Progression of Comic Art Buying Question(s) 2 2

[brownies8701]

So I have been collecting comic art for only about 4 years and I love it!  However, there are times where I don't love it...prices too high, a page I really liked sold, ridiculously high prices on recent flipped pages, etc.

I have been mainly buying published pages around $500 and I have been enjoying the ones I have purchased.  However, I feel like I want to take the next step and buy more expensive pages and/or pages from more well known artists. 

Ultimately, I am conflicted...I like & enjoy the pages I buy, but is my desire to want better quality/more expensive pages a true natural progression in this hobby?  I'm not talking big dollars...$1K to $2K.

AND

In your opinion, is it better to buy pages (most likely more expensive) from more popular artists with maybe less action/less main characters or cheaper pages with better action/main characters?  I'm looking to keep all pages I have & not sell them as an investment fyi.

I know and have read "buy what you like" and really have adopted that philosophy, but I am curious your opinion what your progression was/is...

Thanks for your input/feedback

[Twanj]

I buy for keeps too.

I'm usually going for artist or character, and hopefully sometimes story. When you hit it all that's the sweet spot. And I seem to alternate between nostalgia vs "better" newer art.

Keep going for published pages. Write out your top goals. Naturally, the more desirable pages will cost more.

I'm also for stretching a bit on purchase price to get something you really like (as long as it's not gonna get you in trouble). So if you usually buy $500 pages, maybe hold out 2-4x as long and get that $1k or 2k page. Slowly stalk your prey and wait for a deal.

 

[Dr. Balls]

I got back into collecting comic art just a couple years ago (took a hiatus for about 7 years) - and comic art pricing sure had changed! I started out low and worked my way up with prices - adjusting my comfort level every 5-6 months. I'd go from $300 to $600 to $1200, etc. I have a few big pieces that went beyond my normal budget - but for the most part, I think I'm in your realm.

I have a specific genre and page type that I collect that fits well within my budget - I think that's they key to feeling comfortable. For me, it was about the page, the art and the scale of the subject. I did not want to buy a page full of small panels and headshots of my favorite X-Men from the 90s because that doesn't appeal to me in the way a big action page does - but I'm not going to get that big 90's X-Men action page for $2k. So that's what I sacrifice. I've foregone my desires for X-Men drawn by famous 90's artists and went with indy comic pages drawn by lesser-known, if not equally talented artists. I love old 90's indy Bad Girl comics as much as I loved the X-Men, so it's an equal trade off in my eyes.

I may branch out and buy a modern piece or two that I like, but for the most part - I stick to my genre because if you don't stay focused, you'll be stretching yourself thin and unable to pull the pin on a page you really like when it turns up. And it's good that you're aiming to keep your pages - because anything you buy has a 99% chance of being worth less the minute you buy it for the first 10 years you own it. It is easy to think that this hobby is an "investment" hobby. It is not. It is a waste-of-money hobby, but it serves as a wonderful diversion to life. 

 

Edited March 28 by Dr. Balls

[brownies8701]

On 3/28/2024 at 10:00 AM, Twanj said:

I buy for keeps too.

I'm usually going for artist or character, and hopefully sometimes story. When you hit it all that's the sweet spot. And I seem to alternate between nostalgia vs "better" newer art.

Keep going for published pages. Write out your top goals. Naturally, the more desirable pages will cost more.

I'm also for stretching a bit on purchase price to get something you really like (as long as it's not gonna get you in trouble). So if you usually buy $500 pages, maybe hold out 2-4x as long and get that $1k or 2k page. Slowly stalk your prey and wait for a deal.

 

Thank you for this.  

I definitely try to hold out, but i get that itch to buy something & then eventually do what is most comfortable & buy a $500ish page

[brownies8701]

On 3/28/2024 at 10:05 AM, Dr. Balls said:

I may branch out and buy a modern piece or two that I like, but for the most part - I stick to my genre because if you don't stay focused, you'll be stretching yourself thin and unable to pull the pin on a page you really like when it turns up. And it's good that you're aiming to keep your pages - because anything you buy has a 99% chance of being worth less the minute you buy it for the first 10 years you own it. It is easy to think that this hobby is an "investment" hobby. It is not. It is a waste-of-money hobby, but it serves as a wonderful diversion to life. 

 

This is & has been great advice.  I see so many pages I like, but I have remained focused.

[Rick2you2]

On 3/28/2024 at 9:36 AM, brownies8701 said:

So I have been collecting comic art for only about 4 years and I love it!  However, there are times where I don't love it...prices too high, a page I really liked sold, ridiculously high prices on recent flipped pages, etc.

I have been mainly buying published pages around $500 and I have been enjoying the ones I have purchased.  However, I feel like I want to take the next step and buy more expensive pages and/or pages from more well known artists. 

Ultimately, I am conflicted...I like & enjoy the pages I buy, but is my desire to want better quality/more expensive pages a true natural progression in this hobby?  I'm not talking big dollars...$1K to $2K.

AND

In your opinion, is it better to buy pages (most likely more expensive) from more popular artists with maybe less action/less main characters or cheaper pages with better action/main characters?  I'm looking to keep all pages I have & not sell them as an investment fyi.

I know and have read "buy what you like" and really have adopted that philosophy, but I am curious your opinion what your progression was/is...

Thanks for your input/feedback

To save some money, try contacting the artists directly. You would be surprised what you can find that way.

Don’t fall into the trap that has more expensive pages, or more popular pages as “better” art. Popularity is often an indicator of nostalgia, not true quality, although more expensive pages may very well be high quality. My suggestion is you focus on a particular subject, or era, or character. That helps refine your taste (which is why I would refrain from picking a single artist, at least at this stage). I generally prefer art which has well-defined drawings of characters, and would recommend published art over all other art.

[malvin]

On 3/28/2024 at 6:36 AM, brownies8701 said:

So I have been collecting comic art for only about 4 years and I love it!  However, there are times where I don't love it...prices too high, a page I really liked sold, ridiculously high prices on recent flipped pages, etc.

I have been mainly buying published pages around $500 and I have been enjoying the ones I have purchased.  However, I feel like I want to take the next step and buy more expensive pages and/or pages from more well known artists. 

Ultimately, I am conflicted...I like & enjoy the pages I buy, but is my desire to want better quality/more expensive pages a true natural progression in this hobby?  I'm not talking big dollars...$1K to $2K.

AND

In your opinion, is it better to buy pages (most likely more expensive) from more popular artists with maybe less action/less main characters or cheaper pages with better action/main characters?  I'm looking to keep all pages I have & not sell them as an investment fyi.

I know and have read "buy what you like" and really have adopted that philosophy, but I am curious your opinion what your progression was/is...

Thanks for your input/feedback

What you are saying reminds me of myself when I started out. I started early (late 90's) but when I really started going again around 2004, I had a mental block of $500. I could afford more (and certainly a $2K piece is just 4 $500 pages) but mentally I couldn't spend that much on a piece. I can't remember what did it but I eventually overcame that mental block.

I think the one factor was the actual value of the page. After all, it's a no brainer to spend $1K when the page is worth $1.5K.

So.. if you can afford $500, you can afford $2k if you really like it. It's just four $500 pages. It doesn't sound like you only buy one $500 page a year so you can afford $2K at one time. It's a mental block. That you have to figure out how to brea.

And yes, I subscribe to buy what you like, so I can't answer your questions bout bigger name artist and less content vs less famous artist and better content. Really depends what you like, and what kind of value you think the page has.

Malvin 

 

[Kevn]

Ultimately you need to figure out what really floats your boat, and act accordingly. What I mean is, what does your gut tell you when you're looking at OA? I think we're all very different in what we want from, and get out of, this hobby/obsession. Are you bringing a comic collector mentality to buying OA? Are you driven by nostalgia for what you were excited by as a kid? Or do you love these pages as unique and magical objects, records of a crazy process to somehow, sometimes, transmogrifies into meaningful entertainment and even a kind of art? For me it's all about the art, and the feeling I get when I look at that specific piece. Only certain artists, and only certain pages from those artists, gives me that tingle and buzz that drives me to purchase. I couldn't care less which artists/titles/characters are hot or popular, I have relatively little 'mimetic desire' and rarely suffer from FOMO. So 'popular' doesn't nudge me. I see lots of art that I can admire, that I can respect, and that I might strongly suspect will appreciate significantly, but I have no desire to own it. Looking back (I started collecting in the '80s), I wish I had been more omnivorous, since I would now have a lot of valuable art that I don't love, but that I could trade for pieces that are now much more expensive than I'm willing to go. But that ship has sailed, and I've still ended up with a bunch of pages that still excite me when I look at them. By all means stretch yourself and try buying a page or two that are more expensive, but I recommend doing that from passion, and not from calculated reason. Buy the pages with action/panels/poses/expressions/linework/composition/whatever that you find thrilling. Then see how you feel a few weeks later, and if you don't have any regrets then rinse and repeat.

[Aahz]

Well addiction always has a progression.  :-).  I also started in the 90's so I've had to adjust my price expectations several times.  I have always focused on a genre with a could have specific characters, but my interests lie outside of the regular superhero work.  This means a really expansive range of potential pages ... so there are plenty in the $500 or less category that I buy because I find them interesting from an artistic standpoint.  The progression over the years has been not one of buying more expensive pages (although it has become the nature of the "hobby" that the prices keep going up), but looking 1) to fill holes from specific artists that I might want within my genre; 2) filling in examples of artists within a specific comic book; 3) looking for specific pages.  At the end of the day, you have to enjoy looking at it.

[Dr. Balls]

Don't forget to post your CAF link in your sig line - I love checking out other boardies' collections!

[brownies8701]

On 3/28/2024 at 2:33 PM, malvin said:

What you are saying reminds me of myself when I started out. I started early (late 90's) but when I really started going again around 2004, I had a mental block of $500. I could afford more (and certainly a $2K piece is just 4 $500 pages) but mentally I couldn't spend that much on a piece. I can't remember what did it but I eventually overcame that mental block.

I think the one factor was the actual value of the page. After all, it's a no brainer to spend $1K when the page is worth $1.5K.

So.. if you can afford $500, you can afford $2k if you really like it. It's just four $500 pages. It doesn't sound like you only buy one $500 page a year so you can afford $2K at one time. It's a mental block. That you have to figure out how to brea.

And yes, I subscribe to buy what you like, so I can't answer your questions bout bigger name artist and less content vs less famous artist and better content. Really depends what you like, and what kind of value you think the page has.

Malvin 

 

Thanks for your feedback and you are right, it’s a total block. I start getting the fever looking at so many pages I can afford & then I just buy one.

i do buy about 4-6 pages a year.  So to your point, I save up & buy maybe 2-3 pages a year.

[brownies8701]

On 3/28/2024 at 4:54 PM, Kevn said:

Ultimately you need to figure out what really floats your boat, and act accordingly. What I mean is, what does your gut tell you when you're looking at OA? I think we're all very different in what we want from, and get out of, this hobby/obsession. Are you bringing a comic collector mentality to buying OA? Are you driven by nostalgia for what you were excited by as a kid? Or do you love these pages as unique and magical objects, records of a crazy process to somehow, sometimes, transmogrifies into meaningful entertainment and even a kind of art?

Great questions to ask myself when I’m ready to research & buy my next page

Thank you for this…

[brownies8701]

On 3/28/2024 at 6:22 PM, Aahz said:

The progression over the years has been not one of buying more expensive pages…but looking 1) to fill holes from specific artists that I might want within my genre;

THIS ^

This is definitely a part of where I am…my focus is buying Batman pages & I have pages from several artists I really like & enjoy, but now I want more 70s & 80s & 90s pages.  

[PhilipB2k17]

Here's my advice. I started out exactly the same way. Over time, I realized that I could not get pages that I really wanted by sticking to my limited budget. I found a few tricks to pay for stuff (such as using PayPal 6 months interest free credit -- so I could buy something and pay it off over time), but ultimately, I had to adjust my parameters and expectations. I still try to stick within a budget, however. But what I've found is that the more art you scroll through and look at, the more selective you get. I highly recommend spending about an hour a day just scrolling through the new art listings on CAF, or Comic Art Tracker or even eBay. You will develop a much better eye, and it will help you learn value as well. Every once in a while, a page will pop up that you just know you have to have, and you should go for it if its within reasonable reach. But you still have to have budget discipline. One thing I've found is that even if you miss on a page that you really want, you mostly get over it after a while and something else will come along that you also like. 

I am speaking, of course, from the perspective of someone who is a middle, to low mid-tier collector. A true historic grail page is always going to be out of my reach. But pages within my (our?) range do pop up from time to time. The only downside to my method is that you have to sift through a lot of dreck to find that needle in the haystack. 

Edited March 29 by PhilipB2k17

[brownies8701]

On 3/29/2024 at 11:23 AM, PhilipB2k17 said:

Here's my advice. I started out exactly the same way. Over time, I realized that I could not get pages that I really wanted by sticking to my limited budget. I found a few tricks to pay for stuff (such as using PayPal 6 months interest free credit -- so I could buy something and pay it off over time), but ultimately, I had to adjust my parameters and expectations. I still try to stick within a budget, however. But what I've found is that the more art you scroll through and look at, the more selective you get. I highly recommend spending about an hour a day just scrolling through the new art listings on CAF, or Comic Art Tracker or even eBay. You will develop a much better eye, and it will help you learn value as well. Every once in a while, a page will pop up that you just know you have to have, and you should go for it if its within reasonable reach. But you still have to have budget discipline. One thing I've found is that even if you miss on a page that you really want, you mostly get over it after a while and something else will come along that you also like. 

I am speaking, of course, from the perspective of someone who is a middle, to low mid-tier collector. A true historic grail page is always going to be out of my reach. But pages within my (our?) range do pop up from time to time. The only downside to my method is that you have to sift through a lot of dreck to find that needle in the haystack. 

Thank you for this advice!

And thank you to everyone who has responded to this topic, really appreciate it!

Lastly, here is my CAF link for anyone that is interested:

https://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryDetail.asp?GCat=164661

[Will_K]

On 3/29/2024 at 11:23 AM, PhilipB2k17 said:

One thing I've found is that even if you miss on a page that you really want, you mostly get over it after a while and something else will come along that you also like. 

This is really important to remember.  And if you've spent (or blown past) your allotted budget and something even more desirable pops up... go back to that first point.  There will always be another.

[cstojano]

I have been a collector my entire adult life but also generally hate the weight of owning stuff, an odd mix of factors for sure. I find I have to really be honest with myself about what is truly vault level material I will stretch for vs not. And the reality is very little is vault level material, ie, the "buried with it" type of stuff. And yet my circumstances have allowed me to play around in the field, perhaps a bit too much. At the price levels we are at now pretty much anything is "real money" in the grand scheme of things. I just sent a box with 23k worth of stuff in it to Heritage. I will be happy to get a check for 10k for it all in 6 months time. What were the mistakes I made? First, buying anything from a dealer that isn't "buried with it" type of stuff. This is especially the case for anything not super mainstream. Second, buying anything fresh to market, as in, coming from an artist's hands or from a deep, legacy collection. The hype surrounding those types of lots is hard to recoup unless you hold for a long time.

[Rick2you2]

On 3/29/2024 at 11:23 AM, PhilipB2k17 said:

 One thing I've found is that even if you miss on a page that you really want, you mostly get over it after a while and something else will come along that you also like.  

Well, not in my case. There have been pages I have seen sit for years on dealer sites, and don’t buy them figuring they will sit for more years. But then, someone else gets them and I never find a duplicate of that artist and character again. Or, I never find one I liked as much. Now, I  mostly throw caution to the wind and worry about the money later (“deficit spending”). For those who cast a wide net, however, I can see that perspective.

[cstojano]

On 3/30/2024 at 4:32 AM, Rick2you2 said:

Well, not in my case. There have been pages I have seen sit for years on dealer sites, and don’t buy them figuring they will sit for more years. But then, someone else gets them and I never find a duplicate of that artist and character again. Or, I never find one I liked as much. Now, I  mostly throw caution to the wind and worry about the money later (“deficit spending”). For those who cast a wide net, however, I can see that perspective.

Pretty amazing how many black holes there seem to be in these hobbies. Stuff sells, regret sets in, it never appears again.

 

[Kevn]

On 3/29/2024 at 9:16 PM, brownies8701 said:

Thank you for this advice!

And thank you to everyone who has responded to this topic, really appreciate it!

Lastly, here is my CAF link for anyone that is interested:

https://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryDetail.asp?GCat=164661

Thanks for sharing your CAF page. It looks to me like you're doing just fine in your collecting - that's a really nice set of pages! I like how you have a theme/preference, and are working it well. I also like that you're focused on panel pages, as I mostly have been. I tend to prefer those for a variety of reasons, especially when the pages are well chosen so they stand alone nicely, as your pages do. One thought is that you can stretch your budget to add artists who have done Batman but who tend to be more expensive, rather than buying more expensive pages by artists you already have. I've tended in the opposite direction, being more artist-driven than character driven, but Batman is a great character for bringing out the best in a variety of artists, no matter their style. Check out the Batman Dark Age book that just came out. I'm a big Allred fan and am enjoying his take.