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OA Collecting Goals for 2022
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77 posts in this topic

On 1/16/2022 at 1:59 PM, batman_fan said:

 

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funny story- i was teaching at art center college in pasadena many years ago, and i had a student named scott ketcham. total slacker, did absolutely no work, and so stoned that you could smell the weed on him after he'd come back from coffee break almost every time. well, i come to find out at some point that he was indeed hank ketcham's son. i was astonished. no idea what became of him but i don't expect very much. this was in the 90s so obviously scott was far too young to have inspired dennis. 

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On 12/28/2021 at 9:20 AM, Sideshow Bob said:

In 2021, I opted for the first time to establish a truly disciplined approach to my OA goals. I put together a powerpoint of all the art I'd like to own, pouring over all the books I love and the covers/splashes I found exceptional, from Flaming Carrot Comics to Dark Knight Returns and everything in between. Screenshots from Comixology, photos from issues and trades, and image grabs from CAF and elsewhere. Honestly, it was a wonderful experience to rediscover some storylines and dive a little deeper on titles I respected but hadn't taken time to fully soak up the art, to then evaluate my readings both through a critical lens and the warm embrace of nostalgia. The resulting effort is essentially a flip book of all the art I truly enjoy (at this time). So, in 2022, my pact with myself will be to limit my hunting/bidding/buying to those items in my flip book wantlist, while remaining opportunistic. The expectation is that 2022 will have less purchases but generally a higher price point. 

Acquired multiple targets this year from my hitlist, and the "generally higher price point" prediction was spot-on. Had a couple hitlist pieces show up at auction in a two-month window, but budget constraints forced me to pick one over the other, which is fine but annoying...maybe in a few years it will come back around. Very happy with the targeted approach, but still found a way to stray off the list and get a couple other complimentary pieces along the way.

Thanks to those who helped this year with eagle eyes or a kind move on auction day! 

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On 12/3/2022 at 7:30 AM, delekkerste said:

Didn't work - 2022 might have been my biggest year ever in terms of # of pieces acquired (91 and the year's not done yet!) :whatthe: 

If you combine the multi-page/strip lots, double-pagers, etc. together, then it's "only" 55 unique transactions, but, that's probably about 50 more than I was expecting to make. :eek: 

Granted, only about 10 of these buys were "chunky" sized buys, with the rest being sub-$5K and often sub-$1K. But, that's where I'm finding the best balance of interest, quality, nostalgia and price. It's no fun at all playing in the deep end these days - you either have to pay through the nose to win, or, you end up being disappointed when you bid crazy money and still get outbid (as happened to me in the one mega-sized lot I pursued this year - I'm actually happy to be spending that money instead on a lot of less expensive lots instead).

Not going to give away my trade secrets on specifically what or where I've been doing most of my buying, but, in broad strokes, it's roughly:

- vintage comic book art (1970s-1990s) - 29% of buys. No, you're not going to buy any Watchmen or Byrne X-Men on a budget, but, there's actually still a lot of really nostalgic stuff I'm finding that's available in the $1-5K range. A-level nostalgia can still be found in B and C-level runs & titles at semi-reasonable prices. Sometimes you can even find A-level art on a budget - my 2022 haul includes, for example, 3 prime-era Michael Golden pieces, 2 of which were very (IMO) reasonably priced.

- comic strip art - 29% of buys. Again, no Calvin & Hobbes or Flash Gordon or Krazy Kat bargains here, but, there are sooooooooooo many well-known strips that are available for not that much money. I mean, the market is flooded with Caniff Terry & the Pirates and Davis Garfield strips, just to name two, but, that's literally just the tip of the iceberg. Many of the strips a lot of us grew up with can be had for 3 figures. 

- European comic art - 23% of buys. Again, not going to find any budget Moebius or Herge or Gibrat here, but if you look past the top handful of names, a lot of what's left is often very good and surprisingly still very cheap

- modern/ultra-modern art - 19% of buys. There's so much of it out there that a lot of cool stuff, even from very memorable runs/storylines, from 2000-present that can be had for low 4 figures or even 3 figures if you're willing to look past just the most coveted examples.

It's easy to be discouraged by the bank-account busting prices at the high end, but, there's still a ton of cool art out there at the lower end. :preach: 

Ok - but did you sell 91 pieces?

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Ok, I'll play

86 new pieces (with only 4 over $5k) and 27 (only 3 over $5k) released to other collectors...I've been enjoying Bill's CAL events...wish more folk would participate more deeply

Happy Hunting to All!

P.S. Still need Astonishing Tales 6 Ka-zar page - and 1970s Nova 11

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I continued to charge through most of the modern first appearances I was after and have slowly started moving backward through eras, acquiring a few big pieces I was happy to locate.  I did let go of a few pieces with which I wasn't expecting to part due to a potential real estate purchase, but when that fell through, I ended up rolling funds back into other desirable art.  

Another fun and unexpected event was having our Miles cover (Ultimate Fallout 4) and several other pieces displayed at the Spider-Man: Beyond Amazing exhibit in San Diego.  I really enjoyed being able to share that with others.

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On 12/28/2021 at 6:50 PM, cloud cloddie said:

Same goal as last year - try to get pages to a few books I’m trying to put back together. 
And I’ll probably sell a few things for the fist time in years. I’m sure I’ll buy more than I’ll sell, but I’d like to start curating my collection a bit more next year. 

Found 3 more pages to one of the books I’m trying to complete. 
Sold about a dozen pieces. Bought way more than that. Did a decent job of curating - sold pieces that I was over represented on or wasn’t passionate about, and filled in some gaps. So a good year. 

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On 12/3/2022 at 11:03 AM, Sideshow Bob said:

Acquired multiple targets this year from my hitlist, and the "generally higher price point" prediction was spot-on. Had a couple hitlist pieces show up at auction in a two-month window, but budget constraints forced me to pick one over the other, which is fine but annoying...maybe in a few years it will come back around. Very happy with the targeted approach, but still found a way to stray off the list and get a couple other complimentary pieces along the way.

Thanks to those who helped this year with eagle eyes or a kind move on auction day! 

I decided recently to follow your lead and make up a "hit list" of things I'd like to get (that are still potentially within reach). I suspect that 2023 will be focusing more on "the list" while buying fewer "fun" things. In fact, one item on my list is coming up for auction this month so I'm hoping that'll be my last chunky purchase of 2022. :wishluck: 

That said, it'll be hard to go cold turkey and stop buying the bite size stuff completely, especially since so much cool stuff (including at lower price points) keeps hitting the market like never before. 

Edited by delekkerste
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On 12/4/2022 at 12:30 AM, delekkerste said:

 

the market is flooded with Caniff Terry & the Pirates and Davis Garfield strips, just to name two, but, that's literally just the tip of the iceberg. Many of the strips a lot of us grew up with can be had for 3 figures. 
 

The supply of Terry and the Pirates has been mind boggling.  I’ve been buying so many more strips this year than I had expected, they’re going to start calling me Bobby Murphy Jr.!

I’ve recently discovered early Li’l Abner by Al Capp.  I always thought it was such a bizarre strip when I read it growing up in the 70s and 80s, but the strips when Capp was actually drawing it himself in the 1930s is phenomenally good.  His artistic skill, with his clean, tight lines and brushwork have been really overlooked.  The fact that he can draw some pretty spectacular female characters doesn’t hurt.

Some stuff has really dried up, though.  It’s been a while since there’s been a Prince Valiant from the 1940s or any Foster Tarzans, and the supply of Raymond Flash Gordon’s, Jungle Jim’s and Secret Agent X-9s has slowed to a trickle.  Doonesburys have disappeared altogether.

 

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On 12/28/2021 at 3:19 PM, Brian Peck said:

Colan Daredevil #47 interior page

Buscema Avengers #56 "Death Be Not Proud" interior page

Kirby Red Skull page

Gil Kane Morbius page

Charles Addams cartoon

 

Been looking for DD 47 and Avengers 56 pages for years, none have appeared but you never know.

 

 

Struck out on all

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On 12/26/2021 at 8:04 PM, batman_fan said:

 

I have several goals for 2022

Add one piece of artwork, prefer a Schulz daily, Romita Spiderman, D ick Sprang Batman, Ketcham Dennis the Menace, or a Jack Davis piece

Frame my two Marmaduke pieces

 

 

Schulz daily - accomplished

Romita Spiderman - failed

D ick Sprang Batman - accomplished

Ketcham Dennis the Menance - accomplished

Jack Davis piece - failed

Frame my two Marmaduke pieces - failed

So I guess I have three goals for 2023 (but maybe also add another Schulz)

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