Are you leaving comics for Original Art or Thinking about it?

[mica]

Oh AK I got cover I've been waiting on.

 

Got mine too.

 

Nice, I should of started collecting OA sooner.

If only there was a forum devoted to this subject.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Sharkey]

Yes.

 

And I also don't get the "bandwagon" comment. I've been moving more and more into OA over the past 5 years. I still buy and read comics, and have continued to collect pre-hero books, but I am increasingly finding myself enjoying OWNING the art more than the comics. I buy trades and masterworks so I can still read the Silver Age stories and newer material I love, and I still read some modern stuff, but my collecting interests continue to lean toward art, to the point that I am seriously considering selling even my slabbed pre-hero books and acquiring more art.

 

I mean, not to go all KK on people, but I find myself asking why would I want a comic book that I can't read, encased in plastic, and stuck in a box in a closet, whereas every day I walk in my office and enjoy seeing this:

 

 

 

And in response to the comment about the covers, I bought this cover re-creation from Bob Layton (he light-boxed it from Kirby's pencils) for a few hundred bucks:

 

 

 

 

I still LOVE comics, make no mistake. I just enjoy owning the art more than I enjoy owning the comics. I'll continue to read them, buy them, etc, but I don't want to spend large sums of money on comics.

[gozer]

 

I may be in the minority for comic collectors, but I've never enjoyed original art. I can appreciate it, I realize it's unique nature, but I just don't enjoy looking at it.

 

The exception for me is full-color covers -- I would love to have a few of those, but GA art of that type is waaaaay beyond my little piggy bank.

 

gozer

------------------------

It's just that the people who claim they've seen aliens are always pathetic

low-lifes with boring jobs. [nervous laugh] Oh, and you, Dad.

[Dick Pontoon]

Yowsa. I'd be collecting the same pieces as Rhino, except I think he makes about $969,000 more a year than I do. I'd collect comics and OA if I had the money.

 

I once asked Mike Royer about his Kirby re-creations and even they, unfortunately, were out of my range.

[jbud73]

I have to admit, I've been spending more and more time looking at OA and less and less time looking at the HG books I'm circling to finish runs.

 

When I first came back into comic collecting 5 years ago my goals were pretty simple. Finish of the runs I had been collecting when I left. This meant titles like X-Men, ASM, Batman, Swamp Thing, Hellblazer, Daredevil, Thor etc etc. I decided to go up first, the issues were cheap, I got to read where I left off 7 years ago and it gave me time to get my bearings back in the hobby.

 

That took a few years. Then I started buying lower and more expensive books, stuff in the $50-200 range. A few here, a few there. Got to know the dealers a little bit better, the market a bit better in all its nuances. About a year or so ago I began to approach bigger keys and its funny becasue it seemed like the controversy followed my buying habits around.

 

I was looking at the first 10 Daredevil books when the infamous DD #11 Green River thread came out. The Batman 11 issue coincided with my looking into SA Batman's (obviously not the same thing but it hit close enough to home). I remember talking to Brent about JIM's and wouldnt you know it a few months later we have a bunch of JIM issues floating around. I mean I'mm not the total kiss of death - not being fan of FF, the whole beginning of the Ewert fiasco did not parallel my collecting, but I think the point had been entrenched in my mind. CGC, or no CGC the bigger the book, the greater the risk.

 

Jeff Li and I had just been talking about collecting goals for the rest of the year with the summer Cons approaching. I summarized the frustration of where I am right now in the following IM to him,

No, thats my point, right now I am at the HG cross roads for three titles JIM - ASM - Batman. Most of the books I need in the grades I want will be slabbed. Most of those slabs will be expensive, or multiples of guide. I had a hard time justifying the multiple for 9.0 and up BEFORE I knew about all this . Now I can't justify it at all. So I really don't see myself buying many of the books I need for those three titles in the future. At $500 - $1000 a book, I'd rather buy Original Art.

 

Even I was kind of shocked by my response, but the more I think on it, the more I seem to view HG purchases with disdain. As I approach certain books there are only certain venues / dealers that will have them and to be quite frank I have not been impressed with the knowledge of what I know about the business ideals held by many vendors in HG comics. Still I don't want to paint all HG vendors with the same brush, but I would be lyin gto you if I said my confidence hasn't been shaken.

 

Of course buying OA comes with a whole new set of issues and I'm sure there are some real beautes in the OA market as well. While I will still continue to buy comics, especially raw books in the $50-100 range off reputable dealers I have established relationships with. Peds aside, I really see my next purchase in the 1K arena to be a piece of OA and not a HG slab.

[heartened]

I have to admit, I've been spending more and more time looking at OA and less and less time looking at the HG books I'm circling to finish runs.

 

When I first came back into comic collecting 5 years ago my goals were pretty simple. Finish of the runs I had been collecting when I left. This meant titles like X-Men, ASM, Batman, Swamp Thing, Hellblazer, Daredevil, Thor etc etc. I decided to go up first, the issues were cheap, I got to read where I left off 7 years ago and it gave me time to get my bearings back in the hobby.

 

That took a few years. Then I started buying lower and more expensive books, stuff in the $50-200 range. A few here, a few there. Got to know the dealers a little bit better, the market a bit better in all its nuances. About a year or so ago I began to approach bigger keys and its funny becasue it seemed like the controversy followed my buying habits around.

 

I was looking at the first 10 Daredevil books when the infamous DD #11 Green River thread came out. The Batman 11 issue coincided with my looking into SA Batman's (obviously not the same thing but it hit close enough to home). I remember talking to Brent about JIM's and wouldnt you know it a few months later we have a bunch of JIM issues floating around. I mean I'mm not the total kiss of death - not being fan of FF, the whole beginning of the Ewert fiasco did not parallel my collecting, but I think the point had been entrenched in my mind. CGC, or no CGC the bigger the book, the greater the risk.

 

Jeff Li and I had just been talking about collecting goals for the rest of the year with the summer Cons approaching. I summarized the frustration of where I am right now in the following IM to him,

No, thats my point, right now I am at the HG cross roads for three titles JIM - ASM - Batman. Most of the books I need in the grades I want will be slabbed. Most of those slabs will be expensive, or multiples of guide. I had a hard time justifying the multiple for 9.0 and up BEFORE I knew about all this . Now I can't justify it at all. So I really don't see myself buying many of the books I need for those three titles in the future. At $500 - $1000 a book, I'd rather buy Original Art.

 

Even I was kind of shocked by my response, but the more I think on it, the more I seem to view HG purchases with disdain. As I approach certain books there are only certain venues / dealers that will have them and to be quite frank I have not been impressed with the knowledge of what I know about the business ideals held by many vendors in HG comics. Still I don't want to paint all HG vendors with the same brush, but I would be lyin gto you if I said my confidence hasn't been shaken.

 

Of course buying OA comes with a whole new set of issues and I'm sure there are some real beautes in the OA market as well. While I will still continue to buy comics, especially raw books in the $50-100 range off reputable dealers I have established relationships with. Peds aside, I really see my next purchase in the 1K arena to be a piece of OA and not a HG slab.

 

Navigating the OA waters can also be dangerous, and there are plenty of people (collectors and dealers) who will take advantage of so-called newbies, especially given the difficulty in gauging the OA market for individual artists and titles. This being said, I believe it's not as unscrupulous as the CGC comic book market (my opinion, and yes I'm biased). Feel free to jump in, but (at least until you start to understand the market yourself) always ask a more experienced OA collector for advice before purchasing expensive art. There are plenty of OA collectors on these boards willing to offer advice, myself included.

 

Best,

[jbud73]

Thanks Hari - lunch is definitely on me the next time I'm in New York.

[maxstuf]

I'm not leaving comics just adding OA to my list.

[Sharkey]

Yowsa. I'd be collecting the same pieces as Rhino, except I think he makes about $969,000 more a year than I do.

 

Uh, not exactly. Although, yeah, art can be expensive -- but a nice panel art page is not more expensive than a high grade key slab. It all depends on what you want more.

 

I sold and traded off the majority of my Silver Age collection to fund my art purchases and replaced the material with trades and masterworks. And I was fortunate to get bit by the OA bug early -- I bought some pieces years ago before prices started going through the roof. I've also done some art trades. Sure, there are pieces I wish I still had, but right now I'm very happy with my current collection and am being much more selective about buying more art.

 

I once asked Mike Royer about his Kirby re-creations and even they, unfortunately, were out of my range.

 

Yeah, some of his stuff is very nice. Check out Layton's site. Granted he doesn't do a lot of Kirby but he does recreations at VERY reasonable prices. And as FFB has always said, nobody draws armor like Bob Layton! And he's a nice guy to deal with to boot!

[DNAgent]

awesome stuff rhino!!!

 

 

''Are you leaving comics for Original Art or Thinking about it?''

 

pretty much...i have been selling off my comic collections for the past 2 years...(my sales for the 2 years average about 1k$ per month, i used to easily spend that much a month buying comics)...

 

the pressing/restoration thing and trimming has really drained the fun out of comic books for me.

i just don't like it, and decided not to deal with it. you won, i'm out.

i still enjoy new comics each week...

 

i am over the thrill of high grade comics and the ridiculous differences between 9.2-9.8 grading and pricing,

i have found i am just as happy with low grade comics, and have money for artwork (and the house etc.).

 

now i don't worry about pressing or restoration...

 

for those who love pressing/restoration etc...

 

is it a good thing that people like me and others that posted are leaving the hobby

and not spending money any longer?

[delekkerste]

I still read comics, TPBs, HCs, etc. all the time, but I have stopped collecting slabs and back issues for the most part. I switched over to original art a few years ago, though even if I didn't find OA interesting, I probably still would have stopped collecting comics seriously. For me, there was definitely a case of diminishing marginal returns - acquiring slab #336 and throwing it into a box just didn't give me as much satisfaction (none at all, probably) as I had when I was just starting out. Obsessing over 0.2 grading increments and the huge dollar disparity between the grades that caused everyone to focus on dollar signs killed the rest of the enjoyment for me, though, if I had stuck around for longer than I did, surely the rampant NDP, Ewert scandal and other shenanigans would have had me leaving in disgust by now.

 

The CGC experiment has only been going on now for, what, a little over 6 years? There seem to be others like myself who have already lived the entire life cycle of a slab collector during that time - getting into that segment of the hobby and eventually leaving it - it will be interesting to see if this proves to be a more widespread phenomenon going forward, whether caused by people leaving for OA or other pastures. Of course, I wish CGC the best regardless; they have done a lot of good for the hobby, including making this Board such a great place to hang out.

 

As for OA, I've been going strong for about 3 1/2 years and am still enjoying the hobby very much. It's really great to be able to display the art (I've got 9 pieces hanging on my walls) instead of throwing another slab in a box. I don't know how long I will be focusing on OA, or whether it's something that I might get tired of over time, but for now I'm enjoying the ride.

[Buck Biggins]

I just picked up 2 pieces of OA and looking at a 3rd. I'm having a hard time deciding what to let go from my collection as I usually keep everything. I really enjoy the aspect of having a cool piece of OA hanging on the wall than a slab in a box.

 

I don't think I will have much in OA (maybe a dozen pieces or so in the end) but I think it really enhances my collection as a whole. I love the one of a kind thing and no one else has has it.

[Ringfinger]

To answer the original post, no.