Rune

I'm a great fan of Capullo, but yes, I do find it quite unrealistic that most pieces on his website would reach such prices in auction. I've got a Galactus page drawn by Capullo in the early 1990's, I can't help but wondering how he would price that piece if it was available on his website http://www.comicartfans.com/gallerypiece.asp?piece=1213758 Still, 2.5k for this old cover does not seem expensive, if you're into such pieces - I like the cover, also details like the stars etc on the inside of the cape: The Spawn splash pages are truly awesome and look like cover quality (full page splash). If I was the owner, I'd probably not price them much differently, ok, maybe the 90k piece

They are both so beautiful Congrats It could be the one time where I would be in doubt - what do I like the best, the wine or the bottle

Just won a page by Tom Sutton and Sonny Trinidad from 1978 - it's a fun page to rekindle my childhood dreams of underwater (sci-fi) worlds - And I do love how the page also displays scientific fascination, like when we observe something we cannot explain for the first time: http://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryPiece.asp?Piece=1308870 BTW, Bill Mantlo was the writer. I think his words are just as important as the art. Without text to support and explain the art this piece would not mean much to me. Maybe too little credit is often given to the writers Does a cover artist draw a cover without first consulting the writer(s) or the editor(s) ? - Guess that's what I love about published comic art, it's rarely the work of one person, but teamwork - or it might be said, published comic art has been through intensive peer-review!

Now there are 5 copies of #18 - this one just arrived: Get it here: http://www.comiclink.com/auctions/item.asp?back=%2Fauctions%2Fsearch%2Easp%3F_SORT%3DYES%26where%3Dsell%26title%3Dconan%26ItemType%3DCB%26CGC%3D%26f1%3DCondition%26ODire1%3DDESC%26f2%3D4%252C%2BIssueNumber%252C%2BVolumeNumber%26ODire2%3DASC%26f3%3DMaxBidX%26ODire3%3DDESC%23Item_1117213&id=1117213 And you can see scans of all 5 (= 100 %) books right here http://s1270.photobucket.com/user/runesr2/library/Issue18

Thanks, maybe I should post a scan of it here, although it's a very dark and disturbing piece: I also don't know much about Teran, but I looked through many other Punisher covers (http://www.coverbrowser.com/covers/punisher ) and #95 is among the covers that captured me the most - I think Teran did a great job especially on #94 and #95. The #95 cover is associated with the content of the book, but it's a rather weak association and the cover may be viewed on its own. And congrats to Joe for the amazing DK3 cover!

I understand that. My wife doesn't like my Kubert Sgt. Rock and he's only charging the viewer. I on the other hand think your Punisher is terrific. Congratulations. Thank you - good to know I'm not the only one appreciating that Punisher cover BTW, it's an amazing Sgt. Rock I hope you still get to display it even if the wife doesn't like it. I have a few "hidden" places for displaying art that may not be suitable for my 4-year old and 8-year-old sons.

Got the Punisher cover I lost a year ago (the seller had just sold it ), what are the odds to get a second chance? It's a very dark and gruesome piece, guess not everybody will like it: http://www.comicartfans.com/gallerypiece.asp?piece=1297861 My wife will probably think it's by far the worst piece I've ever bought

Forgot this one Get it here: http://www.comiclink.com/auctions/item.asp?back=%2Fauctions%2Fsearch%2Easp%3F_SORT%3DYES%26where%3Dsell%26title%3Dconan%26ItemType%3DCB%26f1%3DCondition%26ODire1%3DDESC%26f2%3D4%252C%2BIssueNumber%252C%2BVolumeNumber%26ODire2%3DASC%26f3%3DMaxBidX%26ODire3%3DDESC%23Item_1105585&id=1105585

Thank you - sometimes it does feel like hard work constantly surfing the web for new books And just found another #1, graded January 14 2016: Now I have scans/photos of 31 books out of 40, see them all here: http://s1270.photobucket.com/user/runesr2/library/Issue01?sort=3&page=1 And get the new book here: http://www.comiclink.com/auctions/item.asp?back=%2Fauctions%2Fsearch%2Easp%3Fwhere%3Dsell%26title%3Dconan%26ItemType%3DCB%23Item_1103160&id=1103160

Now I have scans of 8 out of 9 Conan the Barbarian #21 9.8+ books The new book, graded in 2014: Get it here: http://comics.ha.com/itm/bronze-age-1970-1979-/conan-the-barbarian-21-marvel-1972-cgc-nm-mt-98-white-pages/a/7124-91146.s?ic4=GalleryView-Thumbnail-071515 See the 8 books here: http://s1270.photobucket.com/user/runesr2/library/Issue21?sort=9&page=1

I'm not sure - in case 1 you got your Precious, maybe you paid more, but you still got her. In case 2 you lost her and got scars on your soul that may never heal! I do like the shill bidding definition on eBay: "Policy overview Shill bidding happens when anyone—including family, friends, roommates, employees, or online connections—bids on an item with the intent to artificially increase its price or desirability [...] Shill bidding is also illegal in many places and can carry severe penalties." http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/seller-shill-bidding.html There's also a nice tutorial: http://pages.ebay.com/help/tutorial/sbiddingtutorial/q1.html It'll probably be impossible to track all pieces and find a solution that'll please most persons involved, also because lost pieces may have been sold to other collectors a long time ago. Hopefully the current focus on this issue will reduce the chances of it ever happening again.

Just added this book to the library: Get it here: http://www.ebay.com/itm/111877219217?afsrc=1&rmvSB=true

The 12th #2 was graded Dec 16 2015 and is soon up for auction, I just added it to the library: Get it here (the auction starts in one month ) http://www.comiclink.com/auctions/item.asp?back=%2Fauctions%2Fsearch%2Easp%3F_SORT%3DYES%26where%3Dsell%26title%3Dconan%26ItemType%3DCB%26f1%3DCondition%26ODire1%3DDESC%26f2%3D4%252C%2BIssueNumber%252C%2BVolumeNumber%26ODire2%3DASC%26f3%3DMaxBidX%26ODire3%3DDESC%23Item_1099620&id=1099620 Highest price for #2 9.8 was probably 5500 in June 2014 (Barry James' copy, ComicConnect Summer auction).

Simply amazing !!! (both the pieces and the framing)

Thank you For many years I just kept these photos on my PC, so that I could get an idea of what's out there - but I thought it could be a fun thing to share. Regarding your questions about the low census numbers, it will be a guess, but I don't think the early Conans were that popular (although they did win several awards, but maybe I'm wrong) - at least in his books, Windsor-Smith described that Marvel had thoughts about cancelling the series due to low sales, but everything started to change for the better with #9 (and they tried to focus less on covers showing animals if I remember correctly). Can relatively low sales explain the single #11 (also double-bound = increased weight = more prone to damage, and then the red cover where you can see any damage) and the 3 #12 (black covers, again making it easy to spot any kind of damage to the spine) - I don't know. Did think that Annual #1 was scarce, but then suddenly Census doubled last year from 9 to 17 books . Maybe there are a lot of speculants out there about to retire and release tons of such books Still, CGC has been here for about 16 years, in all those years less than 10 books have been found if we take #4, #6, #11, #12, #14 and #18 – so until things are proven otherwise I’ll consider these books scarce. - But not the other books (including #3 that may once have been in low distribution, but many 9.8 books still survived). From 2000 to 2008 there were only 9 #1s, but in the last 8 years 30 more have been found. So is Census expanding faster than ever? To me it’s fun (well sort of ) trying to monitor when the Census will come to a stand-still (or close) – and of course that will happen sometime (in our lifetime ), because there’s not an unlimited supply of these books… Early issues of Tomb of Dracula and Spidey are also very scarce in 9.8, for a long time I thought that early 9.8 Conans were similar. If most early 9.8 Conans are ever found in 10 copies or more, I'll need to revise that idea... I do think that many high grade Windsor-Smith Conan books will get slabbed - and of course low numbers may be even more interesting when slabbing (at least to me). Over the last years I'm not sure we're seeing much change in value even though Census has increased - #1 still sells for about 4 to 5k, many other for $500+ (even #24 despite its great Census increase), so I guess the interest is still strong (growing in much the same speed as Census is increasing? ) .

Conan book of the month? - Just added this one to the scan library You can get it here - maybe http://comics.ha.com/itm/bronze-age-1970-1979-/miscellaneous/conan-the-barbarian-annual-1-marvel-1973-cgc-nm-mt-98-off-white-to-white-pages/a/121602-12319.s?type=wlem&wlc=511467971

Thank you, all - I do like the ape too, guess it's just a fun cover - if you're into that kind of humor

Just got it back yesterday, Museum glass as usual - and I was lucky to pick up the single highest graded book:

Seems that Hannigan has multiple sclerosis and has been trying to get funds for some years - don't know if that could be linked to the cover price (according to Moy it comes from a private collection)... The quote below is from 2010: "Today, Ed is 58 years old and has multiple sclerosis. Through special arrangement with the Hero Initiative, Marvel is offering Ed Hannigan: Covered, a massive 48-page collection of Ed's covers, designs he created for other artists, and even rare glimpses at licensing and merchandising art Ed did. Best of all, proceeds benefit Ed Hannigan directly!
" http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=24328 Still it's an amazing cover!

An another #7 just got added to the library - together with #10: Both graded Nov 20 2015. Get them here: http://www.comiclink.com/auctions/search.asp?_SORT=YES&where=sell&title=conan&ItemType=CB&f1=Condition&ODire1=DESC&f2=4%+IssueNumber%+VolumeNumber&ODire2=ASC&f3=MaxBidX&ODire3=DESC

Great books, congrats - and I did love your comment about getting a shade up. Personally I feel I am having some sort of lux anxiety Well, probably there are some persons dealing with worse conditions - guess nothing beats some good ol' range anxiety "Range anxiety is the fear that a vehicle has insufficient range to reach its destination and would thus strand the vehicle's occupants. The term, which is primarily used in reference to battery electric vehicles (BEVs), is considered to be one of the major barriers to large scale adoption of all-electric cars." (Wikipedia) Guess lux anxiety would be something like: "Lux anxiety is the fear that a piece of art or a comic book will suffer accelerated fading due to light exposure. The term, which is primarily used in reference to enthusiasts collecting comic art and books is considered to describe one of their major fears, even beating fears of flooding and of extreme fluctuations in humidity and temperature" (sorry for my bad humor - but I have gotten a lux meter in order to face my lux fear ) BTW, I'm not a 100 % sure, but I have seen some signs and maybe - some day - we'll all end up here

Stunning Piece +1 I have not seen this before, it looks awesome - is it a published cover, commission or something else?

A new #7 was graded Nov 3 2015 and just arrived on eBay: I've added it to the library - so now there're photos of 21 out of 26 books: http://s1270.photobucket.com/user/runesr2/library/Issue07?sort=3&page=1 Get the book here: http://www.ebay.com/itm/CONAN-the-BARBARIAN-7-CGC-9-8-BW-SMITH-1ST-THOTH-AMON-1971-BUSCEMA-BY-CROM-/141844796297?

That is one truly breathtaking collection I have three sons aged 3, 7 and 11 - can I send them over and lock them in the room with your collection? (sorry, bad humor - but they would be in heaven!)

I used this: http://www.amazon.com/Brodart-Acid-Free-Bind-Art-Adhesive/dp/B003OTZBOY They ship to Europe (I think). Try it on some normal paper before you glue any art - so you know how to handle the adhesive. I went from this: To this: And I did completely avoid ending up looking like this (replace the red paint with white glue)