Dokstarr

I ended up not going on anything tonight. The Glory pinup just because the character isn't around much anymore since the complete redesign in 2012. The two Bruce Timm pieces just because I have a few and decided to hold off. The Adam Hughes Ghost cover because I already have a different Ghost cover that I like better by Hughes - though that one I was very on the fence on, but decided not to after flipping through the Heritage book in the mail today. And there are a few other characters by specific artists that I'd like to get out there. Congrats to anyone who picked up what they were waiting gunning for.

I bought this I think about 7 years ago but lost track of where it was from and I cannot read the signature. Does anyone recognize the artist signature or the art itself? Thanks!

That's awesome. I've seen your post a few times the last couple of years and I'm glad you got it back!

I don't mind covering the paypal fees. That is generally a pretty common thing I've seen requested by dealers, artists, etc. I'm just trying to figure out is there any other way I can have some buyer protection aside from paypal. There is no protection with checks, money orders, venmo, etc. I've sent checks to people like Adam Hughes in the past but they were well known artists with big online presences who I felt comfortable dealing with.

Looking to see if anyone has ran into this. I purchased a couple of pieces off the CAF Live event this morning. Everything seemed good - I covered the 4% paypal fee. I'd never traded or bought from the person before. The seller is now hesitant to send because Paypal will only release $700 until the package is delivered. You can see the policy below - the seller must not use Paypal often to likely trigger the policy. https://www.paypal.com/us/brc/article/funds-availability Are there any other well known ways to pay but still have some coverage? I've only ever mailed checks to well known individuals (like Adam Hughes).

I was very surprised I was outbid on the Adam Hughes Lady Death, I put what I thought was a very heavy bid and thought I'd have room to spare.

I'm 33 here. I started collecting art just about exactly 5 years ago. I was a July or August comic-con and Rob Guillory was there. Chew was probably my favorite book at the time and when saying hi to Rob I flipped through the portfolio on his desk and was flabbergasted that you could buy the original art and bought one of the key scenes from the series. I think I'm an unusual case in that I have no childhood connection with comics - except for really like the Batman, X-Men and Spider-Man cartoons. I bought a few issues here or there when I had a few dollars but never got into them or followed a story because a random issue from the middle of the Clone Saga wasn't gonna make me a lifelong fan. None of my relatives were into comics at all so I was never exposed to them much when I was young. In High School I started reading the Berserk manga and followed a few webcomics - that was it. Then at the end of college I was going on a trip and needed something to read so I picked up a bunch of Marvel Zombies collections which led to do me starting to read the Walking Dead probably around issue 40 and then I just branched out and started reading a lot of stuff.

That Red Sonja cover was awesome looking. I was hoping for it, but it zoomed by what I was comfortable spending at this moment. I have no idea what the expected hammer price was - did it go above or below what people expected? It was $32,400 with the premium.

The prices are a definite part of why everything will have to change. I looked at DC's online digital store front and the big comics for the week are all $4 price tags and $5 for the Joker one-shot. Total reading time is probably about 45 minutes for the three comics for $13. That just seems like a lot when you compare to different models for entertainment now. Netflix, Amazon Prime, Xbox Game Pass, etc. Each one of those cost about $10 a month - so each is less than the 3 comics that someone would buy on Wednesday.

I think the bigger issue is that individual issues and floppies as we know it will go away. Distribution is going to change - subscription services, free on the web with paid premium options, etc. Trade paperbacks, graphic novels, and manga have already gained a ton of ground compared to individual issues which have been diminishing. Adam Warren is working his way through Empowered - posting it page by page on a semi-daily basis online. Mark Waid made his Thrillbent site for distribution of comics. I personally think this will be how it goes eventually.

Your best bet for anything manga related would Mandarake. They have their "big auctions" every few months. https://www.mandarake.co.jp/publish/zenbu/indexEn.html You will see some shikishi boards and other things on there. I've bought stuff from the big auction before without issue. The prices can be pretty high though. Akira Toriyama shikishi boards pop up pretty regularly but they sell for pretty big money. Aside from that I think you will have a lot of difficulty finding anything. Manga artists pretty much never get rid of their original art and most of the panel pages that appear out there end up being fake. There was a bunch of fake ones that made it out to the market some years back. They are probably still floating around out there so be careful. Many of the current owners probably don't know they are fake either. If you search through this forum and some other places online you will see talk about the fakes that were being sold. Good luck!

I think this is the best answer. I feel the same way about Frank Miller and Go Nagai. It is hard to judge these people just as an artist in terms of pencil to paper since they are also writers, creators, etc. If an unknown Frank Miller who never did Daredevil, Sin City or Dark Knight Returns just drew a random person, would I be interested or impressed? Probably not. Would I be impressed by the original art of some of the climatic scenes of Dark Knight Returns - that a huge yes. Same thing with Go Nagai. Would I be impressed with his art if he wasn't the creator or Devil Man and Mazinger Z? No. I also really like TMNT so I find Kevin Eastman's art just fine - especially being back in the 80's and being a small time indy comic they were getting off the ground. Like someone else above also said, Kevin has always been super nice to fans as far as I've seen. Always taking pictures, signing stuff, talking to people, etc. I've found that it can almost be a problem when trying to see him because he won't move people along and will always take more photos and the such.

I don't usually either. I'm bad at planning ahead and usually just end up in some bidding war flying by the seat of my pants for the last 30 seconds.

Eastman has always been super nice when I've met him at SDCC over the years. Always super cool to the fans, taking pictures, signing, etc. I wish I knew he was going to NYCC this year. I have two hardcover books I've had him sign four times each over the years. Every time I meet him he draws a little different head in. I just got down to NY today and left them home. Oh well - next time.

For me it is: Red Sonja After that is it is pretty well balanced between Vampirella, Batman and TMNT.

That is disappointing that it looks like someone bought that bogus Adam Hughes. We had a thread about that a year ago and then again it was brought back up when talking about this same seller maybe a month or two ago. I guess he was finally able to rip someone off with it - even though people here reported it as fake.

Always seems like the COA's are made by middle school kids who just learned about different fonts and Word Art . I remember that lousy COA from before - and it is the same guy who said the this Harley Quinn was done by Adam Hughes - https://www.ebay.com/itm/ADAM-HUGHES-ORIGINAL-PAINTING-OF-HARLEY-QUINN-30-X-50-INCH-COMMISSIONED-ARTWORK-/153089435454?hash=item23a4d7673e%3Ag%3AgrEAAOSwFrtbP-1y&nma=true&si=YpGy2Z%2BRepwj0xAQuBzOy70uuEM%3D&orig_cvip=true&nordt=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557 Apparently he also does scammy Disney memorabilia as well - https://live.autographmagazine.com/forum/topics/disney-authenticated-memorabilia-real-or-fake?id=3524372%3ATopic%3A1044861&page=2#comments He's had a bunch of different eBay names - and the name of his authentication company always changes depending on what he is authenticating.

The only thing I was going to bid on was the Amanda Conner Painkiller Jane piece but I fell asleep and didn't wake up. I'll have to see if it pops up on CAF at some point I guess.

That was the one I was hoping to get, but I was tapped out at 5500 for it. I was going to do 6K, but it blew right by that. I honestly don't know what fair value would be for that, so just kind of going off what it is worth for me. I may regret not getting it, but I had not prepared myself for spending that much for it. I was surprised it went that high and hadn't planned on it. I thought 5500 was gonna nab it when I looked at it a few weeks back before the auction started. Of course I really have nothing to basde that on, I was just thinking of the popularity of the characters. Since Lady Death has been less mainstream in recent years and no longer hangs out with the Chaos characters like Evil Ernie. It would've been a nice addition to the few Red Sonja and Vampirella pieces I have. Oh well - regrets already setting in hah.

I've had the best luck with FedEx and UPS since they seem to follow any requests I have - like rerouting to hold at a store or if I leave a note on the door saying I'm home (just so they don't do the quick single knock and leave instantly). DHL I don't have much experience with - just a few expensive things from Japan I believe. Didn't have a problem, but not enough experience to really rate them. USPS has been the most difficult, but that is just my local dealings with them. I think I am finally in a good place with them. I've had multiple expensive packages the last few years (some original art and some other expensive collectibles/items) that I have put signature confirmation on because I do not want to take a chance of porch pirates and bad weather. Especially because I did have a porch pirate incident about 4 years ago where stuff was stolen of my front step right before Christmas very quickly (must've been someone following the UPS truck). Multiple times the USPS delivery folk would refuse to follow the signature confirmation. If they arrive and I'm not home they would just scribble something in the signature box and then leave the package outside. I would then have to race home from work during the day to make sure something worth thousands wasn't sitting in the rain or just outside of the door waiting to be stolen. I went to the post office each time to complain (albeit nicely). One time they said someone did sign for it, even though nobody was home and it was just a scribble (you can check the signature online). Another time they said they were confused and thought it was delivery confirmation and didn't require a signature (another scribble looking signature). The final time they said they talked to the delivery guy and he said he didn't think I'd want to wait for it or go down to the post office and pick it up. I ended up installing a camera to keep an eye on the front door. I swear the post office and delivery people give it a dirty look sometimes .

At least now - hopefully if someone is dealing with this person they can google the name and decide if they want to move forward. I know sometimes when I deal with unknown people I google them trying to see if there had been problems. Same way I'm sure people here google commission experiences, dealer experiences, etc. Forgive, but don't forget. Hopefully someone else will see this now and avoid being scammed, since I'm sure he will continue to try and steal from others.

As a fellow collector and Dell'Otto collector - very happy that it worked out for you. I applaud you for your decision to drop the issue and forgive the "buyer", but I still think his information should be left out there to help others. Forgive - but don't forget. This was an adult involved within the industry, runs some sort of store, etc. Not a 15 year old who really likes comics and made a huge mistake. The scammer was likely going to try and unload it onto someone else and make out with nice sum of money free and clear, and the fact that he knew exactly how to exploit Paypal's system (which favors the buyer) shows me that this is likely not an isolated incident. He's ripped off others before and will do it again, just this time he got push back because it was something big enough to raise eyebrows and there was a community to support getting it back. It probably won't be art next time - he'll stick to things bought on eBay like a PS4 or maybe a computer. That person will have no recourse or a community to help them.

I know I usually just rip open packages worth thousands in a frenzy. Cardboard, bits of art, masonite everywhere. So it makes sense that it likely fell behind the radiator for a few weeks.

I was going to say that, but didn't want to sound negative on someone working at a fast food restaurant. It would be possible to save up for such things if working at fast food place, but there probably are other priorities. I know if I was working at a Burger King I wouldn't be trying to be Dell'Otto painting - it would be more about trying to afford a car or save up money.

I'm pretty sure the buyer wouldn't volunteer that he is a criminal that has stolen artwork worth thousands of dollars. It seems pretty obvious RS88 was ripped off, but it would make no sense if he was a scammer to draw attention to this first. He would know that paypal rules will never favor him, so if a buyer pushed back he would just take the shipping loss and try to move onto the next sad sack and try to fly under the radar. Then there is just all the other information. RS88 is an established member of this community, CAF, etc. Has many people vouch for him saying they've never had any problems with big purchases/sales. etc. The other guy gave a fake name and has no online presence. As far as I've seen he has only "spoken" through some other people on Facebook who said they talked to him.