More is Less - or is - Less is More ?

[Peter G]

To date, the disparity in price between original comic art covers and the inside panel pages have valued comic covers less than the total of all pages in a book

 

Even I began to wonder earlier today if the Amazing Spider-man 97 comic book that Mike Burkey posted about earlier his morning would sell for more than the cover that is being auctioned at Heritage ? or would the cover sell sell for more ?

 

Will the future appraise higher values to covers of a magnitude that is MUCH greater than the sum total of a complete book ?

 

Are covers under priced ?

[AKA Rick]

I don't think that a cover is or should be worth the sum of the interiors of a book, with the avg of 20-24 pages of sequential story telling, some splash or double page splashes with cover quality rendering, wheras, at least in today's publications, a cover often is just a static pin-up with little to do with the story inside itself.

 

It is a case by case basis, but with a modern book where interior pages sell for $100-300 each on avg, I would then estimate the book to be worth between $2,500-5,000, and think that a cover would be about $2,000-3,000 by that same artist.

 

With a lot of less established artists, I'm seeing covers sell for $300-500 and their interior pages sell in the $100 range, so many artists don't put such a high premium on their covers compared to the interiors at times.

 

I like covers in that they're typically eye catching. I do like interiors however because of the sequential art and storytelling. I must say 'tho, today's digital age with pencils not inked and no lettering on the artwork makes interiors a bit lackluster in my old school opinion.

[delekkerste]

To date, the disparity in price between original comic art covers and the inside panel pages have valued comic covers less than the total of all pages in a book

 

Even I began to wonder earlier today if the Amazing Spider-man 97 comic book that Mike Burkey posted about earlier his morning would sell for more than the cover that is being auctioned at Heritage ? or would the cover sell sell for more ?

 

Will the future appraise higher values to covers of a magnitude that is MUCH greater than the sum total of a complete book ?

 

Are covers under priced ?

 

Obviously it depends on the issue, but, generally speaking, IMO there's no reason why covers should be worth 20+ times the average price of the interiors including any splashes. Regarding ASM #98, I think the cover will do better than the consensus expects. But, I don't expect it to reach anywhere near the offered price of the complete story, and, IMO, it shouldn't. It's a great cover, but the complete story is even better IMO - one of my personal favorites. I certainly love the cover, but I'd take the complete story all day long and twice on Sunday it given the choice.

 

I don't know if there's any rule of thumb regarding what the "right" cover-to-interior (C/I) ratio should be - it really depends on the issue. I was actually looking at the art for a modern series at the NYCC last weekend where the covers were priced at 4x the interior pages. And certainly there are instances at the other extreme where the cover is worth more than the whole book. I suspect that most issues fall somewhere in-between, though.

 

Generally speaking, I think there's a better argument to be made that interiors are underpriced relative to covers.

[Nexus]

Generally speaking, I think there's a better argument to be made that interiors are underpriced relative to covers.

 

I believe this is especially true for non-superhero books, whose primary audience is in trades and similar formats. For these readers/fans, the original monthly covers don't register the same as they do for those who bought the book off the stands. For these fans, what they remember are key/favorite moments in the story/art. The original covers, if they're included at all, serve as chapter breaks in a trade, with little/no impact on the story.

 

Which is not to say that covers will become valueless, or that interiors will overtake them in the hierarchy of collecting. Just that I expect the current multiple to decrease over time.

[Bronty]

^ interesting point. With respect to the original question(s), I think covers vs interiors sell at appropriate discounts/premiums at this time

[alxjhnsn]

Obviously it depends on the issue, but, generally speaking, IMO there's no reason why covers should be worth 20+ times the average price of the interiors including any splashes.

and

I don't know if there's any rule of thumb regarding what the "right" cover-to-interior (C/I) ratio should be - it really depends on the issue.

I would like to add that there seems to be a presumption of the same artist on the outside and the inside in this conversation.

 

It seems obvious to me that certain cover artists' covers will raise more than the interior art from "lesser/less popular" artists. I remember how disappointed I was to get an Adams cover on an issue with Robbins or Novick or whoever art.

 

In those cases, I'd bet that the cover was worth more than the sum of the interior pages.

[hippiecop]

Very interesting topic. Obviously there are exceptions (better interior pages, lackluster covers, etc.) but when I was collecting in the 90s, I always thought your average splash was about 3x your average page. I considered your average cover about 3x your average splash.

So, I guess in my personal collecting logic, I consider an average cover worth almost half of an average story.

Another interesting topic would be large vs. small art. Back in the mid-90s, a large art page/cover could go 3x what a similar small art page/cover would go for. I would imagine that the gap has grown a lot smaller, with 20 more years of small art being the accepted standard.

[hippiecop]

As the ASM #98 cover keeps climbing, it's almost looking like it just might at least be in the ballpark of the sum of the pages. I think there were 17 full pages at the time (with two half pages) ?? Seem to remember a lot of Parker pages with no Spidey, but of course Goblin battle pages too... Looks like the cover will certainly break 200k.

[Mercury8989-migration]

As the ASM #98 cover keeps climbing, it's almost looking like it just might at least be in the ballpark of the sum of the pages. I think there were 17 full pages at the time (with two half pages) ?? Seem to remember a lot of Parker pages with no Spidey, but of course Goblin battle pages too... Looks like the cover will certainly break 200k.

 

It's a great Romita example. That is for sure. Would not surprise me if singular examples out pace and extend any existing market ratio with panels. If this happens it will undoubtedly be covers or iconic interiors.

[Peter G]

As the ASM #98 cover keeps climbing, it's almost looking like it just might at least be in the ballpark of the sum of the pages. I think there were 17 full pages at the time (with two half pages) ?? Seem to remember a lot of Parker pages with no Spidey, but of course Goblin battle pages too... Looks like the cover will certainly break 200k.

 

It's a great Romita example. That is for sure. Would not surprise me if singular examples out pace and extend any existing market ratio with panels. If this happens it will undoubtedly be covers or iconic interiors.

 

It's Gil Kane

[Bronty]

As the ASM #98 cover keeps climbing, it's almost looking like it just might at least be in the ballpark of the sum of the pages. I think there were 17 full pages at the time (with two half pages) ?? Seem to remember a lot of Parker pages with no Spidey, but of course Goblin battle pages too... Looks like the cover will certainly break 200k.

 

It's a great Romita example. That is for sure. Would not surprise me if singular examples out pace and extend any existing market ratio with panels. If this happens it will undoubtedly be covers or iconic interiors.

 

It's Gil Kane

 

That's why it looks so good compared to Romita

[Peter G]

As the ASM #98 cover keeps climbing, it's almost looking like it just might at least be in the ballpark of the sum of the pages. I think there were 17 full pages at the time (with two half pages) ?? Seem to remember a lot of Parker pages with no Spidey, but of course Goblin battle pages too... Looks like the cover will certainly break 200k.

 

It's a great Romita example. That is for sure. Would not surprise me if singular examples out pace and extend any existing market ratio with panels. If this happens it will undoubtedly be covers or iconic interiors.

 

It's Gil Kane

 

That's why it looks so good compared to Romita

 

I have to admit that I really love Gil Kane's work and my admiration for him only continues to grow. This cover in particular is really very beautiful.

[delekkerste]

Well, now that the ASM #98 cover auction is over, I'm going to say that the complete story is probably more valuable than what the cover fetched (I know it's been offered privately at well over double the amount).

 

I'm pretty sure that my G.I. Joe #21 complete story would fetch far in excess of what the cover alone would fetch. Of course, with that issue, the interior story is far more significant than the cover.

[Peter G]

Well, now that the ASM #98 cover auction is over, I'm going to say that the complete story is probably more valuable than what the cover fetched (I know it's been offered privately at well over double the amount).

 

I'm pretty sure that my G.I. Joe #21 complete story would fetch far in excess of what the cover alone would fetch. Of course, with that issue, the interior story is far more significant than the cover.

 

It is hard to argue with the current reality that the sum total of the pages in a book are indeed greater in value than the cover art alone. Various historical data points seem to buttress this fact.

 

Yet - my gut tells me this disparity will narrow over time. And the cover art MAY continue to go up much much more while the interior pages eventually stagnate further behind.

 

Just my