It's 1994, and you have $550. What would you buy?

[BookofStrange]

Adams, Art--Longshot 1, page 14--$225

Colan, Gene--Daredevil 21, page 7--$250

 

Because in 1994 I had really good memories of Longshot and Gene's work on Daredevil was "classic" and I would want a classic page.

[vodou]

Kirby, Jack--Fantastic Four 97, page 17--$550

 

That's the only one I'd have wanted back and even then only because it was Kirby. What I really wanted was a Captain America cover but none on your list. However, in a convention situation I'm sure I could have gotten three for that money from the 80s and earlier.

 

re: Jae Lee. He was all sorts of "hot" around that time. Which tells you something. There's always somebody that's "hot" and their present work is marked at about 80% of decent/better vintage/classic material - but do they stand the test of time? Sometimes yes (Jim Lee), sometimes no (Jae Lee).

 

I happened to pick up two older GC catalogs myself, from the 80s, just came in today's mail and right off the bat I can tell you what was definitely one of the worst "investments" of the last thirty years...painted art. That stuff was prestige at at time when b/w covers and panel pages were common for under $300 and $100 respectively. Paintings were $1000+. Saw some old favorites, a few of which even ended up in my collection twenty years later (for around double Mitch's ask). Do I need to tell you what b/w superhero did in the same time-frame?

[Bronty]

Not to derail the thread, but back in '84 I was at Ithacon where all the Swamp Thing artists were in attendance. In the "Art Room" John Totleben pulled out the spread that had Arcane and his demons holding Abbey... $500. and on the wall was page 2 and 3 from House of Secrets (Swamp things first appearance) with the price of $200 for each page. I knew these were the pages to get but I only had $20 in my pocket and not a pot to you know what....

 

ouch!!

[Bronty]

Kirby, Jack--Fantastic Four 97, page 17--$550

 

That's the only one I'd have wanted back and even then only because it was Kirby. What I really wanted was a Captain America cover but none on your list. However, in a convention situation I'm sure I could have gotten three for that money from the 80s and earlier.

 

re: Jae Lee. He was all sorts of "hot" around that time. Which tells you something. There's always somebody that's "hot" and their present work is marked at about 80% of decent/better vintage/classic material - but do they stand the test of time? Sometimes yes (Jim Lee), sometimes no (Jae Lee).

 

I happened to pick up two older GC catalogs myself, from the 80s, just came in today's mail and right off the bat I can tell you what was definitely one of the worst "investments" of the last thirty years...painted art. That stuff was prestige at at time when b/w covers and panel pages were common for under $300 and $100 respectively. Paintings were $1000+. Saw some old favorites, a few of which even ended up in my collection twenty years later (for around double Mitch's ask). Do I need to tell you what b/w superhero did in the same time-frame?

 

Clarify? Some painted covers are grails today (DKR1, zeck punisher limited, some sienkiwicz, etc) and I don't think necessarily traded at a huge premium to comparable b/w line art by the same artist then did they?

 

In other words when you say "painted art" and "that stuff" what specific examples do you mean?

 

I'm not surprised though. When the art is direct from the artist, the artist prices it with a tradesperson's brain. ("How long did this take me to do?"). Buyers might accept that at first but over time they will price it with their collector brains ("don't give a how long it took you, just a matter of whether I like it.... which mostly boils down to subject matter not medium - is batman on the art...not is it painted vs inked).

 

[vodou]

Jusko SSOC paintings are an example. $800-$1000 ea thirty years ago. Maybe $6k today, probably less in most cases.

[Terry Doyle]

Kirby, Jack--Fantastic Four 97, page 17--$550

 

That's the only one I'd have wanted back and even then only because it was Kirby. What I really wanted was a Captain America cover but none on your list. However, in a convention situation I'm sure I could have gotten three for that money from the 80s and earlier.

 

re: Jae Lee. He was all sorts of "hot" around that time. Which tells you something. There's always somebody that's "hot" and their present work is marked at about 80% of decent/better vintage/classic material - but do they stand the test of time? Sometimes yes (Jim Lee), sometimes no (Jae Lee).

 

I happened to pick up two older GC catalogs myself, from the 80s, just came in today's mail and right off the bat I can tell you what was definitely one of the worst "investments" of the last thirty years...painted art. That stuff was prestige at at time when b/w covers and panel pages were common for under $300 and $100 respectively. Paintings were $1000+. Saw some old favorites, a few of which even ended up in my collection twenty years later (for around double Mitch's ask). Do I need to tell you what b/w superhero did in the same time-frame?

 

Clarify? Some painted covers are grails today (DKR1, zeck punisher limited, some sienkiwicz, etc) and I don't think necessarily traded at a huge premium to comparable b/w line art by the same artist then did they?

 

In other words when you say "painted art" and "that stuff" what specific examples do you mean?

 

I'm not surprised though. When the art is direct from the artist, the artist prices it with a tradesperson's brain. ("How long did this take me to do?"). Buyers might accept that at first but over time they will price it with their collector brains ("don't give a how long it took you, just a matter of whether I like it.... which mostly boils down to subject matter not medium - is batman on the art...not is it painted vs inked).

 

Personally, I never ever bought art with any sort of 'investment' mentality. Lots of painted art in my collection that I continue to treasure - regardless of value-related performance.

 

It's all about what pushes my buttons, not what I think will give me a better return for my $$$s outlay, x-amount of years down the line . . .

[Lee B.]

Joe Chiodo was a pricey painter in those catalogs in the 1990s.

[vodou]

Personally, I never ever bought art with any sort of 'investment' mentality. Lots of painted art in my collection that I continue to treasure - regardless of value-related performance.

 

It's all about what pushes my buttons, not what I think will give me a better return for my $$$s outlay, x-amount of years down the line . . .

Terry not sure if you got it but we're playing a What If? game here, which pre-supposes you'd buy (back then) what you like not what you know today would have led the pack. It's an interesting thought experiment. In my case I would have loved to get those SSOC paintings (well I'd have preferred the early Boris and Norem, but Jusko was cool too) but at the time had no idea how to get them. Around $1000 ea would have been a challenge too (I was but a teen mowing lawns then) but still, would have been absolutely awesome. But if I had, I'd be sitting not on a philosophical "could have done better with other stuff" but an actual reality. That's all.

 

And as I wrote, I did end up with a bunch of paintings from that period. But ten years later, I can tell you they have not gone up in value as much as the rest of the things I was buying ten years ago. I bought them out of love, or actually "like". So what? Still like the paintings plenty. Just sharing a personal story.

[vodou]

Joe Chiodo was a pricey painter in those catalogs in the 1990s.

Lee I got a really nice Chiodo. One thing that was nice about Mitch was, best that I could tell, he didn't raise his prices when things didn't sell. He let the market eventually rise to the point where they made sense.

[Terry Doyle]

Personally, I never ever bought art with any sort of 'investment' mentality. Lots of painted art in my collection that I continue to treasure - regardless of value-related performance.

 

It's all about what pushes my buttons, not what I think will give me a better return for my $$$s outlay, x-amount of years down the line . . .

Terry not sure if you got it but we're playing a What If? game here, which pre-supposes you'd buy (back then) what you like not what you know today would have led the pack. It's an interesting thought experiment. In my case I would have loved to get those SSOC paintings (well I'd have preferred the early Boris and Norem, but Jusko was cool too) but at the time had no idea how to get them. Around $1000 ea would have been a challenge too (I was but a teen mowing lawns then) but still, would have been absolutely awesome. But if I had, I'd be sitting not on a philosophical "could have done better with other stuff" but an actual reality. That's all.

 

And as I wrote, I did end up with a bunch of paintings from that period. But ten years later, I can tell you they have not gone up in value as much as the rest of the things I was buying ten years ago. I bought them out of love, or actually "like". So what? Still like the paintings plenty. Just sharing a personal story.

 

Sure, I understand the 'what if?' scenario, but as I was actively collecting OA a long time before 1994, I get a bit miffed by posts which kinda hint at regrets for not honing-in on the stuff that rose in value over the years.

 

My take on this exercise is that's it's fun to look back, but if you're true to yourself . . . try not to worry too much about missed-opportunities, as long as you came out with a collection that you can be proud of.

 

In any case, if anyone invented a time-machine, I'd be more interested in placing bets on horse races (or the like).

[vodou]

I get a bit miffed by posts which kinda hint at regrets for not honing-in on the stuff that rose in value over the years.

Maybe it's simply some regret not having the fortitude to buy when they could, and now they can't (outside any rational budgeting or even impossible)? Back then things moved a lot slower and it certainly seemed you didn't need to rush for the more mundane stuff (the best always sold ffff-fast!) And of course some of our friends here weren't even in high school in 1994

 

That's the way I saw all the responses so far. Not a time-machine-greed thing at all.

[Bronty]

Yeah, just some fun pie-in-the-sky coulda woulda shoulda. No need to get miffed Terry Vodou's right... for example I graduated high school in 1993. 18 year old me did not have $550 to blow on *anything* in 1994.

 

Sure investment talk gets tiresome, but its only natural. Being a collector is an expensive habit and money's a limited resource, so people want to get the most with the least.

[RockMyAmadeus]

All the money I spent on multiple copies of Silver Sable #1.

 

Sigh.

 

[Bronty]

Everybody's got a few bad decisions like that in their past. More fun to play the woulda coulda game than the WHY THE EFF DID I? game

 

although those bad decisions are real lessons learned.

[Terry Doyle]

Yeah, just some fun pie-in-the-sky coulda woulda shoulda. No need to get miffed Terry Vodou's right... for example I graduated high school in 1993. 18 year old me did not have $550 to blow on *anything* in 1994.

 

Sure investment talk gets tiresome, but its only natural. Being a collector is an expensive habit and money's a limited resource, so people want to get the most with the least.

 

Totally understand yours and Michael's posts, Dan. Yeah, the ROI talk does get tiresome, if expected (usually steered in that direction by the same old wannabe BSDs on this forum).

 

 

[comiconxion]

 

Clarify? Some painted covers are grails today (DKR1, zeck punisher limited, some sienkiwicz, etc) and I don't think necessarily traded at a huge premium to comparable b/w line art by the same artist then did they?

 

In other words when you say "painted art" and "that stuff" what specific examples do you mean?

 

Actually, the Punisher Limited Series covers did sell at a huge premium when they came out. Zeck was asking $1000 per Limited Series cover in January 1986 when they went up for sale. The splash page to Punisher #2 was $40 at the same show and normal interior pages were $15/page. You could have pretty much purchased the complete issues to #2, 3 & 4 for the price of one cover.

 

Although I think many of the Punisher covers would command a 6 figure sum these days, you'd still probably be better off if you had purchased the interiors to Punisher #2-4.

[delekkerste]

Yeah, just some fun pie-in-the-sky coulda woulda shoulda. No need to get miffed Terry Vodou's right... for example I graduated high school in 1993. 18 year old me did not have $550 to blow on *anything* in 1994.

 

Sure investment talk gets tiresome, but its only natural. Being a collector is an expensive habit and money's a limited resource, so people want to get the most with the least.

 

Yeah, other than my rent, I wasn't paying $550+ on anything else back in 1994. It wasn't until 1995 or 1996 that I spent even $100 on a single comic book. So, I don't feel bad when I see these old ads, as I didn't even know original art was a thing until late 2002. I just think it's cool that Lee is taking the time to do this project.

 

Oh, and not all talk regarding "price" has to do with "investment" or "IRR".

[delekkerste]

I just scanned and posted 25 pieces of art from the October 1994 Graphic Collectibles catalog to www.comicartads.com

 

BTW, great seeing you at the NYCC, Lee! You asked me what I'd like to see next - I think some old Frazetta listings would be interesting to see, especially in light of the upcoming Doc Dave auction.

[Lee B.]

I just scanned and posted 25 pieces of art from the October 1994 Graphic Collectibles catalog to www.comicartads.com

 

BTW, great seeing you at the NYCC, Lee! You asked me what I'd like to see next - I think some old Frazetta listings would be interesting to see, especially in light of the upcoming Doc Dave auction.

 

 

It was great to see you at NYCC also Gene! I'm glad you are enjoying the Comic Art Ads website. I don't have a lot of Frazetta ads scanned at the moment, but I will go through some catalogs and scan what I can find for posting in the near future. And if anyone else has requests, please send them my way. Thanks, Lee

[KirbyJack]

The real answer is the Kirby FF. I'd pay for it and never think again about the others. But just for fun, I did a plan B...

 

Buckler, Rich--Daredevil 135 cover--$250

Heck, Don--Journey into Mystery 100, page 3--$275