McFarlane on eBay

[delekkerste]

But sorry ... 75-79 isn't as strong as either half of the 80s or either the front half of the 60s.

 

Yeah, after thinking it over, I'd have to agree. Most of my favorites from that era are continuations of series and/or creator runs that began in the first half of the '70s (e.g., Thomas/Buscema Conan, Wolfman/Colan Tomb of Dracula, Jose Gonzalez drawing Vampirella, etc.) while the biggest new standout from this period, Claremont on X-Men w/Cockrum and Byrne, didn't really hit its peak until 1980-81. Looking at some of my other favorite characters/titles, it wasn't a particularly good period for Marvel's flagship ASM title, Frank Miller hadn't yet revived Daredevil, BWS had left Conan, Adams had left Batman, etc. Not that there weren't some classic storylines (e.g., "Demon in a Bottle") and notable launches (e.g., Cerebus) during this timeframe, but, for me, I think it trails both halves of the '60s, the first half of the '70s and both halves of the '80s. I can't say I share as many fond memories of the '90s as some of the slightly younger Forumites here, though, and would rank '75-'79 ahead of either half of that decade.

[Bronty]

(thumbs u

[Alex B]

+1000000000000000000

 

And of course all the late 70s/80s masterpieces by Frank Miller, Bill Sienkiewicz, Arthur Adams, Dave Sims, Alan Moore, etc.

 

"One of the weaker eras in comics" is impossible to understand for me... and even more difficult to justify

 

Impossible to understand? I think not

 

I define late 70s as 75-79.

 

First of all every era has it's classics. Even the late 50s which Id consider the weakest half decade has showcase 4 and lots of others.

 

But sorry ... 75-79 isn't as strong as either half of the 80s or either the front half of the 60s. The back half of the 60s still has a bit of silver age magic (though not nearly as much as the front half) so I view that as stronger also although it's debatable. For me, the early 70s is a very interesting time, particularly at DC. So much branching out into different genres, so many new creators. Unfortunately, many of them reduced output in the back half of the 70s and the experimentation with genre that marked the early 70s was gone.

 

So, for me, when I rank them, the back half of the 50s is poor... an overreaction to the code. The back half of the 70s (75-77 or so esp) is this unfortunate transition period (noting that even this period like all periods had its classics) from the pure form of the Bronze Age to the 80s which was an overall great decade. 90s is a whole other discussion.

 

Great to see your statement about the early 80s being in the same group as the end of the 70s has now changed to the "80s which was an overall great decade". Don't touch my 80s

[Solar]

Byrne FF is outstanding. Top Notch. Best FF since Kirby. Fresh and still dynamic. He set the stage for Art Adams, Todd McSpidey.

 

Yeah I just like trolling Byrne fans occasionally.

[Lucky Baru]

.... That's where, I think from another thread, those who love McFarlane may opt to buy his other work like Infinity Inc to at least have something they can afford. As that happens, the lower end stuff starts to rise. Same thing happened with Kirby artwork, the silver age material was high, and the copper aged stuff (like Captain America) was a lot lower, but everything has risen lately, even Kirby's non-super hero material.

 

To use a cliche - One man's trash is another man's treasure. In that vein, I found it a riot when the same age group in this thread who can't understand the interest or don't like McFarlane's work could not understand why those Liefeld pages went for so much in the Comic Link auction that just ended. Love Rob's work or hate Rob's work it is under valued. His stuff is value priced when compared to Silvestri's, McFarlane's, and Lee's pages. It has started to rise in price due to the cost associated with those other guy's work that started Image with him. He's a good entry point to OA pages from the late 80's early 90's era. Just like those other 3 guys his work is hardwired into that generation's consciousness.

 

For me the OA hobby is kind of like values tied to antique cars. What was "hot" in that hobby 10 or 15 years ago isn't what is "hot" now. Sure there are those vehicles that will always hold their prices but many ebb when the collectors that have fond memories associated with them leave the market. The new blood in the hobby/market want vehicles associated with their youth.

 

Collectors of different generations don't want what was great to their father.

[AKA Rick]

To use a cliche - One man's trash is another man's treasure. In that vein, I found it a riot when the same age group in this thread who can't understand the interest or don't like McFarlane's work could not understand why those Liefeld pages went for so much in the Comic Link auction that just ended. Love Rob's work or hate Rob's work it is under valued.

 

I speculate the same will be said about Greg Land of this generation similarly to Rob Liefeld in that there's plenty of naysayers criticizing the work, but there's also many more fans of their published work and Greg Land continues to get both cover and interior assignments from Marvel and on some of their most popular characters/titles too.

[Bronty]

+1000000000000000000

 

And of course all the late 70s/80s masterpieces by Frank Miller, Bill Sienkiewicz, Arthur Adams, Dave Sims, Alan Moore, etc.

 

"One of the weaker eras in comics" is impossible to understand for me... and even more difficult to justify

 

Impossible to understand? I think not

 

I define late 70s as 75-79.

 

First of all every era has it's classics. Even the late 50s which Id consider the weakest half decade has showcase 4 and lots of others.

 

But sorry ... 75-79 isn't as strong as either half of the 80s or either the front half of the 60s. The back half of the 60s still has a bit of silver age magic (though not nearly as much as the front half) so I view that as stronger also although it's debatable. For me, the early 70s is a very interesting time, particularly at DC. So much branching out into different genres, so many new creators. Unfortunately, many of them reduced output in the back half of the 70s and the experimentation with genre that marked the early 70s was gone.

 

So, for me, when I rank them, the back half of the 50s is poor... an overreaction to the code. The back half of the 70s (75-77 or so esp) is this unfortunate transition period (noting that even this period like all periods had its classics) from the pure form of the Bronze Age to the 80s which was an overall great decade. 90s is a whole other discussion.

 

Great to see your statement about the early 80s being in the same group as the end of the 70s has now changed to the "80s which was an overall great decade". Don't touch my 80s

 

I never changed my statement. Reread It was silver surfer that grouped them together not me.

 

I then took issue with *part* of his statement

[RabidFerret]

McFarlane Spider-Man is an iconic run, with not a lot of artwork available (less than 50 issues, 'tho it sounds like a lot if you figure that's over 1,000 pages and covers of original art, compared to the print runs of the published comic work and also measuring that up against the tens of thousands (if not more) of fans - - it's really a scarce commodity), most of the pages are still retained in private collections, so it's not like many exchange hands often for public access to purchase.

 

I think the quantity and relative rarity of the good pages is something a lot of people haven't noticed with a bunch of the 90s guys. They all did tiny runs relative to the previous generation. Kirby and Romita and Buscema and these guys that left behind 5-10k++ pages, you can always find something by them. McFarlane had 45 Spidey issues. Liefeld had 20 mutant issues. Lee was around 30 X-books.

 

There are only 1000 McFarlane Spidey pages out there, and that includes all the Aunt Mays and other weak pages nobody wants. If you really look through all of McFarlane's Spidey work and want a full figure of Spider-Man in an iconic spidey pose? There may be 100 of this caliber, including covers.

[Lucky Baru]

McFarlane Spider-Man is an iconic run, with not a lot of artwork available (less than 50 issues, 'tho it sounds like a lot if you figure that's over 1,000 pages and covers of original art, compared to the print runs of the published comic work and also measuring that up against the tens of thousands (if not more) of fans - - it's really a scarce commodity), most of the pages are still retained in private collections, so it's not like many exchange hands often for public access to purchase.

 

I think the quantity and relative rarity of the good pages is something a lot of people haven't noticed with a bunch of the 90s guys. They all did tiny runs relative to the previous generation. Kirby and Romita and Buscema and these guys that left behind 5-10k++ pages, you can always find something by them. McFarlane had 45 Spidey issues. Liefeld had 20 mutant issues. Lee was around 30 X-books.

 

There are only 1000 McFarlane Spidey pages out there, and that includes all the Aunt Mays and other weak pages nobody wants. If you really look through all of McFarlane's Spidey work and want a full figure of Spider-Man in an iconic spidey pose? There may be 100 of this caliber, including covers.

 

McFarlane has never sold a cover he inked or penciled on Spawn either. Well, there is that one group Image one but other than that he's got them all tucked away.

[alxjhnsn]

McFarlane Spider-Man is an iconic run, with not a lot of artwork available (less than 50 issues, 'tho it sounds like a lot if you figure that's over 1,000 pages and covers of original art, compared to the print runs of the published comic work and also measuring that up against the tens of thousands (if not more) of fans - - it's really a scarce commodity), most of the pages are still retained in private collections, so it's not like many exchange hands often for public access to purchase.

 

I think the quantity and relative rarity of the good pages is something a lot of people haven't noticed with a bunch of the 90s guys. They all did tiny runs relative to the previous generation. Kirby and Romita and Buscema and these guys that left behind 5-10k++ pages, you can always find something by them. McFarlane had 45 Spidey issues. Liefeld had 20 mutant issues. Lee was around 30 X-books.

 

There are only 1000 McFarlane Spidey pages out there, and that includes all the Aunt Mays and other weak pages nobody wants. If you really look through all of McFarlane's Spidey work and want a full figure of Spider-Man in an iconic spidey pose? There may be 100 of this caliber, including covers.

 

Top 100 "artists" (pencil or inks) by page count can be found on Mike's World of Amazing Comics

 

Here's an excerpt of the top 10 and the bottom 5 in the top 100. Kinda interesting, I think. My fav (Curt Swan is the number one penciler).

 

Rank Name Pages Stories

1 Vince Colletta 20868 1613

2 Curt Swan 18865 1415

3 Sal Buscema 18569 907

4 Jack Kirby 18009 1405

5 John Buscema 17941 815

6 Mike Esposito 16990 1252

7 Allen Milgrom 16923 790

8 Scott Hanna 16768 708

9 Tom Palmer 16025 746

10 John L. Byrne 15773 762

...

 

96 Scott McDaniel 5746 266

97 Robert Campanella 5745 249

98 Barry Kitson 5692 246

99 Al Vey 5676 237

100 Scott Kolins 5645 276

 

[Bronty]

McFarlane Spider-Man is an iconic run, with not a lot of artwork available (less than 50 issues, 'tho it sounds like a lot if you figure that's over 1,000 pages and covers of original art, compared to the print runs of the published comic work and also measuring that up against the tens of thousands (if not more) of fans - - it's really a scarce commodity), most of the pages are still retained in private collections, so it's not like many exchange hands often for public access to purchase.

 

I think the quantity and relative rarity of the good pages is something a lot of people haven't noticed with a bunch of the 90s guys. They all did tiny runs relative to the previous generation. Kirby and Romita and Buscema and these guys that left behind 5-10k++ pages, you can always find something by them. McFarlane had 45 Spidey issues. Liefeld had 20 mutant issues. Lee was around 30 X-books.

 

There are only 1000 McFarlane Spidey pages out there, and that includes all the Aunt Mays and other weak pages nobody wants. If you really look through all of McFarlane's Spidey work and want a full figure of Spider-Man in an iconic spidey pose? There may be 100 of this caliber, including covers.

 

hmm thatès a very good point

[RabidFerret]

Top 100 "artists" (pencil or inks) by page count can be found on Mike's World of Amazing Comics

 

Here's an excerpt of the top 10 and the bottom 5 in the top 100. Kinda interesting, I think. My fav (Curt Swan is the number one penciler).

 

Rank Name Pages Stories

1 Vince Colletta 20868 1613

2 Curt Swan 18865 1415

3 Sal Buscema 18569 907

4 Jack Kirby 18009 1405

5 John Buscema 17941 815

6 Mike Esposito 16990 1252

7 Allen Milgrom 16923 790

8 Scott Hanna 16768 708

9 Tom Palmer 16025 746

10 John L. Byrne 15773 762

...

 

96 Scott McDaniel 5746 266

97 Robert Campanella 5745 249

98 Barry Kitson 5692 246

99 Al Vey 5676 237

100 Scott Kolins 5645 276

 

And note that you won't find many of the 90s Image founders on any list except Image comics itself. Silvestri did a lot at Marvel, and although not a founder, Jae Lee makes the grade at Marvel. Jim Lee doesn't make Marvel, DC, or All, which is surprising since he's been everywhere for decades.

 

The 90s peak was sharp.

[Alex B]

 

Great to see your statement about the early 80s being in the same group as the end of the 70s has now changed to the "80s which was an overall great decade". Don't touch my 80s

 

I never changed my statement. Reread It was silver surfer that grouped them together not me.

 

I then took issue with *part* of his statement

 

Got it ! The 80s rocks for the both of us

And to get back on topic, even though most of its stories didn't age well (euphemism), the McSpidey run is one of the most popular and revolutionary (art wise) Spider-Man runs ever.

It's no surprise considering the limited number of pages with Spidey in action that they are now reaching this kind of prices.

Jim Lee's X-Men shouldn't be far behind. And yes, Leifeld has a good shot at getting there too.

[jjonahjameson1]

Early 80s was also interesting because of the First, Pacific, and other publishers coming along and offering different universes of characters by some top talents of the day, as well as introducing new talents that would one day become top creators in the industry.

 

I enjoyed Steve Rude's Nexus, Mike Grell's Jon Sable, Sergio Aragone's Groo and a host of other titles and character that may not have seen the light of day at Marvel or DC.

[stinkininkin]

McFarlane Spider-Man is an iconic run, with not a lot of artwork available (less than 50 issues, 'tho it sounds like a lot if you figure that's over 1,000 pages and covers of original art, compared to the print runs of the published comic work and also measuring that up against the tens of thousands (if not more) of fans - - it's really a scarce commodity), most of the pages are still retained in private collections, so it's not like many exchange hands often for public access to purchase.

 

I think the quantity and relative rarity of the good pages is something a lot of people haven't noticed with a bunch of the 90s guys. They all did tiny runs relative to the previous generation. Kirby and Romita and Buscema and these guys that left behind 5-10k++ pages, you can always find something by them. McFarlane had 45 Spidey issues. Liefeld had 20 mutant issues. Lee was around 30 X-books.

 

There are only 1000 McFarlane Spidey pages out there, and that includes all the Aunt Mays and other weak pages nobody wants. If you really look through all of McFarlane's Spidey work and want a full figure of Spider-Man in an iconic spidey pose? There may be 100 of this caliber, including covers.

 

Top 100 "artists" (pencil or inks) by page count can be found on Mike's World of Amazing Comics

 

Here's an excerpt of the top 10 and the bottom 5 in the top 100. Kinda interesting, I think. My fav (Curt Swan is the number one penciler).

 

Rank Name Pages Stories

1 Vince Colletta 20868 1613

2 Curt Swan 18865 1415

3 Sal Buscema 18569 907

4 Jack Kirby 18009 1405

5 John Buscema 17941 815

6 Mike Esposito 16990 1252

7 Allen Milgrom 16923 790

8 Scott Hanna 16768 708

9 Tom Palmer 16025 746

10 John L. Byrne 15773 762

...

 

96 Scott McDaniel 5746 266

97 Robert Campanella 5745 249

98 Barry Kitson 5692 246

99 Al Vey 5676 237

100 Scott Kolins 5645 276

 

 

Interesting. Wonder how accurate this list is? Always wondered how much stuff I've done in raw numbers over a 30 year plus career. I came in at number 90 of all inkers with 4609 pages inked, but came in at number 31 for all inkers of covers with 371 covers. Wish I would have kept more of those covers!

 

 

 

Scott

[alxjhnsn]

I'm not sure as to the accuracy Scott. Colleen Doran pointed out the a chunk of her work is missing.

[Nexus]

To use a cliche - One man's trash is another man's treasure. In that vein, I found it a riot when the same age group in this thread who can't understand the interest or don't like McFarlane's work could not understand why those Liefeld pages went for so much in the Comic Link auction that just ended. Love Rob's work or hate Rob's work it is under valued.

 

I speculate the same will be said about Greg Land of this generation similarly to Rob Liefeld in that there's plenty of naysayers criticizing the work, but there's also many more fans of their published work and Greg Land continues to get both cover and interior assignments from Marvel and on some of their most popular characters/titles too.

 

Are there (or have there ever been) fans of Greg Land the way there were for Rob Liefeld in his heyday?

 

It seems to me (and I may be totally off-base here) that his art is regarded as "pretty" and competent by the average fan, but it's not driving anyone wild. The derision comes when fans are exposed to the fact that Land is a notorious swiper and photo-tracer.

 

My guess is that history will not look kindly upon his body of work, given that he depended so heavily on tracing photos for his art. There's something off about his art, even at first glance, and when you learn about his techniques, it explains why everything looks so stiff.

 

This may be damning with faint praise, but I actually find Liefeld's comic work more interesting than Land's. For all his faults, Liefeld clearly loved comics. I don't get that same sense when I look at Land's art.

[stinkininkin]

To use a cliche - One man's trash is another man's treasure. In that vein, I found it a riot when the same age group in this thread who can't understand the interest or don't like McFarlane's work could not understand why those Liefeld pages went for so much in the Comic Link auction that just ended. Love Rob's work or hate Rob's work it is under valued.

 

I speculate the same will be said about Greg Land of this generation similarly to Rob Liefeld in that there's plenty of naysayers criticizing the work, but there's also many more fans of their published work and Greg Land continues to get both cover and interior assignments from Marvel and on some of their most popular characters/titles too.

 

Are there (or have there ever been) fans of Greg Land the way there were for Rob Liefeld in his heyday?

 

It seems to me (and I may be totally off-base here) that his art is regarded as "pretty" and competent by the average fan, but it's not driving anyone wild. The derision comes when fans are exposed to the fact that Land is a notorious swiper and photo-tracer.

 

My guess is that history will not look kindly upon his body of work, given that he depended so heavily on tracing photos for his art. There's something off about his art, even at first glance, and when you learn about his techniques, it explains why everything looks so stiff.

 

This may be damning with faint praise, but I actually find Liefeld's comic work more interesting than Land's. For all his faults, Liefeld clearly loved comics. I don't get that same sense when I look at Land's art.

 

+1

 

Scott

[J.Sid]

image for reference, the page ended at $11k. Seems about right to me.

 

 

[J.Sid]

Those McFarlane ASM issues in the "teens" (311-319) were amazing. He was at his peak and he was basically doing his tour of the Spider-Man rogue's gallery, giving fans his version of a classic villain every issue. Green Goblin, Mysterio, The Lizard, Rhino, Scorpion, Black Cat.... and oh yeah, the few with no classic villain featured happened to be Venom issues.

 

Congrats to the winner.