Stat Monsters

It's actually the legitimate thing to do for many sellers who formalize their businesses and have to charge as they pay the state sales tax. I think it's rather shady when dealers start to ask buyers to pay cash or other methods to circumvent paying sales tax. My pet peeve is really the businesses, not individual hobby sellers, who run websites and seem so petty to charge a surcharge if you use a credit card or insist on Pay Pal "personal" to circumvent merchant fees. I'd rather them just boost their pricing by 5% across the board to account for that 3% merchant fee they're so worried about absorbing. It seems so petty and amateur.

In general, I feel (my opinion) that within the Original Art hobby, most collectors appreciate artwork as well as sequential storytelling and overall aesthetics. Deadpool (aka Deadfool) is really low-brow as a character in the same vein over the top eye-rolling adolescent low-brow humor found with The Family Guy, Rick and Morty that lacks creativity. With that, I get a sense that most art collectors have little interest in the character. As someone mentioned, most of the artists who render Deadpool are not highly collected by name, short of a few who have done really nice covers (J Scott Campbell included of course) other than maybe Rob Liefeld and Ed McGuinness who created and launched his popularity respectively. This whole "Merc with a Mouth" persona works with teens and in the movies, but that's not the demographics of original art collectors.

I've bought from Spencer Beck over the years, many years. He's always been very professional. His communication precise and detail oriented At one time he was one of the top sources of art for me to buy from, primarily because his website was updated continually on a very regular and frequent basis. About 2 maybe even 3 years ago, it seems he stopped updating his website. I'd always had friendly emails with him and at one point maybe 2 years ago he mentioned updating his website to become more modern and user-friendly. Flash forward years later, I've not seen any updates, I've not seen any new website, and I believe 2019 was the first year he's not had his formerly annual discount sale. QUESTION: Is he winding down his business? Is there a reason why he doesn't update his old original website? Is there a reason why he's not been able to upgrade his website as he's been wanting to for the past few years? I really miss his updates and sales (the last sale in 2018 I passed on because basically, everything that I've wanted and seen from 2017 and before was there, but there was no new material that entire year). There's a few websites I miss seeing updates from as well, like Albert Moy, who used to have frequent updates through the year. Right now, I feel the top art dealer/reps who have frequent updates are Anthony Snyder, Romitaman, Felix Comic Art, Splash Page Art and Cadence.

I'm not sure if I'd exhibit again or not, it's contingent on the date, since I'm not an art dealer in the traditional sense, more of that old school style convention exhibitor of a collector selling stuff to turn around and buy other stuff. The show definitely needs a diverse range of art vendors and in turn, needs outreach to drive qualified leads (buyers) into the show that'll spend more money. It's a catch-22 in regards to buyers and sellers for this show. I think I have a sense on the right formula to make it a win-win for the show's (and it's exhibitors) and buyers who invest the time and attendance fee to come to a show like this that wants to spend money but just needs to find the right pieces at the right price.

I exhibited at the show, but so many nice people had (prior to the show) and have (during and after the show) been asking me what I brought for sale, I decided to post them online I'm now building a CAF GALLERY dedicated to Original Artwork "FOR SALE" here's the web-link: https://www.comicartfans.com/galleryroom.asp?gsub=158419 Right now I'm going alphabetical by artist from A to Z then will add updates whenever I get a chance. I hope, by the end of the week to have about 300 pieces up. Feel free to check it out now or periodically. Thanks!

FYI - There is a scam going on where a buyer purchases multiple items, then allows eBay's 90 day Buyer Protection to elapse without opening a case. Then after the 90th day, they file a claim via Pay Pal, typically through their credit card company for a charge-back dispute, claiming "Item was not as described" and requesting a full refund. This enables the buyer to circumvent eBay to screw the seller over by not allowing the seller any "buyer's protection" nor allowing eBay to decline their request for a refund. A buyer has 180 days (6 months, I believe) to pulls this scam They feel that by making a chargeback, it's automatically in their favor. However, it's both postal fraud and mail fraud, a crime whose magnitude depends on the amount being extorted. The buyer can dispute the chargeback and the disputed funds are held in limbo if via Pay Pal until the case clears. I'd highly advise detailing the incident in defense otherwise judgment is made to the buyer. The simple facts are the buyer is keeping all merchandise, not returning any merchandise and demanding a refund all while also intending to keep the items as well. This is happening right now to me. I'll post the buyer's name whose eBay user ID starts with "G and ends with S", but am giving them the opportunity to drop the chargeback knowing a police report will be filed with their local police since they've not returned the items and if they get their money back, is essentially theft.

I just posted on the Original Comic Art forum, information about this show, more granular to what I'm, as an exhibitor am bringing. The show is tomorrow, Sunday 11/10 from 10am to 4pm. I'll have all of the portfolios marked and sorted as well as all pieces priced. Most pieces will be in the $100 range on average with many up to $300-500, but will offer some pieces as low as $5 and as high as $7,000, so there could be something for everyone and every budget. Here's what you can find if you see me there: BOOK #1 Sorted by Artist’s Last Name A to C ORIGINAL ARTWORK BY Mike ADLARD Mahmud ASRAR Chris BACHALO Eric “eBas” BASALDUA Ed BENES Joe BENITEZ Jordi BERNET Brett BOOTH Mark BROOKS John BYRNE Sean CHEN …AND OTHERS BOOK #2 Sorted by Artist’s Last Name C to D ORIGINAL ARTWORK BY Sean CHEN Joe CHIODO Mike CHOI Ian CHURCHILL Olivier COIPEL Gene COLAN Amanda CONNER Mike DeBALFO Dan DeCARLO Mike DEODATO Tom DERENICK Nick DERINGTON …AND OTHERS BOOK #3 Sorted by Artist’s Last Name D to H ORIGINAL ARTWORK BY Terry DODSON Brent ENGSTROM Alejandro “Ale” GARZA Michael GAYDOS Micah GUNNELL Lori “Cross” HANSON Jamie “Xaime” HERNANDEZ …AND OTHERS BOOK #4 Sorted by Artist’s Last Name H to M ORIGINAL ARTWORK BY Josh HOWARD Pat LEE Erik JONES Ron LIM J.G. JONES Aaron LOPRESTI Fred KIDA Jim MAHFOOD Aaron KUDER Mike MAYHEW Greg LAND Luke McDONNELL Salvador LARROCA Ed McGUINNESS Bob LAYTON …AND OTHERS BOOK #5 Sorted by Artist’s Last Name M to R ORIGINAL ARTWORK BY Jamie McKELVIE Paul PELLETIER Steve McNIVEN Mike PERKINS Adriana MELO Jay Scott PIKE Win MORTIMER Antonio PROHIAS David NAKAYAMA Tom RICHMOND Rudy NEBREES Al RIO Oliver NOME Shelby ROBERTSON Ryan OTTLEY Jimmy ROBINSON …AND OTHERS BOOK #6 Sorted by Artist’s Last Name R to T ORIGINAL ARTWORK Jimmie ROBINSON Nei RUFFINO Tim SEELEY Louis SMALL Jr. Jack SPARLING Anthony SPAY Tony TALLARICO …AND OTHERS BOOK #7 Sorted by Artist’s Last Name T to Z ORIGINAL ARTWORK Tony TALLARICO George TUSKA Jamie TYNDALL Chrissie ZULLO …AND OTHERS ART FOR SALE Sorted by Artist’s Last Name ORIGINAL ARTWORK ADLARD DODSON OKSNER BACHALO EPTING PICHELLI BERMEJO GARBOWSKA PELLETIER BISSETTE GARZA PEREZ, G. BOOTH GREEN, R. PEREZ, R. BRADSHAW INFANTINO PHILIPS BROWN, R. MADUREIRA RAMOS CANETE McGUINNESS ROMITA JR. CHOI MILLER, F. SCALERA DeBALFO NGUYEN SEELEY ART FOR SALE Sorted by Artist’s Last Name ORIGINAL ARTWORK SIENKIEWICZ, BILL SMITH, CAM SPRINGER, FRANK TIMM, BRUCE TURNER, MICHAEL WEEKS, LEE YU, LEINEL Over-Sized Large Artwork ORIGINAL ARTWORK Featuring works by: Neal ADAMS Mark BROOKS Joe CHIODO Gabrielle DELL’OTTO Jenny FRISON Ale GARZA James JEAN Kevin NOWLAN Jimmie ROBSINSON Bill SIENKIEWICZ George TUSKA …and More !!!

Here's a list (by artist) of what I'll be bringing to the show for sale. I'm not an art dealer nor sell art as a business, I'm a collector looking to buy, sell and trade. So, many of the pieces are fresh to market and I don't have them online neither CAF nor any website. Most of the artwork is priced from $100 to $300 range, with some as low as $5 and some as high as $7,000, but I am bringing and pricing artwork that's affordable for the average collector. I'm marking my portfolios on the front covers so it's rather easy to go through and is fairly well organized. I also have a price on every piece of art, so none of the "Please Inquire" hassles, with a no-obligation, free to look style and you can see the prices conveniently without having to ask or fearing by showing interest, you'll be price gauged with a high quote to then begin painful negotiations. BOOK #1 Sorted by Artist’s Last Name A to C ORIGINAL ARTWORK BY Mike ADLARD Mahmud ASRAR Chris BACHALO Eric “eBas” BASALDUA Ed BENES Joe BENITEZ Jordi BERNET Brett BOOTH Mark BROOKS John BYRNE Sean CHEN …AND OTHERS BOOK #2 Sorted by Artist’s Last Name C to D ORIGINAL ARTWORK BY Sean CHEN Joe CHIODO Mike CHOI Ian CHURCHILL Olivier COIPEL Gene COLAN Amanda CONNER Mike DeBALFO Dan DeCARLO Mike DEODATO Tom DERENICK Nick DERINGTON …AND OTHERS BOOK #3 Sorted by Artist’s Last Name D to H ORIGINAL ARTWORK BY Terry DODSON Brent ENGSTROM Alejandro “Ale” GARZA Michael GAYDOS Micah GUNNELL Lori “Cross” HANSON Jamie “Xaime” HERNANDEZ …AND OTHERS BOOK #4 Sorted by Artist’s Last Name H to M ORIGINAL ARTWORK BY Josh HOWARD Pat LEE Erik JONES Ron LIM J.G. JONES Aaron LOPRESTI Fred KIDA Jim MAHFOOD Aaron KUDER Mike MAYHEW Greg LAND Luke McDONNELL Salvador LARROCA Ed McGUINNESS Bob LAYTON …AND OTHERS BOOK #5 Sorted by Artist’s Last Name M to R ORIGINAL ARTWORK BY Jamie McKELVIE Paul PELLETIER Steve McNIVEN Mike PERKINS Adriana MELO Jay Scott PIKE Win MORTIMER Antonio PROHIAS David NAKAYAMA Tom RICHMOND Rudy NEBREES Al RIO Oliver NOME Shelby ROBERTSON Ryan OTTLEY Jimmy ROBINSON …AND OTHERS BOOK #6 Sorted by Artist’s Last Name R to T ORIGINAL ARTWORK Jimmie ROBINSON Nei RUFFINO Tim SEELEY Louis SMALL Jr. Jack SPARLING Anthony SPAY Tony TALLARICO …AND OTHERS BOOK #7 Sorted by Artist’s Last Name T to Z ORIGINAL ARTWORK Tony TALLARICO George TUSKA Jamie TYNDALL Chrissie ZULLO …AND OTHERS ART FOR SALE Sorted by Artist’s Last Name ORIGINAL ARTWORK ADLARD DODSON OKSNER BACHALO EPTING PICHELLI BERMEJO GARBOWSKA PELLETIER BISSETTE GARZA PEREZ, G. BOOTH GREEN, R. PEREZ, R. BRADSHAW INFANTINO PHILIPS BROWN, R. MADUREIRA RAMOS CANETE McGUINNESS ROMITA JR. CHOI MILLER, F. SCALERA DeBALFO NGUYEN SEELEY ART FOR SALE Sorted by Artist’s Last Name ORIGINAL ARTWORK SIENKIEWICZ, BILL SMITH, CAM SPRINGER, FRANK TIMM, BRUCE TURNER, MICHAEL WEEKS, LEE YU, LEINEL Over-Sized Large Artwork ORIGINAL ARTWORK Featuring works by: Neal ADAMS Mark BROOKS Joe CHIODO Gabrielle DELL’OTTO Jenny FRISON Ale GARZA James JEAN Kevin NOWLAN Jimmie ROBSINSON Bill SIENKIEWICZ George TUSKA …and More !!!

I thought I read in one of the links provide by one of the board detectives (great research work BTW !!!) there were over 3,000 individual pieces in total

Personally, I'd speculate it would go on the higher side of $150,000 potentially. It depends if it's the entire storyboards to the whole music video as shown and how many pieces that is. It needs to be a complete set 'tho to command a high price-tag. It's less "artwork" than it is "memorabilia" and you see how much people pay for nostalgic memories. Although A-Ha is basically a "one hit wonder" (yeah, they've other charting songs (as well as a "greatest hits album", but poll the majority and most will say they did not have a sustainable mainstream career and won't be enshrined in the Rock N' Roll Hall of Fame anytime soon if ever), they're iconic to the 80's and although most fans of the 80's are now in their 50's or 60's getting near retirement and fans who may have any nostalgia over it will probably be dead in 30-40 years, so there may be less people who recognize or care about it, it has relevant interest now and many of those folks have disposable income.

My general stance on underwhelming commissions is it's a subjective "in the eye of the beholder" judgment sometimes, but if you truly don't like your piece and it wasn't a free sketch, a cheap commission, but a high ticket item by a known name, odds are, there's going to be a fan out there to possibly sell it to. There's nothing wrong with selling a commission you paid for and are dissatisfied with. I'm pretty sure if an artist charged $300 for a commission and a customer refused to pay citing dissatisfaction, the artist would be upset, but if the customer paid for it and sold it, at least the artist got paid. It's not like the old days where fans in disguise would commission work for cheap then flip it for profit. Everytime you look at the piece maybe your blood boils or you feel negativity from the experience, why not just get rid of it, and not store it away. It's taking space and tying your money up with a constant reminder present in your life of a regret. Somebody else may enjoy it and you might make back your money, possibly even profit or maybe take a loss, but call it a day to salvage a bad situation. I'm sure the artist wouldn't be offended and even if they were (and that's all contingent on them actually finding out) it's easily explained through either the truth said respectfully or a "white lie" cover up maybe citing financial strife. Post it up for sale at what you paid then see if there's any action, then add the "or best offer" if there's no interest a few months down the road, and if there's still no action, then consign it to ComicLink or Heritage with no reserve and see what happens.

I feel that Craig's List and Facebook Marketplace are dream worlds where sellers look to find suckers with pricing 100x + valuation on junk. Even eBay is 1000% a better marketplace because there's more legit sellers with reasonable prices than the oddities and weirdo price gougers.

It's touted as a pure comic art convention. This is the 3rd show held by the organizer. https://www.lacomicart.com/ Mike Mignola is an attending guest for the show. The LA Show Dedicated To Comic Art Featuring thousands of pages of original comic art from the 40s to present – No comics, just art! Larger show floor space than our first show! Art dealers and collectors from around the country Buy, sell, trade comic art Convenient location: 10 minutes from the LAX airport Free parking Adjacent to the 405 Featured Events Larger show floor space! Special Guest Mike Mignola A featured art display (Grails): Some of the most sought after comic art pages will be on display Ticket Information $20 Tickets can be purchased at the door the day of the event FREE Children 15 and under and your significant other Location Hilton Garden Inn Los Angeles/Redondo Beach 2410 Marine Avenue Redondo Beach, California 90278 TEL: +1-310-727-9999 FREE PARKING

Aside from the no-brainer of anyone in Southern California who collects OA going to the LA Comic Art Convention on 11/10/19, I was just curious on if it's a traveler's destination event that brings collectors from distant geographies? It's the 3rd show and every time, it's had an amazing museum quality assortment of what many would consider "Grail" super-hero pieces that's awe inspiring to look at in-person. Here's a link to the website: https://www.lacomicart.com/ The organizer is super nice.

Poka - Thanks, it's exactly what I'd planned to do, but I was going to do it afterwards, if in his favor because it's an attempted mail fraud at this point, but once he receives his money back and keeps the merchandise, I'd think it's then actual mail fraud, so less of an accusation or an attempt, but more of a real fact based action. In reading your suggestion (BTW - Thanks!) I do think you have a strong recommendation in filing the report BEFORE to then use that as defensive evidence of what's going on based upon his pointed efforts to commit fraud by claiming an amount more than factual potential damages as well as making no efforts to communicate to return the merchandise to receive any level of a refund.