Oh how the times have changed 3 3

[christosgage]

I just realized that another thing that's different today is when I started collecting art, not many people (if anyone) were interested in my primary areas of interest, Herb Trimpe Godzilla and Shogun Warriors art. Now there are a lot of interested Godzilla buyers, including dedicated Godzilla collectors who aren't into other comic art, and Shogun Warriors art is going for more than I ever thought I'd see.

[Buzzetta]

"And when Alexander saw the breadth of his domain, he wept, for there were no more worlds to conquer."

Hans Gruber - 1988

 

I think we all get to a point where there is nothing out there to get excited over when we already have most everything that is within our grasp to obtain or have a desire to obtain.   At a certain point this is nothing more than an endless chase of never ending 'stuff'. 

[gumbydarnit]

On 12/26/2023 at 12:42 PM, Buzzetta said:

I think we all get to a point where there is nothing out there to get excited over when we already have most everything that is within our grasp to obtain or have a desire to obtain.   At a certain point this is nothing more than an endless chase of never ending 'stuff'. 

Interesting, not the case for me, plenty of pieces that are exciting (art wise), but their prices … not so much.

[tth2]

On 12/27/2023 at 2:42 AM, Buzzetta said:

I think we all get to a point where there is nothing out there to get excited over when we already have most everything that is within our grasp to obtain or have a desire to obtain. 

I've read this sentence several times now and still don't understand it. 

Edited December 27, 2023 by tth2

[Will_K]

Things that haven't  been mentioned so far... more information about an artist's process, the ability to research some pieces (sales history, alterations), connecting with the artists / other collectors.

[Buzzetta]

On 12/26/2023 at 11:00 PM, tth2 said:

I've read this sentence several times now and still don't understand it. 

Neither do I.  

What I mean to articulate is basically this using myself as an example. 

 

I already have everything within my means at this point that I would want to have.   What else is there?  There is stuff I can afford if I really want it, but at the prices they are at, it no longer interests me, or I am throwing money at something just to get something else.   When it comes to comic and art collecting it seems to be a never ending chase for an ever growing list of "stuff." 

[Brian Peck]

On 12/26/2023 at 4:25 AM, gumbydarnit said:

Somehow I stumbled onto ComicartL a yahoo message board run by Gary Land. It had good conversations and you could land art on occasion from various FS postings. I landed two nice pages from a collection that Gary and another collector partnered up to buy. They kept the key A level pages and sold off some nice B level ones (if memory serves me correctly it was from a LCS called Comic Town - I could be wrong). Those were from fun times.

Also, a cool back in the day memory- with eBay being my primary source of art, you could actually see the eBay handle of who was competing against you. The primary outbidder against me was an eBay handle that I eventually found out to be Gary Land. 
 

The most painful one was a Paul Smith/Terry Austin Marvel Fanfare page featuring Wolverine and Colossus vs Sauron. It was a stunner… when all the auction snippers fired their last shot Gary was the high bidder left standing. I wondered would another 20 or 50 bucks have tipped the scales? He no longer has the page so please don’t bug him, trust me I bugged him enough ; )

Yes I was a eBay sniper back in the day, we were the talk of many “honest bidders” who wanted your high bids cast way before the auction ended so they would have sufficient time to respond with their follow up bid. 
 

hey that was 3 back in the day memories in one post, not bad.

1. eBay nemesis known via eBay handle

2. ComicartL For Sale postings

3. eBay last second sniper bidding controversy

I started out with onelist before comicart-l and I remember the Comic Town collection. I picked up a sweet George Perez New Teen Titan splash featuring Starfire from the 2nd run.

Edited December 27, 2023 by Brian Peck

[Rick2you2]

On 12/26/2023 at 11:21 PM, Buzzetta said:

Neither do I.  

What I mean to articulate is basically this using myself as an example. 

 

I already have everything within my means at this point that I would want to have.   What else is there?  There is stuff I can afford if I really want it, but at the prices they are at, it no longer interests me, or I am throwing money at something just to get something else.   When it comes to comic and art collecting it seems to be a never ending chase for an ever growing list of "stuff." 

I liked it.

As Peggy Lee sang: “If that’s all there is, then let’s keep dancing. Just bring on the booze, and have, a ball.”

[gumbydarnit]

We are on page two and no one has talked economics.

I play the part of the demographics guy... "We only have a short window before everyone dumps thier collections."

Who's the bubble will pop guy? He usually has a good graph.

Then there's the fininacial guy, who starts saying all the big words that I don't understand.. "Overleveraged... Profit to Earnings Ratio...33 Trillion in Debt... Historically Gold is a where you want to be .. there or Pokemon cards."

Come on get it together!!!

Edited December 27, 2023 by gumbydarnit

[thethedew]

On 12/27/2023 at 6:57 AM, gumbydarnit said:

Come on get it together!!!

I like comics.

[Buzzetta]

On 12/27/2023 at 7:57 AM, gumbydarnit said:

We are on page two and no one has talked economics.

I play the part of the demographics guy... "We only have a short window before everyone dumps thier collections."

Who's the bubble will pop guy? He usually has a good graph.

Then there's the fininacial guy, who starts saying all the big words that I don't understand.. "Overleveraged... Profit to Earnings Ratio...33 Trillion in Debt... Historically Gold is a where you want to be .. there or Pokemon cards."

Come on get it together!!!

I don’t look at the economy as much as compared to where I personally am along my own timeline.  
 

Most likely I am retiring in 6.5 years.  There is the off chance I work another year or two but my Christmas present to myself in 2030 is most likely that I am getting up to use the bathroom at work, and going home to do so and never return 😂.

I would like to have a lot more sold and minimized by that point.  Maybe sell off a bunch of books and keep just some things.  Who knows if I stay on LI?

Want to know why my LCS closed?  It has nothing to do with economics.  He was getting older and tired of lifting comic book boxes on new comics day.  I was just in my storage room and moving 25 gallon bins that were far heavier than they should be.  I exercise most every day, 10-20 mile bike rides every day in the warmer weather, I’m not even 50 yet and I said to myself, “What the hell am I doing?”

With that said, I cannot wait to build that new Lego Avengers Tower for my office.  (It’s going on the floor in the corner since it’s over 3ft tall).

Edited December 29, 2023 by Buzzetta

[cstojano]

On 12/27/2023 at 6:48 AM, Buzzetta said:

I don’t look at the economy as much as compared to where I personally am along my own timeline.  
 

Most likely I am retiring in 6.5 years.  There is the off chance I work another year or two but my Christmas present to myself in 2030 is most likely that I am getting up to use the bathroom and going home to do so and never return 😂.

I would like to have a lot more sold and minimized by that point.  Maybe sell off a bunch of books and keep just some things.  Who knows if I stay on LI?

Want to know why my LCS closed?  It has nothing to do with economics.  He was getting older and tired of lifting comic book boxes on new comics day.  I was just in my storage room and moving 25 gallon bins that were far heavier than they should be.  I exercise most every day, 10-20 mile bike rides every day in the warmer weather, I’m not even 50 yet and I said to myself, “What the hell am I doing?”

With that said, I cannot wait to build that new Lego Avengers Tower for my office.  (It’s going on the floor in the corner since it’s over 3ft tall).

No man needs two Buscema Indy pages in their retirement, just saying...

Edited December 27, 2023 by cstojano

[MAR1979]

On 12/26/2023 at 10:07 AM, KirbyCollector said:

Not exactly on point, but your question made me think of one thing which has never changed: Will Gabri-El. He is as nice today as when I first met him 20+ years ago: no fake "persona," no looking down at customers b/c they aren't millionaires, no treating them as if they were stupid. Just a regular guy, which I appreciate the older I get.

I too have been dealing with Will for 20 years and have found him to be a totally straight shooter.

Will represents the "best" of Comic Art Dealers! Even if I'm not so sure that is a positive statement  
 

Edited December 27, 2023 by MAR1979

[Michael Browning]

Back in the mid-1990s, I started out looking at this new thing called the internet when I was a sports editor at a local newspaper and was fascinated that there were people that sold original art.

I did a Yahoo search and found the comicart-l Yahoo group first, then a site called Dragonberry and that eventually led me to discover CAF in its very early days.

I used to budget $50 per payday to spend on either a golden age comic or a page of original art from eBay — and I always paid with a postal money order, sometimes in two payments.

I, too, remember being able to see the other bidders’ screen names and getting into bidding wars with them just because they had beaten me on other items.

I bought my first cover art, Sludge #11 by Aaron Lopresti, for $75 from Tom Fleming’s Fanfare-SE site and finally got enough art to trade Tom for the Steve Lightle Doom Patrol #1 cover that I still have. It was $1400 and I offered Tom, like, $5,000 worth of art and he kindly said, no, he would just take $1,400 worth. My next trade was with George Pantella over in Australia. Talk about a scary and very blind transaction. I didn’t know him at all, and can’t believe now that I actually made such a leap of faith, but he was an honest guy and the trade was seamless.

I wanted the cover to Flash #323 very badly and found it on my very first visit to CAF, and the owner, Jim Cardillo, offered to trade it to me. I offered him the cover to Crisis on Infinite Earths #6 by George Perez and Jim politely said he wasn’t much of a Perez fan, but he would take my Ramona Fradon Super Friends cover and $800 for the Flash. I still have it, too.

I ended up making fun trades with Mike Burkey, Will Gabri-El, Anthony Snyder, Tom Fleming and a few others who were around that early in the game. I bought pages from the Donnelly brothers from eBay and even made a trade with Steve many years ago to get the Saga of the Swamp Thing #3 cover, which is one of the few pieces I have hanging on my walls.

For many years, I had one portfolio of art and, just in case I hit the mother load, I bought a second Itoya with an 40% off coupon at Michael’s and hoped I would one day fill it up, too. I was going to stop collecting if I could just get that much art because who would ever be able to enjoy more than that? … 22 portfolios later, and I still don’t have all that I want.

My collecting tastes have changed a lot over the years, but eventually started to come full circle back around 2016. I started out buying art that I liked and could afford - a $38 Don Perlin Ghost Rider page was a big purchase for me until I paid $118 for a Klaus Janson DD #196 page featuring the best fight page with Wolverine and DD on it (that I bought in anger because I was driving the price up on an eBay rival and accidentally won it). I then fell in love with Charlton covers because they were so affordable and George Hagenauer had numerous Tom Sutton painted covers for $200-$250 each and I bought a bunch. I then bought a bunch of Miracleman art by Totleben from Miracleman collector supreme, Ricky Wong, who had nearly every page featured in the Kimota book. I lost on the Rick Veitch MM #9 birth page at $138 on eBay and the seller was Ricky, so he contacted me and offered me Totleben pages for the same price. He sold me the MM #4 cover by Starlin for $1,000 and let me make payments for three months. Then, I got into Jonah Hex art and, for the longest time, had one of the biggest Jonah Hex art collections around. After that dreadful movie, though, I lost my love for Hex art and, honestly, there’s only so many drawings of his ugly, scarred face that one can stand.

Around 2016, I came back around to buying what I love and can afford and that’s where I’ve been ever since.

I said about 10-15 years ago that this hobby was still on the ground floor and so many of the old curmudgeons and prophets of doom laughed at me and there were so many then (and still are) predicting the downfall of comic art. 😉😊

Edited December 28, 2023 by Michael Browning

[-m]

Tom Fleming and Ricky Wong, true gentleman of the OA community. Thanks for sharing, Michael.

[Lucky Baru]

 

Two things jump out at me:

- The changing dynamics suggest a slight overemphasis on the part of representatives and dealers, perhaps not fully acknowledging the shifting landscape where their roles are less exclusive now.  There are so many more paths to walk down when looking for a piece from this artist or that one now.

2) Reflecting on the delightful interactions with artists like Tim Sale and George Perez, it's disheartening to realize those moments are now in the past. My first encounter with Tim Sale was when he was the artist on Deathblow, stationed in artist alley without a line. Getting a sketch from him and chatting while watching him work was a joy. Despite significant changes in the process to get on his list over the years, the last time I saw him in Charlotte, he remained the same wonderful person to interact with.

[jimbo_7071]

On 12/26/2023 at 11:41 AM, gumbydarnit said:

Today, it’s funny to think snipping was such a big deal, but I guess back then it was a new concept, because in the world of bidding in real world auctions the underbidder has the opportunity to up his offer. So bidders brought that mindset to eBay but with that hard auction end, users like me thought, why continue to drive the price up and give other bidders a chance to consider placing a higher bid? I and the others snippers would all throw in their max bid during the last few seconds and see who walks with the piece. It was very jarring to the traditional auction bidders.

The anger was understandable because it was against the norms of the time.

Fast internet has changed sniping. I thought I was sniping on this item back in 2001. I entered my bid 18 seconds before the auction ended! I was one second later than tbirdman11; he probably thought he was sniping, too. I would never bid that early now. Back then, though, waiting any longer would have meant running the risk that the bid wouldn't go through on time.

[John E.]

This year I celebrated 10 years as a comic art collector. 
 

It’s hard to believe that I started off at Big Wow! ComicFest in San Jose, CA with a 2.5” x 3.5” sketch book and asking artists for doodles. And I can’t believe I had the balls to go up to the likes of Kevin Nowlan and Tim Bradstreet and ask for a “doodle” without the expectation that I had to pay them something. I mean, they were there for the fans, right? 
 

Flash forward 9-10 years and now the fresh-to-market art comes to me, thanks to an active and established CAF gallery. Sometimes I get approached for pricing advice from the unlikeliest of collectors and dealers. I find that unbelievable as I’m still the lowest budgeted collector and essentially a nobody in the hobby. But for those first 7-8 years I lived, ate, and breathed the hobby.
 

It’s never been a perfect hobby and the mistakes, frustration, patience, and lessons I learned in the past decade has put some hair on my chest. Still, it’s been a good 10 years.

 

[Rodey]

The Artist's Choice website and Spencer Beck. I miss his yearly sales and trying to buy Mark Bagley New Warriors stuff. I'm sure I drove him nuts. Is he ever going to update his site? LOL. 

[John E.]

On 12/29/2023 at 11:27 AM, Rodey said:

Is he ever going to update his site? LOL. 

There is one AND ONLY ONE constant in this ever-changing hobby.