Dr. Balls

That was an excellent pickup - congrats to the buyer! I came back to give this a second look on my monitor at home and damn if it's not gone!

Yeah, I'm in that boat as well - but I still have hopes to pick up a tight sketch someday. This was a neat auction to watch the last few hours of the bidding.

Yeah, the two-people-bidding scenario is a average killer. That's probably the likely explanation - but man, what a jump in price.

I was watching this one since since there doesn't seem to be a lot of inked Turner covers showing up - and not ones of this magnitude: https://www.comiclink.com/Auctions/item.asp?back=%2FComicTrack%2FAuctions%2Fbids.asp&id=1760279 $22,472 - not sure if that's low, high or average, anyone chime in on this one?

It seems like when Jim Valentino is penciling, it really drives the price up. I've chased a few Valentino (non-Shadowhawk 90's pages) and I think he's a fan favorite. I picked up this DPS awhile back for $450 after it sat unsold for months, which was pencilled by Kirk Van Wormer (Vampirella/Shadowhawk book 1 from 1995). I thought it was a great action page, which is why I bought it and was surprised it hadn't moved - which makes me think the price on CLink is more about the artist than the character.

I am not a convention goer - but I always figured that prices at cons were lower than online/Ebay/Auction House prices? Is this not correct?

True what @CAHokie said. On the flipside, I also like the idea that you get a memento from meeting someone that doesn't require a bunch of extra expenditure, and if it's a key book that you want to sell someday, just wipe off the sharpie with rubbing alcohol (which when used lightly, won't damage the case).

The advancements and insertion of AI will be like everything else going on in the world: an extremely small vocal minority will rail against it, while everyone else could care less. When people as significant as Jim Lee find no problems with AI being used in media, you'll quickly find yourself surrounded by silence and eye rolls when complaining about the erosion of the human creative spirit. I, for one, welcome our new AI shiny boobed overlords.

Loved part two (my wife did not), I did think it was a little long and the transition of Paul turning into the direction of the Messiah could have been telegraphed a bit more. It was only until after I saw the movie that I read his *turn* (to use wrestling parlance) was meant to be legitimate. I felt he was making decisions at the end for the sake of strategy, not necessarily because his personality had changed. I do have one question for Dune fans: why was most of the pronunciations of the names changed, while some stayed the same: i.e., "Har-Cone-Nen" was the old way of saying it, now to "Hark-En-En", or Duke "Lee-toe" is now Duke "Let-Oh" but some, like Muad'Dib stayed the same. That was a very disjointed part of both movies coming from a longtime fan of the first film - was there some clarification that Frank Herbet had specific ways of pronouncing names that got ignored on the 1983 film?

I was 20 in the mid-90’s, so shaved-sides with a mullet is just going to have to be my legacy. Thankfully I’ve got some comic book street cred with my Wolvie shirt. That’s me in front of my 70 Impala with my dad’s ex-girlfriend in the photo with me. (Go, pops!)

It might be difficult, but keeping it will be a great exercise in patience. If you really like the book and you don't forsee selling it, you're probably better off waiting to find a coverless one for parts - and that could take years. Marrying together an X-Men 1 might cost more than it will be worth once it's complete, but depending on what you want to spend on an X-Men 1 - that should make your choice more clear. I'd probably slab it once it's married, just so any future buyer will at least be made aware of what is and isn't in the book - rather than trying to keep it raw.

That's what I was thinking.

Thanks to all the pressmen who responded here - valuable information that is slowly starting to fade away with time.

Stellar Crain piece! GLWTS

When did you live in Billings? I had my comic shop in Great Falls up until 1996.

I was kinda the opposite - I can't tell you how many comics I upsold using Wizard between pushing Valiant, Top 10 and "Hot Books". I think it really helped the indy guys, as Marvel and DC fans started getting into independents based on reviews and "increased value" in those books. The concept of "flipping" was a lot less common without the internet, but people loved buying a book I got for $1.50 from the distributor and sold it to them for $5 and one month later it was "worth" $10.

Not sure if this fits in your focus @Fischb1 - awesome dialogue.

Teal Royal Blue FWIW

Wizard - aside from the underhanded price manipulation - was such a great publication in pre and early internet days. The excitement for each new issue was palpable back in the day. I distinctly remember trying to *not* read the entire issue the day it came out so I would leave something to read for the next day or week. Never happened. There was no edging when it came to reading Wizard. One of the last truly fun aspects (waiting to see what was going on in the hobby) of comics before the internet came along and changed everything. RIP Wizard.

I wholeheartedly respect anyone who looked like John Rambo in their 20s.

Looks like the wax discoloration in the paste-ups were more accurately shown in his CAF listing. I'd have been severely bent out of shape if I had bought a piece of art and the seller had Photoshopped it to make the discoloration not look as apparent in the listing as it is in-hand. Maybe that's the reason for the reverse flip? There's a big difference between "Toned" and "Toasty".

Good to hear! I agree with @Readcomix - I was thinking this would be a good thread to bump and see if anyone added any Frazettas to their collection.

This is amazing - I love the depth in this one. Still in your collection?

Bought this Al Rio Purgatori piece from 1998 for the sole purpose of having Norm Rapmund ink the pencils, which I've had great luck with. Unpacked it this week - and had a bit of trouble. First, the "toning" in the piece was actually foxing. Second, the package it came in stank like a dirty locker room. It smelled overwhelmingly of mildew. So, I reviewed the Ebay listing, and upon closer inspection, you could see that the artwork had foxing, which I accepted responsibility for. The frustrating point was that the stink was not disclosed, and it's pretty noticeable even while handling it at arm's length. The artwork also came from South America, so the return aspect was going to be a pain - not to mention that I liked the artwork, even if the foxing is going to hurt future resale. Seeing as how the pictures showed the foxing, but no disclosure of stinkiness - I really didn't know what kind of hassle I was going to have with the seller and/or Ebay. Not to mention that I didn't want to return something that technically looked like what I purchased, so, I shrugged my shoulders and figured I'd try to fix it. After doing a bit of research, I determined the best way to kill the mildew and moisture in the paper was to bake it in the oven. (I've used the cat litter trick, and it does work - but it takes a couple of weeks) Even though paper is not going to discolor at 180 degrees, I still sat and watched it for awhile just out of concern and curiosity. I let it bake for an hour, and sure enough - the mildew smell was all but gone. The downside was the paper bowed a bit, so I took it to my local frame shop and for the cost of a couple pieces of mat board and a roll of parchment paper - they put it in their vacuum press overnight and when I picked it up, it was flat like normal. Packed it up and shipped it off to Norm - I think the inks are going to be so stark that it will visually take away from the foxing discoloration and really look sweet.

That's a stunner and quite cool you have all the great elements of AoA on one piece!