Your collecting style: Eras? Artists? Titles? A mix? 1 1

[Pete Marino]

As the years have gone on, I've narrowed into a few specific sub-set of collecting:

 

1: The Invisibles by Grant Morrison

2: RPG Art from the games I played a lot (Rifts and D&D 3/3.5)

3: Singular examples of nostalgia from my youth (Jim Lee XM, Liefeld NM/FX, AA Fantastic Four among others)

4: Slott Era ASM/SSM

 

Once I kind of found my "lane" (and it took a while) I found collecting a lot more enjoyable.

[Nuttzo]

On 9/21/2022 at 11:46 AM, Benedict Judas Hel said:

My collecting criteria for comic book art is as follows:

1) Marvel Comics

2) 70’s-early 90’s era

3) Villain-centric

4) Large Panels

5) Up to $2500 in price

 

I may stray a bit from these requirements but for the most part, these are fairly rigid.

That's pretty much my criteria except I only have a 1K price limit. Started out with Ron Frenz Thor pages with villains as those were my favorite books as a kid. I was able to grab a few nice ones before the prices started going up. 

[Dr. Balls]

On 9/22/2022 at 9:59 AM, Pete Marino said:

As the years have gone on, I've narrowed into a few specific sub-set of collecting:

RPG Art from the games I played a lot (Rifts and D&D 3/3.5)

D&D art from third edition must be a challenge to track down? That sounds like a really cool focus.

[alxjhnsn]

I have a few themes

• Artists & Main Characters
• Arm Wrestling with Heroes
• Family Portraits
• Sugar and Spike #100 Covers
• Legion of Super-Heroes commissions
• Remarques
• Miscellaneous (non-theme pieces)

The primary one is the first listed. Artists that I like doing the characters that I most associate with them (published or commissions). 
 

I do have a sweet spot for Sheldon Mayer and his character’s especially Scribbly and, of course, Sugar and Spike. 

[alxjhnsn]

You might also like this thread: 

 

I’m always willing to add more. Just add a comment with the theme and a link to it.

This is a really good list  

 

[Pete Marino]

On 9/24/2022 at 11:48 AM, Dr. Balls said:

D&D art from third edition must be a challenge to track down? That sounds like a really cool focus.

Yeah, it's mostly been a swing and a miss for me.  I got 2 nice things from Sam Wood a long time ago, but that's been pretty much it.  The other stuff I've seen offered have either been way too much or not been something memorable enough to take the plunge.

[s-man]

 

But seriously...I have a mixed collection from various artists that I like.  Mostly its commissions or headshots, but a few interior pages as well.

[Varanis]

Cosmic Ghost Rider

[JadeGiant]

I have always focused on character. In the beginning, almost exclusively. I have favorite artists which would be my next level of focus.

[KirbyCollector]

On 9/29/2022 at 7:11 PM, Bill C said:

You think that's bad- during my collecting years, it was always somewhere in the back of my head that Fishler's most desired art was also my most desired (silver age Infantino Flash).

I wonder at what a point a super intense desire for something becomes "I don't want anyone else to have it" syndrome

[Will_K]

On 9/29/2022 at 7:42 PM, KirbyCollector said:

I wonder at what a point a super intense desire for something becomes "I don't want anyone else to have it" syndrome

From experience... it's when you have enough $$$ to pull it off.  And frankly the "I don't want anyone else to have it" was stronger than the intense desire for it.  Although I've grown to love the piece.

[KirbyCollector]

On 9/29/2022 at 8:12 PM, Will_K said:

From experience... it's when you have enough $$$ to pull it off.  And frankly the "I don't want anyone else to have it" was stronger than the intense desire for it.  Although I've grown to love the piece.

I give you huge kudos for being honest

[BuraddoRun]

I'm a mostly scattershot collector, though I do search for specific characters, artists, and books I like. The problem is...I like a lot of stuff.

But there is a theme I like collecting that is a partial focus, which is completed, yet unpublished pages. I just find the stories behind them fascinating, and love hunting for the answers. I don't have a lot of personal examples, but the ones I do were fun to find.

Edited September 30, 2022 by BuraddoRun

[Will_K]

On 9/21/2022 at 3:20 PM, KirbyCollector said:

OA you would like to own, but can't because two rich guys *cough Miki Aidan cough* keep buying it all and never sell anything

Miki has been on a tear lately.  Wow !!

[alxjhnsn]

On 10/15/2022 at 3:39 PM, Will_K said:

Miki has been on a tear lately.  Wow !!

I think the art he's posting is art he purchased but never got around to posting. Amazing pieces for this old LSH fan.

[Brian Peck]

I have been collecting for many years, back when I started in 1986 I was still reading comics and X-Men was my favorite and mostly read Marvel but did read DC. So first 10 years I mostly collected X-Men with a concentration on Jean Grey. 

My sweet spot for collecting was late 70s and 80s beyond X-Men I was a huge New Teen Titans fan loved Perez, Garcia-Lopez but especially Eduardo Barreto. Besides New Teen Titans I collected 80s independent publishers from AC Comics, Comico and Kitchen Sink. It was tough being in the Bay Area most artist were back east so was relegated to Wonder Con once a year.

It was when ebay hit that I started to expand beyond X-Men and Marvel art, so much more art was out there the first few years of ebay. I also started to concentrate on artist I liked John Buscema, Eduardo Barreto, Al Williamson and many others. By the new century I had filled in alot of my X-Men wants and really started to expand, buying more DC art and artist I loved but the art was harder and more extensive to but like Ditko, Everett and Alex Raymond. I also expanded into comic strip art and illustration.

These days after collecting for some 36 years I am more selective gone are the days when I would impulse buy a page on ebay, ha or at a con. I have found I am more selective and looking for nice examples of golden, silver, bronze age and illustrative  artists. Still love collecting but some of the art I still really want I don't see on the market much these days.

[cloud cloddie]

On 9/29/2022 at 4:11 PM, Bill C said:

You think that's bad- during my collecting years, it was always somewhere in the back of my head that Fishler's most desired art was also my most desired (silver age Infantino Flash).

You think that’s bad… a lot of my wheelhouse is the same as coollines, so I know I’m being bid up, but gotta take it lest it ends up with them. 

[Sideshow Bob]

It has taken more than a decade, of buying and selling and upgrading and curating. But at this point, my collecting style is essentially a barbell. On one side is a super-focused collection dripping with nostalgia (heavy DC with a little Marvel, covering 1986-1991), and the other is a combination of new and older art from artists/titles that I have grown to appreciate as I've grown as a collector. 

I have a veritable graveyard of bad decisions made along the way, some which I was able to escape without pain (and sometimes a profit), others where it still hurts when I think about how expensive the lesson learned was. 

Lessons and scars providing some much needed perspective, over the last two years, I went through another OA selling/upgrading phase, but with some serious guardrails on what I would let myself buy going forward. I went through a theoretical exercise of what my dream portfolio would look like, and found images from the Internet and CAF to drop into a huge powerpoint slideshow. It was a great exercise and I got to crack open a bunch of floppies and trades that hadn't seen the light of day in 30 years, but one that fully violates the commandment of "thou shall not covet thy neighbor's house or possessions". It isn't just the super high-end stuff, but arguably every piece is A+ for its category (I thank my lucky stars for never getting into mutant titles...) So now, I only look for pieces that are in that dream portfolio, hence the guardrails. Maybe they'll turn up from whatever black hole they are in, or the people that have them will be amenable to selling, but taking the noise out of the hunt has been incredibly fulfilling as a collector. 

-Bob

Edited October 17, 2022 by Sideshow Bob

[theflashunc]

Three main areas for me:

1) Eltingville Club

2) mix of childhood stuff that was important to me personally, but maybe not considered top tier stuff (Paul Ryan FF)

3) Modern stuff I've enjoyed reading (Matt Kindt's Mind MGMT)

 

[Dr. Balls]

On 10/17/2022 at 4:21 PM, Sideshow Bob said:

I have a veritable graveyard of bad decisions made along the way, some which I was able to escape without pain (and sometimes a profit), others where it still hurts when I think about how expensive the lesson learned was.

Thank you for posting that, it's good to hear that OA expensive learning lessons are experienced by other people - not just me.

  

On 10/17/2022 at 4:21 PM, Sideshow Bob said:

It isn't just the super high-end stuff, but arguably every piece is A+ for its category (I thank my lucky stars for never getting into mutant titles...)

I like the way you put that: "A+ for it's category". I am trying to collect within those parameters. I'm never going to own a McFarlane or Jim Lee cover, but I can find loads of other art that are exceptional within themselves or their "category" - even if the artist isn't a household name - and I take a lot of enjoyment in that. I gave myself guardrails before I really knew I had them - thanks for pointing those out.

Edited October 26, 2022 by Dr. Balls