Will_K

Guessing... Christina Winters Agent of Death # 3 ?? for your Mannion piece ?? For oddball pieces, I will get a copy of the art in print. For example, I was given a Tom Derenick page from Gravestone #1. I had a passing interest in Derenick, unrelated to why I was given the page. Bought Gravestone #1. I have a page by Jim Starlin / D ick Giordano from a Radio Shack promo comic, Superman in The Computers That Saved Metropolis. I think I already had a copy of the comic but instead of putting in the effort to dig it out, I got another one off ebay. I've also been buying (usually more "modern") issues that contained art that I just bought for aesthetics, so I could see it in print. I have a Nick Cardy Lady Luck page from a Sunday Spirit Section. From what I can tell, it's generally one of the oldest pieces I've seen from a Spirit Section. I didn't know when or if it was published. So, to find out, I commenced to buy all the Spirit Sections from that period. Basically, I was playing "Battleship" to find it. The Spirit Sections contained the lead story by Will Eisner (p1-8), 2nd story with Lady Luck (p9-12) and 3rd story with Mr Mystic (p13-16) by Bob Powell. So I had a few Spirits with art from the tailend of 1st Lady Luck artist, Chuck Mazoujian's run. All the Lady Lucks by Nick Cardy. And a couple early Spirits by the 3rd Lady Luck artist, Klaus Nordling. Then I decided that I "might as well" get all the Spirits from the beginning (6/2/1940) through Nick's last Lady Luck (2/22/1942). I'm getting close to finishing that run. It's been expensive. Then I might upgrade. I can't find the reference but I read somewhere that most of the real early Spirit art was purposely destroyed (not by Eisner). Spirit Section, Sunday, Jan 4, 1942, Lady Luck by Nick Cardy https://www.comicartfans.com/gallerypiece.asp?piece=1174799

Like being addicted to plastic surgery, keeps getting worse.

My favorite Mannion art on CAF that isn't found in my collection. https://www.comicartfans.com/galleryfavoritesroom.asp?gfav=730 I like the favorites feature. I think Bill Cox mentioned that he wanted to remove it but it was getting enough usage that they ended up keeping it. I dedicated 2023 to posting unpublished art / sketches. I guess I'll dedicate 2024 to posting more of Steve's art.

Steve used to live relatively close to me and I would stop by to see what he had cooking. I have lots of Steve's art that isn't on CAF. various art and sketches/commissions: https://www.comicartfans.com/galleryroom.asp?gsub=32154 various covers: https://www.comicartfans.com/galleryroom.asp?gsub=132643

Things that haven't been mentioned so far... more information about an artist's process, the ability to research some pieces (sales history, alterations), connecting with the artists / other collectors.

Those are some great DC art pieces.

Good picks for auction results. I don't really follow the BA titles but it would seem Phantasm appearances are generally rare. That Bob Kane signature looks more fake than the other specimens that often show up.

Re: the hypothetical trade-off discussed... The Uncanny X-Men 141 cover is by far more superior to the Uncanny X-Men 137. If only because of that dang "This Marvel Comic could be worth $2500 to you" banner. I understand the appeal of the Daredevil 181 cover. But I'll admit that I only caught the tail end of the Byrne and Miller runs. And I would also take the 141 over the 181. Best quote out of context: "1st appearance of Tigra's groomer" Re: "from the collection of Dave Mandel"... I think, thanks to him having to offset the cost a certain DKR splash, I was able to get a piece from his collection. I was actually trying to get it from him a few years before. Of the pieces discussed that will leave Mandel's collection in the first wave, most / all are out of my budget. But I think the carryover effect will be that other collectors will have to liquidate to offset their new buys and so on and so on. I guess at some point, something will come along that will interest me.

Imagining...

CGC and the like will be on hand. Good chance to get sigs. I would assume CGC would do some promo.

I wasn't going. I think the ticket price reflects the overall ticket count being capped.

I've bid on multiple pieces in ComicConnect auctions. I'll admit it is taxing to keep an eye on all those pieces. ComicConnect had 2 separate auctions dedicated to Nick Cardy's estate. I was able to keep track of dozens except for one of the pieces. Another ComicConnect auction of comic art featured the Marshall Rogers cover and Mike Nasser lead story to DC Special Series 15 (AKA the Batman Spectacular). I wasn't bidding on the cover. But I was able to bid on (and win) the 7 pages I wanted and ended up losing on a "maybe" pages. A little while later, I saw that Mike Burkey won all the other pages. I once commented these types of auctions give the seller the best opportunity for a higher closing price. Also as has been mentioned, HA's live auctioneers can get more $$$. Contrast the long time to hammer vs Heritage Live's automated auctioneer's 5 second hammer. HA closes lots in sequence. To me, ComicConnect's (and Hake's) method keeps ALL the lots in play and in a way, that means it squeezes every last bid for as many pieces as possible. You bid your max on lot 45 and still lost ?? Well, now move on to lot 123 and reallocate $$$ to bidding on that. And so on.

I think I've referenced this a few times. I once attended an auction of "unclaimed" properties (e.g. rugs, furniture, prints, tabletop statues, etc) at a hotel. A few times, the auctioneer said something like "you'll never make a rug but you can always make more money". It was a great way to rationalize one's spending.

If it's an Adams commission in a unique pose or unique medium (e.g. pencil or paint) then you should do well. Even if it's a recreation of one of his panels, those are also nice. If it's one of the Adams example that seem to be repeated over and over (e.g. Batman in profile), you might be disappointed.

I've thought about the original question. My interpretation is: other than price, what would stop me from paying 5X my original (theoretical) budget for a single piece ? I've recently gone about 5X what I thought would be a reasonable and/or high auction closing price. For me, as the bidding went higher and higher, my only consideration was that something similar or better (from the same book) could be gotten for less. But, the bidding also blew past 2X, 3X and 4X. So there you go. And yes, I won it. As has been mentioned, there was a spill over Jim Lee X-Men -> Jim Lee Batman -> Jim Lee Superman. In previous topics there was a similar spill over re: Ditko Spidey -> Romita Spidey -> Andru Spidey. I get it. But those wouldn't have applied in my situation.

Don't let anybody tell you this was a comic convention. I wasn't really expecting it to be based on the guest list. Comic creators were listed third... following celebrities and voice actors. I walked just about every aisle. I counted maybe 7 comic book dealers. 3 of them were selling $1 books. If you wanted anime, Pops or whatever you were in luck. Comic creators were generally busy signing books. I think very few artists were really booked up doing sketches or selling original art. Greater Columbus Convention Center is large. Cashless. Friendly.

@Brian Peck wouldn't make that mistake.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8gjK8ixwSdY Skip to 46 minutes into the show.

Interesting. For the HA piece, the buildings in bottom left are shaded. But not for the Dino piece.

I think on ComicArtLive on youtube, Scott mentioned HA's images are not good enough. I think HA uses digital pics (not scans). Scott is scanning art at 600 dpi to .tif files.

I think they're basically along the lines of the DC style guides that JLGL worked on. There are a few Batman 66 pieces by JLGL on CAF.

I don't mind the flipping / reselling. I object to "enhancing" the art with to turn it into something different for that purpose.

I've been waiting weeks for an ebay purchase. The tracking indicates it's been bouncing around to the same facility. And sitting for over a week. I went to the US Post Office. The 3rd person said there hasn't been a "live scan" and it's probably still sitting in the Post Office where it was originally mailed. I asked what was the story behind the tracking. I got some mumbo-jumbo explanation. All of which tells me that USPS tracking is basically a simulation.

From the scan, it looks like markers. And if they were, they held up really well. I've seen there's such a thing as lightfast colored pencils. But never researched them. In any case, the art, paper and signature look great. I'd prefer the current look vs matte burn all around the drawing.

Can you describe the pricing / cost for the jobs ?? Hourly ? Based on the type of restoration / conservation ?