How You Got Into Collecting OA

[Jesusjon]

Storytime, all. How'd you get into collecting OA? What sparked that passion that made you shift from reading/collecting comics to purchasing the art from them? Tell me a story...

 

Mine is pretty simple. I was reading, and loving, Ex Machina. Was visiting BKV's forum one day and saw Tony Harris posting there. He had mentioned something about where his OA pages could be purchased. So I checked the site out and found the "origin" pages from issue #1 on sale, for what I now realize was cheap. It's been downhill from there...

 

Keeping it positive, and feeling the love...

 

J

[CW]

Cary Nord was at a local show that was underattended. I was set up as a dealer for the 2 days. First thing in the morning on the first day of the show I went over and commissioned a finished Conan piece on art board. Being that there were very few other people getting sketches he accepted and made a beautiful inked piece. I was hooked after that.

[desertdogg]

jj. i got started / exposed to original comic art when i was 16 ah yess the year was 1975 bell bottoms and platform shoes. anyway. i just had picked up the overstreet price guied , when i notice all my conan barry smith issues had gone up. i had 1 -24 so i figure it was time to sell them. being from detriot there were no comic shops in the city just out side the city.

 

i begged my mother to drive me to ther only shop i knew which was a 45 min drive from where i lived. i told her i was going to make some good money on my books so she took me. i got to the shop and the guy offered my like 20 or 30 bucks for the lot. telling me overstreet was not the bible for shops to sell by and was very overrated. and that everyday someone will come in and sell the same books all day long.

 

so i talked the guy into giving me 25.00 cash and 10 bucks in store trade. i figger my moms was pissed so i gave her the 25.00 and use the store credit for my self.

 

when i eyed two pages of comic art on the wall hanging by thumb tacks. i asked what were these. and the dealer told me that they were the original pages from a comic book and that they one on a kind. unlike comic books. and that you don,t have to ever worry about anybody lowballing you because they are one of a kind..

 

i like that after having to give up my conan 1-24 run. for peanuts. so the pages were $ 5.00 each. one was fantastic four i belive # 150 by rich buckler and the other was kobra # 3 by giffen / austin. so it was at the time i knew i was hooked.

 

and still is today. larry { mr old school } ;]

[mister_not_so_nice]

I've posted this while rambling on another thread, But since we're consolidating:

 

Way back when in 1995/6 the wife and I had just heard of eBay. So one week while browsing the comics section I saw up for auction the original for PREACHER 3 pg 16, an almost full splash of Cassidy, a few dozen bodies a,d a tiny Saint Of Killers. The page sat at under $100 for the entire week. I decided I was going to try and get it, since at the time issue 3 was selling for about $30-40. So I figured if the mass produced book was that much I surely should get a one of a kind page for not much more. It finally was ending late sunday night and I sat there, with the two browsers open and my snipe prepared. I think I entered $135(more than my months allotment for comics) or so. Well I ended up winning it. It was the first PREACHER page I ever saw for sale and am happy to have gotten it. I know prices paid aren't usually discussed and are prob in bad taste, but I am elated to this very day as I write this, to have won this page for the price I did. I estimate to buy this page today would cost me easy $250-300. Not a whole lot for the big time guys but a big deal to me. And here, I've posted it again rambling on this thread. Lucky you.

 

Mike

a/k/a Mr small time

[Jeffro.]

Went to a show at a high school in Ramapo NY. Don't remember what year, but I think it was the last show they did there. ()

 

Bought a Mike Grell Warlord page. (Not inked by Coletta, thank god)

 

At a different show in Northhampton Mass, picked up a sweet Ed Hannigan/Alfredo Alcala Kull splash page from Ed himself real cheap.

 

Went nuts on ebay for a while picking up pages by Kirby, Byrne, Mignola, McGuire, Adam Hughes, and Kane.

 

Decided that despite how much I loved collecting OA, it costs more than I was willing to dish out at the time and put my collecting on hold.

 

Someday, I will return.

[Thomas]

About 18 years ago when I was about 14-15 I saw an original art page in a local comic store and was transfixed on it. I don't remember the price but it was out of my budget at the time whatever it was. I always had it in the back of my head that one day I would own a page of my own and have it framed and on the wall at home.

 

Well my birthday just passed in April and my mother-in-law gave me 100.00 and I didn't know what to buy. I happened to see a nice Superman page on ebay and I won it for around 70.00. I got it framed and put on the wall.

 

Then I saw another Superman page that I liked even more and it had the bonus of retelling his origin on the page so I asked the wife and bought that too.

 

After that I saw two more pages that I wanted and bought those too. Now I"m looking for more. I'm addicted to original art now and am thinking of selling my silver age comics on ebay to finance more original art. Help.

[Robert Plunkett-migration]

I'd wanted original art for a long time before I actually started collecting. I always figured that it was either unattainable or out of my price range. I got some pieces (only one of which is on my online gallery or otherwise on display) at a thrift store and some unclaimed pieces at a friends' convention. I figured those were flukes.

 

Then, at the end of 2000, I was trying to get the all pin up Betty and Veronica issue on Ebay and, when I searched "Betty and Veronica", I got a routine Dan Parent piece. I figured it must be worth $50 or something. When I got it for just over $10, I realized that original art was a cost effective hobby after all. I date my collection from the date I paid for that piece, January 4, 2001.

[Sharkey]

I've recounted this story in other threads, so sorry about Grampa telling the John Romita Jr. story ...AGAIN.....

 

In the early 1990s I lived in Iowa City, IA -- I was in grad school and was selling at a lot of local Midwest comic shows on the weekends to make a few extra bucks and support my comic collecting habit . John Romita Jr. happened to move to town and lived a few blocks away from my apartment. I got introduced to him and ended up organizing and promoting a couple of local shows with JR Jr. as the featured guest -- we donated the entry fees to the local food bank and boy did he draw the crowds. It was a ton o' fun. He was (and still is) the nicest guy, unbelievably good with the fans. I was the journalism program and needed to interview somebody for a class project so I interviewed John. While I was at his house I saw some art on his wall, and he mentioned he had a whole closet full of pages he'd done for Iron Man and Daredevil. I went throught them and bought two Iron Man pages (about all I could afford as a student). I have them and cherish them to this day. I had always thought John did a phenomonal job on both his runs on Iron Man, and it was interesting how his style had changed over time. I have both pieces framed and on the wall at home.

 

After that, I was bit and bit good. I've slowly moved away from collecting comics (except for pre-hero Marvel) almost exclusively into original art.

 

 

BTW, I'm looking for nice JR Jr. Thor page, if anybody has one they'd part with.....

[sborock]

I was walking around Chicago Con with Ed Jaster years ago (before CGC) and saw the fully painted cover to Starman # 7 at Scott Eders booth and it blew me away! I asked how much it was and he said $750 but I could have it for $700. I said to Ed something like "Jeez, I don't know. I mean, it seems like a lot of money and I don't know anything about OA". Jaster just laughed at me and said " Borock, you're an insufficiently_thoughtful_person! You just spent over $20,000 on a comic and you don't want to spend $700 on something you love and will hang in your home?". So, because that made so much sense, I bought it and love it!

 

I did not buy any original art again until I was at CGC and started collecting art because I did not want to collect comics (still read them) in case people would think I would grade my own books and grade them high ( I mean who on this board would think up conspiracy theories )

 

Now I have the OA bug and LOVE it!

[Sharkey]

I did not buy any original art again until I was at CGC and started collecting art because I did not want to collect comics (still read them) in case people would think I would grade my own books and grade them high ( I mean who on this board would think up conspiracy theories )

 

Now I have the OA bug and LOVE it!

 

Yeah, so whatever you do, DO NOT get into the business of grading or evaluating original art. If you do that, you'll have to switch to coins

[krazykat-migration]

Ill never forget it. Spring of 1981. June 3rd. It was a warm breezy day and I went up to my attic to check my comics. As I was walking up the stair-well I hit my head on the swing ladder. When I woke up I decided I wanted to collect OA.

 

KK

[matewan1990]

I had wanted to buy original art for many, many years since I'd seen a whole book of Dark Knight Returns pages for sale and, when I got the chance, I bought three pages from Chuck Wojtkewicz, who, at the time, was drawing Justice League America. He sold a splash and two character pages to me for $35. I think I had about $7 left to get gas and go home on.

After I discovered eBay, I started buying a few small pieces here and there until I had a nice little collection of minor pages put together. Then, I decided I wanted some bigger pages, so I saved up a little money and bought a cover. Then, I traded that cover for a bigger piece and that cover for another bigger piece and from there, I built my collection.

I had some really nice art go through my collection and into other people's. I've owned quite a few nice covers and interior pages.

The first piece of original art I ever owned was a Wolverine McAllister drawing by William Messner-Loebs from a 1987 comic convention in Charleston, W.Va.

I love that piece of art and still own it. I did, however, pass up a Don Rosa Uncle Scrooge color drawing for $50 a long time ago and I could kick myself now for not buying it.

Who cared about Uncle Scrooge and Donald Duck? I was looking for Harbinger 0! Arrrrgh...

[krazykat-migration]

AAAAARRRRR

[CW]

Ill never forget it. Spring of 1981. June 3rd. It was a warm breezy day and I went up to my attic to check my comics. As I was walking up the stair-well I hit my head on the swing ladder. When I woke up I decided I wanted to collect OA.

 

 

 

Nice