ComicConnect Auction 1 1

[Ecclectica]

On 3/19/2024 at 1:32 PM, Sean I said:

https://www.comicconnect.com/item/1034657

Also published Byrne X-Men, albeit Hidden Years, for less than $700?

It was already sold in 2018 with its color guide, by a french collector. For what's worth, if I remember well, the price was not that high even then.

[comix4fun]

On 3/19/2024 at 7:48 AM, g-man said:

thought this piece went for a rather low price when compared to one from 2022...basically 1/2. 

ComicConnect - Hughes, Steven - LADY DEATH/VAMPIRELLA #1 Splash Page - VF: 8.0 (last night)

ComicConnect - Hughes, Steven - LADY DEATH/VAMPIRELLA #1 Splash Page - VF: 8.0 (december 2022)

One's a double full figure (and full figured  ) full splash....and the other is a more close up, less than full figure, more like 1/2 splash with the panels and insets, of the same characters from the same book but one is dramatically more desirable than the other. 
Feels like logic won out here..... 

[comix4fun]

On 3/19/2024 at 9:42 AM, tth2 said:

Wow, that is a pretty low price for that page!  Maybe one can justify it because Morpheus isn't in the page, but it's a key page.

Maybe it's Gaiman burnout...after that Heritage where he regaled viewers with tales of years gone by....and fans were emotionally spent. 
Or that there's no Morpheus. Either way. 

 

[Unstoppablejayd]

On 3/19/2024 at 8:32 AM, Sean I said:

Seemed like soft prices to me.

I spend more time in the Morlock tunnels and don't breath the rarified air of 5 figure pages, but wasn't ~$20,000 for a Sandman Issue 1 page pretty low?  

https://www.comicconnect.com/item/1034657

Also published Byrne X-Men, albeit Hidden Years, for less than $700?

https://www.comicconnect.com/item/1034824

Paul Ryan FF for less than $400

https://www.comicconnect.com/item/1036886

I was racing home from work to try to get to that Byrne page lol… someone got a great deal 

[Unstoppablejayd]

I took a big swing at the Quesada Xfactor cover but still fell short (thought it was a good price) but did pick up a few small pages that I thought went very cheap. Big mix of results in the auction overall you can take results and paint a sky is falling or the market is strong picture depending on which way you lean! 

[cstojano]

One thing is clear, CC is the place to auction Elfquest color art, totally destroyed HA with recent listings, some real head scratchers.

[timguerrero]

overall I'd like to hear people's thoughts on selling at ComicConnect. Would collectors who have consigned to them recomend them to sell art? As a buyer I think I got some great deals on the pieces I won. On others I was interested in the hammer price was just to high.

[Nexus]

On 3/19/2024 at 6:02 AM, delekkerste said:

This one (pleasantly) surprised me. Having paid a very big price for the JSF cover I bought a couple years ago, I was glad that this one did not bomb.

 

 

A big number for JSF, yes, but also not entirely surprising IMO. These covers just don't show up that often. And ones where he's in his mask/gear even less. If I didn't already have my cover, I'd have chased this one to this level (with full awareness that I'd never see that money again...JSF might be a worse long term buy than NEXUS).

There was a great ZOT! cover in this auction, as well. Also incredibly evocative of this very special era. I imagine a lot of collectors of this previously tightly-held material will be letting go of it more and more before too long. So while this number isn't surprising today, it would surprise me 10 years from now. Just feels like the page will be turning on '80s indie sooner rather than later.

[tth2]

On 3/20/2024 at 1:28 AM, batman_fan said:

I will likely get blasted but the artwork 

$17k for that one seems like an insane price.

I loved Grell when I was a kid, but his art hasn't aged well, in my opinion.

[tth2]

On 3/20/2024 at 3:53 AM, comix4fun said:

Maybe it's Gaiman burnout...after that Heritage where he regaled viewers with tales of years gone by....and fans were emotionally spent. 
Or that there's no Morpheus. Either way. 

 

Or maybe it's the venue.  I wouldn't be surprised to see a few pages in the current Heritage Signature auction go for more. 

The Sandman #1 page in the current Heritage auction, which also doesn't feature Morpheus (not really) and is not as dramatic or key a page as the CC page, is already at $16,800.   

Edited March 20 by tth2

[tth2]

On 3/20/2024 at 11:04 AM, Nexus said:

Just feels like the page will be turning on '80s indie sooner rather than later.

[delekkerste]

On 3/19/2024 at 11:04 PM, Nexus said:

Just feels like the page will be turning on '80s indie sooner rather than later.

Trading a solid Alan Davis X-Men page from the Mutant Massacre storyline for a Will Meugniot DNAgents cover was, admittedly, probably not the best deal I've ever made.  

[KirbyCollector]

More nostalgic for early 90s indie... hope to find some Leo Duranona art from this series someday... would give an arm for the cover to #1

Edited March 20 by KirbyCollector

[Bronty]

On 3/19/2024 at 1:28 PM, batman_fan said:

I will likely get blasted but the artwork 

$17k for that one seems like an insane price.

We all have artists we don't get the love for.    (I've spent 30 years wondering what the Jim Lee fuss is about but at this point his market is his market.    Others might not appreciate McFarlane, or Kirby, or fill-in-the-blank, but as non-participants in the market for their work our voices effectively don't matter).

Maybe you're not a fan of Grell, but he certainly has his fans, and the Longbow Hunters, when it came out, was a super successful and well received project that he will always be remembered for by readers at the time.

Its a cover, its Grell, its material he's known for (although not his best known material).    Sometimes that's all you need.    I agree that its not the strongest image he ever drew (although the girl is a nice touch), and I agree that it was a strong result.     But Grell has a body of work beyond this one cover and that will impact pricing in the same way it does for every artist.

[Bronty]

On 3/19/2024 at 11:04 PM, Nexus said:

Just feels like the page will be turning on '80s indie sooner rather than later.

Possible, but also hard to say.    As an imperfect analogy, I'm somewhat suprised at how strong the 60/70s underground market remains.   Crumb, not surprising, but the more marginal figures command good prices too. 

[Bronty]

On 3/20/2024 at 12:29 AM, tth2 said:

I loved Grell when I was a kid, but his art hasn't aged well, in my opinion.

It looks a little more dated than average, doesn’t it?   I’d say it was more stylized than most and that’s contributed to the dating in a similar way to how Don Heck Tales of Suspense Iron Man stories look incredibly dated ( he spent a lot of time getting clothes and hairstyles and so on right for the time, which now look kind of ridiculous to modern eyes). 

Edited March 20 by Bronty

[Ecclectica]

On 3/20/2024 at 2:27 PM, Bronty said:

It looks a little more dated than average, doesn’t it?   I’d say it was more stylized than most and that’s contributed to the dating in a similar way to how Don Heck Tales of Suspense Iron Man stories look incredibly dated ( he spent a lot of time getting clothes and hairstyles and so on right for the time, which now look kind of ridiculous to modern eyes). 

For Heck, romance comics effects IMHO. But that's what's precisely made him, maybe, the right penciler for the beginnings of Iron Man : you believed immediately that Tony Stark was a playboy, dating the most gorgeous women of the time.

[PhilipB2k17]

On 3/20/2024 at 7:20 AM, delekkerste said:

Trading a solid Alan Davis X-Men page from the Mutant Massacre storyline for a Will Meugniot DNAgents cover was, admittedly, probably not the best deal I've ever made.  

On the other hand, quality American Flagg art by Howard Chaykin keeps going up. 

[PhilipB2k17]

On 3/20/2024 at 9:18 AM, Bronty said:

Possible, but also hard to say.    As an imperfect analogy, I'm somewhat suprised at how strong the 60/70s underground market remains.   Crumb, not surprising, but the more marginal figures command good prices too. 

The Gilbert Shelton/Freak Bothers-ance is interesting. 

[PhilipB2k17]

IMHO, I think internal page comic art featuring word balloons is just more aesthetically pleasing to collectors. It frames up nicely on a wall, and you can tell what it is at a glance. A lot of "modern" art, you aren't sure if it's a pinup, commission, or a published page. Also, decompressed storytelling has had an effect on the pages as well. 

While modern collectors know what it is, I'm not sure it has legs beyond the specific nostalgia era of the people who bought the comic. On the other hand, I could easily see some random collector who knows nothing about comics gravitate to a nice 80's panel page featuring a character they are familiar with from pop culture, with word balloons and corny comic book dialogue, regardless of the artist, or storyline. It's an interesting cultural artifact, if nothing else.

Edited March 20 by PhilipB2k17