John E.

I’ve always been in love with that Spider-Woman by…Tristan? You are lucky to own it. The Sinkiewicz Hulk, Lago Doc Strange, and the Joe Phillips Havok are very, very nostalgic. Again, you’re lucky to have them. They are in very nice frames. I forget how easy it is to find galleries on CAF so I checked out what you have a few hours ago. You have a very nice collection. I’m actually a personal fan of MM ‘93 for the same reasons you are, but “issue #1” is (almost) always more coveted than “issue #2.” I don’t make the rules. Around 2018 I made an impulse buy and got a sealed box of ‘92 MM for $50 at a collectibles show. I always tell myself I’ll sell it to buy art but I don’t seem to want to let it go. I remember when most of your card art was up for auction. I do think you got some good deals. “Good eye for good buys.” Essentially you found a niche and now you’re getting priced out of your niche. You’ll then move on another affordable niche before you get priced out of that one. Mark my words dealers are reading this thread who will then go after 90s card art at auction and quadruple the prices on their sites. It’s what they’ve done to 90s art today. The same art they poo-poo’d on for the last 30 years.

That's a nice card art piece by Marc Sasso. Black costume Spider-Man in a beloved storyline. There'd likely be more interest in that today which means it's certainly worth a lot more. I remember when it was auctioned. But is that from the '94 Fleer set? To me, the gold standard is the '90 Impel Marvel and the '92 Marvel Masterpieces, both groundbreakers. Coming in at 2nd and 3rd are '91 Impel and '93 MM, respectively, and that's because you still had the young guns like Erik Larsen working at Marvel pre-Image. (Larsen's Impel series II Venom sold on HA for under $1k, so I'll give you that. If only I could go back.) The Hildebrandts' set comes in at a distant 4th, imo, and that's only because painted pieces command higher prices, but to me--nostalgia aside--I thought they were a one-trick pony the way people think Alex Ross is. I think art outside of those "gold standard" sets card art from other sets were more affordable pre-pandemic. It's like a so-so page from "Issue #1" is going to command a higher price than a so-so page from issue #26, all things equal. Granted all art goes on the rise, so it's not just Marvel card art that is on an uptick. For most of original comic art history, if given a choice between a published page and card art by the same artist on the same subject, the card art would be the least desirable. Likely it had the least eyeballs on it and it's not canon. I also purchased packs from the same sets you did as a kid, but I never completed a set. Now that I have put together the Impel '90 set, I still have stronger nostalgia to my original cards than the cards I got later in adulthood. I guess the point I'm trying to get to is that as modestly-budgeted collectors get priced out of one area, they move on to the next best thing (there's that troublesome phrase again) which then drives up those prices fast. I think that's what happened to Erik Larsen and Bagley when the McSpidey stuff got out of hand. I think it was with the '92 Marvel set that the quality of the cards went downhill (Is that when Skybox took over?) Personally, I don't consider the set in which the Bagley-art-in-question as a prime card set, and in theory, should be worth less. But that set is peak Mark Bagley, the Spider-Man artist of the 90s because of his extended run. His good Spidey art is already into the 5-figures and the floor on his okay/decent pages in his ASM run is 2k. As Chris C. has already pointed out: for it's size, for being drawn at the maturation of Bagley's skills, that you get 9 cards in one board and it's all Spider-verse, I think we are going to look at 35K as cheap 5 years from now. I think this one has room to grow. And because tone can be misconstrued here, I want to make it clear that I'm not trying be disparaging. Just passionately writing about a niche I care about. If your card art is posted on CAF I'd love to see it.

I’ve been collecting for 10 years now and have had interest in adding Impel Marvel Universe card art from series I or II since then. Art from that set or from Jusko’s Marvel Masterpieces —at least the most wanted art—pops up rarely. I imagine it’s been locked up with collectors like yourself for years. Anyhow, in those ten years I’ve rarely seen any of the art be auctioned off for or sold by a dealer for less than $1,000, so I’m wondering how long ago you’re thinking? And it’s certainly was not affordable even by the standards of 5 years ago. I remember around 2015-16 Albert Moy was selling the multiple cards-on-one board of Jim Lee’s Impel Series I Wolverine, and a short time later, Jusko’s Spider-Man 2099 from MM series II for $5k each with no takers for a very long time, which told me it was not a deal (and with Moy, it never is.) Sounds cheap now. Around ‘16-‘17, Romitaman had for sale Jusko’s Namorita and Weapon Omega for about $1500 each with no takers until the pandemic. Again sounds cheap but I think collectors like me were waiting for better examples. Also around that time CL sold the Jusko Darkhawk for $1600 at auction which I thought was cheap. I remember Hildebrandt MM card art being auctioned on Hake’s and I’m not sure what the prices where. I think the X’ian sold for around $800. I think Tri-State was selling Art Adams’ Thor vs Ulik from Impel series II for 2k? 3k? and sat unsold and again it took the pandemic to finally get a taker. Again, Romitaman put out Romita Sr’s card art for “Spidey Webshooters,” Green Goblin, Doctor Octopus, a half Spidey/half Jameson with a starting price of $3k around ‘19 or early ‘20. I really wish I jump on that but $3k for a half sheet? As I believe the board was cut up to sell the art individually. That all sounds cheap today as that card art that was once under appreciated by what I guess to be Boomers, is now astronomical in price, but I don’t believe it was to be had under $1k for a long time.

I guess because I swim in the shallow end of the pool I paid attention to the details. I thought, how ironic that the first interior appearance of Harley to have 2 stats. What is a collector to do? I guess I would be happy to have it—no different than a 1-panel 1st app?

I didn’t take it as offensive that you compared a commission as “the next best thing” with one-of-a-kind art that is sold out. I do find it ironic though that he had just disparaged himself by saying “I was only the inker on one issue” in a reply before that After giving this a thought for a day I will say the takeaway here is to never call anything, much less anyone, “the next best thing” even if it’s not meant as an underhanded compliment. Were you aware of this artist’s reputation before contacting him? To me he sounded like he was already looking for a fight. There are quite a few artists out there that come in default mode salty that I stay away from no matter how much I like their art. Lastly, I will give the artist credit for edifying me on the effects that digital art-making has had on art supply stores (allegedly), available art supplies, and the apparent obsolescence of nibs.

Just in case you didn’t notice it, Saul corrected to Deodato.

Didn’t Shepard Fairy get into legal trouble for using a copyrighted photograph for the Obama Hope poster? I didn’t follow the case closely so I don’t know how it was resolved. Just wondering why it didn’t set a precedent of sort.

I have this problem too and have lost artwork that way. When I used to “con,” I would set my backpack down between my feet so I couldn’t walk away without stumbling over it. With art portfolios (as with anything else) if you set it beside you away from your line of vision you may be apt to walk away going the opposite direction. That’s how I lost a sketch book. I always put my name and info on things. Last month, I had an artist sketch something in my kid’s book at a book festival and set it on a table to let the ink dry. I got caught in conversation and then walked away from it. So it still happens. It took a few emails, texts, and calls, but I was able to retrieve it. I’m considering getting “business” cards made with my name and contact so I can easily stick them in books, etc.

Greg Land is sweatin right now

It has the same artwork. I’ve been meaning to post a picture of mine.

I believe we can report it a fraudulent but unless eBay takes action, unsuspecting bidder are none the wiser. Personally, I don’t think it’s fraud if the seller, who seems to be a consignment store, with hired hands to scan and post, don’t know any better as what they are selling. The ruse is not intentional as far as I can tell. Is it careless and irresponsible? For sure. I think this is more of an issue of misidentification and the “Report a listing” complaint says nothing about misidentification. (Just writing out my thoughts on the topic; this is not directed to you, Mr. Ghoul.)

This print is now up to $7500. This is the weirdest price discovery I’ve ever seen. If you are an underbidder interested in my print for the low, low price of $3,050 (I’m selling literally at yesterday’s prices ) PM please. I’m a collector who understands the fog of exuberance — I got caught in a sticky sitch on eBay last month myself—and will take care of you.

Mike, I was just about to post a topic about this warning that this is indeed a print. I know this because I own one. I got it directly from Kelley Jones at his Sac-Con (Sacramento, CA) appearance late in 2014. This is like an oversized flyer promoting the release of the then-forthcoming Batman: Kelley Jones Gallery Edition from Graphitti Designs. One side of the flyer/print is a facsimile of the original art to show the quality of the scan and printing; the reverse is the actual advertisement. This to me seems like another case of eBay sellers/consignment companies ignorant of what they are selling and writing poor descriptions that dupe bidders. So bidders beware this is not original art. But I’m more than happy to sell mine for a low, low price of $999.00USD. PM me.

Yep—just to add to that—a buyer can pay with PayPal but it no longer lands in the seller’s PP account. Money is held in seller’s eBay account then directly deposited to a bank account at the seller’s discretion. The selling fees go higher every year though.

Cool! I’m the last one to leave an unsolicited comment in 11 years!

One arm and one leg?

Well, now I gotta 💻👀 this episode!

Thank you for this Grape. I don’t know Conny but know who she is so I was reluctant to point out how fishy this all is. To go from dead to alright to coma? I’d be cautious about any money solicitation.

Maybe could have done a little better but no Hulk or Wolverine

When GrapeApe said "unless I own Twitter" he was referencing Elon Musk, i.e being a billionaire. To his own admission, Musk overpaid for Twitter, said the company was bleeding money, leading him to fire half its employees and then charging for the blue checkmark, but not before advertisers started to bail out. That's what I was referencing with "keeping the lights on."