What are your collecting goals for 2015?

[vodou]

Spent more in 2014 (among several art categories, not just comic/illustration) than in any previous year. And sold an embarrassingly low number of pieces, less than ten.

 

It's not just about money though. The quantity is completely out of control. Every single piece is "good stuff" but appreciation is lost in the greater mass.

 

Out altogether for 2015 unless something incredible comes along. And even then...? I really need to focus more on a calculated deaccession plan

Such a cliche but it turned out that two "incredible" did come along (they will be in my CAF 'best of' in a few weeks).

Also did a lot of strategic bottom-feeding, quality that was too good to pass up at the prices they came to me for.

This is supposedly smart because I do like the art and the turnover should be very lucrative too. But no help on the quantity end...

Thus I was not "out altogether" after all. Further I didn't do much selling either (no comic/illustration, just some other art).

[vodou]

One very nice Karel Thole.

Working on a possible deal right now.

But I kinda sorta hope it falls through.

2015 was already rich enough in the acquisitions dept

[Mephisto]

I'd like to get at least 3 or 4 pieces of my want list.

 

I wound up getting about 10 pieces with some of them being exact pieces on my want list and a few that popped up that wound up being better than than the examples I had in mind. One of the exact pieces on my want list just came in the mail today.

[alxjhnsn]

They are:

 

A page by Englehart/Rogers/Austin from their Detective run

A page by Kirby from JiM/Thor or New Gods (my have to stick with my IDW book for that. \:\)

A Batman page or specialty drawing by Sprang

A Legion page by Curt Swan with lots of Legionnaires

The cover or splash from JLA 29 (1st series, my first comic)

 

Well, I didn't really expect to get any of the above. However, I got lucky and went 1 for 5. Not good enough for the majors, but that's okay.

 

I got the 2nd page of a Legion of Super-Heroes flashback by Swan and inked to match Klein's style and it features 7 Legionnaires!

 

I'm thrilled

[Mephisto]

So, how did everybody do this year?

 

I think I bought 2 whole pieces this year, so yeah, I'm a whirling dervish of OA accumulation.

 

Scott

 

But how many did you create?

[delekkerste]

As such, I don't really have specific acquisition goals for 2015 at this point. If pieces that really resonate with me turn up, I'm going to go after them. But, otherwise, my intention is to be more disciplined with my spending this year, especially after losing a bit of focus during the last few months of 2014.

 

So, looking over my records, it looks like i had a busier 2015 than I thought!

 

# of pieces bought: 77*

# of pieces sold: 11

 

That said, I did a very good job of staying focused and sticking to my knitting - all but a handful of pieces are from the early '70s to mid-'80s prime nostalgic/appreciation period that I've chosen to concentrate my collecting efforts on. I didn't pick up a single Golden Age or Silver Age piece of comic book OA during the year (by design), though I did pick up a nice piece of early strip art as well as some more recent personal favorites from the '90s and '00s.

 

I did end up spending more than I had planned (what's new), though, tellingly, after making a flurry of outsized purchases in January/February, I managed to fund the rest of my buys for the year with offsetting sales. Might not sound like much, but that's actually nearly 10 months now of not putting any net new money into the hobby, which is a first for me.

 

 

 

 

*Plus another 14 prelims and full color guide that I got in one deal, which aren't counted.

[Terry Doyle]

Started the year off with no collecting goals and ended-up selling a big chunk of my collection off to help fund an early retirement.

 

During the course of the year I also managed to acquire the cover prelim and 5 interior pages from the Marshall Rogers graphic novel adaptation of Harlan Ellison's award-winning teleplay for the the Outer Limits episode, Demon With a Glass Hand. My favourite episode of my all-time-favourite TV series. This was a biggie to me, as I've always leaned towards Science-Fiction over all other genres. Big, big thanks to Felix Lu in helping me achieve all this.

 

Also acquired three signed photo cards from the episode, Robert Culp, Arlene Martel (guest stars) and one for Harlan Ellison (writer). Harlan confirmed to me, in response to a question I posed on his internet forum, that he had indeed sat down to personally autograph each and every one of those cards - so it's nice to have his signature, along with those of Culp and Martel, to complement the pages of OA from the Marshall Rogers adaptation.

 

Later on in the year, I also visited the Bradbury Building (where Demon With a Glass Hand was filmed), whilst on the Los Angeles leg of my vacation to California.

 

Very memorable year for me!

 

 

[Red84]

My hope is to pick up once piece, cover or splash

 

scored !

 

 

So Awesome!

[BookofStrange]

I don't know if it counts as a goal for 2015 but I have been trying to find more Doctor Strange pages by Frank Brunner for several years. So many are in hands that aren't selling soon that I had given up on finding anything new to market.

 

Until this Fall. Here is the "star" of Kit #10- Marvel Premiere 11 p. 2 Drawn AND inked by Frank Brunner.

http://www.comicartfans.com/gallerypiece.asp?piece=1261544

 

 

Back in 1975 Frank Brunner was selling off some of his original art as 10 packages called “Frank Brunner’s Authentic Doctor Strange Nostalgia Kit”

 

This kit #10 was originally bought in January of 1976. It included signed copies of Doctor Strange 1-5 and the following art and xeroxes:

 

Marvel Premiere 11 p. 2

Doctor Strange #2 page 6 original layout.

 

5 Xeroxes of Brunner pencils :

Marvel Premiere #10 p. 2

Doctor Strange #2 p. 26

Doctor Strange #4 p. 2

Doctor Strange #4 p. 17

Doctor Strange #5 p. 6

 

A hand-colored copy of the cover to Doctor Strange #6

A pencil sketch of Clea (#10 of 10.)

 

It was a tremendous gift (and stroke of luck) to get so much Brunner art at once. While many may not appreciate the prelims and xeroxes of pencils, I feel like a got a lot of insight into how Frank planned and drew his extraordinary run on Doctor Strange.

 

[furthur]

I think 2014 may end up being a high water mark for me because I filled some very significant holes in the collection that year, but this year I ended up with a couple of commissions, a couple of pinup/splash type pieces and a page or two that will likely be in my collection forever and that is always significant. That said, I cut way back this year from the past two years in terms of overall purchases and I am actually pretty happy about that-keeping impulse buying to a minimum is always a good thing. I also set up some longer term commissions for 2016 that will keep me in a delighted state of anxious anticipation. If they are as good as the ones from this year, I will be mighty happy indeed. I look forward to posting a couple of these items in CAF for the annual acquisition "competition" and who knows, maybe like my Spirit piece from Paul Smith in 2014, some other folks will also like what I managed to find. Benno

[Brian Peck]

With a new year comes new art. What artwork are you actively looking to add to your collection this year?

I was mostly a Marvel guy growing up but also read DC. I would like to add some nice examples of a number of artists and the DC characters they are well known for.

 

 

1. Richard W. Sprang (CGC wont let me type D i c k) - Batman page

2. Curt Swan - Superman page

3. Joe Kubert - Enemy Ace, Prince Valiant or Sgt Rock

4. Dan Smith - Illustration

5. Carmine Infantino - 60s Flash or Adam Strange page

6. Green Lantern Oath page - Gil Kane, Joe Staton or Neal Adams

 

 

Had a great year and filled in a number holes in my collection. But only picked up one piece from my goals. Got a nice Joe Stanton Green Lantern Oath page