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John E.

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Everything posted by John E.

  1. So did every single page sell? Nothing on the site but the cover and its prelims.
  2. One of the first comics I was exposed to was Paul Neary’s Captain America #302. May he rest in peace and condolences to his widow.
  3. One of the most impressive pieces in the interior page category I voted for was the New Mutants 98/1st app of Deadpool. Not only are those rare as hen’s teeth but most of them are owned by Jim Halperin, and this was not Jim’s. People must be sick of Deadpool and his omnipresence in culture because in the end the page was met with a 8-way tie for 14th place (it’s like #42 in the gallery). That’s why I don’t fret about blackhole pieces getting posted because there is no guarantee anything will take the Prize. Too many collectors from different generations with too many tastes. (If this Rob Liefeld example is any indication, too many with good taste apparently.)
  4. Wow, I am so out of the loop. I had never heard of Omaha nor would I have ever guessed her popularity. Congratulations though. TBH, I saw the title of the thread and I thought this was another post about Cadence Comic Art.
  5. I think of this celebration within the community as the “Best Post of the Year” more than “Best Acquisition.”
  6. I heard through a friend that he is seeing a hemorrhaging of artists declaring via their social media they are no longer with Cadence so I ran straight over here to find out more.
  7. @szav There are various ways to get these done. Typically, you go to a comic convention where CGC has a table. At this table are hired CGC witnesses. You go to the con and ask/pay an artist for a sketch. Before the artist hands it to you, you have to ask a CGC witness to come with you so they can witness the artist hand over their sketch. So the witness is the neutral third party who authenticates that it is indeed the artist who did this. Then you go to fill out the appropriate paperwork and pay the CGC witness and slabbing fee. This isn’t the only way. For example, CGC may agree to send a witness to a smaller regional show where they don’t have a table set up, or a store signing. Or CGC may have mail-in events. The Artgerm could be a pre-arrange at-home commission in which he and the fan have agreed to a comic-con pickup. The fan just needs a witness with him. The art looks printed but its original art. It is done with copic markers. Same thing with the George Perez. I never met him but I heard he’d have lines out the door. The only way he could accommodate fan was by doing quick sketches like that for a fraction of his at-home commission fee. It may very well be that a CGC witness sat next to him watching him sketch and if you wanted to, you just pull aside and fill out the paperwork.
  8. Thanks for the reply, Mike. I had written a long response, hit submit, and *poof* it all disappeared. I guess that was the universe saying no one wants to read this lol.
  9. “Where’s all the Locke & Key art?” So, essentially the answer is, under lock and key.
  10. In today’s market, yes. But around the time you entered when collectibles were at the top of the market and you can sell (as you did) to enter the OA hobby is the time frame I’m referring to. Also, there was more exuberance for the MCU back then than there is today. My main question, which resonated with your post, is whether “new” collectors who entered the hobby buying only/mainly new art from “new art drops” (or commissions from those “hot” artists) are still around today? In that 2012-2016 time period when I was still reading new books off the shelves and seeing the art from those books get dropped just about weekly which seems to have continued to present day, well, is/was that really a sustainable model? Meaning, it may have been an affordable entry to the hobby, but was it a sustainable one for longevity? Was that a cause of burnout, trying to keep up? Mike, you were a key comic collector. Have you been reading comics “all your life?” The earliest comic that I own is from when I was 5 years old. Although there have been many lapses (I’m of a generation where comics weren’t cool and you had to grow up some time), comics have always been part of my life somehow. Just wondering if that’s the case for you? Anyway…
  11. Yes, Batman covers. And you’re right, there are those who do make a big splash and are still active.
  12. NFTs…as far as I know, no. Yeah, one I had in mind seemed to have entered the hobby during the pandemic then firesale’d and bailed.
  13. By “new” collectors I meant new about 5 years ago. One I had in mind raised his profile with a certain mid-5-figure purchase of a modern cover. Then just disappeared. So was he “victim” of fresh blood in the water? Got taken advantages of and left a hobby that left him with a bad taste in the mouth? It’s what I’m wondering, in general terms.
  14. This popped into my head a few seconds before I read your post. I came to wonder about “new” collectors in recent years who made big splashes buying up art in which the ink hadn’t dried yet, commissioning “It” artists to do big commissions, paying record prices for modern art, appearing on podcasts etc. And yet, they’ve seemed to have disappeared. Sometimes I’ll see that art on auction. I could name names, but happened to them and their supposed passion for the hobby?
  15. Yup. For all the veneration of Marvel, covers, and published, most of my top 10 most viewed fall under the categories of non-Marvel, sketches, or unpublished. And forget about price.
  16. Here are my selections for this year's entry.
  17. Hung jury. A crime may have been committed when Sotheby's Samuel Valette sent "formal" emails raising the price of the Modigilani by the hour. According the article, we can apparently "infer that Valette raised the price at Bouvier's request." Although I would like to see the evidence of that request, because that's too important for me to just infer. Then there's skipping Valette's company in the provenance. I don't know what the legality of that is. On the other hand, you have a filthy rich oligarch who has entered and disrupted the market. Remember when we all could buy birth pages of Tigra's groomer all-day, every-day for $50? Then all that CGC money poured into the birth page/1st appearance market and now Tigra's groomer pages are $5,000. How can Sotheby's not say that Modigilanis used to be $8M, but now they're $100M once these Russian player got into the market. If I were Sotheby's, I would say that they were grossly underestimating the art and were adjusting prices to the "new normal." I mean geez--all parties honestly or deceptively--underestimated the value of the Mundi. In fact, I don't know why the F Sotheby's kept Valette on the payroll when they should have fired him and hired Bouvier. What fault of Bouvier for getting a way better price for the art than Vallete could? Bouvier clocked in 800 transactions over a period of 10 years and Sotheby's didn't jump on that talent? Tsk. I mean, Bouvier acted as a middleman. So instead of making up imaginary owners as a sales tactic, would it have been a crime if Vallete was out of the picture and Bouvier straight up said, "Sotheby's wants $107.5M for this painting.Take it or leave it." I mean, do these guys deserve one slap per cheek with a pair of white leather gloves? I wouldn't disagree with that.
  18. Even when Spidey saves the day, he still gets slammed on the front page of the Bugle.
  19. He might as well change the name to: ifitlookslikeyourstuffitprobablyis No wonder his reply to Phil looked pretty canned. Not his first inquiry. It reminds me of The Big Lebowski, and I paraphrase: ”Did I pee on your rug? Did I go to your house and personally pee on your rug, Mr. Lebowski? Do I owe a rug to every person in town who’s had their rug peed on?” “Well, no. But that’s not the point.”
  20. So this guy pays $100 for a mystery package at a USPS lost mail auction, finds a “$22,000” Charles Schulz Peanuts strip, and says, “Woohoo! I’m going to sell this on eBay! For sure no one’s looking for this!”
  21. Looks like the seller took down the listing. It’s not in his sales history either. As Buzzetta says, if you’ve already taken the insurance money there’s not much you can do. But the fact that you are receiving missing mail updates probably means you haven’t? I would also ask usps if they have a record of selling this package in their auction. You can’t take this guy’s word for it either. And think you should also make an inquiry with the Postal Inspector. I think they deal with crimes like mail fraud.
  22. I think you mean “you get a notification when one of your favorite artworks goes on sale.” But then you follow that with “Very useful - but dangerous function…” So what I think you mean is that you get the notification but your wallet is sent the warning. 🙂🖼️ 🟰⚠️💶
  23. There is one AND ONLY ONE constant in this ever-changing hobby.