Some questions about comic art

[Mighty Hal]

Nothing hot or burning, but things are a little slow and I have a few questions that come to mind from time to time:

 

Dean Yeagle’s Mandy appears to be a tremendously popular character (so far, I’m Mandy-less, but an original would be lovely), and I know this because I can find a dozen “homages” for sale on eBay and on CAF. I mean, ALL of the time. I also believe Yeagle is also a member of CAF. Have you ever bought a faux Mandy, would you ever buy a faux Mandy, and why is the artist okay with this…if he is? Wouldn’t he have some legal standing to step up and shut down the fakes?

 

I miss seeing more of Mike Parobeck’s artwork. Man, he was good. His Batman Adventures originals almost always contain red lines on them – sometimes with the notation, “don’t print red lines” – but I don’t see those same lines on his other work. Why not, and what was the purpose of the red lines, anyway?

 

Is there a “female-premium” on comic art? Following the auction results on Li’l Abner, it appears that the strips featuring Daisy Mae go for a premium. Those same results indicate that Dan DeCarlo's Archie covers featuring Betty & Veronica command more if the ladies are prominently featured, especially if they’re in swimsuits. And Parobeck’s Batman Adventures pages seem readily available – unless those pages feature Batgirl or Catwoman. Am I right or am I seeing something that isn't there? Is there a similar premium elsewhere?

 

Darwyn Cooke’s original artwork wasn’t cheap to begin with, and has almost disappeared following his passing. Another great artist, sorely missed, and, yes, I'd love the right page. But I can't find it! Where did the artwork go? Is it all out in the wild, carefully hoarded, or has his family held onto most of it? Anyone know?

 

Those are my questions. Any answers…or any questions of your own?

 

[MOStateSuperman]

I can only speak to Darwyn Cooke's art. As far as I know, most of it is out in the wild. I have some myself (and am always looking for more), but you said it - it's fetching an even greater premium since his passing. As with any sought after artist, be wary of counterfeits if you do go hunting. They were popping up like crazy back in May/June.

[Will_K]

Re: Dean Yeagle's Mandy

I've bought a few of Dean's Mandy drawings on 8 1/2 x 11 from the man himself. They're beautiful but none of them are on CAF. Would love to have one of his larger drawings. I don't know how he feels about the homages or swipes. But in theory, he's in the same boat as DC or Marvel. And it goes without saying that Dean doesn't have the same financial backing to enforce his rights.

 

Re: Mike Parobeck

The red lines usually appear on his "animated" Batman art. The red lines delineate where the shading starts. If you compare the original art to the printed art, it'll be more obvious.

 

Re: female premium

Since the 1960's or maybe earlier, comic books were mainly collected by young boys, teen boys or men. It's not a great leap to say "sex sells". If you just look at the ratio of men vs women in convention sketches by Adam Hughes, well... a decent AH! Supergirl drawing probably sells better than the best AH! Superman drawing.

 

Re: Darwyn Cooke

There's usually a bump in price in the near term after the passing of an artist as amazing as he was. At some point, the market settles down but it might be at a higher plateau.

 

In all cases above, be aware of fakes.

 

 

 

 

[Steven Ng]

Dean Yeagle brings art portfolios to his convention appearances. For the 8.5x11 sheets, he charges $100. Most feature Mandy. Some include her dog Scoots. Some have other girls. Some have animals. These might have a single figure. Many have multiple figures. Almost always done in pencil.

 

I think Dean agreed to have a card company make Mandy non-sports cards. The company had a number of artists create sketch cards for this set. I've never looked them up, but assumed those were what I was seeing.

[Mighty Hal]

I appreciate the responses. Sorry for not commenting earlier.

 

I can only speak to Darwyn Cooke's art. As far as I know, most of it is out in the wild. I have some myself (and am always looking for more), but you said it - it's fetching an even greater premium since his passing. As with any sought after artist, be wary of counterfeits if you do go hunting. They were popping up like crazy back in May/June.

 

Surprised the Parker pages disappeared so quickly. As a Donald E. Westlake fan (the author behind Parker), I'd love a page.

 

[quote=Will_KRe: Mike Parobeck

The red lines usually appear on his "animated" Batman art. The red lines delineate where the shading starts. If you compare the original art to the printed art, it'll be more obvious.

 

Thank you. Mystery solved.

 

I think Dean agreed to have a card company make Mandy non-sports cards. The company had a number of artists create sketch cards for this set. I've never looked them up, but assumed those were what I was seeing.

 

 

Some of the Mandy rip-offs up for auction are flat-out porn, so probably not sketch cards. I think Will K. had it right; Yeagle lets things pass because the legal bills would be tremendous. Still shouldn't happen.

 

**

 

Once again, no burning issues here, but a couple of more questions. Since the forum feels a little slow and all....

 

Does anyone collect a specific artist's work and not the artist/superhero combo? I mentioned Romitaman to my wife and she asked, "So he collects everything by John Romita?" I told her, I don't think Burkey does. Spider-man, sure, but what about pages from the rest of J. Romita's long career? His multi-year run in romance, for example? I doubt Mike has a single page in his private collection.

 

We all know collectors that are focused on a single character -- i.e., Spider-man -- or an artist's work on a single character -- i.e., Spider-man -- but is there anyone collecting only the works of one specific artist, such as Wally Wood, regardless of the character(s) he drew?

 

For comic strip collectors: Is there anyone, anywhere, who has a collection of JUDGE PARKER or MARY WORTH strips, and just can't wait to buy more? Or a MARK TRAIL collection for that matter? Or any of the middle-of-the-road, no publisher is pushing collections, kind of strips?

 

Early on in my convention days, I saw MARY WORTH strips going out the door for $5 with few takers. I was reading MARK TRAIL today and wondered if I'd pay five bucks for the thing, but I also understood that the strip must have thousands of fans. Certainly, someone wants those strips and will pay good money for them. Or am I wrong?

 

Speaking of comic strips, when a strip has had multiple artists, is there a hierarchy of value? With MODESTY BLAISE is Jim Holdaway the guy, since he was the original artist? Is it Enric Romero because, yowza, the sex appeal? John Burns or Pat Wright, because they had shorter runs, or Neville Colvin, because he had such a long run?

 

 

 

 

[Will_K]

Does anyone collect a specific artist's work and not the artist/superhero combo?

There are a few people on CAF that seem to like just about anything by a certain artist.

 

But if you look at my CAF, it's very plain that I collect just about any kind of art by Nick Cardy.

 

Any age - from the 1940's until Nick passed in 2013.

Any genre - super-hero, western, romance, humor, whatever.

Any character - Batman, Teen Titans, Bat Lash, Aquaman, etc

Any published format - comic strip, comic book, movie poster, commercial art

Any whatever - prelims, finished art, sketches/commissions, personal art

Any medium - pencil, ink, paint

 

I've let some things get away or got outbid in the last couple years. But Nick is my prime focus.

 

Speaking of comic strips, when a strip has had multiple artists, is there a hierarchy of value?

Comic strips aren't my strength but I think there's a hierarchy, for sure. Especially for the classic, "name brand" strips. Terry and the Pirates (Caniff, Wunder), Blondie (Chic Young, Stan Drake), Popeye (Segar, Sagendorf, etc), D ick Tracy (Gould, Locher), Prince Valiant (Foster, Murphy), Tarzan (Foster et al)

[buyatari]

 

Once again, no burning issues here, but a couple of more questions. Since the forum feels a little slow and all....

 

Does anyone collect a specific artist's work and not the artist/superhero combo? I mentioned Romitaman to my wife and she asked, "So he collects everything by John Romita?" I told her, I don't think Burkey does. Spider-man, sure, but what about pages from the rest of J. Romita's long career? His multi-year run in romance, for example? I doubt Mike has a single page in his private collection.

 

We all know collectors that are focused on a single character -- i.e., Spider-man -- or an artist's work on a single character -- i.e., Spider-man -- but is there anyone collecting only the works of one specific artist, such as Wally Wood, regardless of the character(s) he drew?

 

We touched on this topic a bit when I asked about A list artists. My initial understanding was that an A list artist was one who turned lead into gold. All pieces done by such an artist would be considered very desirable. Others disagreed and consider the A list artist to be one who had a track record of high dollar sales only. If you happened to play for the Ney York Yankees for 15 years you will get more votes on your HOF ballot.

 

There are artists who do turn lead into gold. There are collectors who would love to own anything Frank Frazetta did no matter the subject.

 

 

[Mighty Hal]

There are a few people on CAF that seem to like just about anything by a certain artist.

 

But if you look at my CAF, it's very plain that I collect just about any kind of art by Nick Cardy.

 

Any age - from the 1940's until Nick passed in 2013.

Any genre - super-hero, western, romance, humor, whatever.

Any character - Batman, Teen Titans, Bat Lash, Aquaman, etc

Any published format - comic strip, comic book, movie poster, commercial art

Any whatever - prelims, finished art, sketches/commissions, personal art

Any medium - pencil, ink, paint

 

I've let some things get away or got outbid in the last couple years. But Nick is my prime focus.

 

Ah, Nick Cardy. For my money, one of the greats. If this wasn't a Marvel-centric hobby -- or if Cardy had spent the majority of his career with Marvel -- he'd be considered shoulder-to-shoulder with Romita, Buscema, etc., in terms of desirability.

 

Congratulations on your collection.

[Mighty Hal]

We touched on this topic a bit when I asked about A list artists. My initial understanding was that an A list artist was one who turned lead into gold. All pieces done by such an artist would be considered very desirable. Others disagreed and consider the A list artist to be one who had a track record of high dollar sales only. If you happened to play for the Ney York Yankees for 15 years you will get more votes on your HOF ballot.

 

There are artists who do turn lead into gold. There are collectors who would love to own anything Frank Frazetta did no matter the subject.

 

 

Since quickly drawn Frazetta sketches can command strong prices, you're probably right. I wish I could disagree, though. Sometimes lead is still lead, even if it comes in a Tiffany box.

 

On eBay, as I write this, you can pick up a Steve Ditko ROM Spaceknight page for $2499.99 (Buy It Now!) and Ditko's name is it's strongest selling point. It's kind of a blah page. If that same page was drawn by George Tuska, it would be go for a fraction of the price. Not because Tuska wasn't a good artist -- I own a couple of his pages so I clearly don't think so -- but because he wasn't Ditko.

 

If the same page was drawn by Frazetta, you'd wonder...well, "What happened to Frank? Was he having a bad day or what?" But once you got past that, you'd probably find the price point to be double what they're asking for Ditko.