars.

 

The art section was located upstairs on my first few visits. Later on, they moved it all into the basement.

[Lucky Baru]

What artist's that are relatively affordable now will see a big jump in prices in the next 10 years?

 

Personally, I never collected art with any view to it appreciating in value. The enjoyment, for me, was collecting stuff that pushed my buttons.

 

Same here but its been really amazing to see various books [AF#15, Hulk #1, etc] just explode in value in a short period of time so I was just wondering what OA will catch fire. I'm sure nothing I collect will increase in value as that is just the way it goes.

80's-90's titles, people that read comics in that period are now in the collecting age, and nostalgia for things from that age will make the amount of buyers in that pool grow along with prices. Moon Knight for example has gone up with more people wanting it. DeadPool of course is another one especially from the earlier series or work by Liefield

 

We have artist with work from that period that already have strong prices for their art McFarlane, Lee, Liefield etc. But should increase to others artist as well simply because of the titles they worked on during that period.

 

It also won't be a monopoly with just the art from the big 2 driving prices anymore. Of course there was a few titles that didn't come from them, and had high prices, but that wasn't common. Now with the many starting to read from other publishers, like Image that have their work not only being read by comic readers, but by the average person as well expanding the market. This has already happened with The Walking Dead, but I think it could also increase with other titles as well since a lot of modern OA are easier to locate, and have a cheaper entry point.

 

On Moon Knight - Two artist really drive the prices - Bill Sienkiewicz and Stephen Platt. Both have styles that are "different". Both have styles that evolved on their runs on the title. Well, Platt arrived with his style and it took everyone by storm in the 90's. Platt's Moon Knight cover's are sought after and I think the last one that sold on CL went for $ 59,000.00. Sienkiewicz stuff is just as sought after. Moon Knight fight pages done by him can bring a healthy price.

 

The guys who started Image and artist who published books there will increase although not at the rates they did in the past. An example of that is Sam Kieth. His work has come back down into a range you can afford again. His work - some love and others hate. I'm one of the ones that loves his work.

 

Another one that some love and other's hate is Liefeld. Talk about a minefield of opinions. I was pretty happy to get the one cover and double splash page I own at the prices I paid for them.

 

Mike Zeck's work along with Perez's later pages are still out there at a level that aren't deal breakers.

 

Depending on the time-line of when it was drawn you can pick up Kevin Eastman's stuff pretty cheap.

[chrisco37]

Not anything crazy good, but I happened upon a huge stack of bronze horror and war pages in a forgotten comic shop. This place was housed in a church basement and open only on Saturdays. Priced at $5 a page, I took them all without really even looking closely. Unfortunately there were no a-list artists or key books involved, but I gradually sold off the stack for a $4-5K profit.

 

I still have one of those!