Sideshow Bob

You've got one foot in this world, and one foot in the next. [FYI...these are FOR REAL spoilers!!!]. Don't open if you haven't read WD #192.]

The ultimate call-back.

Auction closing tonight! GLTA! I also have an early Don Newton page from his Phantom days at Charlton. No Phantom, but a great example of Newton inking his own pencils. http://www.comiclink.com/Auctions/item.asp?back=%2FComicTrack%2FAuctions%2Fauctions_first.asp&id=1308680

Available on ebay from a couple years ago, as I don't see them selling at Starbucks any more. They need a special glazing pen, and then have to get baked in an over to fire the porcelain glaze into something permanent (mostly). I did it once at NYCC with five different artists, and carefully brought it home to "fire" it, with just a little smudging as a result of my poor handling. The Grell one, which Mike did at home, turned out much better. I don't use the dishwasher though... Good luck!

Letting go some of my OA treasures to tackle some business growth cash needs. Auction ends next week on Tuesday, June 4th. GLTA! - Bob http://comiclink.com/Auctions/item.asp?back=%2FComicTrack%2FAuctions%2Fauctions_first.asp&id=1319014 Last page culminating Geoff Shaw's Thanos Wins, with a gorgeous splash page of Lady Death. http://comiclink.com/Auctions/item.asp?back=%2FComicTrack%2FAuctions%2Fauctions_first.asp&id=1308679 Splash page from Tim Sale's Legends of the Dark Knight. I asked Tim at NYCC last year if this was his first Joker, and he thought it was since he never did a Joker in Showcase '94 and this predates LH and DV. http://comiclink.com/Auctions/item.asp?back=%2FComicTrack%2FAuctions%2Fauctions_first.asp&id=1308684 One of the best Teen Titan's group shots I've ever seen, done by the master George Perez as the cover for an archive edition. Just stunning. http://comiclink.com/Auctions/item.asp?back=%2FComicTrack%2FAuctions%2Fauctions_first.asp&id=1308681 Being honest, I bought this Kirby cover last year as a spec play on the news that the DC Movie Universe was expanding to include the New Gods as the next film. I like Black Racer as a character, and there's lots of great Kirby crackle, but I don't have the time to wait for the movie bump. http://comiclink.com/Auctions/item.asp?back=%2FComicTrack%2FAuctions%2Fauctions_first.asp&id=1308683 This Jason Fabok cover is tremendous and I think the best one from the Darkseid War crossover. DC used this cover as the image for the the 2018 book "Justice League 100 Greatest Moments". With Jay's Three Jokers story coming out and Jay selling his own work at his own prices, there might not be a lot of chances to get such a solid Fabok cover at auction. http://comiclink.com/Auctions/item.asp?back=%2FComicTrack%2FAuctions%2Fauctions_first.asp&id=1308682 The whole premise of a Cosmic Ghost Rider, where Frank Castle becomes Ghost Rider as he is dying, and then later become a cosmic herald of Galactus, is just one of the greatest mind-bending ideas I've seen in comics. And then he goes back in time to raise Thanos. Really. Just nuts. This cover by Geoff Shaw pulls that all together. http://comiclink.com/Auctions/item.asp?back=%2FComicTrack%2FAuctions%2Fauctions_first.asp&id=1308678 As many people know, I love Don Newton's work. Ch'p, the squirrel-like Green Lantern of Sector #1014, is one of the few characters Don was credited with as the creator. This page 1 title page from 1982 is the first appearance of Ch'p and I hope a true Green Lantern fan grabs it! Plus with talk of a Green Lantern Corps movie, maybe he'll get some screen time and be a breakout star! http://comiclink.com/Auctions/item.asp?back=%2FComicTrack%2FAuctions%2Fauctions_first.asp&id=1308686 Andy Price jams all the best Bat villians onto one page, with a definite Don Newton homage. Andy sells this as a print at cons, but the colors don't pop anywhere near this original.

I had this I Kill Giants commission done by Ken Niimura (the artist), and then asked Joe Kelly (the author) to tastefully sign it off image. Asking in person with clear direction to the author is key, and handing them a pen of your choice is critical. Super happy with the result.

I have always expected that the cover to Head Games #2 with Bode's head mapped out would be used for billboards. But other than Welcome to Lovecraft #1, I don't have an opinion on any other issues. Maybe some of the limited edition early keys (signed/dated) produced by Skelton Studio might be good spec plays.

Paul Pope commission of Batman and Spectre. He went WAY over the top, and threw in another original JSA member (Wildcat) and a full scale battle royale with the Mermen of Innsmouth). And its HUGE. Thanks Felix!

I have a lot of Batman/Spectre themed commissions (just got one from Paul Pope yesterday...WOW) but this one from Mike Grell is unique. From one of the Starbucks mugs that you can bake the ink to seal it permanently into the mug. --Bob

A great LH-era sketch, and a page from Legends of the Dark Knight #34. I think the LoDK page was Tim's first published drawing of the Joker since the Joker oddly didn't show up in Tim's Showcase '94 Arkham softball game story with every other villain. Unfortunately, I needed to pare down my collection, and that page has been consigned for ComicLink's current featured auction, so its currently looking for a new owner! Bob

Ouch. That Kirby Kamandi cover sold for $15k at CL in Nov 2017. Just sold for $9k ($10,800 with the BP).

Just saw the Bernie Wrightson scene from Cycle of the Werewolf was withdrawn from Saturday's Day 3 internet-only auction. Probably because it would be the next-to-last lot on the last day, its not much of an action piece (clouds...), and the consignor wanted better placement in the auction. If you know who consigned it, let me know! I was looking forward to bidding on it! Bob

Death of Shane in Walking Dead #6 Grayson leaves the Batcave, having given Jason Todd his Robin costume, pre-Nightwing, in Batman #368 Emergence of King Arthur, in Camelot 3000 #1

In 2012, I was looking for some art to hang up in my daughters' room who were 5 and 3 at the time and both were totally into the newly-launched My Little Pony TV show. IDW was just launching the comic book tie-in, so I thought "wouldn't that be a neat thing to hang up in their room?". Next thing I know, I find a whole world of OA has been right there waiting for me to stop buying slabbed books (all sold now!) and start spending all my disposable money on OA. Still have that first MLP cover that I bought for the girls...but boy, what a crazy trip its been! Bob

I like the action in the third chapter the best, but obviously the first SA page in the first chapter plus the throw-back panels to More Fun! will goose that up. Going to be fun to watch!

Here is the update on this post: Sold at Heritage for $800 hammer, $960 with BP. The consignor did very well here, almost doubling his/her money from Feb 2017 to Feb 2019 (assuming standard fees). Congrats! So, I like money as much as the next person, and I would have preferred $780 of sale proceeds in my pocket versus the $343 I got in Feb 2017. I do sell pages often enough, so I have to ask myself these questions: Did I just sell too early as the LH interior page market has effectively doubled over the last two years? Did I make a mistake by consigning this to CL rather than HA, missing out on a larger buyer pool that loves Tim Sale but doesn't follow CL? Is it the auction format versus the final price model that makes the difference in the ending price? Was it just serendipitous that just the two right people showed up this time with cash in hand and bid this nice page way past its rational level?

Honestly, knowing that there is NYC sales tax on top of the auction house vig is holding me back from bidding. Adding insult to injury, the fed tax laws that affected high state/local tax states like NY, and my buying is likely going to be dramatically curtailed going forward.

For the winners of the Camelot 3000 and Warlord covers, you can thank the impromptu meeting in my office that was initiated right at the start of the auction, and just let out! Doh!

Fun art day for me. Just posted a couple pieces on CAF. https://www.comicartfans.com/gallerynew.asp?GCat=92556 Camelot 3000 #11 splash page (Brian Bolland) First appearance of Hush in Batman #609 (Jim Lee, Scott Williams) Fantastic pinup from Batman: Eternal (Jason Fabok) Final cover from Letter 44, Charles Soule's pet project and one of my favorites, published by Oni Press (Alberto Alburquerque)

He is putting up a little bit of resistance, using the "friends and family" option on paypal as the red herring. https://insta-stalker.com/post/BtVB9XdB9yo/

While that does happen, I think that's only for the big pieces, and not the $400-600 pages. That's what makes the flip so hard to profit; the transaction costs just destroy you. Shipping of $100 on a $10,000 piece is just 1%, but shipping of $50 on a $200 piece is 25%. The bigger you are, the less likely the same rules don't apply when using the auction house route. But wow, you get clobbered when you're a little guy who lives in a high tax state. Not for the faint of heart...

So its not a flip as its two years between buy and sell, but an illustrative lesson in the costs of trying to buy back something you sold and the true cost of transaction fees (especially Heritage). In Feb 2017, I sold this Long Halloween page on ComicLink. It really is a nice page, but I was going through a "does it spark joy?" phase and it didn't make the cut. I consigned it and the winning bid was $381, a reasonable price for a good Gordon page from a great series by a master artist. Its going to hit the auction block at Heritage in the Feb 21 auction. I thought maybe I'd bid on it, but asked the question, what would it cost me to get it back two years later with the same economics, ignoring inflation and opportunity cost? Crazy, it came it out to $237 as my max bid on sale proceeds of $343. Here is the insane math: Winning CL 2017 bidder: $381 + shipping $25 = $406 My take after CL 10% fee of -$38: $343 Back out 8.875% NYC sales tax if I bid again: -$28 Back out Heritage 20% buyers premium on pre-tax total: -$52 Back out Heritage standard shipping/handling: -$25 My max bid to be break-even from Feb 2017: $237 vs the $343 I got as a check in Feb 2017. That is a -30% move from my sale proceeds or a -38% move from the last winning bid. Wow. Even more frightening, in that scenario, the new consignor gets hit with a Heritage sellers fee of 15%, so the take-home is $202, or a 50% loss from what they paid (with shipping). Ouch. In reality, I won't win at $237 and the consignor won't get destroyed, since someone will bid higher than $350 for this lovely page and become the new owner... it just won't be me. [For illustrative purposes, if the consignor is the original buyer from Feb 2017, to break even at a purchase price of $406, after HA fees they'll need a hammer of $467. As the new winning bidder, if I bid $467, after 8.875% sales tax and 20% fees and $25 shipping, it will cost me $626. That is 1.65x the last hammer price of $381! The question becomes... did the Long Halloween interior page market move up +65% in the last two years? For the economics of selling this through HA two years later to work, I sure hope it has!.]

My favorite time of the year! A chance to go through and pick your favorite 5 pick-ups from the prior year. 2018 was a lot bigger than I expected, but with that came a lot of unexpected happy-happy. Even though I really beefed up my Don Newton Batman collection this past year, this year I wanted to showcase a couple different pieces. COVER: Batman: White Knight #2 variant cover by Sean Murphy - A very cinematic feel to this variant cover. Sean had penciled in a working title on the cover that was then changed to Batman: White Knight, but inked in the final title after publication.Love the take on the Joker and the blending in of the cover elements. The Joker design is the basis for an upcoming Black & White statue. PANEL PAGES: Dark Knights: Metal #6, pg 24 by Greg Capullo and Jon Glapion - A Joker, Batman, and Batman Who Laughs all on one Capullo/Glapion page? Done! SPLASH: Detective Comics #600 pinup by Mike Zeck - Bought this issue at my LCS! Brings back lots of great memories, but also, damn, its a Zeck Batman from the late 80s! Doesn't get much better. SPLASH: Camelot 3000 #1, pg 9 by Brian Bolland - A dramatic full-page splash from Bolland. Sets the stage for this great 12-issue series. SPLASH: The Cape: Fallen #2, pg 22 by Zach Howard - Not a well known series, which is filling in a gap during the lead character's absence from the original Cape mini-series by Joe Hill. Demented story, and a insane bit of work here by Zach Howard. His inking is off the charts, and this splash should highlight that. He has a project that is more mainstream coming up in 2019, so I hope you all can see more of Zach's insanely detailed work that he pours onto the page!

Excited for the McCay pieces...will there be any advance list of what is being displayed and/or for sale?

In the future, maybe don't lead with "As far as the signed illustrations and original art, we have only named and specified works and artists where we are absolutely certain will hold up under the highest levels of scrutiny and certification standards" and then claim you're "certainly not error-proof".