Sideshow Bob

Heritage changed their description: "...while the published cover shows some differences, we believe this detailed piece was used, supplemented by stats created in production to create the printing plate. To elaborate about the changes in the original art being offered and the final version of the published comic book, comparing the images of Batman and Two-Face on the original art to the published cover, they line up perfectly. For the cover, the pattern on Two-Face's suit was probably changed for editorial consistency or to make it easier to draw on the interior pages. On the cover, background elements appear to have been switched/photoshopped in production, but again align perfectly when mirrored."

And the Batman #313 cover....Heritage says "This is possibly an alternate cover that was either reconfigured in production or rejected in order to maintain editorial consistency with the characters." OK, so does anyone know if this is a rejected cover that had to be redrawn completely and there a clean version of this in the wild? Or did the background get flipped in production with a very good Exacto + a new suit pattern was applied? I haven't taken the time yet to overlay them in Photoshop and see how the lines look in obverse. UPDATE FROM AN AMATUER: So I went through it on Photoshop, and it looks like they reassembled stats of the OA and did a little bit of cosmetic work to get them to work with a quick plaid treatment to one side of the suit. Would have been a bit of work to do, but the dimensions (with a little warping here and there) are so spot-on that the published version does not look to be light-boxed or re-done. While there might be a 97% stat out there, I think this is the real OA that leads to the corrected stat cover. That being said, you have a Two-Face image where the clean side of the room is on the scar-side of his face, and the dirty side is on the clean side of his face and editorial hated it so much they made a production guy bust out his master-class Exacto knife skills...can I get over that fact if I bid enough to win OR will it haunt me every time I look at it... uggh. Don't know. If someone has a different opinion, I'd love to know about it. Again...amateur examination knowing that some of you are much better at this kind of thing. Bob

At this snail's pace, the UK guys will be asleep by the time we get to Dragon's Lair...

Seeing those collectors' game rooms, with so many games and high-end collectibles related to Dragons Lair, I'm going to have to up my estimate for that poster art, even if Bluth didn't touch it. How do those two guys from the UK not duke this one out on HA Live? Bob

Let's ignore taxes. For me, the real benefit of the cash deal is also peace of mind that a) for the buyer, that the art is in your hand after inspecting it and b) for the seller, that the check isn't going to bounce/a bogus fraud claim is going to get filed on PayPal. At today's prices for some A and A+ pieces, people will continue to do cash deals. Collectors in NYC will still do it. But maybe you don't fly across the country to do it where you might have considered a couple hundred dollar flight cost as part of the economics of the deal.

Are you talking about Web of Spiderman #31?

Hammer at $43k, with BP $51,600. Congrats to the new owner!

That is how a successful auction house is run. Strike while the iron is hot when people want to buy, and strike while the iron is hot when people need to sell. They always get paid, either way and every time. Great chapter in Freakonomics that specifically addresses this topic for real estate brokers encouraging you to take that offer that's on the table, and it isn't because it's in your best interest.

I have one of Hugh's paintings, and it is stunning in person. And a great guy too. Bob

The whole Con is cancelled.

The Zeck SSM #131 cover sold for $33k at HA in Nov 2017. This is obviously a better cover, but is it double? I had it pegged around $40k - 50k. Given that SSM #132 sat at $60k for that long, between the two seems about right. But we've seen plenty of pieces languish on a dealer site only to get wrapped up higher with bidders caught up in auction fever.

I reached to him when that issue came out, and [edit] he said doing Batman was the reason he had gotten into comics in the first place [edit] and he didn't want to consider selling. The excitement was just too much and separating from the work too soon was not in the cards. Looks like I should have reached out a little later, as it seems he changed his mind! They are all tremendous. Many kudos on keeping the issue together...every page is wonderful. Bob

One of the three DPS in the Detective #27 story by Scott Snyder/Sean Murphy, showing different incarnations of Batman in Gotham.

Tom Mandrake. Spectre #51. Joker's conscience gets reconnected after taking over Spectre's form...the Jason Todd in the crowd is heartbreaking.

Great podcast. The “I paid more than I was comfortable and had a panic attack” and the other guys effectively says “hold my beer”...classic OA collector stories. Loved it.